According to Wikipedia, “Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines through natural or organic search results”. Organic Search Engine rankings depend on a number of factors which all combine to decide the positioning of a webpage in the SERPs, also known as Search Engine Ranking Pages.
The ranking factors can be classified into the following:
On-page or On-site factors
On-page and on-site factors include Page Title Tags, Meta Keyword and Meta Description Tags, web page content, internal linking between pages, URL structure of a site and similar factors.
Title Tags
One of the most important tags for a webpage is the Title Tag, which gets displayed in Search Results when your website comes up in rankings after someone carries out a keyword search. It is very important to use the right keywords in the title tag of your webpage when you want to rank high for a Keyword on Search Engines. The title tag is what actually attracts users to click on your site link when they see your page in SERPs.
Meta Tags
The Meta Keyword and Meta Description Tags are also important factors related to on-page optimization. Although Google has started giving less importance to the Meta Tags, some search engines still give relative importance to these tags, which is why adding correct Meta Tags to your web pages is important.
Web Page Content
The text or content that you use on your site can be the deciding factor if your site will rank better than your competitor in the SERPs. Good quality and un-duplicated content is the secret to any high quality and informative site. Unique and fresh content on your website pages is what search engine spiders are always looking for, as they say “content is food for the bots”. According to David Callan, “On the internet content is king and always will be”. Make sure you keep adding content to your site pages to make them useful and informative for your users as well as for the search engines.
Internal Linking
Internal linking is one of the most overlooked factors when it comes to SEO, although it is one of the most important factors for ranking. Proper internal linking of pages within the site with appropriate anchor texts can help boost the page ranking which is being linked in the SERPs. Internal linking is also helpful in passing PR to the linked pages.
URL Structure
The URL structure also contributes to the ranking of your website pages in the SERPs. For example if you have a dynamic URL structure for your site, it will be difficult for the search engine spiders to crawl your pages. However, if you use a static approach for the navigation structure of your site, and use keywords in the URLs, it will help give your web pages a boost in rankings in the SERPs. It is important to carry out keyword research before finalizing the directory structure of your site to get the maximum benefit from your website navigation.
Off-page or Off-site factors
Off-page or off-site factors usually involve link popularity and also factors related to hosting and domain name. However, the most important off-page factor for any website is the quality and quantity of links coming to that site from other websites.
Anchor text of links
The anchor texts used for linking to any website decide the theme and topic of the website or webpage. Therefore, when you get links for your website or web pages, it is important that you give extreme importance to the anchor text which will be used to link to your site. If you use keywords in these anchor texts, the links will help you to rank high in SERPs for those keywords.
Quality of links
The quality of incoming links is also very important. Lots of spammy links from link farms and FFA (Free for all) websites can be harmful for the authority of any site. Care should be taken to see the type of sites which are linking to you and the keywords which are being used to link to your website.
Website hosting factors
For any website, up-time of the hosting company is a crucial factor in making or breaking any site. If your server does not allow 99% up-time, it is time to shift to a better host. Other hosting companies have issues like available bandwidth, file storage etc. If you write a wonderful article and add it to your site, which attracts a lot of users to your site, your server should be able to take the load of the increased traffic.
Domain related factors
There are several domain related factors which are given importance by major Search Engines including Google and Yahoo. These include the following:
- Age of domain
- Keyword in domain name
- Length of a domain name
If you want to know more about the factors which can help you rank high on the Search Engines, you can contact us with your queries and concerns.
July 1st, 2008 at 12:34 pm
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August 20th, 2008 at 4:09 am
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October 3rd, 2008 at 1:28 pm
which one is better to use a dash or underscore to seperate keywords in a URL?
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