8 Actionable On-site Optimization Techniques to Boost your SEO

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1 8 Actionable On-site Optimization Techniques to Boost your SEO End the question of Why am I not Ranking Right Now And Start Making your SEO Work for you 1

2 8 Actionable On Site Optimization Techniques On site optimization accounts for around twenty five percent (25%) of your entire SEO factor. This is a simplified, Complete On Site Optimization Tutorial for anyone who is new to SEO and wants to know how to make the most out of their on site optimization 1 Title Tag Arguably the most Important On Site factor there is Keyword Density Keywords are vital to your site s SEO Keyword Prominence & Proximity Where you place your Keywords and how you arrange them Outbound Links You ve got a link here and a link there Image SEO Hiding keywords inside every picture Sitemap Making it easy for Search Spiders to Crawl your stuff URL Slugs That URL is very, very important 8 Internal Linking All the relevant stuff go together 2

3 8 Actionable On Site Optimization Techniques On site optimization accounts for around twenty five percent (25%) of your entire SEO factor. This is a simplified, Complete On Site Optimization Tutorial for anyone who is new to SEO and wants to know how to make the most out of their on site optimization 1 Title Tag Arguably the most Important On Site factor there is Keyword Density Keywords are vital to your site s SEO Keyword Prominence & Proximity Where you place your Keywords and how you arrange them Outbound Links You ve got a link here and a link there Image SEO Hiding keywords inside every picture Sitemap Making it easy for Search Spiders to Crawl your stuff URL Slugs That URL is very, very important 8 Internal Linking All the relevant stuff go together 3

4 The title tag is one of the oldest attributes there is to a webpage s layout. Title Tags have been existent since websites came to being. Title tags are also one of the most important attributes that you will ever get to use in your on site optimization. As a user, you see the title tag in the top-leftmost part of your internet browser. It is also used in the search engine results page as indicated in the illustration: Title Tag 4

5 It doesn t take a genius to create a title tag. You can always see how title tags are created in the source code of an internet browser. For example, if you re using Firefox, type in CTR+U and you ll see the source code of this page. Press CTR+F and look for <title> I would say title tags have a very valuable usage both for people and for search engines. It holds really good weight as an on-site optimization factor giving you a good foundation for your desired keyword. It also lets users know what your page is all about in the search engines and in your website itself. Don t take the title tag for granted. But don t stuff in too much of your keywords in it too. 5

6 The title tag is good for 70 characters. Any more than that and the search engines will show an ellipsis ( ) to indicate that the excess characters in the title tag have not been included anymore. It is also advised that the keywords in the title tag should be found in the body of the content for a higher rank. It would be great if your title tag is also an on-page H1 title tag. For example: This article s H1 title is the same as the page s title tag. 6

7 Another good strategy for the title tag is that you should place the keywords that you want to rank for in front put it as the first words of your 70 character title tag this way, they would be more helpful for ranking and they would have better impact on a user as a relevant result. 7

8 You can optimize your title tags for branding as well. If you check my title tag is Learn SEO SEO Hacker School because that s what the site is all about. SEO School is all about making sure that the SEO that you re learning really works. I don t get technical with the lessons, but if and when I do, I explicitly outline every step and every shortcut to it. Putting your brand in the title tag leverages your brand both in the SERPs and in your website. And that s a good thing. 8

9 A great title is what it is GREAT. It should attract people to click the moment that they see it in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). It should compel them to read what your article is all about. It should lure them in. People don t read your article s body unless they like your title. Statistics say that you have 2 seconds for people to shrug off what you have to say because you did not intrigue them with your title. 9

10 People are emotional beings. Whether they are male or female, their decision making abilities are impacted by their emotional pull. You have to capitalize on that and make your title alluring to what tugs people emotionally. The title tag is the first thing people will see in the SERP about your website/webpage. Make it good so that you will have a positive first impression. Tips for Keeps: Stick to the basic rules here about title tags and a big chunk of your On Site optimization would have already been solved. 10

