You have worked out a list of targeted keywords for your niche. You have to use these keywords on your web site properly in order to gain the value from them at all. It is not as simple as putting keywords here and there on your web site. You must know where and how to place them on your site properly so that your web site could rank high.
Several important tags and attribute are used when place keywords into the coding of your web site. To achieve high ranking on the SERPs, you must pay attention to these tags and attributes: title tags, description tags, anchor text, alt attributes and header tags.
Title Tags
Title tags are the most important tags for any web site. Search crawlers use title tag as the main source to determine the topic of a page. The text included in the title tag will be shown as the linked title in the search engine results. To use the title tags in the most effective way, you should:
- Create a unique, short and descriptive title for every page of your web site.
- Most search engines allow maximum 60/65 characters in title tag. So keep the title length short for proper display in search results.
- Include the most important or effective keywords in the title tag and use them as close to the beginning of the title as possible.
Here is an example of a title tag:
<title>Free PHPLD Templates</title>
Meta Description Tags
Meta description tags are important for every page on your web site. The description included in this tag is used as one of the factors considered during the ranking process. However it is not the most critical factor because Meta tags work differently for different search engines. Some search engines such as Yahoo would use text in Meta tag description tag and display the text under the linked title in the search engine results. Others like Google gives very little weigh to Meta descriptions and it does display Meta description text on SERPs. Instead it shows content surrounding the instance of the keyword on your web site.
To get the most out of Meta tags, you should:
- Keep your descriptions to around 200-250 characters, about the length of on to two descriptive sentences.
- Create unique meta tag for each page
- Include keywords with high levels of importance or effectiveness.
- Avoid having the same text as title tag
Here is an example of a Meta description tag:
<Meta name=”description” content=”A resource for PHP link directory templates.” />
Both Meta tags and title tags can be found in header tags.
<Head>
<title>Free PHPLD Templates</title>
<Meta name=”description” content=”A resource for PHP link directory templates.” />
</Head>
Anchor Text
Anchor text is the text found on a web site that appears to be a hyperlink. Anchor text is one of the most important search engine ranking factors. How you use anchor text will affect your search ranking. It is not just anchor text on your web site that matters. How your site is included in others’ anchor text is also important.
Strategy for anchor text:
- Use targeted keywords as anchor text and link to relevant site or a page on your web site.
- Use multiple keywords and phrases as anchor text on a web page. Varying anchor text gives best results.
- Use anchor text as many times as there is a solid reason to use it.
Header Tags
Header tags are the attributes that set up the different levels of headings and subheadings on your web site. There can be as many as six different levels of headings. These headings are:
<h1>Header 1</h1>
<h2>Header 2</h2>
<h3>Header 3</h3>
<h4>Header 4</h4>
<h5>Header 5</h5>
<h6>Header 6</h6>
The debate about the value of header tags in SEO has never ended. Some think header tags provide no value in SEO whereas others think header tags are absolute necessities. However, from design point of view, you should include headers tags in your site. Header tags tell users what the topic of a page is and what the segments of body text are about.
Search engines do take into consideration the text within a header tag and how it fist with the body text around it. You should include the most important keyword on your web page in the first-level headings. However, you should avoid using keywords if the keywords do not work in your headings. It is ok to include headings that contain no keywords at all. Besides, you should avoid using first-level heading on your web page for more than one time.
Body Text
Body text should be placed into your web site using the body-text tage, <body>Insert body text</body>
Body text is another place where you will want to include your keywords whenever possible. You should include your keywords about once every paragraph or. You should not include the keywords in your body text if the keywords do not work in the normal flow of the text on the page.
In additions to body tag, there are tags that indicate special formatting in text. Those tags include:
<b>Bold</b>
<i>Italics</i>
<strong>Strongly Emphasized</strong>
The special emphasis makes a search crawler take notice of the formatted words. So it is a good idea to format your keywords using these tags.
Alt Tags
Alt, which means alternative, is an attribute that refers specifically to the alternative text you would use for a graphic. If you use images on your web pages, it is good practice to include alt tags for all those images. This will help to improve search engine rankings.
Here is an example of an image tag with alt attributes set:
<img src=” /images/directorytemplate.gif” alt=”premium phpld templates” />