On Page SEO – What You Need To Understand?

There is a lot of competition on the internet. If you don’t make a concerted efforted, it is difficult to do well in the online landscape. So, what should website owners do to make themselves more visible on the internet? In case you want to get on top of the competition on the internet, you need to make sure that you have a sound SEO strategy in place. And, a sound SEO strategy typically starts with on-page SEO.

The process of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results is known as SEO or search engine optimisation. SEO is divided into two main parts – on-page SEO and off-page SEO. And, if you want to get the best results for your website in terms of traffic, you need to work on both aspects.

So, what is on-page SEO, and how to make sure that your on-page SEO strategy works perfectly for your website?

According to Moz, the process of optimising your web pages to rank higher and earn relevant traffic in search engines is known as on page SEO. As opposed to off page SEO which is all about link building and other external signals, on page SEO deals with both the content and HTML source code of a page which can be optimised.

On page SEO is an evolving phenomenon; hence it is important that website owners keep up with the latest practices. Search engines especially Google are getting smarter by the day; hence you need to keep pace with the changing times.

How to make sure that your on-page SEO strategy works?

Being the owner of the website, you would surely like to rank on the first page of the search engine results. But with the kind of competition that is there on the internet, not every website can make it to the first page. Search engine algorithms are complex, but they are certainly not rocket science. There are ways you can adopt which will help the search engines take note of your website.

What you need is a smart SEO strategy to improve your rankings on the search engines. And, on page SEO is the building block of your SEO strategy.

To make your on-page SEO strategy a hit, here is what you need to do:

• Your URLs should be SEO friendly – According to Google, the first 3 – 5 words in a URL are given more importance. Also, a Backlinko study reveals that short URLs can have an advantage in the search results. Therefore, to make your URLs SEO friendly, they should be short and crisp. Also, make it a practice to include the target keyword in your URL. What you need to do is avoid unsightly and long URLs.
• Your title should start with keyword – Another important SEO strategy is to make sure that your title starts with your chosen keyword. It helps you on two fronts – it helps the search engines to learn quickly about the content of your page, and it also allows the users to pick up the content they are specifically searching for on the internet.
• Make sure that your post title is wrapped in <H1> tag – Another vital on page SEO strategy is to ensure that your title tag is put in <H1> tag. The process allows the search engines to understand better what your is content is about as it helps to highlight some text on your webpage. But what you need to keep in mind is that there should only be one H1 tag per page and that it should contain your target keyword.
• You also need to ensure that you include modifiers in your title – You need to understand the importance of putting in modifiers in the post’s title. A modifier is a word that makes your keyword more precise. For example, using words like best, 2019, checklist, guide, cheap, review, and fast can help you rank higher on the search engines. Modifiers help your target audience know what your post is specifically about as it makes the heading clearer.
• Also, you need to wrap your subheadings in <H2> tags – There are several header tags that can be included in a post. You should include your target keyword in one of the subheadings and ensure that you wrap it in a <H2> tag. The <H2> tags are reserved for subheadings, and it should support your main <h1> tag. When you wrap your keywords in header tags, your post becomes more structured, and the search engines, as well as your readers, can understand it more easily.
• Use multimedia as much as you can – Text alone cannot take your website too far. If you want to decrease your bounce rates and increase your users time on your site (two important user interaction ranking factors), you should add engaging images, infographics, videos, and diagrams to your webpage. Doing this makes the quality of your content better. And, as your content becomes more valuable people most often like to link to such websites.
• Make sure that you include your keyword in the first 100 words – This again is an important one. You should ensure that you include your keyword in the first few lines, more specifically in the first 100 words. So, if you love to write meandering intros before getting down to the subject, then you should cut the practice and make sure that you include your keyword in the first 100 words.
• It is also important that you use responsive design – You should be aware that if your website is not mobile friendly, then search engines like Google penalise your site. What you need is a mobile optimised site if you want to climb the search engine rankings. Hence, what you need to do is make your website responsive. To improve the user experience of your visitors, you need to make your website responsive.
• It is also vital to use internal links – If you want to do well on the search engine rankings ladder, you should start using internal links in your post. Internal links are hyperlinks that your users can click and reach elsewhere from your post on the same page or to some other of your webpage. What you need to do is add 2 or 3 internal links in your post.
• You also need to link to other sites – As it is important for you to link internally, you also need to link to other sites that are in your niche. Outbound links are hyperlinks that your visitors can click and visit a different website. Linking to other websites helps the search engines to understand better which niche your site belongs to, and this, in turn, can improve your search engine rankings.
• Make a habit of writing lengthy posts – Another vital on page SEO strategy is to write lengthy content. Content length is an important ranking factor, and it can improve your search engine rankings. A SEMRush study of ranking factors reveals that the length of the content is among the top nine most important ranking factors.You, of course, do not want your visitors to leave your site in a hurry. When you post long, lengthy, and meaningful content, you give your visitors the reason to engage more with your content.

• Make sure that the load speed of your site is optimised – In case your page takes too long to load, your visitors will leave your site. Also, sites that take too long to load do not fare well on the search engine results. Hence, you need to make sure that your website loads faster. You need to work towards improving the user experience of your visitors.
• Ensure that you include the keyword in the image file name – By now you must be aware of including images in your post. You also need to make sure that you include your keyword in the file names of the images and the alt text. Ensure that one of the images you use has a file name that accommodates your keyword. Also, you should include the keyword in the image alt text.
• You also need to use LSI keywords – Acronym for latent semantic indexing, LSI keywords are words that are related to the keyword you choose. Search engines especially Google uses LSI keywords to determine the relevance of your page. To find the LSI keywords, you should search your keyword on Google and then head to the bottom of the page. When you reach the bottom of the page, you will find “searches related to” section and those are the related keywords.
• Using social sharing buttons also helps – Though it does not affect your ranking directly, but social sharing is bound to generate more eyeballs. And, when your content generates more eyeballs, people are more likely to link to it which increases the value of your content. Hence, it is important that you use social sharing buttons. Place them prominently on your website so that more and more people can share the content.

If you think there is a problem with your on-page SEO, you can get in touch with vStacks Software Solutions now. We are a digital marketing company, and we know what it takes to formulate an effective SEO strategy. From on-page SEO strategy to off-page SEO activities and more, we can help make your website more visible in the online circuit.