On-Page SEO is crucial for SEO and it has the power to increase and decrease your rankings, if you take it lightly, you will not rank.
It’s the way of telling Google what your content is about, and the better Google understands your content, the better rankings you will get.
In this guide, we’ll talk about the most crucial on-page SEO tactics. If you follow these tactics each time while writing a new post, your rankings will increase.
So, let’s get started.
What is On-Page SEO?
On-page SEO is everything you do on a web page to make it rank higher on Google. Basically, it’s about optimizing different parts of your page, like the title, headings, and other content elements, to make it more relevant for specific keywords.
In other words, on-page SEO is about telling Google that your page is relevant for a keyword and should be ranked higher in search results.
But it’s not just about stuffing your page with keywords – there are also other factors that we will talk about in a minute.
Why is On-Page SEO important?
When someone searches for a keyword on Google, the search engine looks at on-page SEO factors to see which page is the most relevant for that keyword and ranks the most relevant page on the top.
So, when you optimize your page for on-page SEO you increase your chances of ranking on keywords.
Now, let’s talk about how to optimize your web page for on-page SEO.
How to Do On-Page SEO?
Here’re the most important factors of on-page SEO.
Title
The title of your blog post is an important ranking factor as it tells Google what your post is about.
Also, it’s the first thing users see when they search for something, affecting your CTR and overall website traffic.
Here are the best practices for optimizing your title:
- Use the H1 tag for the title, in most platforms like WordPress it’s done automatically.
- Include your focused keyword but in a natural way.
- Make sure it’s under 60 characters, or it will cut out in SERPs.
- Use numbers, and power words, and be unique.
- Match the search intent.
- Be descriptive, and give readers a taste of what they will find in the post.
Meta Description
Meta descriptions are short descriptions that appear below the title in search results. Even though it’s not a direct ranking factor, it can affect the CTR of your page, that’s why it’s important.
Here are some tips to write compelling meta descriptions:
- Make sure it’s under 120 characters.
- Include your focused keywords and use relevant keywords.
- Use a CTA “don’t miss out, read now” or “Click here to learn more”.
- Be descriptive, tell readers what they will find in the post.
URL
Keep the URL short and simple, just include your target keyword and avoid using any numbers, dates, or special characters.
And that’s the end of it, it’s short but that can have a significant impact on your SEO.
Introduction
After clicking your post your introduction is the first thing that readers will see, it’s your chance to get the reader’s attention or make them bored.
If you failed in capturing the reader’s attention, they will likely leave your website and move on to another blog post which will give a signal no Google that readers don’t like your content and you know what will happen next.
Here’s how to optimize your introduction:
- Include your focused keyword but don’t overdo it, just include it once or twice.
- Hook your readers with some sort of question, storytelling, or statistics.
- Give them a taste of what they are about to read.
- Don’t add too much fluff and be direct.
- Aim for 60-80 words.
- Don’t link to another website in the introduction.
Headings and Subheadings
Headings and subheadings are not only used for content structure and readability of articles but it’s also used for keyword optimization.
Here’s how to do it:
- Include your focused keyword where appropriate.
- Use descriptive and relevant headings to the topic.
- Use the H1 tag for the title, H2 for the main headings, H3 for subheadings, and so on.
Optimize Images and Videos
Images can help you with user experience but it’s not only for making your content more beautiful and appealing, it can also result in attracting backlinks and improved rankings.
Here’s how to optimize your images:
- Don’t include irrelevant images.
- Use the right format like JPED OR PNG.
- Use the focused keyword in the file name.
- Use the focused keyword in image alt text but don’t overdo it.
Internal Linking
Interlink is a link to another page on your website and it helps search engines understand the structure of your content, resulting in better indexing.
Also, when you link from one page to another, it passes link juice or authority from one page to another, and Google considers you as an authoritative website which increases the overall rankings of your website.
While interlinking just make sure to use descriptive anchor text and use a clear hierarchy.
External Linking
An external link is a link to another page on another website.
When you link to other websites, it gives a signal to Google that your website is a credible source of information that’s providing real value to users and not just locking readers on their websites.
Just make sure to link to high-quality websites and use descriptive anchor text.
Lastly
Keep in mind that on-page SEO isn’t about repeating your focused keywords again and again, it’s known as spam and it can hurt your rankings.
On-Page SEO is all about making it easier for Google better understand your content. As a result, your posts will rank higher.