With millions of searches performed daily, it’s imperative that your website is optimized for search engines.
You know that you can improve your search rankings with SEO, but you’re not sure how.
Google PageRank is one of the most important factors when it comes to optimizing a website. However, if you’re new to SEO, here are some basic things you can do to start improving your ranking in Google.
What is On-page SEO?
According to Google, “On-page SEO is the process of optimizing your website to ensure that it is visible in search results.” The first thing you should do when optimizing your page is to make sure that the keywords you use appear on your web pages. Search engines look for words or phrases in a web page to determine how relevant they are to the content on the page. In order to rank in the top search results, you must include those keywords in the content on your site.
Off-page SEO is all about getting traffic from the search engines, and that’s done by building links to your website. But the reality is, off-page SEO won’t do much good if you don’t pay attention to the fundamentals – on-page SEO.
Why is On-Page SEO so important?
It is important because it helps you to improve the visibility of your business. In order to improve your website’s visibility, you have to rank it high in search engine results. This will increase your web traffic and sales. Your website’s position in the search engine will also improve when you use On-Page SEO techniques.
Search engines are becoming more sophisticated and the focus is on relevance and semantics in the SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages).
1. Title Tags
The Title Tag is HTML tag that is placed into the head section of each webpage, unique to that particular pages content subject matter. While it has very little SEO value for your organic rankings on its own, combined with good onpage content it can work very well in providing Google with the information it requires to identify what your page is about.
2. Meta Descriptions
Meta Descriptions have long been part of Search Engine Optimisation, and remain a current and important factor to this day. Google still maintain that the meta descriptions don’t help directly with your rankings, however there is evidence that they actually do assist, and also make it easier for Google’s visitors to immediately understand what your page is about via the description.
Meta Descriptions can be easily added into most websites on each page of the site via an SEO plugin such as Yoast SEO in WordPress, or in the available SEO area in other platforms.
3. Header Tags
Header tags are used in headings and subheadings to identify the value of the main points (eg headings). For example, in this post you are currently reading you will see the larger headline at the top (H1), and then smaller headings further down which are secondary to the importance of the page (h2), and so on. This porovides Google with a quick outline of the value of your topics.
4. Headlines
Writing compelling headlines can make a big difference to how your website performs on the search engines. When your headline sparks interest it stands out in the SERPS, and entices readers to read your post. This indicates to Google that your content is of value, and therefore may rank you higher.
5. SEO Content Writing
The content of your website hold the most value of your website and therefore it needs to be written for the search engines in order to get to rank well however you also want to make sure it sounds as human as possible and not stuffed full of keywords to get Google’s attention. Google is smart enough to know that if you got too many keywords you can actually get penalise for it. So always remember that you’re writing for people and therefore the content must be of high-quality and provide value to your audience.
By creating high authority content helps boost you as an authority in your niche.
6. Content Auditing
It is recommended that you or is your content at least quarterly to evaluate whether your existing content is actually achieving the goals and gaining a return on investment. You also want to identify whether your content is still accurate and current or if it is outdated. It is recommended that you remove or update content that may be outdated. There are number of tools you can use to audit your content, or even just review it in your Google console account.
7. User Engagement
While on page SEO elements are a big part of ranking well, you also need to ensure that you are attracting user engagement. This can include aspects such as your site speed, the content optimisation, and also by adding called her actions throughout your website.
8. Image Optimisation
If your website contains images turn cruise increase the appeal of the design is recommended you review your images and insure they are optimised. There are two elements to image optimisation, the first being loading speed and insuring your images are not too large so that they slow the site loading time down, and the second is the naming and tagging of your images. It is always recommended before uploading your images to rename them to something relevant to the content rather than the standard image name that has little or no value. Then when you upload the image insure you add Alt text to the image and description titles where possible
9. Backlinks & Internal Links
Obtaining back links from high-quality websites as well as linking to websites of age your readers can greatly assist in your search engine rankings. When you provide value to others beyond just your own website you’re ultimately becoming an authority figure in your niche. You can also provide internal back link value by linking your own blog post and pages to other relevant pages within your own website.
Onpage SEO Quick Checklist
By following the nine steps outlined above will certainly improve your search engine visibility and essentially you’re rankings as well. Below is a full list of other elements as well as those mentioned above which can greatly increase your SEO rankings and authority relevance in the search engines.
Some of these you may be able to do yourself, and some it is recommended you hire an SEO specialist to assist with to get you on the right track to SEO success.
1. Understand Google’s SEO Goals
2. Research Your Competitors’ Backlink Strategy
3. Focus on Quality Linkbuilding
4. Avoid Common SEO Mistakes
5. Increase Your Backlinks
6. Build Authority
7. Add Value
8. Engage Your Audience
9. Develop a Content Strategy
10. Grow Social Media Followers
11. Use Social Media for Marketing
12. Create a Brand Story
13. Write for the Long Term
14. Get Your Site Mobile-Ready
15. Add a Call-to-Action (CTA) Button
16. Track Analytics
17. Get in Front of Your Customers
Conclusion
On-page SEO is very important if you want to increase your websites chances of appearing in the search engine results. By following a few simple steps as outlined above will definitely help increase your traffic conversions and you’re rankings.
