What is On-Page SEO?

Premium Search Engine Optimization

Premium Search Engine Optimization

On-page premium search engine optimization deals with optimizing a website for search engines, but it does not take external links that referenced your website into account. Off-page optimization deals with referral traffic or your website being referenced by other third party websites. We will focus on on-page seo in this blog. It enables search engines to understand your website better. If on-page seo is done correctly, it helps with better user experience, higher rankings, more organic traffic, conversions, and revenue.

Why on-page SEO is so important

It impacts the revenue of the company. It may be a decider whether your company becomes a success or not. The main goal is to rank higher on search engines and ensure that your company gets and stays there.Let’s check factors that play a major role in on-page search engine optimization

URLs easy way of getting your ranked

An easy way for your content to be understood by search engines, it’s to use website urls in a smart way.

Factors to consider when coming up with an url.

  • Include a keyword: Include your primary keyword in your URL to help search engines and users understand page content.
  • Consider intent: In addition to main keywords, use descriptive words to help convey the purpose or intent of a page.
  • Use real words: Use real words in your URL instead of the numbers and characters that some content management systems pump out.
  • Be succinct: Keep your URL structure short and easy for search engines to understand.
  • Use hyphens between words: Hyphens make URLs more readable. For example, if a page is about building houses in Johannesburg, use the URL www.yourcompany.co.za/building-houses-johannesburg
  • Avoid session IDs: When possible, avoid the inclusion of session IDs in your URLs, as they produce an avalanche of URLs for the same page.

Title tags and meta descriptions

Meta tags are one of the most important on-page seo factors — specifically page titles. Every page has a title tag which appears in search results as a headline. The meta description is a short summary of the page that appears under the title on search results. Both are important to help search engines and users understand the purpose of a page. They also improve user experiences.

The title tag is a direct on-page SEO ranking factor, while meta descriptions are not.

Both the title and meta description play a significant role in whether a person actually clicks on a listing in the search results. When both the title and meta description are optimized, it increases the Click-Through Rate (CTR) which shows means you get more traffic.

Meta Tags impact on Premium Search Engine Optimization

The first step in your on-page SEO analysis should be to look at your title and meta description. follow these steps:

  • Place your primary keyword near the beginning of the title.
  • Keep the title around 55 or 60 characters so it doesn’t get cut off in search results. There are free tools that you may use to check if the meta description is too long or not.
  • Avoid all caps in your title tags.
  • Give each page a unique title so that search engines do not treat the page as a duplicate.
  • Write clear, and inviting or compelling titles that users will not ignore.
  • Include your primary keyword in your meta description. When someone searches for that keyword, Google will bold it in the search results.
  • Keep the meta description to 155 characters.
  • Craft your meta description so that it accurately describes the page.

The importance of Structured data (schema)

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Structured schema, also known as structured data or schema markup, is a type of code that helps search engines understand the content of a website. It’s a standardized way to provide information about a page, such as its content, structure, and how users should see it. 

How does structured schema work?

  • Search engines can understand website content without structured data, but it helps them communicate with the content more clearly. 
  • Structured data provides context to a webpage, which helps search engines decide what results are relevant and high-quality. 
  • Structured data can help content qualify for “rich results” or “featured snippets” in search results. 

 Types of Structured Data

Structured data is specific on-page SEO code you put on your pages that helps search engines understand the content. There are specific structured data formats for a wide variety of things, including:

  • Books
  • Movies
  • Courses
  • Ratings
  • Events
  • Local business info
  • Star ratings
  • Job postings

Search engines often include structured data directly in the search results, showing it as a “rich snippet”. Having a rich snippet increases the chances of someone clicking on your result.

Headers improve on-page SEO

Using multiple headers (H1 tag, H2, H3, etc.) on your pages helps with SEO in several ways. First, it makes it much easier for users to read your content. If visitors encounter a wall of text on a page, they’re much less likely to want to read it and will often abandon the page. Multiple headers help users quickly grasp the content, which improves overall user experience (an important factor for Google). 

Second, subheadings help search engines understand the content of a page. When crafting headers, be sure to use your primary keyword in at least one or two H2 headers. If it makes sense contextually, include the primary keyword again in the H3 or other headers.

Headers help search engines and users understand your content by breaking it down into manageable sections.

SEO copywriting

Copywriting can supercharge your on-page SEO efforts for your website. When you invest in great content for your landing pages, users will be more engaged. It’s important to note the best practices.

