Are the pages of your website optimized for the search engines? On-page optimization is the essence of search engine optimization and the key to targeting the keywords that can make your website a success.

What is On-Page Optimization?
On-page optimization refers to all the optimization done on the actual pages of your website. This includes both visible elements, like optimizing text, and behind-the-scenes work, like optimizing META tags. Search Engine Optimization has essentially three main parts, keyword research, on-page optimization, and track/reporting. (You could also technically include link building). These elements of SEO could also be described as research, implementation, and tracking the results. On-page optimization is the implementation stage of search engine optimization. With on-page optimization, you target specific keywords and help the search engines to rank you well for these keywords. (If you’re not sure what keywords to target, read our article on Keyword Research)

On-Page Optimization Elements:
The optimization of a web page involves several different elements of the page. Below I’ll go through these elements and discuss a little about them:

Title Tag: This is one of the most important elements in on-page optimization. The title tag is an element found in the head of the page. Look for the <title> and </title> tags. What comes between these tags is the title tag. The title tag is visible to visitors, but not in the body of the page, rather it is displayed in the top bar of the web browser. The title tag should be a short description of the page and should contain the keywords you want to target for that page.

Description META Tag: The description tag is not as heavily weighted as the Title tag, but it should still be optimized. It is located in the head of the page, usually just below the title tag. The coding for the description tag is <meta name=”description” content=””>. The text used between the quotes after content= is the description META tag. The description tag is not seen on the web page, but some search engines do use the description tag in the search listings. The description tag can be longer than the title tag, but should still be relatively short and should contain each of the keywords you are targeting.

Keyword META Tag: The keyword tag is honestly all but ignored by the search engines at this point, but it should still be optimized. Every little bit helps. It is located in the header of the page, usually just below the title tag. The coding for the description tag is <meta name=” keywords” content=””>. The text used between the quotes after content= is the keyword META tag. The keyword tag is not seen on the web page or anywhere else. Keyword should be separated by a comma and a space, and keywords should not be repeated (i.e. “church, Lutheran church, youth group”). Notice that “church” and “Lutheran church” are considered two different keywords even though they both contain the word “church”.

File Name: It’s never too early to start thinking about SEO. When you are creating the page, consider your keywords when you name the page file (if you have that option). Instead of using a file name like “directions.html”, use a file name like “directions-to-Atlanta-church.html”. If you use more than one word in the file name, it is best to separate the words by hyphens as search engines see hyphens as word breaks. If you have created a site with OurChurch.Com’s NE1™ Web Builder, you can add keywords into the page address by using the “SEO Words” feature of the page.

Alt Tags: Alt tags are attributes that can be added to images. Search engines can’t read pictures, but they do read alt tags. So, alt tags allow you to get some SEO value from those pictures on your site. Generally, the alt tag should describe the picture, but you can usually do that in a way that includes a keyword or two. You can add an alt tag to a images by adding alt=”” in the <img> tag. If you are using a web builder, their may be an alt option or possibly a description or title option. Alt tags are viewable by visitors. If someone mouse over a picture, a text box will show the alt tag.

On-Page Links: Incoming links are great for helping websites in the search engines, but your internal linking structure (the way each page in your website links to other pages in the site) can help as well (though not as much). Use keywords in the link text. So, instead of “Homepage” use “Grace Baptist Church Homepage” or if you want it shorter, just “Church Home”. In addition to using keywords in the link text, you can also add title attributes. Title attributes are to links what alt tags are to pictures. Just add title=”” in the <a> tag. Like the alt tag, title attributes are visible to visitors if they mouse over the link. Tip: If you have graphical link, you can use both an alt and a title tag.

Text: Using keywords in the text on your page is probably the most important element of on-page optimization, though the Title tag is nearly as important. Search engines read the text on a page to determine what the page is about. The key is what’s called keyword density, how many times a word or phrase is used on a page compared to how much text there is. The more times a word or phrase is used, the more important that word or phrase is (except for words like “and” and “the”). The trick with optimizing text is getting the right balance. You want to use keywords multiple times on a page, but not over-do it. It’s difficult to say how many times you should use your keywords, as it will depend on how much text you have on your page, but I’d suggest using the keywords at least three times.

