On-page SEO is the most important process that you can use not just for achieving higher rankings in the search engines but also for booming SEO campaigns. A good detailed on-page SEO can help your website ranking in many ways.
But before explaining Onpage SEO. Let’s begin with some basic SEO terms so you could have a better idea.
1. Optimize your Page Titles
While the title tag holds undeniable weight in SEO, it’s not the sole ruler of on-page optimization. Think of it as the first impression for both search engines and users. Here’s how to craft a stellar title tag:
- Target Relevant Keywords: Integrate your primary keyword naturally, ideally towards the beginning for clarity. Remember, keyword stuffing is a big no-no!
- Go Beyond the Basics: Enhance your title with modifiers and long-tail variations to expand your reach and attract qualified traffic. Think “[Keyword] for [Specific Benefit]” or “[Keyword]: A Comprehensive Guide.”
- Hook the Click: Your title is like a mini ad. Spark curiosity and entice users to click through with compelling language and actionable verbs.
Optimize for search engines, but write for humans!
How To Find Variations
Simply enter your main keyword, and watch it unveil a treasure trove of long-tail variations to sprinkle throughout your content.These targeted phrases can attract engaged readers and boost your SEO game.
Update Old Posts For Higher Traffic
Don’t overlook the power of revisiting older posts! A simple title tweak can unlock hidden SEO potential.
Take Nat Eliason, who dramatically increased his ranking for a high-volume keyword simply by refreshing his title tag.
Consider it a treasure hunt for hidden SEO gems within your existing content.
2. Write Awesome Meta Descriptions
The world of SEO is constantly in flux, and meta descriptions are no exception. For years, the golden rule was to keep them concise, between 140-158 characters (roughly 924 pixels). But recent whispers from Search Engine Journal suggest Google might be testing the waters with longer snippets.
While the jury’s still out on whether this is a permanent shift, it underscores the crucial role meta descriptions play in attracting clicks and boosting your website’s visibility.
Beyond their SEO prowess, these succinct blurbs offer valuable searchers, piquing their curiosity and influencing those precious click-through-rates (CTRs).
So, how can you craft the perfect meta description in this evolving landscape? Here’s the recipe:
- Keyword Cocktail: Infuse your description with at least one of your most relevant keywords, making it easier for search engines to understand your page’s content.
- Content Cliffhanger: Briefly summarise what your page offers, but leave enough mystery to entice users to click and discover more. Think of it as a captivating trailer for your webpage.
- Call to Click: End with a compelling call to action, like “Learn More” or “Shop Now,” gently nudging users towards your site.
Want to see how your meta masterpiece will look in the search results? Tools like the Yoast SEO plugin can give you a sneak peek and help you optimize your snippets for maximum impact.
Meta descriptions are the brief page summaries that appear under the title in search results. If you’re familiar with SEO, you may wonder why I didn’t mention meta descriptions. Well, they had their time.
They used to be one of Google’s ranking factors. Although it’s no longer a search engine’s official ranking factor, it can affect your click-through rate.
Most users tend to click on pages with great meta descriptions that tell them in a few words what the page is about. If you don’t include meta descriptions, Google will display a random excerpt from your content based on the search intent.
Bonus Tip: While longer descriptions might be on the horizon, don’t neglect mobile users. Keep your meta descriptions concise and impactful on smaller screens to ensure they don’t get cut off.
3. Optimize your Main Content for Search
Brian Dean of Backlinko advises us to drop the focused keyword in the first 100-150 words of an article or page.
In other words, avoid writing long, dreary, and unclear introductions.
Instead, insert your focused keyword right at the beginning of the page to let search-engines know what it’s about.
While stellar content can prop up a website even without SEO magic, a site relying solely on SEO wizardry is like building a mansion on sand.
The foundation, ultimately, lies in valuable, informative content. That’s where originality, depth, and thorough research come in.
Studies consistently link longer, informative articles to higher SERP rankings, solidifying the notion that quality content reigns supreme.
- SEO best practices say that “Content is king”. Best quality content can get you a good ranking, better clicks, and immense traffic to your website.
- Quality and length of content play a decent role in website ranking over search engines. Good content can give you better user engagement, less bounce rate, and it also helps you to increase your Click Through Rate (CTR).
Why is content quality important?
- Google uses different algorithms for ranking factors and each algorithm has specific rules. But Google’s latest update Rankbrain algorithm. It’s based on artificial intelligence and it can read your content. Rankbarin doesn’t look for keyword relevancy in your content, it sees the topic relevance and that’s why content becomes the main ranking factor for any website.
- Content could be anything: Image, text, infographics, video, presentation PPT, any form of information that can be considered as content.
4. Improve Site Speed
With shrinking attention spans, website speed is king. Google considers it a crucial ranking factor, meaning slow-loading pages (over 5-7 seconds) get buried in search results and miss out on valuable traffic, leads, and sales.
Struggling with lagging page load times? Google’s handy tool, PageSpeed Insights, has your back.
We love that PageSpeed Insights doesn’t just point out the problem, it offers actionable solutions:
- Trim the fat: Minify HTML to shave off unnecessary bytes.
