On-Page SEO is part of the SEO of content referring to the optimization of web pages to rank higher on SERP organically. While it’s done directly on the website, on-page SEO includes both optimizing the content and the HTML source code.
This is the short definition of on-page SEO. At first glance, it seems too simple, but there’s so much more involved. The truth is that to be able to optimize your web page, you have to undertake a lot of tactics, from using the right keywords to writing a meta description, to writing short and easy-to-read sentences to inbound links. And, there is more, so let’s look at all the things that make an on-page SEO.
It’s the factor that helps your website rank higher, preferably on the first page, of search engine result pages (SERP). It does that without any paid advertisement. What it does is driving organic traffic to your site without the need of paying for PPC or any other type of paid digital marketing.
Although it takes a bit more time to see the results of the on-page SEO, once they appear, they can skyrocket your website, even on the much-beloved first page of SERP.
If you want to perform on-page SEO, you need to optimize the following factors:
You know how it’s said that “Content is King”. Well, it’s most definitely like that because no matter how optimized everything else on your web page is, if your content is poor-quality, dull, and not worth wasting a second on reading it, no one will visit your website.
That’s why you should always write unique (plagiarism-free), well-structured (using headings and subheadings), grammatically correct, and clear content. It doesn’t matter if it’s a simple and short piece of content or a more complex and longer one.
Most importantly, your content must be relevant. It’s because relevance is the crucial part of on-page SEO. And, how can it not be when everyone wants to read exactly what the title says. So, stick to the topic of your article and write content that follows it.
Keywords help your website rank higher on SERP. That’s why you should always use the right keywords at the right place (usually in the first paragraph or within the first 100 words). If you don’t know which are the right keywords, you need to make a research first, using special tools, like Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest, Google’s Keyword Planner, SEMrush’s Keyword Research Tool, and Moz’s Keyword Explorer.
Keep in mind that long-tail keywords are the fad nowadays because they fit users’ search patterns better.
These are the titles of your web pages. They are one of the most important SEO factors because they contain the main keywords. They are also seen on the SERP as the main heading. To be optimized, they must be up to 65 characters long and contain the main keyword. Also, they have to be clear, short, and contain the right keywords.
This is the short description that appears right below the site’s URL in the SERP and below the headline in a social post. It briefly describes the content of the specific website and, most importantly, it contains the same keywords from the content. To be optimized, the meta description must be under 155 characters, match the content, and contain the same keywords from the content.
Alt-text is the text or phrase that is attributed to the images on the web page. It describes the image as best as possible, thus ensuring it gets indexed. This allows search engines to understand what the image is about since they can’t “see” them. With that, it allows web pages to be found and ranked by their name
Internal linking, a.k.a. unbound linking is when you link one page of your website to another (or more pages). It’s very important for SEO and ranking, in general, because it keeps the visitors more engaged, hence, to spend more time on your website, which is one of the ranking factors. It also makes it easier for search engines to crawl all web pages. So, make sure you always have at least one inbound link in your posts.
Every web page has its own dedicated URL. However, if you don’t optimize it, it will be unclear, such as:
https://www.example.com/211587.html
https://www.example.com/fbsofgbdd
And, this is not how it should look.
Your URL has to have a clear path/structure that will show where your post is located within the website. And, it should include a brief description of the page topic. It should look something like this:
https://zapier.com/blog/best-url-shorteners/
As you can see, there is the website’s name, then the main location (it’s the blog), and the title of the post in short form. Make sure you follow this structure to create a clean and organized URL. In this way, you will improve your website’s architecture and rank higher.
Both of these refer to the security of your web page and website, in general. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, a security technology that improves your site’s security, reliability, and visibility. HTTPS is the secure version of the standard HTTP, which shows visitors that your site is protected and secure.
Therefore, to optimize your website, you need to enable both of them. This will prevent a third party from standing between your server and the visitor’s server, thus ensuring the site’s safety. Plus, there’s the fact that Google prefers sites with SSL enabled.
Apart from optimizing the above mentioned SEO factors, you should also make sure your website loads fast and is mobile-friendly. In addition, you should check the more technical, more advanced factors, such as breadcrumb navigation, schema markup, core web vitals, and age experience signal.
To optimize your web pages, you can use some of the free on-page SEO tools, such as Yoast SEO, MetaTags.io, Merkle’s Schema Markup, and Rich Results Test.