On-page SEO is an SEO practice that can be completely controlled by the one writing it. It is completely up to you, about what topic you wish to establish, and the goal or end-result you wish to see. It is you who gets to see who you wish to target and what are the main or focus keywords you want to be found on.
In very simple words, on-site SEO is the process of optimizing various front-end and back-end components of your website to make it rank higher in search engines and bring in new traffic. These are the changes that you can see on your website’s page and hence gets its name as “on-page SEO”.
Since every part of an on-site SEO strategy is in the hands of the SEO expert, it is critical to do it correctly to obtain the required results. So let’s discuss the various elements of on-site SEO that fall into three main categories:
- Content elements
- HTML elements
- Site architecture elements
Content Elements
The elements within your site copy and content make up for content elements. This category contains those elements that focus on curating high-quality page content that benefits your visitors and assures Google that your website provides value.
High-quality page content
Your content is the heart and soul of on-site SEO. It is what tells both bots and humans what your website and business is all about and how you can help them.
The first step to creating high-quality content is by choosing relevant keywords and topics. Make use of free tools to perform thorough research on the best keywords to use.
HTML Elements
These are elements present in your source code. Click View > Developer > View Source in the top menu to see the source code for any page in your browser.
Page titles
Your web site page titles (also referred to as title tags) are one of the most important SEO elements.
Titles tell both visitors and search engines what are they getting into before they enter your website.
Be sure to include the focus keyword for each page in the title to rank first. Incorporate your keyword as naturally as possible.
Headers
Headers, also well known as body tags, refers to the HTML element <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, and so on.
These tags help search engines distinguish what part of your content is vital and relevant and also informs them how you organize content to make improve user experience.
Incorporate vital keywords in your headers, but choose different ones than what’s in your page title. Put your most important keywords in your <h1> and <h2> headers.
Meta descriptions
The short page descriptions that appear under the hyperlinked title in search results are known as meta descriptions of a page. Although you must note that it’s not an official ranking factor for search engines. So what’s the catch and how would it influence your clicks? Because this description is what will get the user to click on your link. Make sure that your meta description is short and crisp. It should also be able to attract your reader within the short character limit. Therefore, your meta description is just as important when you’re doing on-page SEO.
Image alt-text
Image alt-text is SEO for your images. This description tells Google and various search engines what your pictures are about. It also lets users know (in case of a low range internet connection, when pictures can’t be loaded) what the image could be about. This is important because Google now delivers almost as many image-based results as they do text-based results.
That means customers could also be discovering your web site through your pictures. Hence, you have to add alt-text to your images.
Structured markup
The process of “marking up” your website source code is called structured markup, or structured data. By doing so, it becomes easier for Google to find and understand the different elements of your content.
If you’ve ever wondered how those featured snippets and various content features pop up on a Google search page, the answer to that question is structured markup.
This data is the reason why specific page information shows up so neatly when someone shares your content on social media.
Site Architecture Elements
The elements that make up your website and site pages are known as site architecture elements. A well-structured website will help Google and other search engines easily crawl the pages and their content.
Page URLs
Make sure your page URLs are simple and easy for both readers and search engines. Keep your site hierarchy consistent as you create subpages, blog posts, and other types of internal pages.
Internal linking
The process of hyperlinking to other helpful and relevant pages on the same website is known as Internal linking. Try to make sure you add internal linking in your on-page SEO strategy because internal links send readers to other pages on your website, keeping them around longer and tell Google your site is relevant and helpful.
Mobile responsiveness
Over the last year, Google has started supporting sites that are optimized for more active mobile speeds — even for desktop searches? because mobile responsiveness matters.
Site speed
Whether being viewed on a mobile device or desktop, your site must be able to load quickly. Page speed counts big-time for on-page SEO.
Google cares about user experience first and foremost. If your site loads slowly or haphazardly, it’s likely your visitors aren’t going to stick around — and Google knows that. Moreover, site speed can impact conversions and ROI.
Now that you understand the different on-page SEO elements, create a checklist while incorporating any strategy, and improve your on-page SEO.
