"On-Page Optimization" by Dipen(Part 4)

Did you know?

        There are a variety of tools you can use to research keywords in addition to the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. One of the most popular is called WordTracker, which offers a free trial version.

Researching the Competition

        Researching the top-performing websites for final selection of your keyword phrase is the most important step in keyword selection and it takes a little work. The good news is that Firefox has a variety of plugins you can use to make your final analysis a lot easier.

Plugins like SEO Quake provide much of the on-page analysis quickly, as opposed to doing all of your research manually—thank goodness!

        After you’ve narrowed down your keyword list to just a few terms, the next step is researching the competition. I will now show you how to research the competition using a real-world example so you can do it for your own website. Keep in mind, there is software available that can automate this process for you (I’ve included a link on http://www myseomadesimple.com/secret.htm).

       Nonetheless, you should learn how to research your competition on your own to better understand this process of choosing keywords. Doing so is analogous to learning division longhand before you start using a calculator!

       Picking up on our earlier example, assume you’ve selected a primary keyword phrase and have decided to begin researching the competitors (ex: women’s tennis shoes).

• 1. Visit Google and enter the first keyword phrase you are researching. Enter the keyword phrase “women’s tennis shoes” and select Google Search.

• 2. Identify the natural search results versus the paid search results. The natural results will appear below any paid results.

• 2. Write down the URLs of the first set of natural search results. The URLs will appear in green beneath each description.

• 2. Now you’re ready to begin your site-by-site analysis. You’ll need to do the following for each site to determine if you can outrank them. I can show you how to do the first one— then simply repeat the same steps for sites two, three, four, and five. For each site, begin by recording the following:

• • Website URL

• • Google PR

• • Number of sites linking in

• • Keyword in <h1> tag

• • Keyword in first twenty-five words of page

• • Keyword in last twenty-five words of page

• • Keyword bolded, italicized, and underlined

          Begin by recording the Google Page Rank of the first ranked site. You can see from the rank meter in the Google Toolbar (you can download the Google toolbar at http://toolbar.google.com) that it has a Google PR of 4. You actually have to mouse over your PR checker in the Google toolbar to get the actual page rank.

         The second thing we need to do is evaluate other on-page optimization factors we’ve discussed such as meta tags, use of <h1> tags, and so on. You can see from what I’ve circled that the title at the very top of the web page includes the phrase All Women’s Tennis Shoes and the first header on the page says, All Women’s Tennis Shoes.

         I also recommend looking at the source code and searching for <h1>, <h2>, and <h3> tags. To do so simply click on Edit in your browser menu, then select View Source Code and use the Find command. How many instances of header tags can you find?

Upon review, I noticed (see below) that the keywords are in the title but not in any <h1> or <h2> header tags. Additionally, I didn’t find the meta tags that every site should have listing a title, description, and keywords—not to mention all the JavaScript that appears on the page—and this site is ranked number one. After some basic research, it appears as though the site we’re researching isn’t all that well optimized.

         I did find an instance of the keyword phrase in an <h3> tag but it was pretty far down on the page of code.

Note: You don’t need to be an expert in programming code. All you’re looking for is whether or not the website you’re researching is using meta tags and header tags (<h1>, <h2>, or <h3>) that include the specific keyword phrase you’re researching.

         So what have we learned about this site? It looks to me as though they are not fully on-page optimized for the keyword phrase “women’s tennis shoes” because they haven’t followed all of the on-page optimization techniques we’ve covered in the first part of this book. This is a positive sign because if we chose to develop a competitive website, we could use meta tags and other on-page techniques such as <h1> tags, bolded text, internal linking, proper keyword placement, and a fast loading page, to enhance Google optimization. Lastly, the Google Page Rank of 4 is good, but over time, we could match it or even beat it with a PR5 rank.

         See what I mean when I say that just because a site is considered “competitive” it may still be worth competing against using search engine optimization? With the application of proper on-page and off-page SEO techniques, you could certainly out-rank this

website for the keyword phrase “women’s tennis shoes.” All it would take is some time and proper application of the SEO Made Simple techniques.

Final Two Factors

        Even though we haven’t focused on off-page optimization just yet, there are two more factors you need to consider before selecting your final two to three keyword phrases. I only recommend two or three keywords per page because, as you’ll discover in the next

section, if you focus on more than a few phrases, you won’t be able to apply all of the necessary on-page factors needed to influence search results.

