Site Owners Forums - Webmaster Forums - Top On-Site Search Engine Ranking Factors

Good search engine optimization starts on your website. Without addressing the specific factors laid out in this article, then any amount of off-site optimization techniques will fail if you wish to rank your website for a specific keyword term. The most important on-site search engine optimization techniques can be broken down into 4 distinct categories which we will have a look at today. They are the title tags, keywords in body, fresh content and the age of the domain.

The title tag is found at the top of the browser and is the descriptive name given to a web page. As such, it is also used as a link in the search engine results pages for a given web page and is therefore extremely important when it comes to assessing the relevancy of a page. It is of no surprise then that you should place your most important keywords for that individual page within the title tag. However, be careful not to stuff your title tags full of keywords and try and keep them to as little as 60 characters if possible.

It should go without saying that the keywords you wish a specific page to rank for should be included in the main body text. Using them in page headers is highly recommended and you should try to include them throughout the body. Make sure however to write naturally and not to stuff the relevant keywords in as many times as possible as this will get you penalized by the search engines.

Just as important as making sure you are using the correct keywords in your content is to make sure that you are updating your content on a regular basis. The search engines love fresh content and so the more you can supply, the better. If you can start a blog on your website to update your visitors or customers on any latest news, new products or just general activities then fantastic. New and updated content will also do wonders for your off-site search engine optimization, by attracting links to your site.

The age of your domain can also play a role in how well the search engines rank your site or individual page. This is because many search engines trust older sites more and see them as having more authority on a particular subject. However, don't worry if your website is new as age, for the most part, isn't as important as the other 3 factors I have posted here.