On-Page, SEO Optimization

What is On Page SEO?

On-page SEO (also known as “on-site SEO”) is the practice of optimizing web page content for search engines and users.

In simple language we can say on-page SEO practices include optimizing title tags, content, internal links and URLs.

Why is on-page SEO important?

Google is ultimately looking for the most relevant search result for a query, so their algorithms also look for other relevant content on the page.

If you search for any competitive keyword, you’ll notice that the top-ranking pages almost all use that exact keyword in their title tag.

That said:

There’s more to on-page SEO than cramming keywords into your page’s HTML.

To rank your content , you also need to optimize your content for:

• User experience
• Bounce Rate and Dwell Time
• Search Intent
• Page loading speed
• Click-through-rate

Optimize Your Content for SEO

Now that you’ve seen why on-page SEO still matters, it’s time to start optimizing your content.

As mentioned in the Content is King Section, you want to write content that your audience will find valuable and engaging. Aside from the topical nature of the content, the way you format your webpages can have an impact on how the search engine bots digest your content. Every webpage you create should have a thought-provoking headline to grab the reader’s attention, and should also include the keyword or phrase that the webpage covers. Other body formatting, such as bolding certain keywords or phrases, can help stress the importance of phrases you are optimizing for.

All you need to do is use your main keyword once in the first 100-150 words of your article.

For example, in my article optimized around the keyword “search engine optimization”, I mentioned that keyword right off the bat.

Why is this important?

Google puts more weight on terms that show up early on your page.

Which makes sense. Imagine that you just published an article about The Digital Marketing. If your article really was about The Digital Marketing would it make sense to first use the term “Digital Marketing” halfway down the page?

Of course not.

This is why you want to drop your keyword somewhere in the first 100 words or so. This is one of those little things that helps Google understand what your page is all about.

What are the most important on-page SEO elements?

This 10 Step On-Page Search Engine Optimization Guide will help you optimize your website pages, so they will have the best chance to get found by your target market. These 10 steps will help improve your content and authority – and increase your rankings, traffic, and conversions.

1. Identifying the Goals, Objectives & Defining KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) 

Goals: - is basically defining what you want to achieve through SEO. A company can have multiple goals to achieve like an increase in Revenue, Sales, Traffic, and Brand Awareness

Objectives: - is all about quantifying the goals. For example, if the increase in sales is your goal then defining a number like what is the current sales you are getting through SEO and to what number or percentage you wanted to increase it. While defining the number, it is also very important to define a particular time frame for it. E.g.: An increase in sales from 50 units to 100 units in three months’ time.

KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators):- As you all know SEO is an ongoing and time taking process. So while we are implementing SEO, we need to keep tracking the performance of our website in organic results on a regular periodic interval to make sure we are on the right track. Few examples of KPIs for SEO we have to keep measuring or analyzing the increase in traffic & subscribers, keyword rankings, time spent on the site, bounce rate, top viewed pages or posts, pages viewed per visit.

3. E-A-T

E-A-T, which stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, is the framework that Google ratters use to assess content creators, webpages, and websites as a whole.

Google has always put a premium on high-quality content. It wants to make sure that sites producing high-quality content are rewarded with better rankings and sites that create low-quality content get less visibility. There is a clear relationship between what Google considers high-quality content and what appears in the search results.

Call it correlation or causation – whatever it is, E-A-T is somehow playing a role in Google’s organic search results. Which means E-A-T must be a consideration in your SEO strategy. 

2. Keyword Research

A search term which a user types to find your website in the search engine is called a Keyword. It can be a single word or a phrase.

Keywords can be defined in two contexts, 

1. Based on the length.
2. Based on the user’s intent.

4. Title Tags 

Besides an actual text headline on your page, every webpage you create has a title tag. This is the text snippet that appears in the upper left corner or on the tabs of your web browser. Also, the title tag is the blue link that the search engines show when they list your webpage on the SERP.

The best practices to write a good title are

1. Keep your title length up to 60-70 characters including space to avoid ellipses (…) Google truncates the title tags that go beyond the ideal character length.
2. Put important keywords at the beginning for more impact on search rankings.
3. Every page should have a unique Title tag for better understanding for the users and it also improves CTR.
4. Keep your users in mind and add USPs to stand out.
5. Use separator after the keyword. Example: use a comma (,) or a separator (|) or a hyphen (-)
6. Avoid keyword stuffing or over-optimization of the title as Google may simply remove it for serving the users with more relevant information.  

5.  Meta Tags optimization

Meta tags are snippets of code you can include within your webpage’s HTML. The Meta tags are usually located near the title tag code in the head of your HTML. There are two Meta tags – Meta description and Meta keywords. 

The Meta description is a text snippet that describes what your specific webpage is about. Meta descriptions are usually the first place a search engine will look to find text to put under your blue link when they list your website on the SERP. If you do not have a Meta description, the search engines will usually select a random piece of content from the page they are linking to. The Meta description is limited to 150 character.

