WSI Simply Social

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) methods are used to increase a website’s visibility on the search engine result pages (SERP).  SEO comprises of two aspects namely on page Search engine Optimization and off page Search Engine Optimization.  On page SEO contains all the elements regarding the physical optimization of your website while off page SEO is the means on how to get targeted traffic to your website.

This the first part in a series where I will be explaining on and off page SEO in a nutshell.  I don’t go into great depth explaining these, but just a quick run down of what on and off page SEO entails.

When designing / developing a new website, all of these aspects needs to be taken into consideration.  Every single part plays a vital role and it all adds up to increase your website visibility on the internet.

On Page SEO

Find below a simple break down of On Page SEO.

• Title tags need to be named correctly;
• Use keywords in the URL of your pages;
• Keywords as well as meta descriptions needs to reflect content found on the page.;
• Never use the exact same keywords and meta descriptions on more than one page;
• Image alt and title tags.  These tags are displayed when a user hovers over an image;
• Keywords in links;
• Correct HTML validation;
• Use of heading tags.  Search engine crawlers notice the usage of <h1>,<h2>,<h3> and views this as important text;
• Age of domain.  In simpler terms, search engines trusts older domains;
• Search engine friendly url’s.  If you have a dynamic website, don’t use dynamic url’s (index.php?id=34&cat=21&visibility=true).  If your webserver runs Apache, search for “mod_rewrite” where you can rewrite any url to be search engine friendly;
• Correct redirects (301 and 302).  Never use Javascript redirects as search engines cannot follow these.

This is just a simple break down of On Page SEO techniques. It is very important to overlook all of these aspects when creating a new website as all these little elements plays a role for the Search Engine Optimization of your website.  I will explain these elements in great depth in future posts.

On the next part of the series you can find a simple break down of Off page SEO methods.