Ranking well in search engine results for relevant queries will enable your blog or site to attract more potential prospects.  The more relevant your web page is to a search query, as measured by search engines, the higher it will rank.  Off-page and on-page search engine optimization (SEO) can improve these rankings.  A previous post discussed social signals as an increasingly important off-page SEO factor, in addition to external links.   What are key on-page SEO  tactics you can apply to improve search results ranking?  To hear it straight from the horse’s mouth, here’re 5 selected video clips containing easy to implement tips from Matt Cutts, Google.

Jeff Rose, CFP

On-Page Search Engine Optimization Basics

1. Insert relevant keywords in url but do not create spammy keyword-stuffed urls

2. Craft compelling titles and descriptions to improve click through rates (meta descriptions do not affect Google search rankings)

3. Weave keywords into content but do not overdo as that may lead to penalties

4. Describe images in text by using their ‘alt’ (alternative text) tag and file names (this helps search engines know what the image is about)

5.  Surface important pages through internal links but do not over-engineer internal linking to maximize PageRank  (“PageRank Sculpting”)

Have you incorporated these on-page SEO basics in your online marketing?

– by InvestmentPal