Search Engine rank factors - what affects your sites ranking?
Here is what is currently considered by some experts (according to Ranking Factors Version 2 by SEOmoz) what affects your rankings in the search engine results.
I am listing only 7 factors and have sorted them according to my own scale of importance, so it does not entirely reflect the results shown in the post by SEOmoz.
1. Keyword Use in Title Tag
I’d say this is by far the most important area of any page within your site. You MUST place your keyphrases in your title tag.
Do this for every page of your site (optimize each page individually).
Don’t overdo it, add one keyphrase per page title.
Create different title tags for each page using the kephrase so that it reflects the content of that particular page.
2. Keyword Use in Meta Description Tag
This is what is seen below the title in the Search Results. Is it important? - for sure!
Write a different description for each page using your keyphrase so it reflects the content of that particular page.
3. Keyword Use in Body Text
Repeat your keyword or keyphrase at least once in the body text of the page you are optimizing. Don’t repeat it too many times, it is better to write your content so that it makes sense to whoever is reading it.
4. Keyword Use in H1 Tag
According to the SEOMoz article, this is the fourth most important factor, I agree. Place your keyphrase in <H1> tags somewhere in the body text section of your site. My suggestion is to do it once only.
5. Keyword Use in ALT Attributes and Image Titles
Add keywords and keyword filled descriptions in the the ALT attribute of the IMG tag. This is very important as image optimization (name of the image, alt attribute, and title) is a wonderful way to make a page more relevant to a desired search query.
6. Keyword Use in Bold/Strong Tags
This is not so important but it helps emphasize to Google what your page is about, and what you consider important. It also makes it much easier for the site visitor to pick up on the most important elements of your pages.
7. Keyword Use in H2, H3, H… Tags
I would not go overboard with this but if your page allows, you can add keywords to the other header tags as well.
These are extremely important factors for your site to do well in the search engines. You should have these implemented in your site, and most importantly, on every page of your site. Make sure they are there!
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- April 11th, 2007
- Search Engines , Search Engine Optimization
I must admit I have always been puzzled how the ranking system work…your article helped me understand
Hi Charles. There are many aspects or factors that influence your site’s rank on the search engines. The seven factors I mentioned are basically the most important ones (at least in my mind) for on-site optimization, but there are many more as you probably saw in the SEOmoz post. Thank you for your comment.