On-Page Optimization in SEO

What are Search Engines?

A software program, or a website whose primary function is gathering and reporting
information available on the Internet, or a portion of the Internet. Search engines are
essentially massive databases that cover wide swaths of the Internet. Search engines are
online services that allow users to scan the contents of the Internet to find Web sites or
specific information of interest to them. Major internet search engines are – Google, Bing,
Yahoo, Ask.com, AOL etc.

The main functions of software involve gathering data, evaluating or sorting it, and
presenting the relevant data to the users for a given query. Accordingly, search engines
have following main components.

Crawling: Search Engines have special software known as spider, crawler, or bot, which  "crawls" through the Internet gathering information. The spiders crawl over the web page,
cataloging the words and links (and following these links to other websites), and  then creating an index or listing of "key search words" that online users can use to find the pages they are looking for.
Indexing: Once the spiders have collected the data, these are processed and stored by the
search engine in a way that makes it easy for people to access them. All the relevant
information about a web page is stored in the database known as Index.
Processing Queries: When a request for information comes into the search engine
(hundreds of millions do each day), the engine retrieves from its index all the document
that match the query. A match is determined if the terms or phrase is found on the page
in the manner specified by the user .
Ranking Results: Once the search engine has determined which results are a match for
the query, the engine's algorithm (a mathematical equation commonly used for sorting)
runs calculations on each of the results to determine which is most relevant to the given
query. Search engines algorithms are very complex and highly guarded secrets.
User Interface: The part of the search engine which is visible to users and where they
can perform query. They get additional info on the user interface apart from search results
such as customization options and related queries etc.

Example 

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What is SEO?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is defined as any action or adjustment, also known as Optimization that you perform on your site for the purpose of improving the volume and quality of traffic to your site from search engines by utilizing search results for targeted keywords. SEO is done to improve the organic or natural rankings of a website only and not the paid search results which involves PPC. SEO is all about working on two critical components made up the majority of search functionality:

Relevance - the degree to which the content of the documents returned in a search matched he user's query intention and terms.
Popularity - the relative importance, measured via citation (the act of one work  referencing another documents) of a given document that matches the user's query.  SEO can be considered to be divided into two categories: 

On-Page Optimization: Changes or additions that we make on the website to target a
keyword and improve website rankings for that keyword.

Off-Page Optimization: Efforts done not on the website itself but on other websites and
online communities to make a website look popular in the eyes of search engines. For e.g.,
building links to the website.

SEO is often confused with the term SEM (Search Engines Marketing) which as actually a
super set of SEO which includes improving both organic as well as paid search results
(through PPC).

Website Planning and Structure

How to Create a Site Structure That Will Enhance SEO 

The better your site structure, the better your chance of higher ranking in the search engines. Every website has some “structure.” It might be a rigorous and streamlined structure, or it may be a disorganized jumble of pages. If you are intentional and careful with your site structure, you will create a site that achieves search excellence.  In this blog, I share some of the best advice on creating a powerful site structure.  The tips below will help you create a site that appeals to users, gets crawled and indexed by spiders, and delivers the best SERP listings and rankings possible.

Why Structure Matters ?

One of the most crucial aspects of a site’s SEO performance, but on the other hand, few webmasters and owners understand what it means to have a site structure that enhances SEO. 

A good site structure means a great user experience.

When you take away the colors, the fonts, the kerning, the graphics, the images,  and the white space, good site design is really about a great structure. The human mind craves cognitive equilibrium — being able to put pieces logically together, finding things where they’re expected, and locating what they are seeking. Thus, a strong and logical site structure is cognitively satisfying to users. As you know, the more appealing your site to users, the more appealing it is to search engines, too. Google’s algorithm uses information from searchers to rank your site. If your site has poor CTRs and low well time, it will not perform well in the SERPs. By contrast, when a user finds a site that they like — i.e. a site with great structure — they don’t bounce and they stay longer. An accurate site structure can reduce bounce rate and improve dwell time, both of which will lead to improved rankings.

A good site structure provides your site with site links.

Site links are a listing format in the SERPs that show your site’s main page along with several internal links indented below. You’ve seen them before.

Site links are a huge SEO advantage. They increase the navigability of your site, point  users to the most relevant information, increase your brand’s reputation, improve user trust, help you dominate SERPs, increase click through rate, and shorten the conversion funnel. Basically, site links are awesome. But how do you get site links? You don’t simply go to Google Webmaster Tools and fill in a few fields on a form. You can’t issue a site link request. Instead, Google’s algorithm automatically awards websites with site links. And they do so based on great site structure.
If you have a poor site structure, it’s very likely that your site will never receive site links. The absence of site links could be costing your site more targeted traffic, higher CTR, and increased conversions.

A good structure means better crawling.

Web crawlers like Google bot crawl a website’s structure. Their goal is to index the content in order to return it in search results. The better your site structure, the easier the crawlers can access and index the content.
Crawler’s don’t automatically discover everything on your website. Google even admits,
“[there are] pages on your site we might not…discover,” or “URLs that may not be discover able by Google’s normal crawling process.” (That’s one of the reasons why Sitemaps are necessary.)  However, crawlers will have a far easier time accessing, crawling, indexing, and returning the pages  of a site with strong structure.

A good site structure is at the very core of good SEO — optimizing for the crawlers.

Strong site structure gives your site an unbreakable SEO foundation that will provide you with vast amounts of organic search. 

Six Steps to Creating Site Structure

Now, I’ll tell you how to create this kind of site structure. 

1. Plan out a hierarchy before you develop your website.

If you’re starting a website from scratch, you’re in a great position to plan out site structure for the best  SEO possible. Even before you start creating pages in a CMS, plan out your structure. You can do it on  a whiteboard, a spreadsheet program (Excel, Google Drive Spreadsheets), most word processors, or  something like Visio or OmniGraffle.
A “hierarchy” is nothing more than a way to organize your information — something that is simple and makes sense. Your hierarchy will also become your navigation and your URL structure, so everything important begins here.
A site hierarchy is the beginning point for a great site structure. 

2. Create a URL structure that follows your navigation hierarchy.

The second main element in developing strong site structure is your URL structure. If you’ve logically thought through your hierarchy, this shouldn’t be too difficult. Your URL structure follows your hierarchy. So, let’s say your hierarchy looks like this:

3. Create your site navigation in HTML or CSS.

When you create your navigation, keep the coding simple. HTML and CSS are your safest approach. Coding in JavaScript, Flash, and Ajax will limit the crawler’s ability to cover your site’s well-thought out navigation and hierarchy.

4. Use a shallow depth navigation structure.

Your navigation structure will obviously follow your site hierarchy. Make sure that pages, especially  important ones, aren’t buried too deep within the site. Shallow sites work better, both from a usability and crawler perspective.  A shallow website (that is, one that requires three or fewer clicks to reach every page) is far more  preferable than a deep website (which requires lengthy strings of clicks to see every page on your site). 

5. Create a header that lists your main navigation pages.

Your top header should list out your main pages. 

6. Develop a comprehensive internal linking structure.

• Internal linking puts meat on the bones of a logical site hierarchy.
• They allow users to navigate a website.
• They help establish information hierarchy for the given website.
• They help spread link juice (ranking power) around websites.
• Each of these is directly tied to creating a tight-knit and well-integrated site structure.