- Finding the page

- On-page navigation

- Links

- Content

Finding your landing page and what is on it are essentially the same thing. The words and links that are attached to this page will determine how many visits you receive. The first heading, or H1, is the crucial element for finding the page, as far as most search engines are concerned. Although there are several elements involved, the H1 heading should use wording that contains the essential elements of what your site is addressing.

Items to consider for your H1 tag

- Include your product of services’ primary focus while staying away from small words such as “and", “if" or “it." If you must use these small words try and put them in quotes.

When possible research the words to be used for popularity and frequency of search use. Sometimes a less popular term will get you a higher ranking than the most popular word because fewer people are using it.

Once the viewer has found your page consider how it looks. As far as a search engine is concerned all text would be fantastic. As far as a viewer is concerned it would look boring.

Items to consider for page layout and navigation

Your address is key in this area. It should be located as close to the H1 as possible. Search engines look for it.

Search engines do not recognize color so anything within the color should be marked with an ALT tag. Color is great from a viewer perspective so using “heavier" colors at the base and lighter on top will help visually move the eye to where you want it to go.

Place keywords toward the bottom of the page and outside of the color.

Incoming links are a big consideration for many search engines in ranking your page, but they must be quality and relevant links.

Content is king. Most search engines, and viewers for that matter, are looking for content that is relevant and fresh. The two things to remember are: place the content to the upper right near the advertisements, and change it up regularly to keep it new and fresh. Viewers and search engines recognize this, it is a must.

Make sure that navigation tools are easily seen and prominent. These tools are usually found at the bottom of the landing page and include: contact us, home, help and products.

As you go about setting up your page, for a solid optimization, the most critical item to remember is that your page cannot become a static item. As soon as you begin to neglect the page your ranking, regardless of the search engine that is ranking it, will steadily drop. You must keep it fresh and continuously changing.