Affiliate Programs

People ask me all the time to look at their pages and tell them why they aren’t ranked well in Google. Many, many times these pages are brand new and we all know Google isn’t crazy about brand new pages, especially when it has many older optimized pages to pick from. (plus, many times it’s not their page, it’s the lack of backlinks to their site)

So if you’re trying to get a brand new page ranked #1 for a competitive keyword or keyword phrase, good luck, these onpage optimization tips for Google will help you a little, but you’re going to have to have patience for your page to move up Google SERPS…and a lot of backlinks!

One optimization tool you’ll need is a Keyword Density checker. If I’m really wanting high Keyword Density, I’ll use a shorter article. It’s just easier to have a higher density with smaller articles, say 250 to 400 words.

I try and keep my density to around 2 to 7%. That seems to work pretty well for me in most cases. Higher doesn’t always mean better!

With all things being equal (backlinks, age, etc) an optimized page will outrank a non-optimized page. Some Webmasters still do not understand this.

Before we get started, I’m assuming that you already know which keyword you want to rank high for. If not, here is a handy keyword tool or use a free keyword finder like Wordtracker or even Google’s Keyword Tool.  Don’t think you’re going to rank high for every keyword because it’s not going to happen. Just choose a few that are relevant to your website.

Google On Page Optimization Tips

Prioritize your keywords. As I said above, you’re not going to rank #1 for all keywords, so take the time to choose only the ones that really fit your page. Also, don’t necessarily think you should try and rank for the top keywords. They don’t always bring you the best buyers. I like to target one or two keywords per page. You may find that the 2nd, 3rd or 4th keyword for your niche actually converts better.

Where to put keywords on a page? I like them above the fold. I also try and keep them fairly close together, without going overboard.

Use Title tags and use them wisely. Title tags are part of the URL pointing back to your site. Title tags contain the anchor text that describes you site to the search engines. This is probably one of the most important aspects of SEO but many people fail to take advantage of it when linking to other sites or their internal pages. Simply using your keywords as anchor text for internal links can really give some of your pages the boost they need.

Adding a title tag is an URL address is easy in WordPress and other programs. In the pop up box where you’ll be pasting the URL, at the bottom there is a field titled “Title“. Just put your keyword in that field and Shazaaam! You have a properly formatted URL with anchor text!

Optimize your page Titles.Preferably your keyword will come first in the Title of your Page. For example, let’s say you have an article about hacking the Apple iPhone. Your keyword would be “hacking Apple iphone”. Your title then should be something like “Hacking Apples iPhone in 3 easy steps.” Some people will carry this further and use the keyword twice in a Title. I’ve had varying degrees of success at this so use it at your own risk.  ”Hacking Apple’s iPhone, Secrets To Hacking Apples iPhone in 3 Easy Steps.”

Use the <strong> tag. This use to be called the <b> bold tag, but it has been changed around. The same can also be said for the italics tag <em> and underline tag. These give your keywords a little more weight than plain text. Don’t get carried away with it though. There is a such thing as “Over Optimization” and the Search Engines will penalize you for this.

<H1> and <H2> Tags.I’ve ran A/B testing on several websites before in the same niche with nearly the same keyword and with similiar content. Everytime I’ve done this, the pages with <h1> and <h2> tags outranked those that weren’t optimized. That’s good enough for me.

Filenames. This is one area I think many Webmasters do not take advantage of and one I think is very important. If you’re adding images to a page, rename to the keyword you’re trying to rank for. For example, let’s stay with “Hacking the Apple iPhone.” If you had an image on that page, rename it to “hackingappleiphone.jpg or hacking-apple-iphone.jpg.” Not only will this help you with your on page optimization, you’ll also show up in Google Images in case someone searches there.

Alt tags. Just as important as renaming your image with your keyword, making sure you have an Alt tag describing the image is as important in my opinion. Again, I use my keywords as my descriptive alt tage. Also, WordPress makes this easy when inserting images into a post. Just fill out the “description” and “title” fields when you’re uploading images.

I personally feel like Anchor Text, <H1>’s and Filename/Alt tags are the most important onpage optimzation techniques you can use. The other techniques are just a little insurance!

There you go. On page optimization is pretty easy. You need to keep in mind what your keywords are for that page and plan the layout of your article just a little bit. The more you practice this the quicker it will come second nature!

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