11 8 Actionable On Site Optimization Techniques On site optimization accounts for around twenty five percent (25%) of your entire SEO factor. This is a simplified, Complete On Site Optimization Tutorial for anyone who is new to SEO and wants to know how to make the most out of their on site optimization 1 Title Tag Arguably the most Important On Site factor there is Keyword Density Keywords are vital to your site s SEO Keyword Prominence & Proximity Where you place your Keywords and how you arrange them Outbound Links You ve got a link here and a link there Image SEO Hiding keywords inside every picture Sitemap Making it easy for Search Spiders to Crawl your stuff URL Slugs That URL is very, very important 8 Internal Linking All the relevant stuff go together 11

12 Keywords are vital to your site s SEO. They are the cornerstone of your entire SEO campaign. Without the right keywords, your SEO structure has no foundation and will get you nowhere. Understanding keyword density is one step to leveraging your website s on-site optimization. 12

13 Keyword density Deals with the ratio of your keywords in light of the total number of index-able words placed in your webpage. For example, you have 100 words article, then having a 1% keyword ratio means that you should have the presence of your keyword one time within that 100 word text. 13

14 Being mindful of your keyword density can give a signal to the search engines that your article is all about a certain specific topic which is the keyword you are targeting. Having this signal gives your webpage relevance and good keyword presence. Don t mistake this with keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing is squeezing in as much of your desired keyword as you can inside your article without much/any regard to your readers. Keyword stuffing is plain wrong and is a spammy method that won t get you up in the ranks anyway. Don t believe me? Check this out. 14

15 The recommended keyword density is not the same for all search engines. For example, Google s recommended keyword density ranges from 1-2%(pictures taken from gorank.com) 15

16 While Yahoo s recommended keyword density is at 3%. 16

17 In general, I would recommend that you stick to 2%. Is keyword density still used in SEO today? Yes I m sure it is. It still has an effect towards search engines to some extent. But if you ask me if people still count their keyword density, I would say no. Why? Because people don t usually write for search engines unless he/she is a black hatter or a spammer trying to get up the ranks quick. Tips for Keeps: You don t need to really count if you have a 2% ratio in order to rank well. Just try to be mindful to insert your keywords when necessary. Don t overdo it. Write for people because in the end, it s people who will be reading what you have to say. 17

18 8 Actionable On Site Optimization Techniques On site optimization accounts for around twenty five percent (25%) of your entire SEO factor. This is a simplified, Complete On Site Optimization Tutorial for anyone who is new to SEO and wants to know how to make the most out of their on site optimization 1 Title Tag Arguably the most Important On Site factor there is Keyword Density Keywords are vital to your site s SEO Keyword Prominence & Proximity Where you place your Keywords and how you arrange them Outbound Links You ve got a link here and a link there Image SEO Hiding keywords inside every picture Sitemap Making it easy for Search Spiders to Crawl your stuff URL Slugs That URL is very, very important 8 Internal Linking All the relevant stuff go together 18

19 Now that we ve discussed keyword density, it s time you know the other factors when it comes to keywords in your on-site optimization. Understanding keyword prominence, frequency and proximity can help you leverage the power and placing of your keywords in your website. This is a tutorial for Keyword Prominence, Frequency and Proximity. Keywords are what makes your site tick. It is the bread and butter that your readers are going to bite and chew. Knowing where to place them, how to use them and how often to insert them in a sentence is important. 19

20 Keyword Prominence deals with how eye-catching your keywords are within a web page. The important keywords should be the most prominent in your webpage. For example: Do you see that the keyphrase I m trying to target? Your sex drive is not the problem, is very prominent in the page as it is my article s title. It is at a good place in my webpage with good fonts and height. That spells out prominence. 20

21 Keyword frequency deals with the number of times you let your keyword or keyphrase appear in a webpage. It is said that the more times a keyword appears in your webpage, the more relevance a search engine will likely attribute to it whenever a user would search for those keywords. Again, there is a fine line between keyword stuffing and having good keyword frequency. Watch how many times you repeat those keywords and make sure that your article makes sense. In fact, I would advise you to just be mindful of your keyword 21

22 frequency - don t force it or put too much emphasis on it. 22

23 Keyword proximity deals with the closeness between two or more keywords with each other. The idea is the closer the keywords are to each other, the better. Let me give you an example: How your on site optimization will affect your search engine rankings How your on site optimization will affect your rankings in search engines 23

