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How do I optimise a page for a keyword or phrase?

When optimising a page for a keyword or phrase, there are four key areas you should edit within the system that you use to update your website. If the Content Management System (CMS) that you use to update your trade association website won’t let you do any of these things, it may be time to upgrade.

On the page itself

It is very important to include your keyword or phrase throughout the page. Be sure to include it in your page title or heading (commonly known as the H1), in the body of your text and as the ALT tag for any images within your Web page.

An ALT tag is a line of text describing the contents of an image on your Web page. It exists to allow users with physical impairments to view your Web page using tools such as screen readers. More often than not it is possible to include your keyword and describe the image in this caption. Search engines will look at the use of your keyword or phrase within your Web page to assess it for relevance, so be sure to use it throughout.

In the page URL

The URL of a Web page is the address that displays in the bar at the top of your Internet browser. Ideally, your keyword or phrase should be a part of this address, following your primary domain. For example, for a page that is optimised for the term ‘egg producers’ within the website www.badeggs.com, the URL should read as www.badeggs.com/egg_producers. Words within your URL should be separated by hyphens or underscores.

Through linking

Linking is hugely important to the relevance and quality that a search engine assigns to your Web page and, as a result, its ranking within search results. You should internally link your Web page to and from other relevant pages within your website using keyword-rich anchor text, in order to build mini ‘hubs of authority’. That is, pages on a similar theme all feeding traffic to each other.

When searching through your site, a search engine will move through these links. Making it easy for the engine to move in and out of relevant linked pages will boost your SEO.

Inbound links, which are links to your Web page from external websites are the most powerful boost to your SEO. These links should be from relevant, credible websites and should be earned, NOT paid for.

Links from .gov and .org sites appear to be especially powerful as search engines assign these sorts of domains extra credibility.

In the Title Tag and Meta Description

The Title Tag and Meta Description are the title and description shown to you by a search engine when a search result is displayed. Be sure to get your keyword or phrase into both the Title Tag (at the very beginning) and Meta Description for SEO purposes and also to attract the attention of the searcher, as many search engines bold the keyword or phrases that have been searched for.