The best practices to write a good Meta description 

1. Use up to 155-160 characters. Anything going beyond the optimal length can be truncated by Google. 
2. It should briefly describe the content of your page. Keep it actionable which will urge the user to click. 
3. Include a call-to-action.
4. Add 1 or 2 focus keywords, keeping it relevant to the content of your page so that Google shows this to the users.
5. Write unique, compelling, and readable descriptions for a better CTR. 

Meta keywords consists of an additional text snippet in the HTML that allows you to list a few different keywords that relate to your webpage. Back in the day, search engines used this field to determine what keywords to rank your webpage for. Now, most search engines claim they do not even use Meta keywords when indexing content. Some small or niche search engines may still use it though. As a best practice, it is recommended to put 5-7 keywords in the Meta keywords but don’t spend too much time thinking about it and length is 160 to 170 charter. 

 

6. Heading tag optimization (H1-H6)

When the search engine bots scan your webpages, they look for clues to determine exactly what your webpage is about. Keywords that are treated differently than most others on the page show the search engines that they are more important than other keywords on the page. This is why the use of headline tags within your page is so important. By using various headline tags (each tag will produce a different size headline) you not only make your webpage easier to digest from a reader’s standpoint, but you will also give the search engines definitive clues as to what is important on the page.

H1-H6 tag must have 70 character of content it’s a standard limit.

Best practices for Header Tags

1. Use header tags to provide a good structure. Each header should give the user a clear idea about the information provided on the page. Use H1 to highlight the main heading of the page and H2-H6 tags to provide the subheadings and so on. Please make sure to use only ONE H1 tag per page. 
2. Include keywords in the headings. Do this for the bots that are scanning your page and trying to understand the content.
3. Use them consistently. This will add to a good user experience and also helps the user navigate through the content with ease. 
4. Using them in chronological order for better SEO, although it is not a direct ranking factor. Make sure that if you are using an H4, you use H3 and H2 as well. This adds quality to your content and that helps in SEO. 

7. Image optimization

There is nothing worse than landing on a webpage and being faced with mountains of text. Not only are pictures a great way to break up sections of text, but they also serve as an opportunity to communicate with the search engines. Because search engines cannot tell what a picture is by scanning it, they look for clues in two places. Every picture you upload to your website will have a file name. When the picture is inserted on your website, the picture’s file name actually lives in your website’s sources code, or HTML. Since the search engines scan your website’s code, you should use file names that describe the picture. For example, “keyword research.jpg” is much more useful than “pic12345.jpg”.

 Images can be optimized in two ways: 

• File name: Each word should be separated with dashes (-), e.g. digital-marketing-course.jpg
• ALT text: The alt text should match the file name, without dashes, e.g. digital Marketing course 

Additionally, you can give the search engines an extra hand by including alt tags on all pictures on your website. Alt tags are short snippets of code that allow you to tag each photo on your site with a short text blurb.

8. URL Structure

URL is a permalink that shows your domain name along with a brief structure of a page. URL is important for rankings, link sharing and even adds value to your presence on the SERP. It is shown in green color text. By seeing the URL, the users and search engines should get a good idea about what they can expect on the page. 

You can find the URL of a page in two places: 

• SERP
• In the address bar

Best practices to write a good URL structure

1. Keep it simple, relevant, and as accurate as possible.
2. Use hyphens (–) to separate words. 
3. Use lowercase text only.
4. Using the exact page name along with a keyword can increase the click-through rate. 
5. A user-friendly URL structure is ranked higher by the search engines and also enhances the user experience. 

9. Anchor Links

If you create content on your blog for an individual page, then the other pages of your website must direct the users to this blog page. This is achieved through Anchor Links. You can do this by adding links in between the content of the other pages within the website. Use proper anchor text (use keywords here) to let the users know about which page they are going to click on. This improves the user-friendliness of a page.

Bonus tip: Always use the same anchor text that leads to the target page. This helps the bots to recognize the page as important and relevant to the website which helps in ranking. 

Anchor links mainly focus on the internal inbound links which means that how many pages within the website are directing the users to the main target page which you want to rank on the SERP. 

10. Content

Creating high-quality, useful content influences the website much more than any other factor mentioned above. Your content should Educate, Entertain and Engage the users. Content has a very high value in terms of ranking because that is what compels the users to take necessary action on your website.

 

Some of the best practices to write useful content are: 

1. The best content should be simple enough that even a 15-year-old can read it. 
2. Write content for the right target audience and make sure to use keywords that the user might be searching for.  
3. Create fresh, unique content and focus on readability. A readable is clear, organized, has logic, and full of resourceful links.
4. Be the expert in writing content that you know about. This builds credibility and also adds to trustworthiness. 
5. Add a good mix of images, videos and cite the resources/stats that you may use. 

Repeat these 10 steps for each of your website pages.