50 positive on page seo factors

50 Positive On-page SEO factors

By: Rémi | 1 Feb 2015
Positive On-page SEO factors

I have often been asked by my students to summarize all the positive and negative SEO factors that Google was taking into consideration in its ranking algorithm, so here it is !

We are going to start that 4-parts-article by the major « Positive On-page SEO factors » impacting websites ranking on Google Serp (Search Engine Results Page).

But first, for those who don’t know how to select the right keywords, you can read my article – How to choose the right keywords?.

URL & DOMAIN NAME
  1. Keywords in URL : Keywords used in first position in Pages URL provides better result than in second position.
  2. Hyphens in URL : One or two”-” can be excellent for separating keywords but using more than that gives a spammy appearance. Ten “-” can bring your site demotion.
HEADER
  1. Keyword in Title tag : Keywords used in the beginning of the title can bring good ranking. Title tag must contain10 – 60 characters. No special characters should be used.
  2. Keyword in Description meta tag : Description must show the theme. It must contain less than 200 characters. Though
    Google no longer « relies » upon this tag but it indirectly impacts on Serp. Please for more information read my article – Do Meta descriptions have any role in improving the ranking of a website?.
  3. Keyword in Keyword meta-tag : It also describes the theme. It contains less than 10 words. Every word in this tag should appear in the body text; otherwise it can be penalized for irrelevance. No single word should appear more than twice. Google no longer « relies » on that tag, but it helps Google to understand the theme of the page.
BODY
  1. Keyword density in body text : Keyword density must be between 5 – 20%. The formula is all keywords / total words. Some percentage also differs according to the topic as this density is topic sensitive.
  2. Individual keyword density : It shows how many times a single keyword must appear in the whole text. 1 – 6% – (each keyword/ total words).
  3. Keyword in H1, H2 and H3 : It demands a proper font style. Using Hx font style tags can be helpful.
  4. Keyword font size : According to Matt Cutts, « Strong is treated the same as bold, italic is treated the same as emphasis ». One can use one of these two to bring strength in the keyword.
  5. Keyword proximity : Directly adjacent is best. The smaller the distance between the search terms, the Search Engine finds it more relevant.
  6. Keyword phrase order : When word order in the page matches the word order in the query, the Search Engine puts emphasis.
  7. Keyword prominence : It is better when placed at top of page, in bold and in large font.
ALT AND ANCHOR TEXTS
  1. Keyword in alt text : It should describe graphic. It should appear in place of the related images.
  2. Keyword in anchor text : Words in the anchor text help to increase the ranking. The keywords in the anchor text bring relevance.
NAVIGATION – INTERNAL LINKS
  1. Keywords in Internal Links : Internal Link should contain keywords and that provides emphasis to the topic.
  2. Validating Internal links  : Validating all links to all pages on site is a necessity. Free link checker can help.
  3. Building tree-like structure : Building two clicks to any page brings a tree-like structure. One must not have  deeper than 4 clicks
  4. Intra-site linking : Building links between lower-level pages also provides good ranking to a site.
NAVIGATION – OUTGOING LINKS
  1. Keywords in External Links : Building Links only to good sites can increase ranking. Linking to irrelevant sites can bring demotion. Outgoing links must be connected carefully.
  2. Outgoing link Anchor Text  : The anchor text must be descriptive and must be based on relevant topic.
  3. Link stability over time : There must be Link-stability. Link churning must be avoided.
  4. Validating External links  : Periodical validation of all links keeps you safe.
  5. Less than 100 links out total : According to Google limit of outgoing links must be within 100.
  6. Linking to Authority : Linking to authority sites can bring you good result.
OTHER ON-PAGE FACTORS
  1. Domain Name Extension : Domain name extensions also decide about the fate of your site. When .gov or .com sites are attracting much scrutiny from the Search Engines, you can do well with the .info sites.
  2. File Size : Small size files easily open. Not exceeding 100k can bring good result for optimisation.
  3. Freshness of Pages : Changes must be brought to the site-pages. The newer the page, the better the ranking.
  4. Freshness of Content : The more the freshness of content, the faster it attracts Search Engines.
  5. Freshness of Links : High-trust sites can increase their ranking by changing links. But changing links cannot be fruitful for newer and low-trust sites.
  6. Frequency of Updates : Frequent updates can result in frequent spidering and can bring you result.
  7. Page Theming  : When page exhibits relevant theme that can be helpful.
  8. Keyword Stemming  : Keyword stemming must be used carefully. It can attract the crawler and can increase your site’s ranking.
  9. Applied Semantics : Synonyms can bring great result.
  10. LSI : Latent Semantic Indexing Keywords are speculated to bring higher ranking. Many often it is taken as a myth.
  11. URL length : The lesser the length, the better it is for the Search Engine attraction.
OTHER ON-SITE FACTORS
  1. Site Size : Larger sites do not automatically rank higher. Adding pages to your site will not bring you higher ranking.
  2. Site Age : The older the site is, the better the ranking can be.
  3. Age of page vs. age of site : When the pages are changed on an older site, the better ranking the site receives.
RECENTLY ADDED BY GOOGLE
  1. Authorship Participation : Though the profile of the author does not matter, there is something that Google still has not rejected. A picture is more likely to be clicked and it works.
  2. Change Your Titles : If Google appends your Name to your Titles, take the hint. Adding that to all your pages can work.
  3. Supplementary Content : Links to relevant pages on the same site will be a helpful measure.
  4. Use recommended ad sizes : According to the size and free space available on your site, you can use Ad sense.
  5. Enable Image Ads  : Image ads can work better and can bring many visitors.
  6. HTTPS : Search Engine will reward sites using http encryption.
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