So, how are you? In the last article, we had thrown light on one of the important factors in on page optimization, content. And this week, the focus is on the other factors. A simple look at the internet, (Okay, shall we mention Google) and you will see a single topic, there exist millions of websites. However, there are novices and experienced professionals in the race. In short, people who know every basic element of a website or a blog or someone who just wants to have a website. He/she may be a businessman or a person who wants to learn SEO and digital marketing the hard way.

SEO, as you know is the abbreviation of Search Engine Optimization. By making use of the effective techniques specified as per the SEO instructions, it is possible to make your website get good traffic and a higher rank in the search engine result pages. You must already know the fact, that a higher ranking can result in the best traffic. When it comes to SEO, the method is divided into two categories – On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO.

Now, before going to the subject, let us have a short description of the two types. On Page as well Off Page SEO.

As the name states, On-Page SEO is related to all the activities you do on your own website to help its URL come up in rankings. Major factors are internal links, page titles, meta tags as well descriptions.

Off-Page is just the opposite of On Page SEO. There are many factors you have to consider such as article submission to other websites, answering in forums, blog marketing and article submission. Since we have already dealt with content optimization in the last article, we will delve into other factors.

1. URL Structure

So we have included this topic in the earlier article, but it is just a summary of the used words. It is advisable to have a URL (appropriate to the search engine)  for every page on the website. Do you know, the URL, is connected to the topic and has fewer words can perform the best in search results? If you have targeted specific keywords, the results will be better.

Character Limit For URL

In tandem with the above paragraph, it is better to have the easy readability of URL along with keywords. It is best if the URL is kept under 75 characters. It is better to keep a word of the topic in the URL to get the best content.

2. Titles & Description

So, while searching for a topic in the search engines, which is the factor that appeals to you the most? It is TITLE, right. It is mandatory, to get a good ranking, that every page and post should have a unique title, and it will be in the best interests of your website if it contains the keywords.

If you are writing a post about the recent Hollywood movie “Avengers”, then it is advisable that you include words such as “SuperHero fantasy movie liked by Children” in the title. Chances are when someone searches for superheroes, the article has a high chance of showing up.

A. Meta title

Popularly referred to as the HTML code specifying the title of a particular web page. You can see them in the top left corner of the browser as soon as you enter a web page. Every page needs a meta title. A meta title gives the perfect impression for the visitor. SEO is a part, and having the best meta title can help you get better search rankings.

B. Meta Descriptions

There are people who never think of using meta description as one of the measures to push their page high up the rankings. In fact, the descriptions are important locations for including keywords. It is the meta description which shows up before you can read the contents of the page.

For instance, with relevance to the above example of “Avengers” movie, the meta description can read, “The movie can be considered a sequel of the previous version and introduces many heroes. Definitely a Fantasy movie for Children.” A great description is one which has the number of particular keywords.

C. Meta Tags

Your website does contain many pages. In fact, to rise higher in the ladder, it is possible to include keywords in the form of a meta tag. But please note that they need to be the relevant keywords of the content, and the research has to be done meticulously.

Usually, many website owners use the WordPress plug-in called as “Yoast SEO.” Through this method, you can enter all the page title, meta description and meta tag keywords to the bottom of posts. In fact, the plug-in makes life easier for bloggers.

D. Meta Keywords

These keywords are found in the HTML codes of Web pages. They give information to the search engines regarding the topic of pages. Their job is usually back office so they are separated from keywords. In recent times, these keywords have been taken off the prime importance list by Google as they were used wrongly by website owners and other digital marketing enthusiasts.

E. Keyword Density

You write a good article that can make a visitor stay for a long time on the website. But have you used the relevant keywords? If so, then the search engines can know the content of a page. Also, please do not stuff the words just for the search engine tools. Your website is likely to get banned in similar situations. In case, you are a novice, make use of thesaurus and practise writing.

3. Canonical Tags

If you have positive, then in this world, there are also negative assets. When it comes to authentic information on the internet, duplicate content is always used by many mischief mongers. When search engines crawl and find duplicate content, it can give rise to many SEO problems. If you have embedded duplicate content in your website, then the search engines after wading via thousands of duplicate content will miss the unique content. More duplicate content found on the website can definitely cause dilution to the rankability. Even if the search engines give rank to your content, the URL may be wrong. By using canonicalization, it assists you to prevent duplicate content. You may have a home page, and some content of the home page may come in the other pages also. In this case, to help the search engines, you can embed the home page with a canonical tag.

4. Images

Images in the article or blog should stay relevant to the content. Please note, a pornographic image may attract many viewers, but it will overstep the bounce rate. The best method is to rename the images as an SEO tactic and always use SEO optimised images.

5. Schema.org

This activity has been devised to create, design, maintain and promote the provision for a proper infrastructure on not only the internet but also on the email messages, web pages and even more. You can find millions of websites on the internet at present times that make use of schema.org to mark their email messages and web pages.

6. The Open Graph

As the promoter of your own website, you act as a marketer. And how, you try to reach a big audience. You share on various social media platforms. Usually, Facebook as well twitter.

It was Facebook which introduced the theme of Open Graph in 2010. But now, every social media platform is jumping on the bandwagon (Linkedin, Twitter and Google Plus).  Having these tags to posts can enhance conversion as well click-through rates.

7. AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)

In short, the initiative is to inspire website owners design, have websites which are fast, and give high performance to every device.

8. Robots.txt

Robots.txt is best known as the text file created to instruct web robots get specific instructions to crawl pages on the website. In fact, the text is part of the REP or robots exclusion protocol. Before crawling a website, the search engine crawler will search for the robots.txt file. In fact, these robots make the navigation easy for the search engines.

9. Meta ViewPort

The use of mobiles has increased rapidly, and the e-Commerce is growing at rapid fast speed. However, when you compare the number of websites that are optimized for mobile, you find only fifty percent of the web have done so. If you want to have visitors view content on a mobile, then they should not face difficulty because of their size. Responsive design is a different ball game altogether.

It is the viewport that keeps the reins on how the webpage displays on mobile devices. Without this option, mobile devices will show the website at desktop length and width. Having a viewport can give you better control on the page width and scale on different devices.

10. Sitemaps

When you hear the word “sitemap”, you first remember seeing it on a blog or website. In fact, when you click the link, then it gives you information about every page or category on the website. But in fact, the sitemap which we refer informs the search engines about the Universal Resource Locators on the website that is necessary for the crawl. In fact, it gives information regarding every URL to webmasters. The date the page got updated, the duration of change, and the importance.

11. Language

We have already dealt with this aspect in the previous article on content optimization. So let us deal with multilingual as well multi-regional SEO. This issue is a little complicated because your website has to serve many languages and locations.

As the name suggests, multilingual SEO practices offer website content (optimized) in many languages. Multiregional SEO as per the meaning of words states the creation of website content that can suit various geographic locations. Please note that the language optimization is connected to other factors such as pay per click, content strategy and conversion rate optimization.

12. Favicon

Before going to the subject, please note that for the favicon, there are also other names such as website icon, URL icon, tab icon, bookmark icon or shortcut icon. If you have a website, you can ask a web designer to create an icon and upload to a website.

13. Bounce Rate

In short, everyone who has a business and a website knows the definition of bounce rate. It is used in web traffic analysis. Denotes the number (the percentage is the right term) of visitors who visit the web and then make a hasty exit. A low bounce rate means that the content of your website is excellent and visitors tend to stay for a longer time.

14. Internal Linking

There is a myth stating that only links that are attached from other websites are useful. Yes, but internal links are also important. For an article about a new subject, adding internal links will allow a visitor to find all the content on your website only. The practice also ensures that the website gets crawled properly. Not only is the relevancy of a keyword and phrase built, but it also assists in improving the rankings in Google.

15. Alt Text

If you are uploading the images, how about using the text alternative? In case, you have an e-Commerce website, try to use the alt tags to highlight the products. There are other names for alternative text such as alt attributes, alt tags etc.  For example, if you have a Doberman image.

Normal alt text: <img src=”dog.png” alt=”Doberman”>

Good alt text: <img src=”dog.png” alt=”Doberman guard”>

Best alt text: <img src=”dog.png” alt=”guard dog Doberman”>

16. Speed of Site

The faster your website opens up on the mobile, it is considered more friendly. And yes, it will improve the rankings. In this era of fast-paced life, nobody gives a damn about poor loading websites. If you have one with a slow speed, then make it to a top one. Usually, one-half of the internet users expect the visiting site to have a loading site of fewer than two seconds. In case, the load time is more than four seconds, they switch over to the next URL.

In case you have an online e-Commerce website, a low-speed website can make you lose business. So these are the activities you have to do –

Minimize the Http requests

• Reduce the number of images the websites have for the individual articles
• Make use of CDN (content delivery network) and remove the unused files and scripts
• Also, use browser caching
• Never forget to compress images as well optimizing the files

17. Responsive Design

The recent update has come even from Google. Now, even search engines are introducing mobile indexing because a large number of people search for information in mobiles. As per industry experts, the search engine is making the internet more friendly to the users. When you have a responsive design on your website, then it becomes easy for navigation and the customers a better experience.

With regards to search engines, a responsive design will enhance the stay time of your visitors on the website in both versions, the desktop and mobile. Consider the other part. You do not know the type of device used to check your website or blog. It can be a tablet, a small phone, a laptop having a small screen and a big desktop or worse a television set. So how do you quell all these challenges? By responsive design.

18. Ways To Determine Ranking Factors

1. Google Analytics

In short, it is a service tool by Google for gaining information about website traffic. It offers services of two types  – Google Analytics 360 (mainly for business) and Google Analytics for Mobile Apps (to gather data from Android Apps and iOS).

2. Google Webmaster

It is a free service tool by which you can measure, evaluate and maintain the performance of your website in regards to search results. In fact, it is the best information from the doyen of searches about your website. You can get the problems fixed.

Conclusion

So the above-mentioned points are important in on page optimization. And yes, we will deal with off page optimization in the next article. Shall we take the example of a case study? Let us imagine, you provide the best quality doorstep services for water purifier repair in Bangalore. And you have a website by which a customer can select at the various services and then book a request. Now, since it is a new website, you have gone for on-page optimization. The results have been encouraging and you plan to continue for the future. You also plan to open a branch in another city. You plan to send a team to train qualified professionals for water purifier repair in Pune. Now you are having discussions with your core team to employ an SEO specialist and a content writer. Next month, you are on the path to off-page optimization. Your business will definitely become a success.