Let me guess: one of the main goals for your website is for it to get a lot of traffic and be easily found on Google. Well, then it is important that it’s visible for the readers. This is where on-page SEO comes in. If you are new to it – we have your back!
Here you can read about what it is and how to improve yours!
What is On-page SEO and why is it important?
On-page SEO (also called on-site SEO) is optimizing your website’s content and HTML source code. This makes it easier for search engines to understand your website and rank it higher if it’s relevant to the user.
This optimization is important for Google’s ranking algorithms. Since they are looking for the most relevant query, what needs to be optimized is the page title, headers (h1 and h2 tags), URL, text content, meta descriptions, internal links and more.
Let’s go through some of the ways to improve your on-page SEO:
SEO Title
It is normal to start with the first thing that grabs the searcher’s attention – the title. Its main purpose is expressing what the content is about. This way, whoever comes across that page will know whether it is relevant to them or not.
Title tags show up in search results. Often if they are too long, the information that they give is actually cut out and their use becomes pointless.
This is the key: short and clear.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is a process of finding the search terms that people enter online so you can create a content strategy for your website.
The three main factors in choosing a good keyword are:
- relevance – meeting the searcher’s needs
- authority – having helpful informational content
- search volume – often being searched from users
Some experts’ advice for better optimalization is to include your keyword in your headline.
Pay attention not to target only one keyword in multiple pages.
URL
Short and clear. URLs show what your website is about even before visiting it. It is also a good place to put your keyword.
For example: https://neilpatel.com/blog/ingredients-of-great-content/
You can see that this website is going to tell you about what the ingredients of a great content are.
Another tip for your URL is to avoid using numbers and years. Firstly, because if there are only numbers, the point of using these URLs is gone. The user will hardly understand what the website may be about.
For adding years the problem is if you want to update your content the next year, but in the URL is written the last. Of course, there are cases in which you want to point out events that happened in a specific time. Then it is okay to put it in, knowing that you won’t write the same.
Meta Description
Let’s start with what is actually meta description. It’s a HTML tag with a short description of your webpage. It is shown underneath the title and URL and it’s also important for attracting users. For best results your meta description needs to be short (1-2 sentences), clear and catching the eye. You should find the golden middle between making it too long or too short so that it’s ignored.
The better it becomes if you include your keyword there. You can also target an emotion and express it so that you can connect with users.
SEO Headlines
A good headline can play a huge role in attracting the searchers and make them actually read your article.
It is true that most people read only the headlines and a few actually read the content.
So if it doesn’t make the users curious of what is it about, then they would probably find something that sounds way more interesting.
Header Tags
In order to make it enjoyable and easy for users to read your content it is important to break it into sections and organize them. Headline tags are put in descending order (H1 to H6) with H1 being the most general heading.
Page loading speed
Nowadays everything moves so fast that people are getting more and more impatient. A millisecond is crucial to define whether your article will be read or not. For avoiding delays, you should use images and videos with smaller sizes. Sometimes the issue may be in having large amounts of HTML or large and uncompressed JavaScript and CSS files. Pay attention to these things and increase your page loading speed.
Images and videos & their optimization
It is proved that images and videos are catching the eye and can be used to attract users that prefer visual content. They are sometimes a better solution for answering questions like “how to tie your necktie”. Make sure you use them properly so that they support your content. Another plus is that this way you can show up on Google Image Search.
Attention! when adding images and videos you should consider your page loading speed (mentioned above). Ways to optimize this speed and still have visual content are:
- By naming your images in descriptive and accurate way
- Adjust your image file size by using different open-source tools that Google provides
Internal and external Linking
Internal links point form one page on your website to another. It’s a good strategy for promoting yourself. On the other hand, external linking is pointing to other websites.
By doing it you can navigate users where to read more information on the topic. This way they get to the most relevant information to them.
Everything is fine as far as you don’t overdo it. Link to the things that actually help users and not annoy them.
Length and design
Complex questions need long answers and urgent questions – fast answers. If Google sees that the searcher wants one of the two then it’ll provide them with what’s accurate.
That’s why you need to decide whether your topic needs short or long content and provide the proper solution for the user’s needs.
On the other hand, the design of everything has its importance in user’s experience. First, your content needs to be readable, and the answers have to be well displayed. The design should attract users and be your webpage’s advantage, not disadvantage.
Create engaging content for good SEO
Keeping your site visitors posted and wanting to read more from your work. Some ways to do that is by creating engaging content – leaving questions for them on how to apply what they have learned from your article. Another way is to write stories to clarify your point, make it easier to understand and remember.
Most importantly – have a promising introduction to your post. Most users decide whether to read the rest of the article just by reading the first two or three sentences.
Once they are engaged to your content make sure to upload more and be committed to your work.
Be unique!
Last but not least, it is important to demonstrate your creativity and impress the users with something new! If you only copy information just for content, then you’ll be remembered as a copy-cat. On the other hard don’t overdo it, because you want the searcher to receive a proper information.
On-page SEO: Final thoughts
On-page SEO plays a crucial role for your website and it’s ranking. By going higher, you can increase the number of your website’s readers. For succeeding in doing this first you need to look for topics that are relevant and often searched. Look for keywords and add them in your title, URL and meta description. Use relevant images and make it look attractive! Show your uniqueness and impress! This way people would want more and more content form you.
Best of luck!