If you have been finding ways to improve your SEO efforts, you’ve likely tried several techniques. It is also possible that you have invested in the help of experts to design an SEO strategy that aligns best with your business goals.
However, if your main goal is bringing countless visitors to your site (and increasing conversions as a result), on-page SEO is something you should look into. The fantastic thing about on-page SEO is that you have total control: you get to identify the goal or topic of each page. You also get to choose the target keywords or phrases you want to focus on.
On-page SEO Essentials
At its core, on-page SEO (also known as on-site SEO) optimizes different back-end and front-end components of your website. Primarily, this is done so your website brings in new traffic and ranks in search engines. On-page SEO components include site architecture elements, HTML elements, and content elements.
The Importance of On-page SEO
On-page SEO works by telling Google about your site and how you are providing value to your customers and visitors. It also helps ensure your website is optimized for both the search engine bots and the human eyes.
Nowadays, creating and publishing your site would no longer suffice. You need to optimize it for Google (and other search engines) if you want to generate high traffic and rank high in the searches.
On-page SEO is referred to as “on-page” because the visitors on your page can see the changes and tweaks you make to optimize your site. On the other hand, off-page and other technical SEO elements are not always visible.
Three Main Categories
On-page SEO elements are divided into three categories:
- Content elements
- Site architecture elements
- HTML elements
This article will explore the three categories of on-page SEO and one essential component under each.
Enjoying this blog? Register now for your free monthly roundup email >
Content Elements
This refers to the elements found within your content and site copy. In this article, we will focus on the importance of creating high-quality page content your visitors will find beneficial and will tell Google that your website provides massive value.
Top Quality Page Content
At the heart of on-page SEO is page content as it tells both your readers and the search engines what your business and site is all about. To create high-quality content, choosing relevant keywords and topics is critical.
To conduct keyword research, you can use specific tools such as UberSuggest, AnswerthePublic, or Ahrefs. You also need to consider how your page content plays into the visitors’ search intent and the buyer’s journey. They can impact the keywords you will use as well as the type of content you will create.
Here are some best practices you can observe when writing top-quality page content:
- Incorporate both short and long-tail keywords as naturally as possible.
- Add relevant and engaging visual content.
- Write for a specific buyer persona(s).
- Develop content people would want to link to and share.
- Solve the problem of your audience actively.
- Optimize for conversions with call-to-action to product pages and offers.
Your page content gives you the venue to effectively provide value to Google and your site visitors. All the other elements of on-page SEO stem from high-quality page content, so ensure you invest resources to develop and optimize it.
Site Architecture Elements
The elements that make up your site pages and website is called site architecture elements. How your site is structured can help Google (and other search engines) easily crawl the pages and page content.
Page URLs
Your page URL should be easy to digest for both the search engines and the readers. Your page URL is also crucial for keeping your site hierarchy consistent as you create blog posts, subpages, and other kinds of internal pages.
To create, SEO-friendly URLs, keep the following tips in mind:
- Get rid of any extra or unnecessary words.
- Use only one or two keywords.
- Use HTTPS as Google now uses it as a positive ranking factor.
HTML Elements
HTML elements are the elements found in your source code. If you want to view a page’s source code, just click View, then Developer, then View Source in the top menu.
Image Alt-text
Image alt-text can be likened to SEO for your images. It tells Google and other search engines what your image is all about. This is important as Google now delivers many image-based results as much as they do text-based results. In other words, consumers can now discover your site through your images.
When adding alt-text to your images, keep the following in mind:
- Make it as specific and descriptive as possible.
- Ensure it is contextually relevant to the broader page content.
- Make sure keywords are used sparingly.
- Keep it shorter than 125 characters.
Conclusion
Search engine optimization, including on-page SEO, is not a one-and-done deal. It’s something that will require constant tweaking and polishing. Fortunately, once you find the right strategy, you are a step closer to generating more traffic as well as conversions.