Understanding the Basics and Improving Your On-Page SEO

On-page Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial for any website development. If you’re reading this, you’re already aware of the significant influence a successful on-page SEO strategy can have on your business.

We’re here to help you improve your on-page SEO, whether you already have one or not. This blog is for you if:

  • Your present on-page SEO approach is ineffective
  • Your existing on-page SEO strategy isn’t working
  • You’ve recently established a new website and require an on-page SEO approach

Before we dive into improving your on-page SEO, let us review the basics.

How Important Is On-page SEO

On-page SEO is defined as the content created for your website. This contains the keywords utilized on your pages, their arrangement, and their aggregate length.

A successful on-page SEO strategy will be built around the keywords that matter for your business. This is probably not the same list of keywords you would use for SEO off-page. Off-page SEO strategies include link building, content marketing, and getting your blog posts shared on social media.

How is On-Page SEO Different from Off-Page SEO

On-page SEO is different from off-page SEO because on-page SEO is all about saying exactly what you need to say in the right place, using the right keywords.

Off-page SEO is a strategy to attract potential customers to your site by creating links and content that point back to your website.

An example of off-page SEO would be creating a blog post and submitting it to a high-authority blog with a well-established brand. Off-page SEO can be highly effective when used correctly. However, the downside is that it can take up a lot of time, primarily to build an authority site. This is time that you could be spending on your on-page SEO strategy.

On-page SEO can either complement or compete with off-page SEO. This can be especially true if your on-page strategy has been wholly neglected.

While off-page SEO strategies focus on adding quality content to the web in the form of articles, blogs, and multimedia files, on-page SEO is about ensuring that your content has all the right keywords in exactly the right places.

The combination of on-page SEO and off-page SEO strategies is what makes SEO so powerful. You can’t get the best possible results from on-page SEO without using off-page SEO, too.

How On-Page SEO Affects Your Website

Whether you think you need on-page SEO or not, it won’t have much impact on your business if it’s not implemented. Implementing on-page SEO is the only way to get your website to rank in Google. You don’t have to spend a lot of time doing this, but you have to do it right.

The following are the significant ways that on-page SEO will affect your website.

  • Visibility in Search Engines

Search engines view on-page SEO as a ranking factor. Lack of on-page SEO means a lack of presence in search engine results.

  • Visibility in Social Media

When you post content to your social media accounts, only some get shared. The same thing happens when someone else shares your content. The default setting for social media sharing is only a single portion of each post.

The more your content is shared, the more visibility you get on social media.

  • User Experience

Doing great on-page SEO means creating the best user experience for your target audience. It means optimizing for conversions.

What Are the Elements That Influence On-Page SEO Efforts?

On-page SEO elements include keywords, content, meta information, and links. Your website will need to include all of these elements to have a good on-page SEO strategy. Let’s look at each of these elements more closely.

  • Keywords

Keywords are the most crucial element of on-page SEO. The first step in your on-page SEO strategy should be conducting keyword research. This is done to determine the right keywords you’re going to target.

  • Content

When you begin to write your content, you need to remember that Google is the primary audience. Google is the one that decides whether your content will rank high in search results or not.

Google is looking for specific keywords in your content. If your content doesn’t contain the words and phrases your target audience is looking for, you can be sure that your content will never rank high.

For this reason, it’s essential to write for your target audience, not for Google’s algorithm. Many “black hat” SEOs out there will tell you that you need to stuff your content with keywords.

This will not get you the results you want. Instead, you need to focus on creating engaging content that drives your target audience to action.

How to Improve Your Website’s On-Page SEO

It is best to go through the following process to help optimize your on-page SEO strategy.

1. Choose the Keywords You Will Use

Make a list of the keywords you would like to target. Avoid using the same keyword more than once within the list since this could indicate to Google that you are trying to play the search engine.

2. Make a List of the Keyword Phrases You Will Use

Next, create a list of possible keyword phrases. The keyword phrases should be combinations of your chosen keywords. For example, “cheap iPad covers” and “cool iPad covers” should be added to your list. This will give you more opportunities to outrank your competitors.

3. Create an Outline of the Structure of Each Page

Create an outline of the structure of each page. The outline should include the keywords you want to use on each page. You may want to use the tagline of your business or the title of a blog post. You can start this process by using the Google Structured Data Markup Helper.

4. Check the Tags You Are Using

Check the tags you are using for each page since these tags are essential for social networks. They help provide the page with a specific category and help increase organic reach on Facebook. Facebook uses the tags when showing relevant posts on a person’s timeline.

Tags are also crucial for search engines. This is because they help categorize your website and make it easier to find.

5. Determine the Order of Keywords on the Page

Semantic hub phrases are weighed differently than single keywords. These phrases are used throughout your page and hold numerous vital keywords. You can also use your headings to highlight your keyword placements.

6. Calculate the Total Length of Your Keywords

You’ll want to keep your on-page SEO as short and concise as possible. We recommend a limit of 50-55 words per keyword. This will help the keywords flow more naturally in your content.

7. Add Alt Tags to Images

Add alt tags to your images. This will show Google the image description and will help search engines better understand the image and boost your ranking.

Conclusion

If you want your web pages to show up higher in search results, these are the On-Page SEO tactics you can start right now. These tips should be used must be implemented on your website to ensure that it is well-optimized for both search engines and your customers. Although they may be time-consuming and difficult at first, it will be worth it in the long run.

Partner with New Digital Marketing Agency with all of your SEO efforts. We are a Toronto-based digital agency that achieves measurable and repeatable outcomes by combining marketing strategy with specialized execution. Contact us today!