Web Page Optimization [Powerful SEO Series: Article 3]
This is the third entry in our 8 Steps to Powerful Search Engine Optimization series.
You’ve completed keyword research, now it’s time to optimize your web pages. Let’s be fair, “optimize” is a big word that covers a lot of ground. We’re only going to give a quick glimpse into some basics.
To have good web page content, you’ll want to make it easily scannable and helpful to users. Some of the bigger web page areas to optimize include:
- Meta titles and descriptions
- On-page content
- Internal linking
Meta Titles & Descriptions
One big reason why unique, keyword-rich title tags and meta descriptions matter: Google search results.
Optimizing your title tags and descriptions with appropriate, researched keywords will help you get the right message across to potential customers. Here’s an example of how meta titles and descriptions show up in Google search results:
There’s debate over how big of an impact meta titles and descriptions have on search engine rankings. But even with that aspect aside, having good titles and descriptions can increase visits to your website.
The more appealing the meta, the more likely they’ll generate clicks.
On-Page Content
Good content needs to inform or entertain users and ultimately get them to complete a goal. To help get conversions, your pages should have these characteristics:
- Scannability: The content should be broken up into sections with concise headers and lists. This gives users the chance to quickly spot the information they’re looking for without getting frustrated.
- Keywords in the Copy: We’re not talking about mindless keyword stuffing. We’re talking about strategically implementing accurate keywords that resonate with your audience within the content.
- Clear Calls-To-Action (CTA): Want people to contact you online? Give them a convenient, short form to submit. Want them to call you? Give them a hyperlinked phone number in an easy-to-see location and format. Basically, make it obvious what goals you want the website visitor to complete and make it easy for them to do it.
There’s a lot more to on-page optimization than these three points, but this is a good way to get things moving.
Internal Linking
Your web pages should link to each other throughout the website. Let’s say you have a navigation menu with a link to your primary Services page (we’ll call this an umbrella page).
When the user hovers over that link, a drop-down menu appears with a list of your services pages (we’ll call these sub-pages).
The umbrella Services page should contain links to each of these sub-pages, as shown in the image below:
Meanwhile, each of the sub-pages should link back to the umbrella page within the first two paragraphs, as shown in the image below:
Throughout the website, consider linking keywords when you have helpful, relevant pages that correspond to them.
For example, if you mention your restaurant’s lunch menu on your home page, the words “lunch menu” should link to the menus page.
Expanding Beyond the Basics
These three tips make for a good introduction to web page optimization. If you’re hoping to simply refresh your website on your own, these tips will help you get a solid foundation.
But if you’re left wanting more, then you’ll need the help of a digital marketing partner. Allow us to introduce ourselves…
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