On-Page SEO: Top 12 On-Page SEO Techniques

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On-Page SEO:

 

The main focus of On-Page SEO is to rank higher and higher on Search Engines Results Pages(SERPs). The higher your pages rank on SERPs, the more and more traffic your site will get.

SEO is divided into two categories:
1. On-Page SEO
2. Off-Page SEO

The process of optimizing the web page of your site to increase search ranking is called On-Page SEO. There are many factors you should pay attention to while optimizing your posts.

Off-page SEO is all about acquiring backlinks that point to your website.

Related:

• What is SEO and What are its Different Types?

Here we shall focus on On-Page SEO.

On-page SEO has the great potential to bring your post or website to the first page or even the first rank on the SERPs.

12 Most important On-Page SEO techniques you need to follow:

#1. Page Title

#2. URL Structure

#3. Meta Description

#4. Keyword

#5. Title Modifiers

#6. Quality Content

#7. Heading Tags

#8. Internal Linking

#9. External Linking

#10. Image Optimization

#11. Mobile-Friendliness

#12. Page-Loading Speed

1. Page Title

 

It’s the Page Title that helps the Search Engines and the readers to understand what the post is all about. The target keyword must be included in the Page Title. It should be unique and compelling. And the length should be between 50-60 characters. It should always come with the H1 tag. Here is an example:

 

Page Title has always been one of the most important factors of On-Page SEO.

 

2. URL Structure

 

URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator and is an important On-Page SEO technique.

According to Wikipedia, a URL is a reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it.

A typical URL could have the form,

http://www.example.com/index.html

This includes a protocol (https), a hostname(www.example.com), and a file name(index.html).

The characters of the URL should be in the lowercase and the words must be separated by hyphens. Its length should be kept under 100 characters.

Some good examples of URLs are

https://wikipedia.org/wiki/url
https://www.digitalutsav.com/on-page-search-engine-optimization/

 

3. Meta Description

 

Another important On-Page SEO technique, Meta Description appears below the Page Title. It gives the users a brief idea about the post. Sometimes, Meta Description could be the deciding factor for the users whether to click on your site or on the ones above or below. So try to include relevant, valuable, and compelling information in the Meta Description.

 

4. Keyword

 

You write your post to solve your readers’ problems. So you should be aware of the problems your blog is going to solve.

How to find Keywords to optimize your post?

You should go for those Keywords that have the most search volume and less competition. There are a number of tools you can use to do this research. Some important tools are:

• Google Keyword Planner
• KWFinder
• Ubersuggest
• MOZ’s Keyword Explorer
• SEMrush

Keyword Density:

It’s very important to include relevant keywords throughout the content but overuse should be avoided.

So, what exactly should be the Keyword density?

Keep the Keyword density somewhere around 1.5 – 2.0 percent. Use it once in the Title, once in the summary, once in the conclusion, and use it only where using it makes sense.

Long-Tail Keywords:

With Long-Tail Keywords, competition is very low and you can rank it very easily.

LSI Keywords:

LSI stands for Latent Semantic Index. These Keywords are semantically(not necessarily synonymously) related to the target keywords. Search Engines use these keywords to determine the page’s relevancy and quality.

To make sure you are using LSI Keywords, you can search the keyword in Google and scroll down to the bottom where you will find “Searches Related to……”. If you write long content then don’t bother about LSI Keywords. You will naturally use them in your content.

Related: 7 Best Free Keyword Research Tools

 

5. Title Modifiers

 

Title modifiers help immensely as far as On-Page SEO is concerned.

Using Title Modifiers like “best”, “only”, “review”, “2018”, and “checklist” could help your post rank higher for the Long Tail Keywords.

 

6. Quality Content

 

According to Wikipedia, Content creation is the contribution of information to any media and most especially to digital media for an end-user / audience in specific contexts.

“Content is King”.

Exactly!

And therefore you have to maintain the quality so that more and more users would love to go through your work, share it, and spread the word.

How to write quality content?

Google wants to serve the best possible results to its users. That means you need to have content that’s worthy.

There are no hard and fast rules to create good content.

Here are some tips and tricks you should keep in mind while writing your post:

a) Reader-Friendly:

The reader comes first.

Absolutely!

