A Complete Guide To “On Page SEO”

The factors that affect the search engine rankings of a page are termed as it’s on page factors. “On Page SEO” is the anatomy of a perfectly optimized page. It involves making use of Meta tags and the right keywords in proper density. Using some practical strategies on your website can bring in more search engine traffic to your site.

With the right use of keywords, every piece of content that you publish on your site will bring in a number of readers and site followers. Ideal content pages should be relevant to the topic of your page. The purpose of your page should be clearly stated in all areas including your title tag, URL, content and image alt text. All of the on page factors must be optimized properly. The better optimized pages rank higher on every search engine results including Google and Bing.

An Ideally Optimized Web Page

An ideally optimized web page has to have all of these:

• Everything in the page must be hyper relevant to the topic including its title tag, URL, image alt text and the content itself.
• Provide unique content about the specific topic
• Link back to its category page
• Link back to its subcategory page if possible
• Link back to its homepage

On page SEO is the process of optimizing your web pages to make them more clear for search engines as well as for the users. On page SEO allows you to align the whole page of your site with a certain topic. It makes your site components meet both a user’s and search engine’s demands. With an entire process of optimizing your website’s on-page SEO includes doing SEO, formulating a plan, making it easier to coordinate pages and keywords and tracking changes and results all in one place. Everything has to implemented step-by-step.

Leverage SEO Friendly Permalink URLs

Make sure that your page’s URL is short and keyword rich. Google states that the first 3-5 words in each URL are given more weight. You must avoid ugly URL’s like xyz.com/p=123 or the long ones like xyz.com/on-page-seo-is-so-amazing-omg-its-the-best. Using the main keyword as your page URL also makes a small but significant difference.

Also, the URL of your page must represent the category hierarchy of your website. For example, xyz.com/games/video-games/history is a good example of a URL structure. It clearly shows that your page is about history of video games in the context of games in general. Google uses this information to determine your page’s relevancy. However, xyz.com/title/tt57474 is also an example of a bad URL. It does not reflect the information hierarchy of the website. Google will not be able to determine what the page is all about with such a URL. The information provided by this page is therefore, of little value to the search engine. URL structure helps Google to add a helpful relevancy metric to your page.

Start Title with Keyword

One of the most important on page SEO factor is your title tag. Researches show that the pages which started their title with a keyword ranked higher in the search engine results when compared to the pages with the keyword in the middle or at the end of their title. The closer the keyword is to the beginning of your title tag, the more weight it has with search engines. It is not always necessary to start your title with your target keyword. But try to keep your keyword as close as possible to the beginning of your title tag in order to make it more significant for the on page SEO factor.

Text within the title tag needs to be planned very accurately. Use the most targeted keywords of every web page there. Search engines will show your titles on their SERPs whenever your page ranks for user queries. Give it a good thought and use apt keywords or key phrases. The title of your page must entice web searchers to click on your link and each title must be unique and relevant to the textual content on that particular page. The keywords mentioned in the title should be mentioned at least twice on the web page.

Meta Description

Add content in Meta description of your page. This content is previewed by the search engines as a short description of a web page. It must be a short sentence that summarizes your page’s content. It must be very interesting and keyword rich. This is necessary because it helps to entice searchers to click on your link. It does not affect Google’s ranking factor, but it shows searchers relevance of your web page to searched keywords. Use around 150-160 words in the Meta description.

Meta Keywords

Meta keywords do not affect the ranking by Google any more, but it has no harm to have them in place.

Add Cool Multimedia to Your Content

You can use various images, videos, screenshots and diagrams to make your content better. The use of multimedia elements in your content engages more people and increase the amount of time which they spend on your site. This helps in improving the ranking of your site based on the two user interaction ranking factors. Adding cool multimedia helps you in increasing the value of your content since people are more likely to link to it. This way the user interaction signals boost up to great extent.

Outbound Linking

Using outbound links is an all-time white hat SEO strategy in order to get more traffic. Create outbound links to pages which are relevant to your content. This helps Google to know about your page’s topic in a better way and therefore helps in boosting up your page’s rank in Google. A good rule is to link out 2-4x per 100 words for most of the sites. You must link out to authority sites whenever possible.

