Are you looking for ways by which you will be able to optimize the web pages perfectly? Then you are on the right page. You do have a keyword and now you want this to rank. Now how does one optimize the page with Google? The work is a lot easier than you assume. There is just a need for following some practical advice. But, first, we need to understand the basics well.
Doing On-page SEO is not an easy task today but not hard as it was because of tons of tools for each and every On-page activity.
What is meant by On-Page SEO?
Another term that is used is on-site SEO. This is mainly the practice of optimizing the content of a web page for users and search engines. The common practices include the optimization of internal linking, title tags, content, and URLs. This is a completely different phenomenon from the off-page SEO that means optimization of the signals that occur on your website like backlinks.
Why is it important?
There is the importance of on-page SEO as Google gets known about the website you own and offers value to customers and visitors. Therefore, your website gets optimized for bots of search engines and human eyes as well.
Just the creation and publishing of the content on the website won’t be enough. One needs to optimize the content for search engines like Google so that new traffic can be attracted to your website. Each portion of the on-page SEO depends on you, this is why you must stay on the right path.
On-Page SEO Guide
I agree with the concept that On-page is a one-time process but as I have said earlier it is no easy task, you will have to do research before taking a step ahead.
Maybe, you have a keyword in your head to get rank on and also good content but how will you optimize it in a natural format so no search engine can read your brain?
Do you really think that placing keywords all over is the best On-SEO tactic?
No…
It was good before Google’s updates or algorithms but everything has changed so let’s dive into the deep barrel of the topic.
1. Title Tag
This is a kind of HTML tag that can be seen over the head section of the web pages that you see. Each of the web pages offers the initial context or cue for the subject matter about the page on which it’s placed.
It mainly features the results of search engine pages and is used as the clickable links and also the browser window. As the title tag on itself doesn’t have a huge impact on the organic ranking, these are also the times when it gets overlooked.
That being said, duplicate, missing or title tags that are badly written will have a negative impact on the SEO results. Therefore, make sure that you try to work on this element as well.
Moreover, search engines like Google have created criteria while making Title Tags and it should be between 50–60 characters or in 600-pixel.
You can see above image that the Title tag of 1st result is bigger than 2nd where the length of 1st title tag is 60 characters and 54 for the other.
And this is why the title tag’s length matters.
Code Sample – <head><title> What Is On-Page SEO? – A Ultimate Guide In 2020 </title></head>
Apart from the length, you should add relevant keywords that intent the internet about your webpage.
Here is an example of what I want to say.
Adding relevant keywords in your title & description tags tends to a higher ranking.
With my personal experience, relevant keywords help in higher ranking, and adding keywords doesn’t mean stuffing them.
2. Meta Description
From the very beginning having a good meta-description has been the point of optimization. The meta tags, meta descriptions will provide small information on the page content. This is displayed under the page title in SERP’s. Although Google maintains that there is no help of meta description in the rankings there has been anecdotal evidence that indirectly attributes that there is some help with descriptions.
Generally, Google prefers a meta description between 155–160 characters.
Therefore, when you are optimizing the meta-description, you will be improving:
- CTR or Click-through rate.
- Perception over the resulting quality.
- Perception of everything that your website can offer will change.
Code Sample – <head><meta name=”description” content=”On-Page SEO – In this article we are going to discuss about “on-page factors” so you can rank well and grow your website”></head>
3. Headlines
Do you want the website content to be performing well over the search? Then have well and compelling headlines need focus. You can come up with the title for the blog post that seems very basic. But when you have a good headline it means that there will be a difference between impression and click. This is why having a strategic approach to it will be beneficial.
We have 6 Header Tags which are h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 & h6.
- H1 (important ranking factor) uses to tell a user and search engine about your website. In other words, it helps to introduce a particular webpage.
- H2 helps to clarify subheadings, for instance, let suppose, we are writing on “SEO”. Then H1 would be “SEO” or something like that and as SEO breakdown into two important segments “On-page SEO” and “Off-page SEO” then both will be in H2.
- Whereas, from H3s to H6s give additional sub-headings.
Code Sample:
- For H1 – <h1> On-Page SEO Tips</h1>
- For H2 – <h2>On-Page SEO Guide</h2>
- For H3 – </h3>Title Tag</h3>
- And So on..
