For as much as the methodologies used to secure top rankings in the major search engines have changed over the years, it’s amazing that the needs to optimize a website itself haven’t changed much; namely the need for effective “on page” optimization.  Unfortunately for many website owners, especially those who tend to be atop the latest trends of multi-media search and social networking, they seem to forget about the ever-important basis for any of their search engine optimization or marketing endeavors; their website’s on page elements.

Even with the new-found technologies that offer a broad array of search results that differ significantly from the formerly plain-text listings of old, there is still a real need for attention to be paid to a website’s on-page elements for proper website optimization. Just because we are now in a new era of search doesn’t mean, for one minute, that the importance of a website’s content and internal linking structure has become a moot point; that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Why on page optimization is still important

The on page elements of your website, such as keyword focused page titles, use of descriptive text for your internal links and the linking structure of your website itself, are to be the foundation of a website’s optimization.  Search engines still weigh a web pages page title as one of the highest determining factors of that page’s keyword, or topical, relevancy; the use of descriptive anchor text for internal links of a website can still help improve topical relevancy for a web page and keyword focused website content still plays a role in helping search engines to determine topical relevancy.  Universal search isn’t here to replace the need for the optimization of a website; it simply gives website owners the ability to expand the overall reach and visibility of their websites.

Just because we are in a new era of search results doesn’t mean that we can neglect the fundamental needs of a website’s optimization and expect to fare alright in the search engines.  At the end of the day, universal search, blended search and social networking aren’t here to replace the need for on page optimization, they’re here to compliment the efforts we’ve already put into our websites to make them search engine friendly.  Those who embrace this new-generation of search, while acknowledging the needs of proper on page optimization, will get a lot more out of their internet businesses than those who rely on universal search and social networking alone.