Your Web Site Is Your Internet Store
This Means Your Web Pages Are Your Products…
Make every single page of content worthy of your business.
The great majority of your site’s pages are vital as each page of your site has a chance to be indexed by the search engines. This means Google in the UK, as it has almost a 90% hold on search activity. In the USA it’s 61%. You will increase the likelihood of a page being indexed if you can prove to Google that you have put thought and detail into your page content. What this actually means is publishing a page that is providing plenty of unique and engaging content. If a page on your web site is not indexed, you have been unable to satisfy Google enough for it to consider your page worthy of being included in their index. Essentially, they don’t think its sufficiently good to be viewed by their users.
Learn From Your Competitors
You can learn a great deal about what might be deficient with your site page by taking a look at your competition. The general standard of the pages you visit will inform you about the standard you will want to attain and surpass, if your financial position and time allows.
Your Message
A clear message delivered adequately is much better than a poor message delivered well! Taking a look at your competition will help you determine how well you will need to deliver your message. Ensure you are clear on what you will be saying and what you will be asking your visitors to do. Think carefully about what words, pictures and even video would make a prospect buy from you rather than one of your competitors. When you’re clear about your message only then are you able to develop the content.
Your Page Is Your Display Product
Even if you are a service business you still have to treat each page of your web site as if you’re going to place it on on show for potential buyers to look at. If the product you place on a shelf looks shabby nobody will purchase it. If the product does not give enough detail it’s the same.
The Factors That Matter To Google
There are no mysteries to what Google pays attention to and uses. If you ignore these elements the chances of your page being indexed are virtually nil. If your page isn’t indexed it’ll NEVER be served up on a search engine results page (SERP). The list below contains all the on-page SEO elements that make up a web page. Some aren’t seen by the human eye but they are checked by the search engine crawlers and therefore are extremely important.
- URL
- Page Title
- Meta Description
- H1 Tag
- Image file names & attributes
- Word count
URL – The Address Of Your Web Page
It is useful if the URL contains words that mean something. If it does it’ll have meaning to a search engine crawler. This is a useful page address ‘www.wd4t.com/blog/managing-your-online-reputation-easy’ because it gives an idea about what the topic of the destination page is about. ‘www.wd4t.com/node/88’ isn’t helpful yet it’s the same page address as the previous one, however it is the raw page address. If you have control over your page addressing you need to ensure the address makes sense to a human being and that it directly reflects what a human and a crawler will find when they visit the page.
Page Title – Times Have Changed
Just like the URL the Page Title is crucial and it is very definitely a factor that influences how high a page will rank. The Page Title appears in the tab of the browser. What you want to include in your page title are words you would like your page to be famous for but at the very same time you don’t want to use the same sequence of words on multiple pages. It is crucial you avoid duplicate page titles. Google does exclude pages from its index if it feels multiple pages of a web site are too similar.
H1 Tag – Regard It As Heading 1
H1 denotes to a search engine the main title of the content they are crawling. To the human visitor it is the main heading. It should provide the reader of the page a very clear notion of what the content of the page is about.
Meta Description – Your Advert
This is unquestionably one of the most neglected elements and yet it happens to be one of the most important. It is what Google will serve up if it thinks your content is worthy of appearing in search results. It has to be produced with a call to action. If you don’t write a Meta Description Google will decide for you what it will show and this is usually not a good thing.
Image File Names And Attributes
Search engines cannot interpret what an image is about, they only know that there is an image there. The file name you give to an image assists a search engine determine what the image is about. In addition to this the search engines inspect the alt tag and the title tag fields that may be associated with images. These fields give further opportunities to tell a search engine what they should index a page for.
Word Count – Less Is Not More
There’s a fine line between having too many words and having too few. Visitors are sometimes put off by having to read a lot , however , they are going to leave your page if they can’t find enough information. What is clear is that Google doesn’t like pages that are text deficient. It is very important to organise the words in a way that both keeps the reader engaged and satisfies Google regarding word count.
Conclusion – Make It Good, Make It Count
In conclusion as a website owner you must regard your site pages like you would products you are putting on show. If your products look unappealing you can not expect prospects to show interest in them. The same is true for the search engines.
If you would like your internet site pages to be indexed you have got to ensure you give the search engines with what they’re looking for from content. If you’d like your website pages to be recognized by visitors you have got to make sure they can see that you have put some effort into producing quality content.
Mark Byers is the Managing Director of WD4T. Mark has had an involvement with the web for over 20 years and specializes in optimizing web sites to gain more visitors and convert those visitors into customers. As well as for WD4T and it’s clients, he also provides consultancy services to a range of digital agencies. Mark has produced many articles on strategy and planning, web design and optimization.
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