The Truth about On-Page and Off-Page SEO

To make a web site appear in the first places in every search engine, there are certain guidelines to follow in order to achieve this. This optimization consists of a series of small -or sometimes big- changes inside a web page in order to make it more visible to the public. By applying these changes, the web site will be easier to index and to be found in the first places.

The page optimization must be planned carefully to achieve maximum effect. There are two main areas where these optimizations can take place: the On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO.

The first one refers to the changes to be applied inside the contents of the page, and they include:

* Usability, navigation and site structure.
* Servers, hosting and URL forming
* Keywords
* Contents
* Meta tags
* Internal links and site map
* RSS feeds and newsletters

Inside the page there are many elements that, when combined, will help achieve an optimal On-page Search Engine Optimization.

One of the first elements on the page itself is the ìtitleî tag. This tag, located inside the ìheadî tags of the page, should include a unique name for each page inside the site. This title will be the first thing users will see when searching for certain words so it is important to use relevant terms: precise and short.

Another important element is the ìmeta tagsî. The ìdescriptionî Meta tag, as the name says, should have a longer description of the site and its contents. These contents will appear below the main title of the page in every search engine, giving the user a glimpse of what they will find on your page. The use of human-readable URLs is also another great technique to use in order to achieve a better positioning inside the search engines.

If the main content of the page is other than text/HTML (flash, videos or graphics, for example) there are many search engines that are capable of ìreadingî these contents, but not all of them. Adding a text-based navigation with the most important keywords in the menu text, help search engines index the contents.

Writing clear and concise content is very important. Easy readable texts, with short and clear sentences with a keyword density optimized according to the general volume of words, and keywords used that relate to the main topic of the page are the most important elements to consider while doing an On-page SEO. This applies also for the image descriptions.

But the previously described techniques are only part of the job. There are also some tasks to be performed ìoutsideî the web site and the pages, the so called Off-Page SEO.

There are sites for Social networking that were built based on the user interaction and they allow us to get certain groups of people interested in one topic and gather them together in one location. These include forums, blog sites and groups inside the most known social networks. Find out which of these include users who may be interested in your site and blog or write inside their different forums the URL link of the site and contents of your pages and thus help build your back-links.

Finally, not all the promotion has to be made in electronic media, the world outside the web also needs to get in contact with your site. Promoting the web site outside the Internet also helps a lot. You can start by printing the URL on your business cards, letterhead and other printed media normally used to promote your business.