A quick fix to dramatically improve your rankings

seoSearch Engine Optimization (SEO) is a long road that takes a lot of patience. Nobody knows (except the guys at Google) exactly how the search algorithms work – but we can make our best guesses. Amid the myriad of items on your SEO checklist, on-page optimization can prove to be a quick fix to dramatically improve your website’s listing in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

Creating appropriate title tags, writing a meta description, and optimizing body content will point your website in the right direction toward achieving the rankings you want.

Title

SERPs weigh keywords in title tags very highly. In fact, title tags can have the biggest effect on rankings. The title tag is displayed in SERPs and at the top of the browser for each page.

Where and how to add title tags:

<head>
<title>Original Title Tag</title>
<head>

Things to consider when creating title tags:

Length

Search engines cut off title tags around 70 characters, while browsers cut off around 95. A longer title tag can squeeze in more keywords, but may not appear as user friendly in a SERP. This is a case-by-case compromise.

Originality

Title tags should be different for each page. Multiple pages containing the same title tag confuse search engines –sometimes causing neither page to be ranked.

Keyword Placement

For basic title tag optimization, focus on the key areas of your website: your home, products, and services pages. Here are some examples:Home:

Computer and Network IT Support for Small Business - Petaluma | Widgets, Inc.

Disaster Recovery Page:

Disaster Recovery Services and Small Business Backup Solutions | Widgets, Inc.

Meta description

The meta description is the short summary you see under the title tag in SERPs. While it has no impact on a search engine ranking, it is still important to entice visitors to click through to your website. If a description is not manually added for a page, the search engine will choose the content it thinks is most relevant to display, based on the user’s search query.For small business websites, it’s a good practice to include an original and compelling meta description for your home page only.

Where and how to add a meta description:

<head>
<meta name="Description" content="Insert meta description here – no more than 155 characters.">
</head>

Body Content

There are several opportunities within body content to optimize your keywords. While including keywords will positively affect search rankings, it’s important to remember that quality and easily readable content is the number one goal. Without quality content, visitors will be less interested in what you have to say and will be less likely to convert.

Header Tags

SERPs especially value keywords in header tags. Be strategic about how you place keywords in header tags.Where and how to add header tags:

<h1>Most Important</h1>
<h2>Second Most Important</h2>
<h3>Third Most Important</h3>

Bold/Strong Tags

This is a good place to insert keywords. SERPs value bold and strong tags equally.Where and how to add bold or strong tags:

<b>Keyword</b>
<strong>Keyword</strong>

Alt Image Text

Alt text can be added for images to further optimize keywords. For example, the alt text for your logo could be “Widgets, Inc. – IT Consultant”.

If you’re confused about any of this information, or want to make sure you’re following industry best practices, don’t be afraid to look at what your competitors are doing. It’s a great place to gain SEO inspiration!