Learning to optimize your web pages for search engines is at the very core of any SEO or Internet Marketing effort. For that reason, I’ve written this simple guide to show you how to optimize your web pages.  I’m not talking about writing for search engines. I’m talking about doing basic onpage optimization to gain maximum search engine exposure.

Every day, search engine algorithms get more sophisticated. So it becomes increasingly important to keep your visitors in mind even when optimizing your website for search engines. By using these 10 search engine optimization tips, having good content, and getting some quality links you’ll put yourself in a position to compete with the pros.

1. Choose relevant SEO friendly file names

Every page on your website is stored in a file. It’s the first thing search engine bots see when they crawl your site. In addition, searchers use the web page URL when deciding whether to click on your page in the SERPs. So, make sure that you choose a filename that is relevant to the content on that page.

For example, this article is about optimizing web pages, so it wouldn’t make sense to have a file named /google-rocks/. Instead, I chose to use /how-to-optimize-a-web-page/. Other acceptable names would include /optimizing-web-pages/ and /10-ways-to-optimize-a-web-page/.

Also, keep in mind that search engines have a harder time with dynamic URLs like this:

www.examplesite.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=94935&sort=author

Versus

www.examplesite.com/forum/thread.php

If your site uses dynamic URLs, you should try to make the switch to static URLs as soon as possible.

2. Optimize title tags

This is widely regarded as the most important thing you should do to optimize your pages. Search engines know that visitors will see your title when they’re searching. Therefore, more relevance is given to page titles than many other factors that you control.

Your page titles should describe what the page is about and at the same time, be compelling enough to get searchers to visit your site. Keep it simple and don’t try to target more than one main key phrase per page.

3. Create a custom Meta description

The Meta description tag allows you to describe the content on a certain page. Some search engines, like Google, use the Meta description under the page title in their search engine results. Whether search engines use this information to influence rankings is up for debate. My guess is they don’t. Google has already said that the Meta description won’t help your rankings. However, a well-crafted description will certainly help your click-through rate.

4. Use the Meta keywords tag

The Meta keywords tag allows you to confirm the relevance of a certain web page to a number of different key words and phrases. The phrases you use in this tag should be directly related to your body content, title, and description. Personally, I don’t spend much time coming up with a long list of keywords since Google says they completely ignore this tag for ranking purposes. For now, it can’t hurt to include since other search engines like Yahoo and Ask may still use it in their algorithms.

5. Use heading tags

Breaking up your main topics and ideas is a great way to optimize your pages for both visitors and search engines. Use headings to create a natural hierarchy and flow to your content, but use them logically. Use the h1 tag for your main idea, h2 for sub topics and h3 to break them up even further.

For example, let’s say I have a page about Widgets. The title of my page is The Ultimate Widgets Guide; I may break down the page like this:

H1 - Widgets
H2 - Popular Widgets
H3 - Gold Widgets
H3 - Silver Widgets

6. Use text modifiers

Proper use of text modifiers like bold, italics, and underlining is great for your visitors, but it also helps search engines determine your content’s relevance. Avoid only using modifiers for your keywords. Instead, use them appropriately to express urgency or significance in your writing. The tags you should use are, <strong> for bold, <em> for italics, and <u> for underline.

7. Use plenty of related keywords

Search engines are getting better at determining phrase relationships when processing searches. Therefore, it’s important to use plenty of semantically related words. For instance, Internet marketing is the same as online marketing and Web marketing.

Also, use plenty of supporting keywords that show you know the subject matter. For Internet marketing, you might use keywords such as SEO, PPC, landing pages, web design, link building, and Google.

8. Link to relevant internal pages and external pages

Making it simple for visitors and search engines to navigate through your pages is a vital part of optimizing your website. The structure of your links (anchor text) gives search engines and visitors an idea what the Web page is about. I recommend making a habit of linking to related articles within your site and elsewhere on the Internet. Linking out to quality sites is good for your rankings and for your visitors.

9. Optimize your images

Search engines are sophisticated, but they still can’t read pictures on Web pages. That’s why it’s important to optimize them using the Alt image tag. This tag gives search engines and non-graphical Web browsers a text description of your images that they can read. Avoid the temptation to stuff your keywords into every image. Instead, accurately describe what the pictures depict.

10. Validate your HTML

The Web page validation process ensures that your site appears correctly across all major browsers. It also helps ensure search engine spiders won’t have a problem crawling and indexing your content. To check your pages, use http://validator.w3.org/ .

Summary

It’s easy to fall into the trap of letting the little optimization techniques go, in favor of spending more time writing content and building links. I hope you’ll work to make these basic optimization tips a habit when creating your Web pages.