The cheatsheet to do To On-Page Optimization In SEO

We know that before landing here, you might have read various articles on how to rank your website in the SERPs of Google and Bing search engines. You might have also been misguided or misinformed about how SEO works.

Some claimed that SEO is dead until the Google spokesperson John Mueller states that SEO is here forever and it is just evolving day by day.

So, when it comes to SEO, the theories are endless, and every time SEO pros come up with a claim, Google disregards it. There is no reason for dragging your feet when it comes to on-page SEO because it has the power of bringing many more people and customers right into their websites instantly!

On-page SEO is complex because you have to adapt to Google algorithms. But, you have to stick to the basics of SEO along with learning the advanced optimization techniques.

In this article, we have shared a detailed guide on How to do on-page SEO optimization to get the right traffic and visibility.

What is On-Page SEO?

Usually, the Google algorithm ranks the websites based on three aspects of SEO:

• On-Page SEO
• Off-page SEO
• Technical SEO
  

But, let's focus on the On-page SEO and its technique in this article.

On-page SEO is all about improving the visibility of your website in search engines. It is a process of improving your website's content to get more traffic from search engines. On-page SEO helps search engines find and index your content.

This helps you rank higher in search results, which can result in more traffic and sales.

Why is On-Page SEO Important?

On-page SEO is important because it can help you get more organic traffic, leads and sales.

On-Page SEO helps your website in gaining visibility on the search engine results page. It also helps you to find new customers for your business.

It improves the user experience of your website for the target keyword which eventually results in higher page rankings.

By using the right On-page SEO techniques, your site will be optimized for the target audience as well as for the search engine robots.

On-page SEO is called the On-page because the changes you make are visible to the audience whereas the off-page and technical SEO techniques are less visible.

For this reason, On-page SEO weighs more than the other two. And, there are almost 200 ranking factors when it comes to on-page SEO optimization.

However, Google does not put emphasis on all of them but considers some as major ranking signals.

What are the main On-Page SEO elements?

As said, there are over 200 On-page SEO elements to consider, but not all of that matters. Some on-page SEO elements hold more importance than others and are enough for the search engine to understand the relevance of the page content.

Let's dive in deeper into each of these On-page SEO elements:

High-Quality Content

Well, call it the most important on-page SEO factor.

Quality content helps in improving the visibility of your website on search engines. It also helps you get more visitors to your site.

The search engine robots consider this as a major ranking signal and try to crawl pages with high-quality content for better indexing.

It is not just about the number of words in your content but also about its quality. The content needs to be relevant, informative, and up-to-date for a better ranking on search engines.

The keyword stuffing merely won't help you rank over the competitors. The search engine robots are smart enough to identify this.

Make sure the content satisfies the user intent with the use of the right keywords. Use the combination of long-tail and LSI keywords along with head terms throughout your content.

Page Title

Optimizing your page titles is a very important aspect of on-page SEO.

Page title in on-page SEO optimization is the most important ranking factor.

Search engines use page titles to determine which websites to show to users when they search for specific keywords. A page title is used to show up in search results using which the readers can jump to your site.

The most important thing is to include the keywords into your page titles, which are relevant to your page content.

Title tags are also used by search engines to determine the relevancy of a page. Make sure each title is around 55 to 60 characters long so they are easy for people to read and search from the list of results.

Headings

Headings are also important in on-page SEO. Header tags in HTML include elements like <h1>, <h2>, <h3> and so on.

Headings are used to showing up in search results and can be seen as the first impression of your website.

These tags help organize your content for readers and also search engines distinguish what part of the content is most important and relevant, depending on search intent.

The H1 tag is generally used as the main heading title or the page title in SEO. Then, H2 and H3 tags form the sequence of sub-topics in the content.

Meta Descriptions

A meta description is a snippet of text that appears at the top of your webpage, which is intended to attract visitors and drive traffic to your website.

In general, it should be long enough for potential customers to get an idea about what they can expect from you or how your website can help them.

Meta descriptions are used to provide an overview of the content on a webpage. Now, this may not be the direct ranking factor, but the searchers use the meta description to get a hunch of what is inside the content.

Hence, meta descriptions play a role in improving the CTR of a webpage.

