Optimising Page Text

The text on your page is very important in achieving better search engine prominence - even more important than your page titles. However, don't forget your visitors, so the text should be readeble and interesting as well as 'food' for search engines. A good way to structure your page text is to have a couple of introductory paragraphs which outline the topic, followed by more in-depth background information. That way there's something short for your visitors to read and understand quickly, but also more detailed information (keywords, keywords and keywords) for search engines to get their teeth into.

What are your customers searching for? If you optimise your page text for the wrong keywords then all of your efforts will be wasted. Don't try to guess - do your research and know what they are searching for.

Just as a visitor to your site will read the text on your page to see what you have to offer, the search engines do too. And search engines are looking for keywords and phrases, of course.

Page text tips:

• For best results ensure that each page of your site has at least 200 words of copy on it. Sometimes this much text can be tricky to fit on a page (i.e one with lots of images), but search engines really like it so you should do your best to increase the amount of text where you can.
• This text should include your most important keywords and phrases, but should remain logical and readable at the same time. Remember that it has to be useful and appealing for your site visitors as well as for search engines.
• You should ensure that you use keywords that you have also used in your page titles and descriptions, as this helps boost indexing effectiveness.
• Consider adding additional copy-filled pages to your site. For example, 'How To' articles, tips or tutorials. These pages will not only help you in the search engines, but many other sites may link to them too, and this can be useful in boosting traffic as well.
• Optimising your page copy is one of the most important things you can do to improve your listings in the search engines. So, make sure you have plenty of it and that it's well written.

Keywords - Optimising Your Text, Titles and META Keywords

What are your customers searching for?
If you optimise for the wrong keywords then all of our hard work will be wasted. Don't guess, know what your customers are searching for.

To get maximum benefit form search engines it is important that every page of your site that you want listed is optimised to the best of your ability.  Since the keywords that you want to target will be used throughout the optimisation process choosing the right ones is absolutely essential. If you choose the wrong keywords you will not be found in the search engines, and if you can't be found in the search engines how will your potential visitors find your site?

Some Keyword tips:

1) Think 'specific keyword phrases' not just 'keywords'. Why? As the web becomes ever more competitive, using keyword phrases which are too general won't help you stand out from the crowd. or do well in rankings. Your chances will be much better if you can use specific phrases as this helps to attract targeted traffic more effectively, and better targeted traffic is ultimately more profitable.

Here's an example for a site selling shoes:

Far Too General
1. shoes
2. men's shoes
3. women's shoes

Much Better!
1. imported french shoes
2. men's leather loafers
3. women's aerobic trainers

2) Try to think like your target audience. What words would they search for if looking for the page you are optimising? It's easy to fall into the trap of listing what you might search for, but what about your potential customers? They will not necessarily use the same keywords as you would. Try to come up with as many keyword phrases as you can think of that relate to the page you are optimising.  Ask a few friends or your family what they would search for when searching for a site like yours.

3) Check the competition's websites for ideas. Do a search using keywords that you already know you want to target and click through on the top sites that come up. Once on their site examine their page text, and 'view source' to see the keywords used in their 'meta' descriptions and keywords. This should give you many more ideas, and also allow you to maybe spot some words which your competitors have missed. Above all, make sure you only use keywords that relate to your site or page.

4) Following the tips in this document, you must develop a list of keywords phrases for each and every page that you optimise for the search engines.