On-page optimisation does not carry as much weight for rankings as off-page optimisation but the on-page factors are completely in your control so you should make the most of them. Follow these simple tips to optimise your website pages.
Meta Tags
You may have read somewhere online that meta tags are dead and you no longer need to use them, well this is just a load of rubbish. While it is true that good meta tags alone will not give you high rankings they are very important for 2 reasons:
1. Search engines, including Google, do use the title tag in their ranking algorithms. OK, it may not be the most important ranking factor but it is one that is totally in your control - so make the most of it!
2. A well written title and description will improve the click through rate of your listing in the search engine results. There is no point being at #1 in Google if your title and description is so bad that nobody clicks through to your site.
Title Meta Tag
You should include the main keyword for the page once or twice in the title for optimisation purposes. Titles should also be written to compel browsers to click on your listing. Make sure you keep your title to around 8 words or less, under 64 characters. Any longer than this and Google will not display the full title and add … to the end. An incomplete title in the search results will lower the click through rate resulting in less visitors to your site.
Description Meta Tag
The description tag should also include the main keyword for the page once or twice. Again it is important to keep the description short so that it is shown in full in the search results. One or two sentences will do but write then to make people click on the listing.
Keywords Meta Tag
The keywords tag is not that important but is still worth including. Just use the main 4 or 5 keyword phrases for the page and make sure the keywords are actually on the page in the body text. A good keywords tag will not boost your rankings in Google, however a keyword-stuffed tag with many keywords could get your site penalised – DO NOT add every keyword you can think of to your keyword tags.