Use Keyword within the First 100 Words

Make sure that your keyword appears within the first 100-150 words of the content that you publish. Using the keyword early in the content helps it complement your title tag and emphasizes the topic of your page. This is something that comes naturally when you start writing. But some writers like to give a long, roundabout introduction and then include the keyword somewhere in the middle of their post. If you are one such writer, make sure that you drop your keyword somewhere in the first 100 words or so. It helps Google to know what your page is all about.

Use Heading Tags Properly

Prioritize targeted keywords on your web page by using heading tags like h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 and h6. H1 tag should be used once on a page. This must include the most important key phrase or a set of keywords. The other heading tags can be used twice or more on a page.

Title in H1 Tag

Use the H1 headline tag for your titles. Most CMS websites like WordPress automatically add the H1 tag to your post title. But some might not. So, check your site’s code and ensure that your title gets the H1 tag, which it deserves. You can also have multiple H1 tags on the same page if needed.

Loading Speed

The SEO ranking signal also depends on how you page loads. Use a CDN like MaxCDN or use compressed images or switch to faster hosting in order to boost up your site’s loading speed. It should not take more than 4 seconds to load your page. 75% of users will not revisit your site if it takes more than 4 seconds to load. Moving to more expensive but decent hosts can make your site a lot faster. They are worth the money that you pay them.

Add Modifiers to Your Title

Add modifiers like “2013”, “best”, “guide” and “review” to your titles. This can help you to rank well in the search results. This is a great way to bring in searchers who use 5-9 words per search they make. This way you will get more visitors every week.

Use Social Sharing Buttons

Social interactions are now a part of all search engine algorithms. You can increase your social sharing by almost 700% just by incorporating prominent social sharing buttons in your page. Social sharing will give you a boost in the Google search results. It increases the chances that people will link to you when they share your content on so frequently used social media.

Posting Long Content

Longer content is said to rank higher in Google searches. So, make length your strength. A post of at least 1500 words is a good choice when targeting competitive keywords. Make sure that each post from you includes at least 100 words of useful, interesting content. Long tail traffic comes in this way and it’s beneficial for your target keyword search lists as well.

Slash Bounce Rate

Google can question the quality of your page if visitors leave your site quickly. Google has many tools to keep a check on your page’s bounce rate such as the Google toolbar, Chrome browser and Google Analytics data. Bounce rate does matter. It is important to keep your page’s bounce rate low. The easiest and the most effective ways to do so are to add internal links to the beginning of your content. Internal links at the beginning of your posts tend to get clicked more often and therefore result in slashing bounce rate significantly.

Use LSI Keywords

LSI keywords are the synonyms of the actual keyword. Google uses the LSI keywords to determine the relevancy and quality of a page. Typically writing long content lets you use LSI words itself. You naturally include LSI keywords in your content while writing longer posts. You can search for your keyword in Google and scroll down to the “Searches Related to…” area at the bottom. Here, you will get a list of the LSI keywords, which would be apt to include in your content. Use any 1-2 from these in your content.

Quality Content

Content is what makes a page worthy of its search engine results’ rank. It is for what users open your page over the net and hence is very important to the search engines. Ensure the quality of the content that you post. A good content is one which answers the readers’ demands and is linkable. Your content must be something useful and interesting, which readers would like to go through. From an SEO perspective, people must be able to link to your content; else, it is of no use to the search engines. The sites which ask users to log in before they can see the content are not used that often. Also, the content which cannot be shared or reproduced is of no use.

Related Read: What Is SEO Writing?

Google has many indirect ways to determine the quality of your page. The user experience metrics including repeat visitors, Chrome bookmarks and time on site helps Google to know how worth your page is to be ranked in the search results. Publish awesome stuff to keep visitors rolling in and to maintain good rank in the search engine results. The content must be unique and cover a specific bit of information in great detail. This will make your page worthwhile for search engines to rank well. The web pages having duplicate content are not shown in search engine results. So, your content must be 100% unique, to avoid being penalized.

