SEO Training: Lesson 3 - More Advanced On Page Optimization Techniques

Optimizing your web site takes more than just well written meta tags, a site with fast load times, and appropriately structured URLs. In addition to the basics, you should consider more advanced tactics that can boost your rankings. The following are some key aspects of on page optimization that can take your web site to the next level.

Let’s begin with the W3C Validator. If you haven’t heard of W3C, then you need to know that W3C.org is the World Wide Web Consortium. They are an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C essential is the organization that develops web standards. They have some great tools to see if your web site is compliant.

This is important because if your web site code meets these standards, you can bet that Google recognizes it as providing a positive user experience. The better the experience, the better your web site’s ranking. After you have built your web site or a particular web page, go to the W3C Validator at Validator.w3.org/. All you need to do is type in the URL the web page you want checked and W3C will do the rest.

If you receive a number of errors, I recommend using Elance or GetAFreelancer.com to hire someone knowledgeable enough to fix them. If trying to go it alone with only minimal coding experience, chances are you’ll either end up frustrated or just unable to make the updates. Save time and aggravation by finding someone who can clean up your code for you.

Another technique that involves a bit more knowledge about your web site and web site layout is that of navigation. Internal linking is an important on page optimization factor. From my perspective simple is best. Make sure that your home page links to each top level page. Also called category pages, your main pages should point back to your home page. Some webmasters use navigational links on the top, bottom, or side of a web page. In addition, you may choose to use breadcrumbs. Regardless of the technique you use, internal linking is an essential part of successful optimization.

The last technique that we’ll cover here today is keyword density. There are plenty of web sites and blogs out there who will profess, ‘keyword density is dead’ or ‘keyword density doesn’t matter’. I’m here to say that nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Google has recently published information that infers greater value on keywords and links from within the content as opposed to navigational links.

So how often should you use your keyword on the page? To answer this question we again have to focus on what Google is looking for, a good user experience. If you try to cram your keyword on the page again and again it won’t read well. If it doesn’t read well, Google won’t like it. I try to achieve a keyword density (the percentage of times you use your keyword versus the total number of words on a page) of around 3 percent. Give or take half a percentage point, you’ll find that your web page reads well and uses your keyword phrase.

For those focusing on improving search engine rankings, go beyond basic optimization techniques. Consider the importance of clean code, internal linking, and the attainment of an appropriate keyword density. By applying these techniques web site rankings can only improve.