Continuing from Part I, we’ll dive into some more Onsite SEO tactics. If you’re not a reasonably skilled Web Designer this may seem a little bit technical, but that’s okay. If you’re unsure or need assistance just send us message via our Contact Form.

This article also assumes you’ve also read our article Understanding Search Engines. 

Now, without further ado here some more great Onsite SEO tips: 

1. Choose your Keywords Carefully

   To avoid too much competition on your keywords, choose them precisely.

   For example, instead of using a very general keyword like “Plumber” choose a specific key phrase like “Plumber based in Parramatta, Sydney”. This way you’re targeting a specific area rather than getting traffic from all over Australia. 

   To get an idea of what people are typing into Search Engines use the Google Keyword Tool to conduct some research.  Google’s Keyword Tool allows you to enter relevant keywords and phrases then informs you how many people are searching for them on a monthly basis.  It also generates a list of related suggestions, so you may find it beneficial to adapt your website’s written content to take advantage of Google’s most popular keyword recommendations.

   It should be noted this is very general advice and Keyword Research should be used to determine the best keywords for your website. Keyword Research however is another lesson in itself!

2. Use Keywords in URLs

   A URL (User Resource Link) is another name for a webpage address.

   Like your file names, your URLs should contain keywords relevant to the content of your webpages. This is more human friendly and helps Search Engines determine what your page is about.

   Using black Persian cats as an example, say your URL is:
   https://www.yourwebsite/docs/pages.php?p=12454

   That is neither meaningful to humans or Search Engines because it doesn’t give any indication of what the page is about.  You can’t tell what the webpage is about by merely looking at the link.

   However if your URL looked like this: https://www.yourwebsite.com/pictures/cats/persians/ both people and Search Engines can immediately identify that URL will take them to a webpage with pictures of “black Persian Cats”.

3. Set Images ALT attribute

   Search Engines cannot view images so include descriptive keywords in the ALT attribute of Image Tags. This also helps your site be more accessible to site-impaired visitors (www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/glance/) as Screen Reading programs read this attribute aloud.

   The ALT attribute goes inside the image tag, in this format:
   <IMG SRC=”http//www.yourwebsite.com/images/seo_diagram.jpg” ALT="DESCRIPTION" ALT="Search Engine Optimisation Improvement Diagram">
   

   The ALT attribute also helps your images ranked higher in Image Searches. Just don’t cram long sentences into the attribute or stuff it with keywords that are irrelevant to the image as this may cause Search Engines to penalize your website.

4. Give Your Files Relevant Names

   You should also use keywords in your file names. Let’s say for example you have a picture of a black Persian cat. If you used the file name IMG04231.jpg this wouldn’t be meaningful to anybody, including Search Engines. However if you named the image black_persian_cat.jpg both humans and Search Engines would be able to identify the image’s contents. 

   This is also particularly advantageous in Image Search and increase the probability of your image appearing in the Search Results for the keywords “black Persian cat”

   DON’T use spaces in your file names! Servers are not like your computer’s Operating System and don’t always recognize files with spaces. Instead separate words by using hyphens “-“or underscores “_”

   For example: black_persian_cat.jpg or black-persian-cat.jpg 

5. Don’t Trap Keywords in Images, JavaScript or Flash

Remember Search Engines can’t view images or read text in images. So having images containing large blocks of text, especially those with keywords is a big mistake! 

The same can said for Javascript and Adobe Flash, although Search Engines can to a degree extract keywords from them.  There are also methods to improve the SEO of Flash, but in general Search Engines prefer text written directly into the webpages.

6. Use Text in Navigation Menus

   Images can look great while Flash and Javascript can provide animation and interactivity, but even in navigation menus Search Engines still have difficulty scanning them for the important keywords. It’s the plain text links which Search Engines find most useful. 

   And don’t worry about your website looking boring because you navigation has text links. You can still use styling and images behind the text to make link look more interesting. We’re quite happy to advise you how you can make your navigation links SEO friendly while keeping them exciting and engaging.

7. Keep Your Website Updated

   Search Engines take into account how frequently your website is updated, particularly the homepage. If your homepage is updated regularly this tells Search Engines your website is active and to pay more attention to it.

So there is seven more onsite Search Engine Optimisation method you can employ to improve the page ranking of your website. 

But wait! There’s more!

In Part III we’ll dig deeper into On-site SEO Techniques to help your website outshine the competition.

Remember FREE VIPs are eligible for a FREE Website Improvement Report. We’ll personally analyze your website and explain how its appearance, usability, content and Search Engine performance can be improved to enable it to reach its fullest potential. 

If you have any questions, need help with improving the Search Engine Optimization of your website, or would like a FREE, no obligation consultation, don’t hesitate to contact us via the form below.