Dwell Time

The search engines do pay attention to short clicks vs. long clicks, also known as dwell time. It is a technique to measure how long a searcher stays on your page before hitting the back button. If searchers hit the back button as soon as they visit your page, it suggests that your page is not worth their time. It suggests that the page’s content quality is not as per the standard. In order to increase your average dwell time, it is recommended that you publish long, engaging content. Your content must be such that people keep reading it till the end. Their long stay on your page suggests Google that your page has something valuable for your viewers.

Sitemaps

Make good use of all the three types of sitemaps, namely, XML (Extensible Markup Language) sitemap, HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) sitemap and URL list. All search engines accept the XML type so create an XML file that contains all the important URL’s of your site and upload it to your server. This helps Google to discover the web pages of your site. An HTML type helps both humans and search crawlers to locate your web pages easily.

Internal Links

Wikipedia is the best example of telling how internal linking works. Add keyword rich internal links to every post that you publish. Link at least 3-6 of your older posts whenever you publish a new one. Make sure that it makes sense.

Use H2 and H3 Tags

Include your target keyword at least once in any of your H2 or H3 subheading. It makes your content easier to read.

Image Optimization

Optimize each image that you use around a keyword. Name the image file with your target keyword. Say, name it as on_page_SEO.jpg for this page’s content. Also include your target keyword in the image’s alt text. Optimizing your images for SEO gives Google another clue of what your page is all about. This helps in ranking it higher in organic searches.

Learning to Do On-Page SEO for your Website

With a few steps in mind, it becomes easy to do on page SEO for your site. It makes the implementation easier. Have a basic index of your site and then start organizing your content. You must know all about your home page along with all your internal pages. You must know what your pages are all about. Review all your current URL’s, page titles and descriptions. Update them if you need to. Overview the type of content you have on your site. The recommended length of all page titles is 70 characters. You must optimize all titles which are longer than that. The page description must be about 150 characters long. Also the repetition of keywords too often must be prohibited. Establish a value proposition. Your page must satisfy the purpose of its existence.

Optimize all your content based on your target audience. Plan what your page titles should be. Add a short declarative page description, incorporating your keyword. Track clear topics and keywords for each of your pages since keywords are important. Define a certain topic for each page. This will allow you to go more in-depth and provide relevant content in detail. This way it is ensured that you will optimize one keyword per page. Obviously, there can be a few exceptions to all rules. Your home page must express clearly what your whole site is about with the use of a few keywords of course. Review, edit and format any content if necessary. Your content must be thorough, clear and must provide solutions to the demands of readers as well as the search engines. You must compel that your content is error free, so check your spellings and grammar.

Format your content to make it easier to read and digest with the use of headers and sub-headers. Add value to the content by using visual info graphics, videos, images, etc. All these must be relevant to the topic. The content must engage all users so that they stay for a longer time on your page. Then, they will also share and talk about your content in their circles. Incorporate links throughout your content. This step is a must to follow, but many people tend to overlook it easily. It is a part of the process of polishing your content. Include social media sharing buttons for networks like Pinterest, Google+, Facebook and Twitter to attract more viewers. These are highly valuable in search and can improve overall click-through rates on your search results. All your web pages offer an opportunity to make conversions so plan for conversions. Each page of your site must have at least one calls-to-action. Optimize for leads and conversions.

Once you are done with on page SEO optimization of your site, implement these changes on your website. It might take time. Plan a schedule for yourself. Say, work on about 5-10 pages a week. This simple, easy to use step by step process allows you to keep everything in one place. It lets you track all of your changes. This is important because SEO is an ongoing process.

Related Read: What Is Link Building in SEO?

Conclusion

Every site owner must consider on page SEO as a very essential part of SEO and take it seriously. Then only will your site rank well in organic searches. Every web master needs to follow a standard step by step guide to implement on his/her website in order to enhance SERPs ranking. You can also hire a professional SEO Company like Kudo Metrics, who understands the importance of search engine optimization for doing these changes. This will make it easy for you to implement on page SEO on each web page of your website.

Go ahead, get on page SEO done for your site and make it appear higher in the search engine results.