There are two types of web page optimisation techniques that will determine your website's standing with the search engines. They are, On-Page search optimisation and Off-Page search optimisation. On Page optimisation is what can be done on website pages to maximise search engines performance for target keywords in direct relation to the on page content.

It basically refers to the text and formatting of TEXTUAL content on web site pages. In simple terms it refers to the editing and optimisation of pages and content so that search engines can find your web page when a user searches for a web site on a particular topic using keywords and keyword phrases.

On-page optimisation in addition to looking very closely at the nature and quality of content, particularly written copy also pays close attention to the structure of the web site. Search engines apply great weight to structure and they like to know what's important about each site. Semantically Relevant information needs to be higher up in the web sites hierarchy and each page should use links to other equally relevant pages. Focus is placed on:

• The topicality, depth, detail and breadth of the information presented
• How the content is interlinked - the internal anchor text, its source and destination. When the opportunity presents itself, include links to related products, related articles and related searches. Ensure the anchor text is optimised. The number and nature of external links - how concentrated they are and which pages they are pointed at
• Structural elements - heading, paragraph and other HTML tags that prioritise importance.

Off-page search optimisation is deployed in an attempt to influence how search engines view your website and thereby control your web sites page ranking. Off-page search engine optimisation basically seeks to influence and control how the Internet portrays your website, it's profile and reputation. Off-Page optimisation techniques when applied well can result in significant search benefits and generate high MSN, Google and Yahoo rankings, drive traffic to sites and generating strong returns on investment.

On-Page search optimisation has been around since the first commercial search engines appeared on the scene in the mid 1990's. In those days the search engines used simpler, less sophisticated technology and the Internet was considerably smaller. Simple On-Page optimisation was sufficient to differentiate sites of relevance, as the search process was basically a comparison of on-page elements with the most useful information attaining the highest search engine placement.

As the internet grow's exponentially with huge amounts of new sites and content it became necessary to apply increasingly sophisticated methods of generating Relevant Search Results. Ever-resourceful webmasters and search marketeers sought to find ways by which their sites would appear at the top of search returns so the search companies worked hard to keep ahead of them. Differentiating between sites of relevance and sites that spammed them with worthless content provides an ongoing challenge to the search engine companies.

There are a number of generic rules of thumb that should be adopted to rank high on the search engine result pages (SERP's) such as well-optimized structure. Whilst many crucial ranking factors covered by on-page search optimisation are controllable, refineable and manageable, in the final analysis, it's the nature of the balance between On-Page and Off-Page optimisation techniques that dictates the level of your websites Search Engine Optimisation success.

Find the most searched keywords and keyowrd phases for the niche, genre or theme of your website and add those keywords throughout your online documents then apply an internal linking strategy based on contextual architecture. As much high quality copy should be included as possible. Search engines are relevance hungry and much prefer specialist and expert copy against uninformed content.

Approach each web page on your site as a standalone entity or 'landinding page'. Every page of your web site should have a Unique Title Tag that reflects the content on that particular page. Including keywords in your domain, sub domains, files and folders is always advisable and strong Search Engine Optimisation techniques will ensure that your pages and folder URL's contains your most important keyword. Ideally you should name your web page files starting with the targeted keyword - 'magic-word.htm'. It doesn't matter how awkward the web page files look or sound as their not publicly viewable it's only you and the search engine spiders that get have access to them.

Tag website content with informative and compelling titles and descriptions, make sure the alt-attributes, and the file naming conventions are themed and optimised.

Header Tags are an important part of On-page search optimisation and must be applied with care. Ideal optimisation involves a single H1 tag that containing the main keyword for that page followed with 3 - 4 H2 tags that containing the secondary keywords for that page. Little importance is given to H3 and on.
Optimising alt text and link text and ensuring on page optimization is razor sharp can ensure your pages keep upwardly mobile in the SERPs (search engine result pages).

While making your web page as search engine friendly as possible keep in mind that the written copy is destined for human not spider consumption, your copy still needs to make sense. Keyword Density is a balancing act though it is safer and wiser to weight the balance in favour of your readers not spider bots. Search engines are programmed and fashioned on principles of ethical (their own definition) behaviour such as reputation and trust. Take care not to 'over optimise' pages by stuffing them full of key words.

Overkill on key words can have damaging results, not only will your content read badly but you may face the wrath of the search engines with their engine algorithms that take into account the keyword density of a particular page. Applying in depth analyses of the best returning websites for a given keyword - Google, speculation puts the ideal keyword density at between 1.5 - 1.8 % while MSN runs up to 3.0 %, with Yahoo somewhere between - they can identify that something just isn't right if your website has a keyword density of 10% or more.

This is know as spamming or spamdexing and sends up an immediate red flag alert to the search engines. Best to also avoid hidden text, using link farms (web sites with 100+ outbound links per page), irrelevant keywords in your link-ads, junk links, doorway pages link churning, mirror pages, hidden inbound links and cloaking. Such Black Hat On-Page search optimisation could lead to search engines penalizing sites by reducing their rankings or eliminating their listings from their databases altogether.

While sites of course need off-page optimisation and links to be treated as an authority and to rank well by the search engines it's important to ensure that your web sites On-Page optimisation factors are all addressed.