When looking at mistakes made with on page SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) we must start with the most basic one, which is under-estimating the importance of on page SEO itself.

It is generally agreed that off page factors have a significantly greater influence on search engine ranking than on page factors. Primarily this means that search engines look at the number of backlinks to your site, the authority of the sites these links are from and the anchor text used in those links.

However, on page SEO is still extremely important because a link to a properly optimised page is worth more than a link to a poorly optimised page i.e. good on page SEO leverages your off page SEO. To look at it another way the search engines place more importance on what other sites say about you than what you site says about itself. But it your site says nothing or is confusing the search engines will need a lot more other sites saying it is relevant before they will rank it.

As regards on page SEO itself the key mistakes to avoid are:

• Too many Keywords: Whilst it is possible to use more than one keyword per page this can mean that you do not properly optimise for any of them. Certainly if you are beginner it is better to just have one keyword as it will be much easier to produce content that satisfies please both the search engines and your visitors.

• Not including the keyword in the URL, title and headings: The keyword should certainly be in the page URL, page title and (if at all possible) in all the header tags.

• Incorrect Keyword Density: The keyword should be used at a density of 2-4%. Less than this may not be enough for the search engines to see the content as highly relevant. Greater than this may be seen as keyword stuffing, which may attract a penalty.

• No images: The ALT text in an image is seen as significant by the search engines so including at least one graphic is important.

• No Internal Linking: Linking is how the web works and you want to show the search engines that your page is linked to relevant content both internally and externally. Internal links also help with off page SEO as they count as links and can distribute authority round the site.

• No External Linking: As mentioned above external links to relevant authority sites are good but don't link to any sites that are involved in dubious SEO practices.

• No (or not enough) standard pages: It is important for on page SEO that each page has a link to your standard pages (Contact, About) and legal pages (Terms, Disclaimer and Privacy, Anti Spam, DMCA policies).

If you get this right you will be clearly telling the search engines that your page is relevant to your keyword. Getting this on page SEO right is something of a chore but it is well worthwhile doing properly.