- Squeeze those images: Optimizing and compressing images can make a big difference.
- Cache it for speed: Leverage browser caching to serve up content faster on repeat visits.
- Content first: Prioritize loading above-the-fold content by eliminating render-blocking CSS or JS.
- Server sprint: Shave seconds off server response times for a smoother experience.
For an extra boost, consider Cloudflare. This popular content delivery network can slash your page load times by an average of 42%, bringing your site to the top of the speed game.
5. URL structure
Your website’s URL structure plays a crucial role in on-page SEO, influencing how search engines and users navigate your content. Let’s delve into four key elements for URL optimization:
1. Short & Descriptive: Aim for URLs under 255 characters, easy to understand, and separated by hyphens. Include your target keyword and summarize the page’s content. Think “blog/seo-strategy” (good) instead of “p1922-2016” (bad).
2. Breadcrumb Navigation: These handy trails help users and search engines understand your site’s hierarchy, particularly on deeper pages. Implement breadcrumbs like “Home > Blog > SEO Strategy” for clear navigation.
3. Categorization & Subcategories: Categories organize your content for both users and search engines, facilitating quicker discovery. Subcategories and subfolders can further segment information, but use them sparingly for complex sites.
4. HTML Sitemap for Link Juice Distribution: Distinct from the XML sitemap, an HTML sitemap displayed in your website’s footer links to your most important pages. This helps distribute link value from your homepage, boosting their SEO performance.
URLs are taken into account when it comes to SERPs, so it would stand a better chance of ranking for a keyphrase like “gold watches for men”. Keyphrases like that tend to be of a commercial/transactional intent, so they’re more likely to result in a purchase. (But not always).
6. Include Images and Optimize Them
Image optimization is a crucial SEO booster, helping your content land higher in search results. Search engines can’t “see” images like we do, so we need to provide them with clues about what’s in there. Here are three key ways to optimize your images for search:
1. Descriptive file names and alt text:
- Think of your image file names as mini-descriptions. Instead of generic words like “IMG_1234.jpg,” use terms relevant to your content, like “woman-running-beach.jpg”.
- Alt text is like a caption for your image, read by search engines and screen readers. Use relevant keywords naturally within the description of what’s happening in the image. For example, “A woman enjoys a morning jog along a scenic beach.”
2. Strategic image titles:
While less crucial than file names and alt text, image titles offer another opportunity to include relevant keywords. Keep it concise and descriptive, like “Running on the Beach: Finding Freedom in Every Stride.”
3. Image descriptions (optional, but beneficial):
If your platform allows, writing a brief description for your image can further enhance its SEO value. Use this space to elaborate on the image’s context and relevance to your content.
Bonus tip: Optimize image file size for faster page loading. Use tools like TinyPNG or JPEGmini to compress images without sacrificing quality. This improves user experience and SEO, as search engines favor fast-loading websites.
People get discouraged when they see a whole block of text. Search engines know this. As a result, they tend to rank pages with media higher than those without. Include relevant images on your page.
Ensure that the file name of every image you upload is visible. The file name is preserved in the HTML source code whenever you add media to your website.
Search engines crawl the code of your website, so be sure to give each image a name that appropriately describes what it is. Also, use alt texts with good descriptions for images.
7. Use Relevant Links (Internal and External)
The misconception that internal links lack SEO power often surprises us. Connecting your pages through strategic links does wonders for user experience, site navigation, and, yes, SEO. This interlinking magic helps distribute page authority and boosts crawlability for search engines.
From HTML sitemaps to breadcrumbs, internal linking tools abound. Take a page from Wikipedia’s book with their masterful use of contextual, keyword-rich links. Remember, quality trumps quantity – 2-5 relevant links to well-established pages usually suffice.
Internal links point visitors to one or more other pages on your website. You can show that the page to which you are linking has content for the keywords you have picked as your anchor by building internal links.
Linking within your website can be beneficial. They can entice visitors to stay on your website for longer, which in turn reduces your bounce rate and informs search engines that you are providing high-quality results for their search queries.
External links, on the other hand, refer users to pages outside your site. These external pages offer more information to the reader. Use external links that are authorities on that topic. The reliability of each external source is considered when assessing a page.
8. Improve User Experience
Give your visitors a stellar experience, and SEO will follow. Longer dwell time, lower bounce rates, and higher engagement – these are the hallmarks of a user-friendly site, and Google takes notice. Metrics like these, easily tracked in Google Analytics, are Google’s way of gauging page quality.
Boost dwell time and user satisfaction by:
- Content is king: Craft compelling, targeted content that keeps visitors glued to the page.
- Declutter ruthlessly: Remove distractions and prioritize elements that serve your visitors’ needs.
- Speed is essential: Optimize for lightning-fast loading times to keep users engaged.
- Clear calls to action: Guide visitors with strong, targeted CTAs that drive conversions.
Final Thoughts
By implementing these on-page SEO tips, you can optimize your website for improved organic search rankings, increased visibility, and enhanced user experience.
Keep in mind that SEO is an ongoing process, and regularly monitoring and refining your on-page optimization efforts is essential for long-term success.
Author: Jugnu Nagar
SEO Specialist
