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Are you looking to optimize web pages on your coaching web site?
Each web page contains several elements that play a role in search engine optimization. Here is an example of a typical web page.
(Note: You can use the “view source” option in the View menu of your web browser to look at the HTML markup of your favorite site).
Here is an example of a file with HTML tags:
<html>We interrupt this report for a pop quiz: do you think this site will rank high for the keyword “Blah”? Sophisticated search engines will not rank this page as very relevant, even though the page contains the word sixteen times (fifteen of those in a row!). Read on to find out why search engines are not likely to be impressed. (Hint: keyword density).
And now back to our original programming. What does the HTML markup(that is, the computer coding language) above mean? Let’s walk through it line by line:
- The first tag, <html>, indicates the beginning of a web page. It’s saying “OK, we are starting an HTML file now!”
- The next tag, <head>, marks the beginning of the page header. Everything that you see between the <head> and </head> tags is invisible on the web page when it is viewed in the browser. Rather, the head contains meta-information (information describing the page). Some of this meta-information can be used to give search engines hints about the content of the page.
- The next three lines contain information about the description meta tag: <meta name="description" content="Description of the web page goes here.">
Many (but not all) search engines will use the description meta-tag to display a description of your site.
Create a relevant description meta-tag for every web page on the site. The description will help visitors determine whether your site contains relevant information.
- The next two lines contain information about the keywords meta-tag.
<meta name="keywords" content="comma, separated, keywords, appear, here">.
Include a few of the most relevant keywords in this tag. Commas are needed to help the search engines determine whether you are talking about koala bears (“eats shoots and leaves”) or a rude cowboy (“eats, shoots, and leaves”).
- The next line contains information about title tag.
<title>The title of the web page goes here.</title>
Search engines place significant emphasis on the contents of the title tag. The tag is also crucial because it appears as the first line in the site description block of search engine results.
- The next line is </head>. This indicates that the header section of the page is complete.
- The next line is <body>. The content of the page will start after this tag. The body contains the “meat” of the page; that is, all of the information (and formatting) that appears in a browser when you are viewing the page.
- The next line (after all of the visible text has finished) has the </body> tag, which indicates the end of the body section.
- The final line is the </html> tag. The page is done.
As you can see, many of the tags that indicate a beginning (for example, <html>) are paired up with another one with a slash to indicate the end (for example </html>). This is how beginning and end are usually shown in an HTML file.
We have just reviewed the anatomy of an html page. In the next section, we will discuss using page elements for search engine optimization.
Read the next part of the Search Engine Optimization Tutorial: How To Do Keyword Research.
Part 1: Introduction To Seach Engine Optimization, SEO
Part 2: What Is Search Engine Optimization?
Part 3: How To Optimize A Web Page For Search Engines
Part 4: How To Do Keyword Research
Part 5: How To Use Keywords In Title Tag
Part 6: How To Use Keywords Meta Tag
Part 7: How To Use Description Meta Tag For SEO
Part 8: How To Use Keywords On Your Coaching Web Site
Part 9: How To Optimize Your Coaching Web Site For Search Engines
Part 10: More Search Engine Optimization Strategies