Here are the quick tips to create a meta description:

• The optimum length of meta description is around 160 characters. However, Google also allows up to 220 characters for desktop use.
• Make sure to include the keywords that are related to your page content.
• Also, include a clear and concise summary of the entire webpage.
• A short meta description is not enough for you to grab the attention of the readers. A better way is to have a detailed meta description with few words but more information about the content.
  

Image Alt text

Alt text is the alternative text for images. Or call it the SEO of images.

Image alt-text gives search engines an idea about the purpose of an image. It tells them how it will be used in the content and search engines use the algorithm to create relevancy.

It is important because Google delivers almost as many image results as it does text results.

Here are few quick tips to optimize the image for SEO:

• Use target keywords sparingly to give a clue to search engines about the page's relevance.
• Make the image contextually relevant to the content.
• Keep the alt text to 140 characters or less.
• Use keywords in the alt-text so that it is easier for search engines to index and rank your content.
  

Page URLs

Page URLs are very important for SEO. It is the part of the web address that will be shown to users in search results and also, it is where you can track traffic from search engines.

Page URLs should be simple and sorted. URL shows the category hierarchy of the website and can help search engines crawl and index your page faster.

Here is how to write a Page URL for SEO:

• Use the target keywords or the most relevant keywords
• Do not keep the URL too long.
• Make sure the prefix is HTTPS as Google considers it safer.
  

Internal Linking

Internal links are used to create a hierarchy of pages on your website. It is the best way to organize and connect related content in one place.

It helps search engines crawl through your site and understand the structure better.

A good SEO strategy for websites that have many pages with different categories is to create a category page with a link to all the pages that fall under it.

The site can then be easily navigated through using internal links. The best practice for internal link building is to link your pages to the website's authority pages like the home page or any other high-ranking page.

Use the variation of anchor text that is close to your target keyword.

Structured Markup data

Structured data is a valuable asset for SEO. Structured markup data is the data that you input in the source code of your website.

This data can be used to index your website and thus improve the ranking of your website. In fact, the structured markup data helps in featured snippets, and sources page like knowledge panel for the search engines.

Mobile-friendly pages

Search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo prioritize mobile-friendly websites in their algorithms. A mobile responsive design is crucial for your site SEO.

According to a study, almost 80% of the people who search on Google use their mobile devices. The reason for this is that they can easily access information from these devices without being bothered by slow loading times.

Choose a web hosting service, theme, and website builder that offers flexibility in mobile design.

Page Speed or site speed

Page speed is an important factor in search engine optimization. It helps you to keep your website fast and improves the overall user experience of your site.

The higher the page speed, the better it is for SEO rankings. Some factors that can affect your site's page speed are load time, speed of the web server, and caching.

Use Google page speed insights or GTmetrix tool to test for your page speed and the issues with your page.

How to create SEO-friendly content?

As we listed the first and foremost On-page SEO factor is the high-quality content, the question is- What does Google consider high-quality?

Well, Google looks at the following factors while deciding on high-quality content:

1. On-page SEO - The keywords that you are using in your articles should be related to the theme of your website. It is important to keep these keywords relevant and use them often throughout the article.

2. Unique Content - This is a must for your website. The duplicate content may land you in legal trouble. Chances are that Google will remove the duplicate page content and may even penalize your site further.

3. Quality of Content - You need to add value and make people interested in reading the article again and again on your website. The content should be useful and not only informative.

4. Use of Images - It is important to use images in your articles as they can improve the overall experience of the readers, make them more attentive towards the article, keep their attention longer on-page, etc.‍

Besides this, there are a few quick tips to remember before creating high-quality content:

Be relevant

In the world of SEO, content is king. It’s the glue that holds your website together and provides a valuable resource for people to find you online. But if you’re not writing with a purpose, it’s not likely to bring you any real benefit.

That's where the content relevancy comes in.

Fail to give searchers what they want, and your chances of ranking are slim. You can do this by tailoring your content to a user’s search query, using the right keywords, and using rich snippets to increase the value of your content.

To create more relevant content, you should focus on three things:

• Content type
• Content structure
• Content angle
  

Content Type: Content type refers to the kind of content you are writing. If you write articles, blog posts, product descriptions or anything else, there are certain types of content that should be given priority over others. You can use different keywords depending on what your content is about.