Factor 1: Google Page Rank (a k.a. PR). We’ve already touched on the concept of Google PR, but it’s worth mentioning as a key factor in your final selection of an ideal keyword. Google Page rank is a measure of a page’s importance on a scale of 1 to 10. A

site’s level of importance is based on a variety of factors including age, number of inbound links, quality of inbound links, and many other factors. However, it’s easy to understand that the more important a page is, in the eyes of Google, the better it will rank for particular keywords. Your goal is to find a keyword where the top ranked sites have low Google PR.

You can determine a web page’s Google PR by loading the Google toolbar into your browser and navigating to any website or blog.

        The Google Page Rank of that particular web page will be displayed in the Google toolbar. If it does not appear, visit the options section of the toolbar and make sure you’ve selected Google PR as a toolbar element. The higher the PR, the more difficult it will

be to outrank this particular website. When I’m researching a possible keyword, I always look to see what the Google PR values are for the sites currently listed in the first, second, and third positions on a search result page. If the top sites have very high Google

PRs (6 or more), I generally move on. Trying to outrank sites with that much importance takes time and resources.

Factor 2: Inbound Links. Google loves links. As noted in the previous paragraph, Google places a lot of emphasis on inbound links as well as other factors like the authority of those links. We’ll discuss authority, age, inbound/outbound link ratios, and more, in the off-page optimization section later in this guide. For now, simply know that the more third-party sites that are linking to any particular website or blog, the more strength that website carries. In essence, each inbound link is giving a site “juice.” The more juice, the more value, importance, and significance a site has and the more difficult it will be to outrank.

        For example, if I compare a make-believe website called site A, which only has two inbound links vs. site B which has three hundred inbound links, site B will have more relative strength, assuming that the quality of the inbound links are the same. As a result, site B will rank higher for a given keyword if optimized properly. Inbound links are a key indicator of competitive strength.

       As a final step to your keyword research, complete Google searches for each of your final keyword phrases and analyze the sites in the top few positions. Do they have really high PR values? How about a large number of inbound links? Try to find the search terms

that have little competition. If you can find a keyword where the top ranked results have low PR values and few inbound links, then a top ranking for your website or blog is just around the corner.

Did you know?

      A significant factor in the Google algorithm is page load speed. Based on testing and analysis, I found that top ranked websites tended to load more quickly than other sites competing for the same keywords. In addition to applying all of the on page factors

discussed in this section, evaluate how quickly your web pages load using free web-based tools compared to other websites.

Summary of this Article

Here’s what you should take away from this section about on-page optimization:

• • On-page optimization is what you do on your website to influence SERPs on Google.

• • Doing proper keyword research is the first step to a successful SEO campaign.

• • Having proper meta tags is essential. Always include your keyword phrase(s) in your meta tags.

• • The proper meta tags include your title tag, description tag, keywords tag, and robots tag.

• • Choose your URL carefully. Your URL doesn’t have to have your keyword included but it helps when other sites link to your site using only your URL.

• • How you format your page is important for optimization purposes.

• • Make sure you design your web pages so Google is forced to read your on-page content first.

• • Verify that your code is W3C compliant.

• • Don’t forget to include your keyword phrase(s) in <h1>, <h2>, and <h3> header tags. This signifies the importance of your content to Google.

• • Label each graphic with an alt tag that includes your keyword phrase.

• • Place your keyword(s) in the first twenty-five words on your web page and the last twenty-five words on your web page.

• • Italicize, bold, and underline your keyword phrase within your content.

• • Eliminate Flash if it’s the main presentation of your website. Google does not view this favorably.

• • If you’re going to use JavaScript to enhance the overall visitor experience of your website, place the code in an external file.

• • Focus on a fast loading website. This is essential for top Google rankings.

• • Be sure to include a sitemap that’s easily accessible by Google.

• • Never underestimate the power of internal linking. A good internal linking structure can improve your SERPs.

• • Keyword development is one of the most important on-page optimization strategies.

• • Research keywords and competing websites to select ideal keywords.

• • Research the strength of the competition before selecting your final keywords using PR and number of inbound links.

• • Page load speed is a significant factor in Google rankings. Ensure that your home page loads more quickly than those of competing sites.