Google Analytics is getting smarter with every passing day. And to make the situation even more competitive, a lot of businesses are jumping in the Search Engine Optimization arena.In the previous article, I did explain the off-site and on-site SEO briefly.This article is dedicated to educating you on everything you need to know about the On-page SEO.
Recap
Everything that is done on the web page to optimize it whether it is its content or the HTML code is termed as On-site/On-page SEO. The aim is, obviously, to improve the ranking of the website in Google search results.As the attention span of humans keeps on reaching a new low, the situation becomes even challenging for marketers. Marketers now have no more than 7-8 seconds to make an impact. Not only should the content strategy be adjusted accordingly but a solid on-site SEO has also become a prerequisite now.
On-site SEO features
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Illustrator | Muneeb Ahsan[/caption]
Content Keywords
Before doing literally anything else, searching for keywords is what needs to be done. Once you have identified the area that you need to write on, you should get to the keywords straight away. The keywords need to be relevant and doable.By ‘doable,’ I mean that the keywords you choose ought to be a mixture of competitive and easier ones. Don’t always pick the keywords that are obvious and hence invite more competition. Try going for the ones your article can easily rank well on. If you have more than one keyword for an article, one of them needs to be your focus keyword. The focus keyword is the main keyword on which your article will be ranked.There are various tools that can give you keyword ideas. My personal favorite is Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest.
SEO title
SEO title, in simple terms, is the title of your article. It is called ‘SEO title’ because it is one of the top priority things that need to be optimized. The focus keyword that you select will have to be incorporated in the title.The earlier it appears, the better the chances it will have in doing good overall. Moreover, the title should be accurate and convey the article’s theme effectively.Many times, blogs use sensational titles that only serve to mislead the reader. Understand that the sensational title might urge people to open the article but the moment visitor realizes that the title was misleading, they would leave and the chances are that they might not come back again. So, refrain from any such salesman tactic.
Meta description
For those of you who are new to Search Engine Optimization, a meta description is essentially those few lines that appear in the snippet of the article in Google (or any other search engine) when it is searched. This description decides whether what the visitor is looking for is in the article or not. It is one of those important places that need to be optimized.To put it simply, a meta description should be an apt description of what the article entails. It also needs to incorporate the focus keyword. It’s the incorporation of the focus keyword in the meta description that reiterates the relevancy of the article.You may also like: SEO Basics; On-site and off-site explained
Image Optimization
Visuals are essential to make your content appealing to the readers. Many times people just find the relevant images and think that their job is done. Understand that image optimization is an integral part of your SEO strategy.Save the image with the relevant name. The image title should have a keyword in it. Likewise, its alt text should not be left empty. Add relevant text if not a keyword. Make sure that you are not stuffing your article with keywords as it is frowned upon in Google.
Heading Tags
Adding a heading tag dramatically improves the SEO of the article (haven’t you ever noticed?). Heading tags divide the content into parts that are easily read compared to one long consistent article without any headings.Heading tags are user-friendly and are generally recommended to facilitate the readers. Subheadings allow the users to easily skim through the page without having to read everything. Make the most of the heading tags and try to use as many as possible. Since H1 is designated for the title, do not use it in the article. Start with the H2 and then H3, H4, etc.
The content
Tired of hearing ‘content is the king?’ Well, get yourself used to it because that is what everyone is going to tell you at every stage.Believe it or not, it is that important. You will find heaps of content. In order to stand out, adopt a compelling writing style. You should be clear about the idea you are addressing and it should reflect in your content as well. Decide what kind of tone you want to go for and then be consistent with it. Prepare your content strategy first before heading straight to writing.
Mobile responsiveness
With an ever-increasing number of people using mobile phones for everything, making your website mobile-friendly should come intuitively to you.The goal is to make things as easier for the viewer as possible. Not only is the mobile responsiveness important for improving user experience but Google credits websites more that are mobile-friendly.See how Google is evolving with the changing needs of the people? It’s high time you should too.
Internal Linking
While off-site SEO relies a lot on external or outbound linking, the on-site SEO makes use of internal linking.Linking the internal pages of a website with each other is termed as internal linking. Internal linking enables you to connect your relevant articles together. It also serves as the channel for Google crawlers to easily go to other pages of your website.Internal links also provide an insight of your site telling the visitor what other topics has your website covered.On-site SEO is not as hard as it looks. It just demands a solid effort at the beginning followed by a lot of patience (that ‘a lot’ varies for people). Don’t just put in an effort once and anticipate it to work overnight.If you have followed the basics mentioned above, don’t worry, it is definitely going to work.Feel free to share the article with your friends and acquaintances who just won't stop asking you questions about on-site SEO.
