Increased Website Traffic: On-page Criteria

Criteria #1: File Name

The file name is the name you give the HTML coding page that makes up a visible page seen on your website. Each page of your website focuses on a particular keyword. By including that main keyword in the file name of a page, you gain a few points of relevancy from some search engines.

For example, if the main keyword for a particular page is “fly fishing,” you would simply include that keyword somewhere in the file name when you save the HTML page. The page could simply be saved as:

You should include the dash as most search engines will see that as a space and be able to read the distinct words. If you run the words together in the file name, the search engines won’t be able to discern the individual words.

Criteria #2: Page Title

In the HTML coding of every page, there is an HTML tag called Title. Between the title tags is placed a brief description of what the page is about in order to help the search engines. For increased website traffic, make sure all your web pages contain a title tag. Below is what the title tag looks like for this web page.

<title>
Increased Website Traffic: On-page Criteria
</title>

Here are a few rules to follow when choosing the title for each of your pages.

1. The main keyword for the page should be used at least once in the title but don’t use it more than twice. See the below section on “keywords” for clarification.

2. Make sure that the page title is below 80 characters (including spaces.)

3. Place the main keyword for the page towards the beginning of the page title. The first, second, or third word is ideal.

4. The page title is normally used as the text in search engine results so be sure to capitalize and use proper grammar for a cleaner presentation.

5. Do not use any HTML coding in the page title.

Criteria #3: META Keyword Tag

Towards the top of every HTML page should be the META keyword tag. META tags are simply snippets of code that describe some aspect of the page content. META tags help the search engines figure out what your page is all about. And when the search engines can easily figure out the focus of your page, increased website traffic is the result!

The META tag associated with keywords looks like the following:

<meta name="Keywords" content="keyword1, keyword2, keyword3, keyword4">

Of course each page would have “keyword1,” keyword2,” and so on filled with the specific keywords for the page.

Here are a few rules to follow when entering keywords in your META keyword tag for each page.

1. The very first keyword listed will be the primary keyword for the page. It should be a keyword with a reasonably high demand and a relatively low supply. If you’re not sure what this means, click here to read an article about determining keywords for your pages.

2. Your secondary keywords for the page will be filled out after the primary keyword and need to be separated by a comma and a space. Secondary keywords can contain your primary keyword or a common synonym.

3. The total number of keywords for any particular page should be limited to 3-5. Some search engines may penalize you if you use too many keywords in the META keyword tag. This is known as “keyword stuffing.” If you want increased website traffic, DO NOT stuff large quantities of keywords into the META keyword tag.

4. Don’t spend a lot of time worrying about getting the perfect keywords for your pages. Many search engines no longer rank the META keyword tag as an important element. However, I still recommend you use them on every page as they still carry some importance.

Here’s an example of how a META keyword tag might look for a web page that has “fly fishing basics” as the primary keyword.

<meta name="Keywords" content=”fly fishing basics, fly fishing for beginner, learn fly fishing">

Criteria #4: META Description Tag

Most search engines don’t rely heavily on the information in the description tag to rank your page but that doesn’t mean you can ignore it. The engines will typically use the description tag as the search results text for the webpage. Therefore, make sure your page description is compelling. You want to interest readers enough so that they make the click-through. Spend some time crafting a good page description and you'll be rewarded with increased website traffic.

Below is an example of what the META description tag looks like on your HTML page.

<meta name="Description" content="The description of your webpage goes within these quotes.">

Here are some guidelines in creating your META description tags.

1. Limit the length of the description to 150-200 words (including spaces.)

2. As the description will normally appear in search engine results, write a compelling page description that makes the reader want to click to find out more.

3. Don’t repeat the text you used in the Page Title. Otherwise, if a search engine uses both your page title and your description tag in the search results, visitors will see duplicate text.

4. Use the main keyword for the page once in the description text and try to place it within the first 3-5 words.

5. Do not use quotes or non-standard characters within the description text.

Criteria #5: H1 Headline

The term “H1” refers to the main headline for the page. The search engines look at this H1 headline to help determine the focus of your page. Some search engines may actually use your H1 headline as part of the search result description for your page. For increased website traffic, make sure all your H1 headlines contain your page-specific keyword.

The H1 headline text is always placed between the <h1> and </h1> tags on your HTML page. Here are a few tips for writing an H1 headline.

1. Keep it short, concise, and relevant to your page content. Try and keep your headlines to 40-60 characters (including spaces.)

2. Include the main keyword for the page in your H1 headline. This is very important for increased website traffic.

3. Place your page-specific keyword within the first few words of your headline.

4. There is no need to use a period in your H1 headline. You can, if necessary, use commas, dashes, questions marks, and exclamation points but try and keep these to a minimum.

Criteria #6: Keyword Density

By now, you have probably noticed we have been weaving the main keyword for the page in all of our on-page criteria. Taken together, these have the effect of strengthening the ability of the search engines to figure out what your page is about and thereby giving you increased website traffic.

Keyword density refers to the number of times you weave your page-specific keyword into the body copy. This tactic, if done correctly, will help give your page a boost in the search engine rankings. Here are some tips to help you ensure you have the proper keyword density on your page.

1. Include the main keyword for the page in the opening sentence of the body copy, preferably within the first few words of the sentence.

2. The search engines will look for excessive use of a particular keyword so be careful about using it too often in your page. Here is a safe rule of thumb. Target a keyword density of 3-5% for the body copy. So, for every 100 main words in the body copy, weave in your page-specific keyword approximately three to five times. You want your keyword to be mentioned a bit more than what is considered "normal English" but not so many times that it sounds strange when read back.

3. Once you have established your 3-5% main keyword density as described above, try and find ways to weave in synonyms for your keyword as well. Most likely, you will find that this happens naturally as you write your page.

4. Some search engines place more weight on the opening and closing paragraphs to be sure you weave your keyword into these areas.

5. The entire body copy of your web page should focus ONLY on the main keyword for that page. Do NOT go off topic from your main keyword.

Criteria #7: Links

For increased website traffic, use your page-specific keyword in a link within the body copy of the page. A simple way to do this is to use a link at the bottom of the page that takes your visitor to a different page within your website (usually a level up.) Here’s the basic text you could use for a link.

Since your page name contains your main keyword (if you followed the above steps), you'll create a link containing your page-specific keyword which fulfills this criteria.

Criteria #8: Image Alt Tag

You’ve probably noticed that many search engines (e.g., Google, Yahoo) now have image search directories. Depending on the type of website you have and whether images make up an important part of your overall concept, the “Alt Image” tag may be helpful in giving you increased website traffic.

The HTML code for an image will contain what is called an “Alt” tag. Within the Alt tag is a description of the particular image. All you need to do is to ensure that the “Alt” tag contains the page-specific keyword. This can help generate additional traffic to your website.

The Alt tag is found within the image tag. See the below HTML example for clarification.

<img src="image-files/newheader2.gif" alt="small business marketing">

By placing your page-specific keyword in the Alt tag, you increase the chances of your page being found via an image search.