The headline might spark interest and make it stand out when we talk about SERPs. The enticing users will be clicking through and shall continue reading the entire content.
4. Make It Smart Phone Friendly
About 60 percent of the total searching done on Google are available on mobile devices. This also means that in case the website isn’t mobile-friendly, you will be losing about 50% of the traffic that contains potential clients as well.
So what do you do?
As the first thing, you have to ensure that the website is smartphone friendly. So you can check that from the mobile-friendly tool by Google and this can help you in fixing any issues that you have. You have to then move a step ahead and test how the website works on the phone. This will be similar to the way a real user might do.
Also, make sure that everything from the correct display with the CTA buttons is working fine. Generally, a website that has a responsive design won’t make you stress over this aspect.
5. Comments
A lot of people also believe that as the blog comments on social media increase, they hold no importance. But this is wrong. There is still crucial importance of the blog comments. It can be taken as the indication for the content and interactions that people have with your page and can help in boosting the SEO.
There is a high probability that the users that post comments must have gone through the existing comments. This will be a good way for increasing the additional time that they will be spending on the website page that you have.
For making sure that there is good use of the comments, you can also follow the simple rules:
- Make sure that the comments are moderated before they are published.
- Also, avoid the comments that seem very general.
- Make sure that you are approving the comments that will be relevant to the content on the page and adds some value.
- Never approve comments from people that aren’t using real names.
- Make sure that you are replying to the comments. This also encourages more people for commenting.
6. Internal Linking
This is the procedure of hyperlinking the other pages that can be helpful for the website. It is vital for on-page SEO as the internal links will be sending the readers to other website pages and will keep them around for longer periods and therefore making sure that Google knows that you are offering helpful and valuable content.
I always prefer and recommend keyword-rich anchor text. Here is an example to get more clarification using jarvee.com.
Also, the longer time that people will be staying on the website, the more time will Google have to index and crawl on the site pages. This eventually assists Google in absorbing the information on the website and potentially helping in a higher ranking on the result page of the search engine.
Note – Internal linking helps to pass authority & link juice within the website which is crucial to get a higher ranking.
If you are wishing to see the greatest example all-time in terms of internal linking see Wikipedia.
7. Site Speed
Boost your website speed.
Why?
Do you wait too long to load a website??
No…
Also, Google has indicated that website speed in a search ranking algorithm.
Whether you have seen the website on a mobile or computer, the site has to load fast. When we talk about on-page SEO, the page speed holds immense importance.
Google just cares about the experience of the user. Therefore, if your website takes more than 3 seconds to load, Google will know and the visitors will leave quickly. Although this is more of a technical aspect, it needs focus as this offers a good page experience for anyone that visits you.
One can use tools.pingdom.com, Google speed test or GTmetrix.com to know the website’s speed and get an assessed report on how can you decrease loading time.
Backlinko says that large pages take 381% more time to load than a small or normal page which is why it is mandatory for one to optimize and compress their website.
In order to do so, one should compress their images, minify CSS, JavaScript, HTML, use CDN, remove leverage browser caching, and more.
Code Sample – Alt Tag – <img src=”example.png” alt=”SEO On-Page Guide” />.
Bonus Tip – When you add an image you should add an alt tag, description and do the right URL mapping.
Why am I saying to do so?
Google and other search engines read image tags, descriptions, and so on, and when you add everything carefully it helps search engines understand your image easily otherwise it takes time and ultimately affects the webpage’s loading time.
Final Thoughts
The on-page SEO is everything and a lot more than just focusing on the keywords. It is about the fulfillment of the search intent and also offering the searchers what they had been looking for. But, it’s vital to make sure that Google stays happy. And the tips that we motioned above are easy to include on your website. You can also focus will on content auditing and see how all of this takes your online business to the next level.
Author Bio
Ravi Kumar is working for a digital marketing agency. He has years of experience in the digital world and loves to share your experience with other by posting blogs. His areas of expertise include SEO, Social media marketing, content writing and web hosting analysis. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.
doodle jump says
The on-page SEO is everything and a lot more than just focusing on the keywords.
Elaina M says
Appreciate your thoughts on this.