The content should be centered around the readers. That way you give more value to your readers which in turn makes it more valuable for the Search Engines to display on SERPs.

b) Length:

As per the Backlinko analysis, the average first-page search result was 1890 words. Try to include all the information your readers need and at the same time, it shouldn’t be fluffy.

c) Structure:

Divide your blog into three categories – Introduction, Body, and Conclusion.

The introductory part is a key element to grab the user’s attention. So, this part of your content should be clear, concise, relevant, and informative. This will make your post engaging and convince your visitors to stay on your website.

For more on how to create quality content, check out the following articles:

• How To Write SEO-Friendly Content?
• How to Write A Blog Post: 9 Most Essential Steps to Write A Great Blog Post

 

7. Heading Tags

 

Never go for longer paragraphs. Divide your post into smaller sections and paragraphs. Make sure that the length of each paragraph is not more than five lines. This makes it easier for users to read your post.

Your post needs to have a heading(H1) and sub-headings(H2, H3). H stands for heading.

H1 Tag:

This is the headline tag of your post. The Post Title should be wrapped in the H1 Tag and the subsequent tags in H2, H3, etc.

Always use headings hierarchically i.e., first the heading tag <H1>, then <H2>, and then <H3>, <H4>, etc.

This makes it easier for Search Engines to determine what’s important in your post.

 

8. Internal Linking

 

Internal Linking is all about linking to pages within your own website. This makes the users find all of your content by navigating around your site and thus spending more time on your blog. And it also helps the Search Engine to properly crawl your website.

But be careful while interlinking and avoid overdoing it. The best idea could be linking to 2 – 4 older posts while publishing a new one.

 

9. External Linking

 

Outbound links tell the Search Engine that your post has quality information. To get more traffic, using outbound links could be the easiest White Hat SEO technique.

But while linking, always try to link to authority websites.

 

10. Image Optimization

 

To get the attention of visitors, using images is very important. This will help make your post more focused and engaging. Images also give another clue to users and Search Engines what your post is all about.

So, how to optimize the image?

• Include the target keyword in the “image file name” and the “Alt Text”.
• Images should be compressed. Large images decrease the site speed which in turn will decrease the ranking in Search Engines.

 

11. Mobile-Friendliness

 

In this smartphone era, if your site is not mobile-friendly, then you are taking chances. Because over 60 percent of online searches are done on mobile devices. Also, Google has over 90 percent market share on mobile devices.

Make your site mobile-friendly. Otherwise, you may lose more than half of your potential traffic.

To check if your site is mobile-friendly or not, go to the link

https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly

and enter your domain name.

 

 

If it’s not mobile-friendly, fix the problem, if any.

Note: In 2015, Google started penalizing those sites that were not mobile-friendly.

Related: Mobile SEO: The Ultimate Guide to Optimize for Mobile-Friendly SEO

 

12. Page Loading Speed

 

Google has stated time and again that Page Loading Speed is also one of the important SEO ranking factors. According to the MunchWeb study, you may lose 75 percent of your users if your site takes longer than 4 seconds to load.

You can use GTmetrix.com to check the Page Loading Speed of your site just by entering the URL:

 

 

 

How to optimize loading speed?

You may follow the following tips to increase the Page Loading Speed:

• Image Optimization – Compress the images. Larger images decrease the site speed.

• Don’t use a large number of plugins – Using a large number of plugins may also be one of the causes of low site speed. It’s always advisable to install only those plugins that help make your site user as well as Search Engine friendly.

• Switch to faster hosting – If the Page Loading Speed is low even after image optimization and uninstalling irrelevant plugins, then switch to a faster-hosting service provider (Recommended: Siteground or Bluehost).

Related: 11 Best WordPress Plugins (Free & Paid) For Blogs

 

On-Page SEO Checklist:

 

• Google loves sites that are informative and engaging. Always go for long-form content and create content that is user-friendly as well as Search Engine-friendly. You can beautify your content by using Bold, Italics, and CSS.

• Make sure that you include a keyword in the Title, First paragraph, Image file name, and Alt Text.

• Images should be optimized before uploading. (like compressing and resizing)

• Create a Meta Title and Meta description.

• Link your new posts with the existing related articles.

• Use Outbound Links but always try to link to authority websites.

• The Page Loading Speed should be optimized.

• Your website should be mobile-friendly.

We cannot say that On-Page SEO techniques are some tricks to get more traffic, but it has great potential to get your site on the first page or even the first spot of Search Engine Results Pages.