The best bloggers are masters of SEO copywriting, and these are the techniques they use:

  • Write concise, compelling introductions. Clearly articulate the problem as well as your solution.
  • Avoid long sentences and paragraphs. However, don’t abandon paragraphs entirely or your content won’t flow properly.
  • Break up sections that are longer than 300 words with subheadings.
  • Incorporate the target SEO keyword naturally throughout the page copy.
  • Align content with search intent.
  • Always write for your readers.
  • Use “bucket brigades” to keep people moving down the page. Bucket brigades are bridge phrases that add conversational value to your copy. Think of phrases like, “here’s the thing…,” “no wonder…,” “but that’s just part of the story…,” or “as it turns out.”
  • Incorporate stories and emotion to pique readers’ interest.

Use the target keyword early and smarter

Generally speaking, you should try to use your target keyword within the first 100 words of your website page or blog. This signals to search engines that it’s the primary topic of your page and also tells users they’re in the right place. You should remember that users do not have much time to figure out what your content is about. So, you need to get straight to the point like it’s a business pitch. The goal is to reduce bounce rate substantially.

Lower keyword density

Keyword density refers to how often you use a specific keyword on a web page. If there are 100 words on a page and you use your target keyword five times, your keyword density is 5%. 

There are no definitive on-page SEO rules about keyword density. However, you should use target keywords naturally throughout your content. Aim for an optimal keyword density that’s in line with the top ranking content for that search term. There are tools that are used to check the keyword density.

In addition to your primary keyword, include other relevant keywords, synonyms, or long-tail keywords that could help your page rank.

Content that is fit for a search

For search engines to have good traffic and quality searched, the content should be fit for purpose. Users should always get the content they are looking for. As a seo analyst, you should bear in mind that they are different searches and your content should target a particular search. Searches can take different forms as below:

  • Informational: Searchers are looking for information.
  • Navigational: Users want to visit a specific website or page.
  • Commercial: Searchers want to compare products or services before they make a purchase.
  • Transactional: Users actively want to buy something.

A simple way to figure out the intent behind a particular keyword is to look at the first page of results for the query. Titles that include words like how, ways, or methods indicate informational search intent. Alternatively, words like best and top reveal commercial intent.

Next, you need to craft content that satisfies the intent.

If it’s informational, provide as much relevant content as possible. Thoroughly cover the subject, answer common questions, and help the user understand the issue. This keeps users longer on your website page.

Write readable text

Although readability isn’t a direct ranking factor, it should still be part of your on-page SEO process. That’s because readable text is easier for Google and users to digest, which ultimately is good for your SEO.

If your text is hard to read, then you might have a high bounce rate, reducing conversions, revenue, and ROI.

To make your text readable:

  • Make the page skimmable. Break up your content into easily digestible chunks.
  • Use multiple headers and subheadings.
  • Utilize plenty of paragraph breaks so that you avoid large walls of text.
  • Break down lists into bullet points.
  • Incorporate supporting images and other visuals.

Mobile Responsiveness

Search engines use mobile responsiveness and load speed of the websites as the most important part of rankings.

Most people will access your web page content on mobile devices, so focus on responsiveness, readability, and skimability.

Internal Pages linking

Internal Pages linking is important to on-page SEO because it helps search engines understand the relationship between pages on your site. An extensive internal linking framework reinforces context and relevance as well as your depth of coverage on a topic.

Internal links are also amazing for user experience. They help people discover more of your content like additional blog posts or a valuable information.

The main goal is to reduce the bounce rate as users stay longer on the website.

It’s especially important to link out pages from authoritative pages like your homepage.

Use short, descriptive, keyword-focused anchor text for your internal links. It’s also critical to link out from the most relevant sections of your content to other pages that cover the topic.

As a sidebar, don’t use keywords you want to rank for in external links to other websites.

Image optimization

Images may slow down the load speed of the website so they need to be optimized for SEO. An easy win would be to give them image files descriptive file names with words separated by hyphens. Then, optimize the file size so that it loads quickly while still maintaining the quality of the image.

Finally, add text to the image alt tags, with the appropriate keyword occasionally included in the text. The alt text helps search engines understand the image.

To Sum Up:

 On-Page Search Engine Optimization helps with the following:

  • search engines understand what each page is about
  • users find content on your website
  • users understand why they should read your content
  • pass link authority between pages
  • Helps build trust with your target audience