Content Structure: Content structure refers to the type of content you are writing. It is important that your article is easy to read and understand, and for this reason it should be well-structured. The keywords should be highlighted in bold and you can use lists if there are too many ideas or details being shared in your article.

Content Angle: Content angle refers to the main topic or idea that you are trying to convey in your article. Or Content angle refers to the main ‘selling point’ of the content. For example, if you are writing about weight loss, your content angle could be ‘lose weight. Or if you are writing about how to make broth, you want to tell the readers about the procedure. Similarly, the content angle of a review article is mostly selling and convincing.

Be thorough

You should make sure that you are thorough in the information you provide. Remember, you are not writing for the search engines, but for the readers.

Writing for readers is not just about writing well, but also about being very particular with your words and making sure that you are giving people exactly what they want. You need to give them enough information so that they can find out more about

If there is any point which you feel can be improved, don’t hesitate to change it.

If you are not producing the content that you promise, it won't get you rankings on Google's first page.

Be unique

You need to make sure that your content is unique. If you are using the same information as someone else, then Google will not consider it original.

If your content is the same as the others, you might fail to create an impact on the reader's mind. Furthermore, if the content creation is for building links, you need to deliver more relevant and high-quality content.

Be precise

It is also important to be precise in your content creation and writing. When you are creating content, you need to write in such a way that the visitors can easily understand what they want from the site.

You need to make sure that your content is detailed and specific, which will help you deliver more value to the readers.

Make the readability clear and concise for the readers and make sure the content can be skimmed.

Use the bullet points, short paragraphs, and short sentences in your content. As a bonus, make sure the language isn't too complex for the readers.

How to optimize your content?

After you are done with the content creation, the next step is to optimize your content well.

Here is a quick checklist of content optimization:

Include your keyword in the title

Page titles usually get wrapped in the H1 tags of your page. And, it has been found that the use of keywords in the page title has turned out to be lucrative.

Sometimes it will be better to use a slightly different keyword in your title. Don't worry about always writing exactly the same thing as everyone else, even though that's what SEO tells you to do!

Optimize the Title tag

Title tag tells search engines about the content on your website. It contains the keywords that you want to rank for. Now, it is not necessary to include the exact keyword in your title. You can use the variation or related terms as it makes sense.

Write a meta description

Meta description is a snippet of text that affects the conversion rate.

Make sure to use a meta description that is keyword-rich, clear, and aligns with the searcher's intent.

Optimize Image for SEO

Use the relevant alt tags to make your image visible on Google image results.

Google defines alt text as “the alternative textual description of an image” and says it will be used when someone searches in images or use the voice search. However, they suggest avoiding keyword stuffing as it may result in a bad user experience.

Advanced on-page optimizations

When you optimize your content for search engines, then it is time to go a step further. These on-page optimizations help the search engine bots crawl and index your pages more effectively.

If you are ranking already on the first page and want to go further, try these advanced techniques:

Optimize for featured snippets

Featured snippets are the pieces of content that are displayed at the top of a search results page when someone searches for a particular term.

The goal of featured snippets is to entice searchers to click through to your website. The catch is that Google automatically pulls off the answer from the content.

All you need is to focus on high-quality content.

• Make sure you are already ranking in the Top 10 for that term.
• Check if Googe offers a featured snippet for the main term.
• Create an answer which is better than your competitors.
  

Get rich snippets

Rich snippets are the form of structured data that appears below the meta description. For example, Google shows ratings or votes for various products.

This is something Google pulls off automatically. However, you can the structured markup to pull off the reviews and ratings.

While it does not affect the rankings, but may help with CRO.

Improve topical relevance

Google nowadays prioritizes the relevant topic as well around the main content.

The way to achieve this is by adding keywords that are related to the main keyword. For example, if you are selling gardening products, then you should include some keywords about gardening in your page content.

Topical relevance helps to get maximum organic traffic from search engines. The search engines are constantly ranking the websites according to their topical relevancy. Use People Also Ask question suggesstions to create a content that is more relevant to your main keyword.

Conclusion

If you want to get the most out of your content, you should also think about how it will be presented to users. This is where page optimization comes in.

The Google search engine is designed to give users what they are looking for, so make sure that the keywords you choose are related to what people are searching for.

The more relevant your pages are, the more likely it is that users will find them and convert them into customers.