Consequently Your Web Pages Are Your Products...
Make every single page of content worthy of your business.
The vast majority of your site's pages are important because every page of your website has an opportunity to be indexed by the search engines. This is considered to be Google in the UK, because it has about a 90% hold on search activity. In the US it's 61%. You may maximise the likelihood of a page being indexed if you can show Google that you have put thought and attention into your page content. What this actually means is producing a page that's providing a sufficient amount of unique and engaging content. If a page on your web site isn't indexed, you have not been able to satisfy Google sufficiently for it to think your page worthy of being included in their index. Basically, they do not think its up to scratch enough to be seen by their customers.
Learn From Your Competitors
You can learn a great deal about what might be deficient with your site page by taking a look at your competition. The general standard of the pages you visit will tell you about the standard you will need to attain and exceed, if your financial position and time allows.
Your Message
A succinct message delivered adequately is much better than a bad message delivered well! Looking at your competition will assist you in deciding how well you will need to deliver your message. Ensure you are clear on what you are going to be saying and what you will be asking your audience to do. Think carefully about what words, pictures and even video would make a prospect purchase from you rather than one of the competition. When you're clear about your message only then can you develop the content.
Your Page Is Your Display Product
Even if you're a service business you still have to treat every single page of your website as if you're going to place it on a shelf for possible buyers to view. If the product you place on show looks uncared for no one will buy it. If the product does not provide enough information it's the same.
The Factors That Are Important To Google
There aren't any mysteries to what Google pays attention to and uses. If you pay no heed to these factors the chances of your page being indexed are almost none. If your page isn't indexed it will NEVER be served up on a search engine results page (SERP). The list below contains all of the on-page SEO elements that make up a web page. Some aren't seen by the human eye but they are inspected by the search engine crawlers and therefore are critical.
- URL
- Page Title
- Meta Description
- H1 Tag
- Image file names & attributes
- Word count
URL - The Address Of Your Web Page
It is useful if the URL contains words that have meaning. If it does it will have meaning to a search engine crawler. This is a helpful page address 'www.wd4t.com/blog/managing-your-online-reputation-easy' because it gives an idea about what the topic of the destination page is about. 'www.wd4t.com/node/88' isn't beneficial yet it's the same page address as the one above, however it is the raw page address. If you have control over your page addressing you must make sure the address makes sense to a human being and that it reflects what a human and a crawler will find when they visit the page.
Page Title - Times Have Changed
Like the URL the Page Title is important and it is most definitely a factor that influences how high a page can rank. The Page Title appears in the tab of the browser. What you want to include in your page title are words that you want your page to be famous for but at the very same time you don't want to use the same sequence of words on multiple pages. It is important you avoid duplicate page titles. Google does exclude pages from its index if it feels multiple pages of a website are too similar.
H1 Tag - Regard It As Heading 1
H1 implies to a search engine the main title of the content they're crawling. To the human visitor it is the main heading. It should give the reader of the page a very clear notion of what the content of the page is really about.
Meta Description - Your Advert
This is unquestionably one of the most neglected elements and yet it is one of the most vital. This is what Google will serve up if it thinks your content is worthy of showing in search results. It must be written with a call to action. If you don't write a Meta Description Google will decide for you what it will show and this is usually not a good thing.
Image File Names And Attributes
Search engines cannot translate what an image is about, they only know there is an image in place. The file name you give to an image assists a search engine figure out what the image is about. On top of this the search engines check the alt tag and the title tag fields that can be associated with pictures. These fields give further opportunities to tell a search engine what they should index a page for.
Word Count - Less Is Not More
It is a fine balance between having too many words and having too few words. People are sometimes put off by having to read too much , however , they are going to leave a page if they can not find enough information. What is clear is that Google does not like pages that are text deficient. It's vital to organise the words in a way that both keeps the reader engaged and satisfies Google regarding word count.
Conclusion - Make It Good, Make It Count
In summary, as a website owner you should regard your site pages like you would products you are placing on view. If your products look unappealing you can't expect people to show interest in them. The same is true for the search engines.
If you want your internet site pages to be indexed you have got to ensure you feed the search engines with what they are searching for from content. If you want your web site pages to be respected by visitors you have to make sure they can see that you've put some effort into producing quality content.
Make every single page of content worthy of your business.
