Search engine optimization (SEO) helps to increase website traffic and consequently boost your Google rankings. There are many factors that contribute to the increase in your search engine ranking and one of them is on-page SEO.

In this article, we will be looking at this particular factor and how it can improve your search engine rankings.

What is on-page SEO?

From the name itself, on-page SEO involves aspects of SEO that are located “on the web page.” They may be directly influenced by web designers and programmers. Together with off-page SEO, these factors are scrutinized by search engines to determine a website’s rankings.

On-page SEO includes content, HTML structure, and website architecture. These factors can all contribute to your website being at the top of search results page.

Think of your website as a cake. Off-site content (which includes your links, paid search, and social media) is the icing. On-page SEO – which includes your content, HTML structure, and website architecture – serves as the sugar. Without it, your cake will not taste great. In the same way, on-page SEO makes your website attractive.

Features of an SEO Optimized Site

The technique with on-page SEO is to have a perfectly optimized website that would help improve your search engine rankings. Here is a checklist of what a search engine optimized website should have:

  • Create high quality, relevant, fresh content at least 500 words long. This is key to your website getting ranked high by Google.
  • Page headline should include the target search phrase.
  • Target search phrase should appear in at least one sub-headline.
  • Target search phrase should be repeated 3 to 10 times within the body. It should not be more than that or it will be considered as spam. Keep your target market in mind.
  • Page should include relevant images and/or graphics that helps demonstrate the target search phrase. Captions should also point to the target search phrase.
  • Content, tools, links and other resources need to be shareable.
  • Location must be optimized for the city, state, region, or country and must be indicated in the page footer.
  • Follow proper spelling or grammar as it could affect your rankings as well.
  • Include social media links because dynamic pages will get higher scores than dynamic pages.

Aside from content, an optimized website should also be properly coded.

  • The page URL should have the target keyword/search phrase.
  • The target keyword/search phrase should be enclosed in an HTML title and should be less than 70 characters.
  • The meta description acts as the marketing copy for your page, and so it should also be included. It should not be more than 160 characters and must have the target keyword/search phrase.
  • The images for the target phrase must be embedded in an alt tag.
  • Use links that are relevant to the topic of your page. Latest research revealed that pages with more than 100 links may be penalized by Google. It is also best to use less than that unless there is a good reason for exceeding 100. Adding internal links related to similar topics can also be good for your website ranking.
  • Ensure that your pages are up to speed. It is used as a ranking signal. A recent study by Munchweb revealed that 75% of people would not return to websites that have a loading speed of more than 4 seconds.

As the website owner, you need to prioritize on-page SEO over off-page SEO. Before you can promote your website in social media, you need to make sure that it is properly optimized for the search engines to rank it. If you cannot do on-page SEO yourself, you can always hire the services of a trusted search engine optimization firm to do it for you.