H tags: <H> tags are used for paragraph headings and titles. There are 6 <H> tags, <H1> through <H6> (creative huh?). In HTML these tags include several characteristics, including size, weight (boldness), and a line break. An <H1> tag will be very large and bold, while an <H6> tag is small. Because these tags are used for headings and titles, the search engines place extra weight on words used in <H> tags. The weight they give also depends on which <H> tag is used. <H1> is given more weight than <H3> and <H3> more weight than <H4>. Be sure to use your keywords in <H> tags. If you do not like the appearance of the text when it’s placed in an <H> tag, then you can use CSS or HTML to change the font attributes, though there is some debate as to whether that effects the amount of weight the search engines give the <H> tag.

Baby Steps
Optimization is a comprised of several small elements that work together to get the result of higher rankings for targeted keywords. Each element adds to the affect. You may find, however, that you cannot or do not want to optimize every element of your page. That can affect the results, but just because you can’t do everything, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do anything. Every element you optimize is another step towards that #1 ranking.

Warning!!!
There are certain practices that the search engines tell us they do not approve of. This is generally known in the SEO world as “Black Hat” SEO. The search engines warn that they will punish website that employ these tactics and possibly ban the site. Here are a few of the more common “Black Hat” practices:

• Keyword Stuffing: This is the practice of putting a bunch of keywords on a page, in a META tag, in an alt tag, etc. for the purpose of influencing the search engines. This is not to be confused with simply using keywords in these elements, but when you use the keywords you shouldn’t just stick a bunch of keywords in some chaotic fashion. The text should make sense and should not just be a list of keywords.
• Tricking the Search Engines with Irrelevant Keywords: This is when you use certain keywords in the behind the scenes elements of a page to make it look like a page is about one topic, when the actual subject matter is something completely different. I’ve actually seen some churches doing this where they use keywords like “gambling” or some other vice in the hopes that someone looking for a gambling site will stumble across their page and read the Gospel or be told that what their doing is a sin. The page isn’t actually about gambling, but they are trying to trick the search engines into thinking it is so the show up in gambling related search results. It would be better for them to just create a page about gambling additions.
• Doorway pages: Doorway pages are pages designed for the search engines that human visitors never actually see. Unlike cloaking, a human visitor may actually go to the page, but they are quickly redirected to another page, sometimes so fast that the visitor doesn’t even realize they were redirected.
• Hiding Content: Along with Keyword Stuffing, this is probably the most common “Black Hat” technique because this is something average, everyday webmasters can come up with and implement very easily. Hidden content can be done in several ways. Sometimes people hide text behind a picture. Other times they make the text so small people can’t read it. Another common way to hide content is by making the text the same color as the background. How ever it’s done, the idea is to put text on the page that humans won’t see, but search engines will.

All of these tactics are designed to trick the search engines. The search engine people don’t like that. I never recommend using black hat techniques. They are just too risky and you should be able to get the same desired results from good SEO practices. Be aware, if you do use some of these techniques, you may get away with it for a while and may even see great rewards, but most sites get caught. In the end, it isn’t worth it if you get punished or banned!!

Make It Natural:
One of the most difficult aspects of on-page optimization is balancing the optimization and the experience of the visitors. You should always design for your visitors. The search engines should always be second. After all, does it matter if you get thousands of visitors if they all leave after 3 seconds because they can’t stand being on your site. So, it’s a balance. Choose keywords wisely so they naturally fit into the topic of the page and then work them into the text in way that is natural to the visitor.

Don’t Leave Your Net in the Boat!
Whether you do it yourself or hire an expert SEO, Optimize Your Website; not just your homepage, all your web pages. Each page is like a fishing net. Not optimizing a page is like leaving that net in your boat instead of using it to catch fish (or visitors). This is something to consider even before you create your website when you are choosing your web host. Many hosts include web builders that either make it very difficult to fully optimize a website or completely impossible. I’ll take this moment to blatantly promote OurChurch.Com here. When designing the NE1™ web builder, OurChurch.Com intentionally considered search engine optimization and made sure any page can be fully optimized and that it can be done easily within the web builder.

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Tags: On-page Optimization, Search Engine Optimization, SEO