24 There ain t much difference, is there? But if someone searches Search engine rankings it is more likely that the previous title will rank higher than the latter. This scenario is within the context and assumption that all else is equal for both pages. It ain t a huge factor, but knowing these little things matter. Tips for Keeps: Create great, quality, compelling content that is of first importance. Just be mindful of these three things about your keyword. It s good awareness but don t make it the basis for your next article. 24

25 8 Actionable On Site Optimization Techniques On site optimization accounts for around twenty five percent (25%) of your entire SEO factor. This is a simplified, Complete On Site Optimization Tutorial for anyone who is new to SEO and wants to know how to make the most out of their on site optimization 1 Title Tag Arguably the most Important On Site factor there is Keyword Density Keywords are vital to your site s SEO Keyword Prominence & Proximity Where you place your Keywords and how you arrange them Outbound Links You ve got a link here and a link there Image SEO Hiding keywords inside every picture Sitemap Making it easy for Search Spiders to Crawl your stuff URL Slugs That URL is very, very important 8 Internal Linking All the relevant stuff go together 25

26 You ve got a link here and a link there. The internet is full of links. Each time you click a link, chances are, it means you re traveling from a certain webpage to another. In SEO, understanding the outbound link is one step forward for your on-site optimization. I ll also be talking about hidden keywords in your links below. Outbound links are links that are meant to take you elsewhere. These are links that are going to direct you to another specific webpage or website altogether. Most, if not all, websites have outbound links. 26

27 There are two (2) kinds of outbound links. There is the nofollow link and the dofollow link. The dofollow link is the normal link. It is the default link. The common link. The normal link. You don t have to add to the code, you don t have to change anything. Just make a link and it s automatically a dofollow link. A dofollow link is what every link should be like. It passes on Google PageRank juice from your webpage to the targeted webpage. A nofollow link is the abnormal link. It does not pass on any Google PageRank juice to the targeted webpage but instead, it blocks off the Google PageRank flow. 27

28 A nofollow link has a rel= nofollow tag inside the code. This tag says to the Google spider: do not follow this link. Why do you add a nofollow tag to a link? Adding a nofollow tag stops the search spider from crawling that targeted webpage. Most webmasters do this when they do not want to give out Google PageRank juice to the targeted webpage. For example, I need to link to Facebook to advertise my Facebook page. Since Facebook already has millions of incoming links to it and my link towards Facebook would make minimal difference, I decide not to give it any PageRank juice so that I can keep some for myself. So I add the nofollow tag to my link which makes it look like this: <a href= rel= nofollow > Join the SEO Hacker Facebook Page</a> 28

29 That s the only reason why I put in nofollow tags. Otherwise, if I want to cite out a specific source of relevant information, I give out dofollow links because: 1. It is only right to do so 2. It makes Google recognize you as a hub of that specific resource which makes you rank higher in the long run 3. The webmaster of the target webpage might recognize you and perhaps link back to you Don t use nofollow tag for every outbound link because nofollow tags still deduct some Google PageRank juice from your webpage even if it gives none to your targeted webpage. It s a lose-lose scenario. Play fair. Give out dofollows if the target webpage deserves it. 29

30 An anchor text is used to describe a link. In fact, it is nearly the only description of your link that users will see. These are the clickable, underlined texts highlighted in blue (in most cases). Anchor texts are used to describe a link which means that it is also used as keywords of that targeted webpage. A good anchor text from another webpage is important to support your keywords. A link with the right anchor text could greatly boost the search engine s awareness of your webpage s keywords. If ever you would have the chance to get a link from another blogger, keep in mind that the anchor text he/she will give you can help your webpage/site to rank higher with your target keywords if you let him/her use it as the anchor text. 30

31 The Anchor Title attribute of a link is one of the neglected attributes. It is an attribute that can hold your keyword inside but more importantly, it is an attribute that helps people know more about the target webpage you re pointing out to. Not many people give notice to the title attribute since it is not practiced by many. But that s exactly why you should keep your title attributes up to date because it s an edge you can use. 31

32 The code for the title attribute is title= insert title here For example: <a href= title= SEO for beginners > Learn SEO in simple terms</a> Tips for Keeps: Be mindful of your outbound links. Add the nofollow attribute when necessary. Otherwise, give some link love. Take the time to write out a good anchor text and anchor title for other people s benefit. You ll never know who might return the favor. 32

