title

The <title> element is THE most important on-page signal that Google considers in their ranking algorithm. I typically try to have pages focused on one targeted keyword phrase… but I will include 2 or 3 keyword phrases if they are closely related and slight variations of one another.

I always put the most important phrase at the begining of the <title>, then the 2nd and 3rd most important phrase, if applicable. Typically the deeper you drill into the site, the fewer the phrases that appear in my <titles> because the focus of the pages get more and more specific, moving from head terms to long tail to longer tail terms. So my <title> elements get more and more specific.

The <h1> element is the 2nd most important on-page factor that influences Google’s ranking algorithm. It’s a good strategy to include in the <h1> the most important keyword phrase (or a slight variation) from your <title> element. Use an <h1> on every page… Don’t waste this opportunity to reinforce your targeted keyword phrase from the <title>.

The <h2> element is the 3rd most important on-page factor. I typically have my pages broken up into little sections or components. I give each of these an <h2> element. Since there are typically 4,5,6 or more of these per page, I use them to reinforce not only the most important keyword phrase in the <title> but also the 2nd and 3rd keyword phrase from the <title>. I try to use all of the <title> keyword phrases as well as variations (different conjugations of verbs from title, singular vs. plural, etc.)

I try to work the most important keyword phrase from the <title> into my page name, so that my URL is keyword rich. But do it in such a way that the URL does not look spammy.

Picking good <title>, <h1>, <h2>,… elements can go a LONG way towards making a page rank. Unfortunately, on-page SEO alone will usually not lead to great rankings even for less competitive terms… You need inbound links, preferably from relevant pages, but definitely with the major keyword phrase(s) or variations of the keyword phrase(s) as the link text to take you the rest of the way to the finish line.

If you have any other suggestions, please comment below.

Other posts by Mahesh Kukreja

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