The vast majority of your site's pages are important because every page of your website has an opportunity to be indexed by the search engines. This is considered to be Google in the UK, because it has about a 90% hold on search activity. In the US it's 61%. You may maximise the likelihood of a page being indexed if you can show Google that you have put thought and attention into your page content. What this actually means is producing a page that's providing a sufficient amount of unique and engaging content. If a page on your web site isn't indexed, you have not been able to satisfy Google sufficiently for it to think your page worthy of being included in their index. Basically, they do not think its up to scratch enough to be seen by their customers.
Learn From Your Competitors
You can learn a great deal about what might be deficient with your site page by taking a look at your competition. The general standard of the pages you visit will tell you about the standard you will need to attain and exceed, if your financial position and time allows.
Your Message
A succinct message delivered adequately is much better than a bad message delivered well! Looking at your competition will assist you in deciding how well you will need to deliver your message. Ensure you are clear on what you are going to be saying and what you will be asking your audience to do. Think carefully about what words, pictures and even video would make a prospect purchase from you rather than one of the competition. When you're clear about your message only then can you develop the content.
Your Page Is Your Display Product
Even if you're a service business you still have to treat every single page of your website as if you're going to place it on a shelf for possible buyers to view. If the product you place on show looks uncared for no one will buy it. If the product does not provide enough information it's the same.
The Factors That Are Important To Google
There aren't any mysteries to what Google pays attention to and uses. If you pay no heed to these factors the chances of your page being indexed are almost none. If your page isn't indexed it will NEVER be served up on a search engine results page (SERP). The list below contains all of the on-page SEO elements that make up a web page. Some aren't seen by the human eye but they are inspected by the search engine crawlers and therefore are critical.
- URL
- Page Title
- Meta Description
- H1 Tag
- Image file names & attributes
- Word count
URL - The Address Of Your Web Page
It is useful if the URL contains words that have meaning. If it does it will have meaning to a search engine crawler. This is a helpful page address 'www.wd4t.com/blog/managing-your-online-reputation-easy' because it gives an idea about what the topic of the destination page is about. 'www.wd4t.com/node/88' isn't beneficial yet it's the same page address as the one above, however it is the raw page address. If you have control over your page addressing you must make sure the address makes sense to a human being and that it reflects what a human and a crawler will find when they visit the page.
Page Title - Times Have Changed
Like the URL the Page Title is important and it is most definitely a factor that influences how high a page can rank. The Page Title appears in the tab of the browser. What you want to include in your page title are words that you want your page to be famous for but at the very same time you don't want to use the same sequence of words on multiple pages. It is important you avoid duplicate page titles. Google does exclude pages from its index if it feels multiple pages of a website are too similar.
H1 Tag - Regard It As Heading 1
H1 implies to a search engine the main title of the content they're crawling. To the human visitor it is the main heading. It should give the reader of the page a very clear notion of what the content of the page is really about.
Meta Description - Your Advert
This is unquestionably one of the most neglected elements and yet it is one of the most vital. This is what Google will serve up if it thinks your content is worthy of showing in search results. It must be written with a call to action. If you don't write a Meta Description Google will decide for you what it will show and this is usually not a good thing.
Image File Names And Attributes
Search engines cannot translate what an image is about, they only know there is an image in place. The file name you give to an image assists a search engine figure out what the image is about. On top of this the search engines check the alt tag and the title tag fields that can be associated with pictures. These fields give further opportunities to tell a search engine what they should index a page for.
Word Count - Less Is Not More
It is a fine balance between having too many words and having too few words. People are sometimes put off by having to read too much , however , they are going to leave a page if they can not find enough information. What is clear is that Google does not like pages that are text deficient. It's vital to organise the words in a way that both keeps the reader engaged and satisfies Google regarding word count.
Conclusion - Make It Good, Make It Count
In summary, as a website owner you should regard your site pages like you would products you are placing on view. If your products look unappealing you can't expect people to show interest in them. The same is true for the search engines.
If you want your internet site pages to be indexed you have got to ensure you feed the search engines with what they are searching for from content. If you want your web site pages to be respected by visitors you have to make sure they can see that you've put some effort into producing quality content.
About the Author:
Mark Byers is the M. D of WD4T. Mark has been involved with the web for more than twenty years and specialises in optimising web sites to increase visitors and convert those visitors into customers. In addition to WD4T and it's clients, he also provides consultancy services to a range of digital agencies. Mark has written many articles on strategy and planning, web site design and optimisation.