33 8 Actionable On Site Optimization Techniques On site optimization accounts for around twenty five percent (25%) of your entire SEO factor. This is a simplified, Complete On Site Optimization Tutorial for anyone who is new to SEO and wants to know how to make the most out of their on site optimization 1 Title Tag Arguably the most Important On Site factor there is Keyword Density Keywords are vital to your site s SEO Keyword Prominence & Proximity Where you place your Keywords and how you arrange them Outbound Links You ve got a link here and a link there Image SEO Hiding keywords inside every picture Sitemap Making it easy for Search Spiders to Crawl your stuff URL Slugs That URL is very, very important 8 Internal Linking All the relevant stuff go together 33

34 Now that we have established outbound links, here s one more that could help you with your on site optimization Image SEO. How do you do optimization for images? How do you use image alt text? How do you use image title? Does changing an image filename help? 34

35 A Good Alternative Image alt text stands for image alternate text why is it called alternate text? Because when you load a webpage without display turned on, it s the alternate text that will display instead of the image. Image alt text can also be considered the keywords behind the image. But it is well-nigh misunderstood and misused. People and SEO specialists (or so they claim) alike, use image alt text to stuff and spam keywords inside their images thinking that these invisible keywords will improve their relevance rating. 35

36 This practice is clearly wrong. It may work at times, yes, but it is not the original design and purpose of the image alt text attribute. The image alt text is supposed to describe what the image is about so that when you search in the Image SERP (Image Search Engine Results Page) of various search engines, your picture is ranking well for certain keywords. The best Img Alt text are relevant keywords pertaining to that image which you tagged with an alt text. 36

37 When you look at the image HTML code, it looks something like this: <img src = alt= this is where you put the alt text /> It s not rocket science at all. And I highly recommend putting in alt texts in all your images. It might not help much in ranking for the main Web SERP but it will surely help you in ranking for the image SERP. 37

38 Image alt text is not the only available attribute where you can hide keywords. There is also an image title attribute. The image title attribute does not weigh as heavily as image alt text in ranking your images in the image SERP but it does help. How? It helps people. When a user/reader/customer mouses-over an image that he/she perhaps do not understand, an image title will help the person know what you are trying to say with that image by showing a tool-tip-text. 38

39 Again, an image title is not meant for you to stuff up keywords inside your image. Instead, it is meant for you to help people understand why you put the image there, what s it for and what it says. The way it affects search engines should not be made a focus even if it may affect your image rankings a bit. How do you use image title? When you look at the image HTML code, it looks something like this: <img src= alt = sample alt text here title= sample title text here /> 39

40 Does the image filename matter? This is a question that has bothered a lot of SEO specialists. Does the filename of the image itself affect the rankings of the image in the SERP? I could only say my personal opinion and observation. And thus far, I am driven to say yes. An image filename does affect the ranking of the image in the SERP. That is why all the images I use in SEO-Hacker.com does not come from an external source because even if I can edit the alternate text and title when it comes from an external source, I cannot edit the image file name unless I download and save it with my desired image file name. 40

41 I would advise that before you upload any image, change the filename first into the best description possible for that certain, specific image that you have. We want to rank. And we want to make every possible factor count in order for us to get to the top. Tips for keeps: Take heed of these three simple details for optimizing images. All the little things in SEO matter. Optimizing images is one arena that you will compete in whether you like it or not. Since you re already in the competition, make it good. As good as you can make it to be. 41

42 8 Actionable On Site Optimization Techniques On site optimization accounts for around twenty five percent (25%) of your entire SEO factor. This is a simplified, Complete On Site Optimization Tutorial for anyone who is new to SEO and wants to know how to make the most out of their on site optimization 1 Title Tag Arguably the most Important On Site factor there is Keyword D qqensity Keywords are vital to your site s SEO Keyword Prominence & Proximity Where you place your Keywords and how you arrange them Outbound Links You ve got a link here and a link there Image SEO Hiding keywords inside every picture Sitemap Making it easy for Search Spiders to Crawl your stuff URL Slugs That URL is very, very important 8 Internal Linking All the relevant stuff go together 42

