Google Ranking Factors Discovery
Have you ever found something like this?
The Inner Page or http://www.thesite.com/Kitchen-Lighting-s/13.htm wanted to rank for the keyword Kitchen Light Fixtures but this keyword is ranking for its homepage rather than on its targeted inner page.
Or it’s like this…
When I Google search for Kitchen Light Fixtures , http://www.thesite.com is on top rankings or in page 1 and http://www.thesite.com/Kitchen-Lighting-s/13.htm ranked not in top 100.
Is there something wrong with the inner page? What does this case mean to search engine? What we would do in order to make this pages rank?
What’s the Cause?
First we checked the on-page factors of Inner and below are the main points that we have discovered:
• The targeted keyword is not found on Meta Title, Description and Content
• There is no h1 tag also on the page.
• The Meta title is pattern with this : keyword 1 | keyword 2 | keyword 3 | Keyword 4
• Targeted Keyword is only found on Meta Keywords.
• Keyword is also not found on the URL
Next we checked the Home Page:
• We can find the targeted keyword on its Meta Title and Meta description.
• There is no H1 tag also on this page.
• No keyword found also on its homepage.
• Keyword is also not found on the homepage URL.
The above case only shows that Google seems to be ranking pages depending on their internal links or on-page factors rather than basing it on the anchor text and external links used. This proves the importance of onsite optimization.
It also shows that Meta Title, Description headings and content are essential in on-page optimization. Although this are the very basic elements in search engine optimization but if you are going to take it for granted you will be missing the chance of maximizing the potential of your page’s visibility.
What’s the solution?
• Title Tags must be unique in every page and must not be longer than 65 characters. Make sure that the targeted keyword can be included on the targeted page.
• Must have unique description in all pages which is around 150 characters. And then make sure also that you are adding the targeted keyword on your Meta description.
• It is also essential that you know to set Proper headings. Like use only one h1 tag per page since it is the one creating structure for your page plus it can help in identification if what your page is all about. You can also use subheadings like h2, h3, h4 tags. Be sure that it was inputted accordingly like h1 should be the first to appear rather than h2.
• It is now time also to add targeted keyword to the content but don’t over optimized that keyword you can use relevant or similar to that keyword. Just add relevant and unique content.
SEO Learning:
To every case I encountered I always ask myself what have I learned from it. It will add to my learnings so I can help my clients in case this happens again. I can only conclude that onsite optimization is not just for homepages but for every page you wanted to rank in SERP. It is important to understand the structure of the website before proceeding to other actions. However, there can be confusions you may think of like:
• Thought that Google was showing only relevant page to a certain query. Why it shows the homepage when it does not contain the information that matched a query?
To clear this out in your mind, remember that Google is using an algorithm that detects the internal structure of the website. When the homepage is not providing the necessary information that matched the query but its internal structure shows that it does, it will be ranking higher in SERP than your targeted inner page. How does it affect your website? Keywords used can be specific. When a consumer keyed it in, he or she wanted to be prompted on the page where Kitchen Light Fixtures are there. If the page doesn’t have it, the user will simply exit the site adding bounce rate and opportunity lost on your part.
Therefore, you must make sure that your website’s HTML structure contains the necessary title tag, h tags, Meta descriptions, and content that will alert Google that it is that page you wanted to rank because it contains the information that matched a query.
Thoughts? Please share it below.
