Search Engine Optimization (SEO) On Page Conventions
Digital Hill Multimedia, Inc.
A new year is a good time to revisit some of the basics and see how you’re doing.!
In the past we have outlined Keyword and Meta Data On-Page SEO Conventions to help you develop a routine for optimizing your site per page. We want to highlight those details again to you for your use, and encourage you to review your site for 2011 marketing.
On-Page SEO Conventions
Often times clients can get discouraged when we tell them they have to write unique page titles and meta data per page on their site for maximum SEO success. That’s a significant amount to ask of anyone who doesn’t do it full time for a living! However, over the years we have discovered a efficient methodology for writing strong and unique SEO-friendly page titles, meta keywords and meta descriptions.
Once you have determined through research the primary keyword phrase defined for your overall website and primary keyword phrases for your subpages, you can easily define a repeating SEO convention for your page titles and meta data while maintaining uniqueness for each. Below is an example from a microsite we have focused on for the Elkhart area:
Overall Website and Home Page Primary Keyword Phrase:
Elkhart Web Design (From research we determined this was the key phrase people were searching for most routinely)
- Page Title: Elkhart Web Design
- Meta keywords: Elkhart, web, website, design, development
- Meta description: Elkhart Web Design is a full service Web Design and Internet Marketing Company serving Elkhart, IN.
SEO Subpage A – Primary Keyword Phrase:
Elkhart e-Commerce (This is for a page on our site focused on e-Commerce offerings)
- Title: Elkhart e-Commerce – Elkhart Web Design
- Meta keywords: Elkhart, Web, Design, Elkhart e-Commerce, Services
- Meta description: Web Design Elkhart e-Commerce solutions and services.
SEO Subpage B Primary Keyword Phrase:
Elkhart Web Application Development
- Title: Elkhart Web Application Development – Elkhart Web Design
- Meta keywords: Elkhart, Web, Design, Elkhart Web Application Development, Services
- Meta description: Web Design Elkhart Web Application Development and Services.
The above examples represent a clearly defined SEO convention that offers unique page titles and meta data for every page in a website. Since you know what the primary keyword phrase is for each page it’s just a matter of replacing the keyword phrase from one subpage with the primary keyword phrase from the next subpage for successful SEO.
SUMMARY:
Here is the summary pattern to follow for good SEO per page title and meta conventions.
SEO Subpage Z Primary Keyword Phrase: XYZ ABC
* Title: XYZ ABC – Elkhart Web Design
* Meta keywords: Elkhart, Web, Design, XYZ ABC, Services
* Meta description: Web Design Elkhart XYZ ABC solutions and services.
Our final tip is that it is important to NOT overstuff any of these areas per page.
Title Tag maximum character length: 70 characters
Meta Keywords: Not used extensively by Google any longer, but still used by other search engines and therefore still of value and still helpful to include. We would suggest having 4 keyword phrases, each separated by a comma, for every individual page that the client is looking to be found for.
Meta Description: 156-175 characters max
You can actually hurt your optimization and be penalized by search engines for “stuffing” terms on pages. As well, the more terms the more you have watered down the page focus.
So use this short guide to write efficient SEO friendly Page Titles and Meta-data per page for your website! Coming in another addition, “Content is King” focused on keyword density per page on your website!