On-page SEO is an important factor in determining your website’s rankings.
And while you’ll want to keep readability and relevancy in mind, too – so people will actually READ your blog – your SEO efforts can really pay off.
Learn why on-page SEO is important and what the most important factors are when SEO-ing your pages.
On-page SEO is the act of optimizing your web pages so that search engines can find and register them correctly.
This is done by making sure that the content within the website is written specifically to include certain keywords that are pertinent to your business and its audiences.
On-page SEO tells Google – or other prominent search engines – who you are and that you should be at the top of the search results when your keywords are entered in.
Without on-page SEO, your website could be left in the dust.
And why chance it? Especially since you’ve invested thousands of dollars to get it up and running.
Feeding the Google Crawler as much information as possible about the website is crucial.
However, some people focus too much on their SEO efforts and don’t keep their content in balance and ensure it’s also enjoyable for their users.
While content needs to be optimized for search engines, it must also be readable and valuable for the viewer.
Here’s the info you need to make sure your on-page SEO will get the results you want:
The keyword or keyword phrase that is chosen for each page is the most important aspect of SEO optimization.
When choosing a keyword, here are a few things to keep in mind. The keyword should be:
In line with the subject of the page.
Easily searchable.
Easy to use and works within the text.
Some proper placements of the chosen keyword will be detailed below.
However, it’s best to start with correct placement directly in the content.
This means that some header text should be wrapped with <h1> or <h2> tags and include the keyword.
Also, make sure to add your keyword or keyword phrase throughout the copy, and most importantly, at the very beginning of the copy (within the first paragraph).
But, don’t go too far and keyword-stuff.
Google and your viewers will be able to tell immediately – and your website may be penalized.
Bottom line when it comes to content: Write amazing copy.
This means that the content is of a decent length and isn’t copied from any other sites.
This is extremely important!
We recommend a minimum of 500-600 words, but longer articles (2,000 words or more) tend to rank better.
If the content is too short, plagiarized, or not useful, readers will know it and Google will penalize you!
Make sure that your URL includes your keyword or phrase for the page.
Put it at the beginning of the URL string – the best placement for Google’s algorithm, which places more value on words.
Also, try not to make your URL too long.
While there is no set limit on length, use your best judgement. If it looks too long or wordy, it probably is.
Avoid using any stop words like “and,” “the,” or “it.” You don’t need to use these words in the URL because Google typically ignores them.
Google will look at the title tag of a page to determine its relevancy to a subject.
The title tag is a bit of meta data embedded into the HTML of each page that tells Google what to display in search results.
This is the link that people will click on after they perform a search on Google.
When you include the keyword in the title meta tag, Google knows how to classify the page topic and where to include it on the search engine.
This is one of the most important signals that you can send to a search engine.
Google also checks the page meta description.
The meta description should include the page’s keyword or keyword phrase. This description is what will show up as the small paragraph under the title when search results are returned to the viewer.
This is the first piece of information that the viewer sees before clicking on the page, so make it count!
Adding your keyword or keyword phrase to the alt tag on images sends Google a relevancy signal for your pictures.
If you’re unsure what an alt tag is, it’s the HTML code that tells the viewer – in text – what the picture is about.
This text can be seen when hovering over the picture with a cursor. A well constructed alt text contributes to the page’s relevancy rating.
It also helps to bring the photo and link up on image searches.
Include a few “internal” links on the page to other pages on your own website.
This strategy keeps the viewer on your pages longer and provides them with more useful information.
Google tracks how long viewers stay on your page and will consider your website more relevant the longer that they stay.
In addition to internal links, use external links too.
This helps Google to not only classify what your page is about based on other page topics, but it also sends signals to Google that your site is truly trying to provide quality content to the viewer.
It’ll get your site “brownie points” for being trustworthy and full of quality.
When creating pages for a website, include these seven most important aspects of on-page SEO.
You need these valuable tips to make sure your site stands out from the competition.
How would you rate your website’s on-page SEO?