43 Now that we ve covered how you can optimize images in your website, let s move on to understanding Sitemaps and its effects to your on site SEO structure. What is a Sitemap? In simple terms, a Sitemap is an XML file that is full of your individual webpage s URLs. It s like an archive of every webpage in your website. This file should be easily discoverable in your site in order for search engine crawlers to stumble upon it. 43

44 A Sitemap is usually used for the purpose of letting the search engine crawlers follow the links to all your individual webpages so that it won t miss out on anything. Sometimes we leave out URLs or hide them from all visible pages because we don t exactly want some of the users to go there. As a result, some of these URLs are uncrawlable to search engine spiders. We can still leave those URLs hidden from some users without having to lose out on those pages not being crawled by search engine spiders through including them in an XML Sitemap. Click here to check out what an XML Sitemap looks like 44

45 A Sitemap is pretty easy to create. For WordPress users, you can download the Google XML Sitemaps plugin to make it easier for you. This plugin helps you generate an XML sitemap without having to do anything but activating it. After the plugin has generated your Sitemap, you can find the Sitemap at an address like this: For those who are not using WordPress, you can use this Google Sitemap Generator Plugin. It s pretty easy and they provide a step-by-step approach for you to implement your own Sitemap in your website. 45

46 Search engines should see all the pages that you want them to see. The more pages that they index from you, the more trust your site gains. It only means that your website has more information to offer. Making sure the search engine spiders get to crawl all the stuff they need to crawl from your website is the exact purpose of a Sitemap. It s not for navigation, it s not for internal linking - it s for the search engine spiders. It won t magically boost your on-site SEO, but it would definitely help. Tips for Keeps: Get your own Sitemap if you don t already have one. It s easy and it s necessary. 46

47 8 Actionable On Site Optimization Techniques On site optimization accounts for around twenty five percent (25%) of your entire SEO factor. This is a simplified, Complete On Site Optimization Tutorial for anyone who is new to SEO and wants to know how to make the most out of their on site optimization 1 Title Tag Arguably the most Important On Site factor there is Keyword Density Keywords are vital to your site s SEO Keyword Prominence & Proximity Where you place your Keywords and how you arrange them Outbound Links You ve got a link here and a link there Image SEO Hiding keywords inside every picture Sitemap Making it easy for Search Spiders to Crawl your stuff URL Slugs That URL is very, very important 8 Internal Linking All the relevant stuff go together 47

48 URL slugs are the exact address of a specific website. It is the location where webpages are accessed when typing their URL in the address bar. Optimizing URL slugs is not a very hard thing to do. But if you ask me, it is one of the most important things you can do in your on site optimization process. 48

49 If you didn t know, the URL slugs that you use in your webpage will appear in the SERPs. This is visible to all people who are searching in the web. For this example, I have searched for the keyphrase Title Tag Optimization. The URL slug in the picture says /titletag-optimization-guide/ which is good. People who see this result would say Bingo. But what if my URL slug says /how-to-properly-giveyour-dog-a-name/ then it starts to confuse searchers. It just doesn t add up. 49

50 Some people just don t get it. Sometimes they write out their URL slugs to be like this: It s just gibberish both for people and consequently for search engines too because search engines are just mimicking as to how people respond to search query results. 50

51 Tip 1: Write your URL for people URL Slugs are Important for Indexing Search engine indexing is the first and vital step in a search engine s three main functions. A search engine spider crawls every page of a website and stores each page s data in its database. A webpage s URL is always included in the indexing stage to identify all the attributes of a webpage. Just try a crawling tool like Xenu (download Xenu here) or Screaming Frog and you ll be more familiar with what I m talking about. If the URL of each page is indexed by the search engines, then it would be safe to assume that the search engines give attention to the URL slugs: which takes us to the next step of a URL slug s importance. 51

52 Tip 2: Write your URL for the Search Engines URL Slugs are Important for Ranking The last step in a search engine s three main functions is ranking its results. And since a URL slug is included in its indexing data, it is most safe to say that a search engine factors in the URL slugs as it ranks the webpage for a certain specific keyword/keyphrase. A URL slug actually does affect ranking as I ve tried it out in an experiment. I put in Linkbuilding tutorial on the URL slugs but I put in Linkbuilding Strategies on the Title of the entry and its Title tag. Guess what? The entry ranked for both keyphrases in its own corresponding area of competition. My point is, the URL slugs are given importance by the search engines in vital stages in its threestep process which is indexing, retrieval and ranking. 52

