Definitions
On-page SEO is just what it sounds like, SEO that is on your webpage.
For example, technical improvements, copy optimization, conversion rate optimization (CRO), and meta & schema data. These are things done on the backend of your website that helps search engines connect your site with what people are searching for. You have likely heard of “keywords” and on-page SEO is the start to where keywords fit in.
If a business owner wants their website to be found by potential customers, they need to have good on-page SEO in place.
Keywords are the words and phrases that people type into search engines to find what they’re looking for.
A target keyword is a word or phrase that summarises the content of your page. It’s what your potential customers will type into their favorite search engine to find a business like yours.
Here are my suggestions to improve on-page SEO. If this is over your head, I’d highly recommend contacting a professional.
Keyword in title tag
Make sure you add your target keyword in the title tag of your page. This is one of the first things that someone will see in the search results. Adding the target keyword at the start of the title tag helps your page to stand out to a potentially interested customer. Your title tag can be up to 60 characters, with 50-60 characters being a good sweet spot.
Target keyword in first 100 words
You should add your target keyword into the first 100 words on your page or blog post. This helps visitors and search engines to understand the topic of your content. You can also add your target keyword a few more times naturally throughout your content. Don’t overdo this, as you’re not trying to completely fill your page full of the same words. For example, in a 3,000-word article, you wouldn’t want to use your target keyword more than 5-6 times.
SEO Friendly URLs
Make sure your pages and posts use simple SEO-friendly URLs. A shorter URL that includes your target keyword will tend to perform better in the search engines than a longer URL. For example, if your target keyword was “shoe repair”, then your URL would be better as /shoe-repair/ rather than /learn-more-about-our-shoe-repair-services/.
Unique Meta Descriptions
Make sure that every page and post on your website has a well-written and unique meta description. These will be shown in the search engine results, as the descriptive text beneath the title of each result. Meta descriptions give you a perfect opportunity to encourage someone to click through to your page and read more of your content. You can use up to 160 characters here.
Write for humans not search engines
Your content is going to be read and enjoyed by human beings, so make sure they’re always considered first. Yes, there are tips and tricks you can use to help the search engines understand your content better, but you must write for humans. If your content is written purely for the search engines, it will usually be harder for a human to read. This causes them to quickly click back in their browser and visit your competitor instead.
Make your content engaging
The human eye can quickly get tired when reading large passages of text. There’s nothing worse than seeing 1,000+ words of content on a screen, without anything that breaks the content up. Make sure you utilize images, illustrations, and videos to break up your content. You want to capture someone’s attention and keep them on your page. This has the added benefit of increasing dwell time, which is a metric that measures how long someone has stayed on a page after clicking through from the search results.
Consider search intent
Before you create content that targets a specific keyword, take a few moments to do some research. What sort of results are showing in Google for that keyword already? If you’re looking to write an article for your target keyword but none of the top 10 results in Google are blog articles, then the search intent suggests that people are not looking to read articles. Always make sure that the type of content you want to create is already ranking highly in the search engines!
Internal Linking
Internal linking is one of the most important parts of on-page SEO. An internal link is a link that takes a user to another page or blog post on your own website. It’s perfect for linking them to further useful information on a particular topic. Every page or post of your website should utilize internal linking. This can help both your readers and also search engines.
Scout the competition
When you’re looking to create a new article and to hopefully reach the first page of the search results, make sure you’re scouting out the competition. One of the most important things that you should be looking at is how much content is on each of the top 10 results. If the average number of words across the top 10 results is 2500, then you need to be writing at least this many words in your article. It’s a simple thing to check, but it can make a big difference to the quality of your content and how the search engines choose to rank it.
Make sure your website loads fast!
Last but by no means least, you need to make sure that your website loads quickly. This is beneficial for your visitors and also the search engines. Technology advances have led to humans being more fickle and impatient. They’re easily bored by slow websites. Your website should load in under 2 seconds and ideally in under 1 second. Run a speed test using GTMetrix. If the result is more than 2 seconds, your website needs optimizing.
SEO Service For Your Website
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) helps your website to show up in search engines so your customers can find you easily. We can help you along your SEO journey. Truly, that’s what it is, a journey. It is never completed and it is never done. Not what you wanted to hear, but it’s the truth.
