There are a number of little things that add up to help you get higher search engine rankings. One of them is getting your HTML codes right. So what are the things you should pay close attention to in order to optimize your pages well? Here are a few:
1. The Title Tag
Treat your title tag like the topic of a book. It shows your visitors what they are to expect if they should read the content of your page. But more than that, it tells search engines what that page or site is all about. You are advised to include your target keyword in this tag. However, don’t go overboard with it. Writing titles that comprise only of your target key phrase will mean over-optimization. Just blend it in — In such a way that makes sense to your readers.
2. The Description Tag
This is one of the most important tags. Although it won’t show up on the page itself, it will in your search results. Therefore, make sure you describe what potential visitors stand to gain by visiting that page. This is usually what shows up as the description searchers see for listed sites.
However, bare in mind that some search engines are attempting to dump this tag (They believe that they can do a better job of describing your site than you — But that’s a topic for another article). That said; make sure you make your description as compelling as possible without misleading your readers.
3. Headers
You have different headers (H1 being the biggest). Use this to call attention to titles and subtitles in such a way that gives the reader an idea of the hierarchy of importance. For example, the title of an article should be in H1 while subtitles should be in H2. You can use H3 for subtitles within subtitles (I hope you get the idea?). The point is to make it easy for people to know what the main points are while showing them which stems from the other. This helps search engines determine what your page is about as there is a logical flow in your discourse.
4. The Alt Tag
For now, search engines rely on the text you supply to determine what your images are all about. They really cannot tell if the image is a dog or a car unless you tell them with your alt tag. That’s why your alt tag is very important. Here a couple of benefits you will get by using the alt tag right:
a. It helps reinforce your target keyword or phrase (If you do it right) and, therefore, helps you rank higher.
b. It positions you to get more traffic from image search. Look at Google, for example, and you will see that you can do an image search. People who find your image exciting or interesting might click to your site.
There are many tags that you have to use correctly if you want to position your site well for top rankings. Learning each of them and how to use them correctly is a course on its own. But you have a business to run, don’t you? So it makes sense for you to get a good web development firm that can help you handle this stuff while you focus on your business.
