On-Page SEO: A Guide to Best Practices in 10 Essential Steps
In our everything-digital landscape, search engine optimization (SEO) plays an incredibly important role in your business’ success. How? By improving the visibility and ranking of your website on search engine result pages (SERPs) so that your clients can find you. While off-page SEO strategies are important, optimizing your website's on-page elements is a proven way to master your digital presence.
So read ahead for the 10 essential steps to beef up your on-page SEO, ensuring your website is doing its job.
Step 1: Keyword Research
It’s all about the keywords! Begin by conducting some in-depth keyword research so you can nab all the relevant and high-performing keywords that will make your website shine brightly in the digital universe. You can use keyword research tools to discover search volumes, competition levels, and other sexy aspects of SEO. Make sure you pick aligned primary and secondary keywords that that match content and your users' search intent.
Step 2: Title Tag Optimization
The title leads the way. When you create compelling and keyword-rich title tags for web pages, you’re helping Dr Google sort through search queries and send them to your site. So do keep titles concise, catchy and around 50-60 characters, and make sure you add your primary keyword right near the beginning. A beautifully-optimized title tag can significantly impact your website's click-through rate (CTR) on search engines, so get crafting beautiful people!
Step 3: Meta Description Enhancement
Meta what? Meta descriptions, that’s what. Make sure you create unique meta descriptions that highlight your web pages in search results—these are the words beneath the titles in any Google search (in this image below, it’s the sentences beneath the blue titles, and the last two are the best).
The meta description should be in the area of 150-160 characters, and should accurately summarize the content you’re sharing. Please do add relevant keywords and punchy descriptions that draw users to your website. Although meta descriptions won’t directly affect your SEO ranking, they definitely play a part in CTR and user engagement. Catch that query!
Step 4: URL Structure Optimization
You are—a URL master. Please make sure your website's URLs are clean, sharp, and user-friendly. No long sentences or illogical word groups, and that’s an order. Ensure you include your primary keyword in the URL, separate words with hyphens, and don’t use numbers or special characters—this is such a no-no. Shorter URLs are preferable, always. Let’s get linking!
Step 5: Header Tag Hierarchy
This an easy one. Make sure you arrange and organize your content using header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to not only improve readability but help Google draw queries to your site. All H1 tags ideally use the primary keyword and convey the main topic of the page. Use the H2 headers next, (we have 10 in this article) with subsequent header tags to structure the smaller sections.
How to use H3 headers
This, just above, is an example of an H3 tag. You can use it when you’re making a more nuanced point, or when breaking down a point you made in an H2. It helps search engines to understand your content's structure and relevance. So head over to your headers and make some headway.
Step 6: Keyword Optimization in Content
This is a huge one. For better overall site success, make sure your content is truly high-quality and engaging, integrating your target keywords with ease and insight. ChatGPT is a no-no when used indiscriminately and without any analysis, as Google punishes those who rely on it alone. Ensure your primary keyword is present in the first paragraph and strategically throughout your articles and blogs, but don’t overstuff keywords, as this can see you being penalized by Google.
More about ChatGPT
Think of ChatGPT and other AI as research tools, not content creation tools. They are one part of your toolkit for content creation and should be used with taste, insight and nuance. Google says this about AI generated content: “When it comes to automatically generated content, our guidance has been consistent for years. Using automation—including AI—to generate content with the primary purpose of manipulating ranking in search results is a violation of our spam policies.”
So what then? Ask yourself these questions about your content:
Step 7: Image Optimization
Images not only help your website look cool but also help your SEO to really sparkle. You can optimize images by compressing them (making them smaller) for faster loading times. You can also use descriptive file names and alt tags to help search engines recognise your keywords.
Step 8: Internal Linking Strategy
Get that link juice flowing. You’ll need a well-structured internal linking strategy to connect your web pages in SEO style. Link relevant anchor text to other pages on your website, helping search engines understand the relationships between the different content you have. Internal links can help to improve user navigation, distribute link equity, and increase the chances of search engines connecting your content with your search users.
Step 9: Mobile-Friendly Optimization
Let’s mobilize the mobiles (or cell phones). In the era of mobile-first indexing, do make sure your website is optimized for mobile devices, okay? This is a nuanced one, and often best left to the professionals. Responsive design, along with fast loading times, and swift and intuitive navigation are the big elements to gun for in a mobile-friendly website. Test your website on your collection of mobile devices and use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test tool to identify and resolve any issues.
Step 10: Page Speed Optimization
Well all hate slow-loading pages, so let’s speed things up and improve your search ranking. Make sure you minifying CSS and JavaScript files, compress all your lovely images, leverage browser caching, and embrace Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) with a big digital hug. Do also regularly monitor and analyze your website's performance using tools like Google and Screaming Frog.
And that’s it
These are our helpful tips to make sure your SEO is singing loudly and sweetly. By addressing some or all of these points, your quest for better search results is assured. Get in touch if you need any help and happy searching!
The SEO Folk
