The term on-page SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) strikes fear into many hearts. It’s seen as something akin to black magic, only to be undertaken by specialist SEO wizards and witches who weave spells to get websites ranking well in organic search results.
However there are definitely some elements of on-page SEO that you should understand, so you can help boost your rankings. We list the bare necessities here.
1. Content is SEO King
Unfortunately many people still don’t see content as a primary tool for SEO, but it is! Great content is what makes your customers engage with your site and share information via social media channels. The more engagement and shares that your content generates, the more the search engines will love you.
It’s no longer enough to create web pages or articles which focus solely on specific keywords, or – heaven forbid – are stuffed with keywords you want the page to rank for. Nowadays the search engines are sophisticated enough to understand what your content is about – and it must be genuinely useful to your audience, grammatically correct and have sufficient coverage to avoid being seen as “thin content “. (See Matt Cutts explain “thin content with little or no added value“.)
Ensure your web content is high quality, engaging and informative as the very first, basic step of SEO.
2. Page Title and URL
Long winded URLs are bad for SEO. Keep them short and sweet so the search engines can clearly understand what your page is all about. Decide on the keyword you would like the page to rank for (a different keyword for each page) and include it at the beginning of the page title and within the URL.
For this post, we opted for an interesting title, and a simple URL
/on-page-SEO/
3. H1 and H2 Tags
Use H1 tags for your main heading which must include your focus keyword. Many content management systems automatically add this tag to your title – but check to be sure.
Then use H2 tags for all of your subheadings -this makes the text larger and bold, which helps make the content easy to read. By incorporating your focus keyword in just one of the H2 subheadings (anymore will be too much), you’ll also be giving the search engines further information regarding what the page is about.
4. Images and Multimedia
People like visual elements on a website – not only does it break the text up a little, but it encourages the viewer to stay on your page longer as they view the images or video. And the longer they stay on the page, the more the search engines believe it is a relevant website for their needs.
So add in some eye catching images and captivating videos to your site.
5. Image File Name And Alt Text
Include your focus keyword in your image file name, and image Alt Text to further emphasise to the search engines what your page is about.
6. Keywords in Your Content
Ensure your focus keyword appears within the first 100 words of your content. A natural sprinkling of the word should appear within the remainder of the text resulting in a keyword density of around 1 to 2% – but never attempt “keyword stuffing” (ie. adding in the keyword more frequently) or the search engines will see it as unnatural content and won’t rank the page well.
Also add in LSI Keywords (Latent semantic indexing) which are complementary to your focus keyword, and help the search engine fully understand the page’s topic.
For example, a focus keyword of on-page SEO could have a range of LSI keywords such as
- web page SEO
- website SEO
- on-page search engine optimisation
- on-page SEO tools
- on-page SEO factors
In general, if your content is good, you’ll automatically include these kinds of supporting keywords as you write since they are terms which further explain the topic.
7. Internal Links and Outbound Links to Reputable Sites
Include a couple of internal links within your post to other related pages in your website and where possible, include one or two outbound links to a reputable, relevant website. This is another relevancy signal to the search engines and another helping hand with your SEO efforts.
8. Social Sharing Buttons
Whilst not a direct SEO technique, including social sharing buttons at the bottom of your posts makes it easy for readers to share your content with a simple click of a button.
And the more shares your article gets, the more the search engines see your content as valuable.
9. Article Length
Short and sweet articles tend to rank lower than longer articles if all other elements are equal. Ensure your articles are on the meaty side – around 1000 words is ideal. But don’t add in words for the sake of adding words! Only useful, interesting content will help with SEO.
10. Fast and Mobile-Friendly Websites
Hopefully this last point goes without saying – you website must load quickly and must be mobile-friendly. If this isn’t the case, then the search engines won’t look on it favourably and won’t show your site high up in the listings. In fact Google started penalising non-mobile friendly sites in 2016 and has also confirmed that website loading speed is a ranking factor.
In summary, the 10 bare essentials above are not SEO wizardry, but a logical application of on-page SEO techniques that can be applied to any website.
Blinkered offers a search engine optimisation service. If you need help with your on-page SEO, why not contact Blinkered for a no-obligation chat to find out how we can help. We’re sure we can!
