Content optimisation is important to ensure your pages rank high on Google and other search engines.  The following content optimisation check-list will help your pages get indexed easily and rank for your desired search terms.

The check-list focuses primarily on the on-page factors. External factors such as back-links are covered in other articles. By following this check-list for any new content you add on your website, you can lay a strong foundation for its online visibility.

1. Is the content unique?

Search engines love unique content i.e. different from the content on other websites. On the other hand search engines penalise your website if you have the same content on more that one page on your website.

2. Is the content relevant?

Make sure your content is relevant to your niche. It is important for your website or blog to target a specific niche. Any new content you write should be relevant to your niche. Writing content on too many unrelated topics is not recommended.

3. Have you chosen the right keywords?

The keyword you think is right for your page may be different to what users are searching for. It is a good idea to research the keywords before you start writing your content. A few minutes in Google Keyword Volume tool is usually sufficient

4. Are Keywords present in page/post title?

Whether you are writing a blog post or an informational page on your website, including your keyword in the page title, preferably towards the beginning of the sentence improves the chances of ranking for that search term e.g. “Web Design – Top tips” is better optimised than “Top tips for Web design’.

5. Do keywords appear in anchor text of hyperlinks?

Including your primary keywords in the anchor text of hyperlinks on the page is also known to increase the keyword weight.

6. Is the keyword density sufficient?

Although it is important to refrain from keyword stuffing, if your keyword does not appear in the page content even once, it is unlikely to rank in search results. Although there are no hard and fast rules; there should be a few occurrence of your targeted search term in the page content. 3 to 4% is usually suggested by many SEO experts.

7. Is there sufficient content on the page?

Search engines love content. After all that’s what they are designed for. Pages with hardly any content do not tend to rank favourably on search engines. At least 300 to 500 words per page is recommended. High ranking pillar articles typically contain over a 1000 words.

8. Are your Meta Tags unique and optimised with your keywords?

The title and description Meta tags in particular are very important for SEO and it is important to include keywords in the title and description Meta tags. This is different to the page title that is displayed on the website. Meta tags are part of the code and you can access it via the ‘view source’ option of your browser.

9. Are Keywords diluted?

Keyword dilution occurs when you target too many keywords in one page. For best results, focus on one or two keywords per page.

10. Have you taken advantage of Keyword Formatting?

Bold and italic are another way to improve the on-page weight of your keywords and search terms. However, use it within reason.

11. Are keywords positioned correctly?

The position of your keywords within your content is also important and can affect your ranking. It is generally recommended to include keywords at least once towards the start i.e.in the first sentence of the content and towards the end of the content.

12. Do images contain ALT tags?

Alt tags are used to describe an image. It is only revealed when images are not displayed for any reason e.g. in text only browsers, special browsers for the disabled or as a result of visitor’s customised browser settings. ALT tags serve another purpose. They are used by search engines to determine the relevance of a web page. Use of keywords in ALT tags of images is a popular SEO technique. However, it should be used carefully.

13. Are images optimised?

A single image can vary in file size from a few kilobytes to tens of Megabytes. It is important to optimise images used in your content. This has a direct impact on your page load time which can in-turn effect your ranking.

14. Have you taken advantage of Headings on your page?

Headings serve more than one purpose. It makes the content more readable. Use of keywords in headings on the page improves the weigh of keyword which in turn can influence its rank on search results

15. Are there any broken links?

Broken links has a negative impact on usability and reduces the overall quality score of your page which can in-turn devalue your page on search engines.

16. Is your code clean?

Although the HTML code for your content is likely to be part of your global website template, there are steps you can take to ensure on-page content is formatted correctly.

E.g. you need to take care when pasting content from Microsoft Word or Rich Text Editors into your CMS. Word or other editors often insert extra CSS styles along with your content, overriding the CSS styles defined in yo2ur template. This not only makes the font inconsistent, but also results in messy code which can have a negative impact on SEO quality of the page.

17. Is the URL search engine friendly?

The page URL should be in a search engine friendly format and the page name should include your primary keywords. By default your URL may be dynamic and not in a search engine friendly format e.g. index.php?article_id=212. A search engine friendly format on the other hand would be something like “www.yourdomain.com/web-design-tips.html”.

18. Has the Content been proof-read?

Spelling and grammar mistakes or typing errors can be bad for your brand and reduces the overall quality of your content. Additionally, spelling mistakes in keywords can dilute its relevance.

19. Have you cross linked relevant pages?

Good internal linking offers many advantages. Linking your content to other relevant pages of your website can promote better indexing of your website in addition to pointing users towards useful information.

20. Can the content be shared easily?

The ranking of your page can improve manifold if it goes viral. You should encourage readers to share your content with others using leading social bookmarks and networks. It is standard to offer readers the ability to social bookmark your content or follow you on Facebook or Twitter. Depending on the CMS you use, the chances are this is done automatically when you add new content.

21. Are there too many outgoing links?

Too many outgoing links on a page can devalue your content. It is generally advised to keep the number of outgoing links to fewer than 100 per page. Although in my opinion it should be much lower.

The author K.Singh is a London based Internet Consultant & Web Development Consultant with over 10 years of experience working with established multi national businesses. He is currently Director of London based Company providing  SME’s with  Web Design, Internet Marketing and Joomla Development service.