53 Tip 3: Write your URL to Rank on your Keywords/Keyphrases All in all, I just want you to be mindful of your URL slugs. It could really be one of the reasons why you re ranking a bit higher than your competition. 53

54 8 Actionable On Site Optimization Techniques On site optimization accounts for around twenty five percent (25%) of your entire SEO factor. This is a simplified, Complete On Site Optimization Tutorial for anyone who is new to SEO and wants to know how to make the most out of their on site optimization 1 Title Tag Arguably the most Important On Site factor there is Keyword Density Keywords are vital to your site s SEO Keyword Prominence & Proximity Where you place your Keywords and how you arrange them Outbound Links You ve got a link here and a link there Image SEO Hiding keywords inside every picture Sitemap Making it easy for Search Spiders to Crawl your stuff URL Slugs That URL is very, very important 8 Internal Linking All the relevant stuff go together 54

55 Internal linking is all about getting your webpages interconnected with each other. The World Wide Web is made up of links you navigate from webpage to webpage through links. You recommend another webpage through links. But internal linking is more than just about navigation and recommendation. 55

56 Internal linking (or interlinking as I d like to call it for short) is one method that SEO specialists use to distribute good, relevant Pagerank to each webpag e that are related to each other s content. Interlinking your webpages inside your website does not only help people find relevant content in the webpage they are reading, it also helps search engine spiders have an easier time crawling your website and seeing the relevance with each page. Take this for example: You go to a comic store which has lots of other branches. You re looking for the Ultimate Spiderman series but they told you that they only have volume 1 in this store and the other 56

57 volumes are in the other store branches which you have to find out for yourself. Ain t that a bummer? Why do you have to go to all the other store branches just to find the other volumes when they technically own all of those volumes anyway? And why can t they direct you to the other stores instead of you having to look for it yourself? A website with good, interlinked webpages makes it easier for its users to find out good, relevant information within itself. It also helps the search engines to crawl it with a better big picture of what your website is all about and how it is structured and related with each other. 57

58 Inbound links are a great way to rank better. We all know that. The more backlinks/inbound links you have, the more Pagerank juice you have flowing inside your website. But you have to take note that links will be links whether it is inbound or it is internal. The beauty of interlinking is that you have full control of your anchor text and anchor title. These will help the search engines better know what a certain webpage you have is all about. Having the best anchor text and title assigned to a link is very valuable even when the link comes from another webpage within the website. Interlinking can be a bit of a hassle since it falls under the bracket of nitty gritty details you have to fix 58

59 before publishing but there are plugins you can use for that such as SEO Smart Links. This will automate your interlinking as you indicate it in the plugin s database. Tips for Keeps: Just be mindful of all your entries and webpages as you publish a new one and if any relevant, older ones come to mind, link to it. Interlinking isn t hard it s can just get tedious as you increase your webpages. But that isn t a bad thing. 59

60 How you can Increase your SEO knowledge Learning SEO doesn t stop here. On-site Optimization is only the peak of the iceberg. There are TONS of other lessons that you can access for free when you learn as an SEO Hacker Insider (Click the golden button. You know you want to.) The lessons are customized for three different kinds of people: The Technical Track is for people who are fascinated with code. Lessons are filled with Technical SEO stuff such as : How to Effectively Increase your Site Speed What SEOs need to Know About Robots.txt How 301 / 302 Redirect Affects SEO 60

61 The Marketing Track is for people who have the uncommon passion of promotion and Analysis. Lessons include: Introduction to Social Signals Introduction to Inbound Marketing Hustling with Google Analytics Data The Copywriting Track is for people who have a way with words. Lessons are about: How to Write your First Killer Yes Content The SEO s Guide to Writing Great Headlines What you don t know About SEO Copywriting 61

62 SO THAT S IT! Want to make sure that your On-site Optimization is working at its best? Enroll now for FREE in SEO Hacker School 62

63 Copyright 2013 by Sean Patrick Si Founder & Consultant SEO Hacker ebook Design and Layout by: Trisha Si 63