On-page SEO refers to the elements that you add to your website’s content that help it rank higher in search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. There are countless on-page SEO techniques, but in this post, we’ll cover seven of the most effective ones you can use today to ensure your website gets as much search traffic as possible from search engines. To help you get started with some on-page SEO basics, we’ve put together this guide of 7 on-page optimisation techniques that’ll make your website skyrocket in terms of visibility online.
What is on-page SEO?
On-page Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of three major components of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which is one of three major things you need to do to increase your organic search rankings. The other two are creating and distributing high quality content, and link building. On-page SEO involves writing your website’s content in a way that will make search engines like Google view it as relevant and trustworthy.
Why on-page SEO is so important
Web pages are designed to be read by humans; search engines like Google are designed to be read by algorithms. Therefore on-page SEO (search engine optimization) is so important: It’s your job as a webmaster to make sure that your website is written in a way that will please both parties, and if you do it right, you’ll find yourself with an incredibly powerful tool for driving traffic and sales directly from Google. Here are seven on-page SEO techniques that can help you get started today
1) The importance of good site structure
Search engines can now see inside your website’s pages. This means they can detect well-structured and optimised content on those pages. Meta descriptions, title tags, headings, alt tags and more help search engines determine what your page is about. Well-structured and optimised content helps increase a page’s ranking in search results.
2) How long is too long for keywords?
If you want to rank for a keyword or search phrase on Google, it’s important to understand how long each page should be. The longer your content is, then technically it should be more engaging. However there is no hard and fast rule. According to Moz, lengthy pages have a better chance of ranking than short ones. There are exceptions to every rule though. Is your page getting high search volume? Then length won’t matter so much.
3) Don’t worry about keyword stuffing
Keywords are an important element of a successful search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. After all, if your website doesn’t have them, how will it be found by visitors? And while there is some debate over exactly how many times you should use relevant keywords on your pages, you certainly shouldn’t stuff keywords just for kicks. In fact, keyword stuffing might actually do more harm than good in regard to your SEO efforts. It can lead to lower rankings and even a penalty from Google. So, what can you do instead? Use long-tail keywords that people are likely to type into Google or other search engines when they want information about your topic. For example, “how to start a business versus starting a business trip”. Longer phrases like these tend to get fewer searches each month than shorter ones, but they also convert better because they target highly specific searchers who have been looking for information about starting their own businesses for quite some time now and know what questions they need answered before making any decisions about moving forward with their plans.
4) Use headings to structure your content
When creating a web page, you need to use headings. This allows search engines to follow your content more easily. It also improves usability by allowing people using screen readers to skip through it and find what they’re looking for more easily. Structuring content with headings helps both users and search engines, making it an on-page optimisation must!
5) Start with a strong headline
Headlines are important because they’re your first chance to get people’s attention. If it doesn’t draw readers in, they won’t bother with your content—and you can’t convert them into customers without talking to them first. Headlines should be relevant and reflect what you want to tell your audience. You need to craft a catchy headline that will make readers stop scrolling through their newsfeeds and tap on your link instead.
6) Pay attention to meta descriptions
These only appear in search engine results pages, so you should make sure to use them effectively. They provide a short summary of your website’s content and should entice searchers to click through to your site. Meta descriptions are often underutilized, but they can have a major impact on conversion rates—especially if they’re written well.
7) Don’t forget your alt tags!
The alt tag is an image tag which provides a text description of your image. It’s used by screen readers for people who can’t see your images and it’s also indexed by search engines so having keywords in here will improve your ranking for those terms. If you have images that aren’t providing information, then consider changing them!
