12 Important On-Page SEO Factors You Need To Know
SEO is the process of making changes to a page’s content, tags, and internal links in order to make it more visible in search results. Here are 12 ways to make the most of yours.
There are 12 important things you need to know about on-page SEO.
Have you played Tetris? If so, you probably remember that you couldn’t really “win” the game. With each level, it just got faster and faster.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is similar in some ways.
Not because it has an interesting 8-bit soundtrack or changes your dreams, but because it never ends.
There’s no time when you can sit back and be happy that your site is always at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs).
Even though you may have reached the top today, an SEO expert’s job is never done.
Every change to Google’s algorithm or to the content of your competitors could knock you off the top spot, so you need to stay on top of changes.
And that means you need to have good on-page SEO. But before we get into that, it’s important to know how Google and other search engines work in a broad sense.
How to Use a Search Engine
Crawlers, also called spiders, are sent out by search engines to look around the internet. They follow links from one site to another to make a search index, which is a map of the content.
While these crawlers are checking out sites, they also look at their content to see what kind of information it has.
The search engine’s algorithm then uses this information to figure out how well the site’s content answers users’ questions.
The higher it will be on the SERP, the better it will answer the question.
Google is always trying to improve the results it gives to users, so its algorithm is often changed. This means that rankings will always change, so someone will have to optimise the website to improve or keep rankings.
What is on-page SEO and why does it matter?
On-page SEO, also called on-site SEO, is the process of changing a page’s content, tags, and internal links to make it more visible in search results and get more traffic.
In other words, it is a way to improve the way search engines understand your website by making it more search engine friendly.
This, of course, has a lot of good things about it.
The first is the number of people who use it.
67.60% of all clicks on a search page go to the first five organic results. Only 3.73 percent comes from the next five. From there, it goes down. So, if you want people to visit your site, you should be near the top.
Second, the click-through rates of high-ranking sites are much better (CTR). The average organic CTR for the first mobile search result on Google is 26.9%.
Now think about how 92.4 percent of people who look for something nearby on their phones go to that business the same day. You can start to see how organic SEO can help your bottom line. And optimising the pages you have is a big part of your organic ranking.
At this point, you should understand how important on-page SEO is. Now is the time to begin. Let’s get started…
12 Important SEO Factors for the Page
On-page SEO can be broken down into three main areas: the content, the HTML, and the structure of the website. We will look at each one on its own.
Content
You’ve heard that “content is king” before.
SEO without it is like a beautiful new sports car without an engine: it might look nice, but it won’t go anywhere. But not every piece of content is the same.
Here are the content-related things you need to think about to get the most out of your on-site SEO:
1. E-A-T
Google gives your site more weight if it has E-A-T, which stands for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.
It’s talked in the Google Search Quality Guidelines, which should give you an idea of how important it is to the search engine’s algorithms.
Even though Google has only confirmed a few parts of E-A-T (PageRank and links), most people in the SEO field agree that on-page signals are very important.
2. Keywords
The easiest way to show them that the content on your website answers a user’s question is in the way you write.
Pages that have the keywords used in a search query in the body, headings, or both are more likely to be relevant to the search.
This is sometimes easy to figure out. If you’re trying to get people to visit the website of a furniture store, you might want to use keywords like [sofa], [dining room set], and [end table].
If it’s a specialised furniture store, you’ll want to use long-tail keywords like [contemporary art-deco sideboards].
In short, you need to know what your target customers are looking for and include these search terms in the content you make. Doing research is always a good idea so that you don’t miss any chances.
3. SEO Writing
It’s a bit of an art to make content that search engines like and that also makes people want to visit your site.
If you’ve never done it before, it can be hard to write copy that flows well and follows SEO best practises.
We have a whole article on how to master the art, but here are some of the most important points:
Focus on how easy it is to read your content. People should be able to quickly scan it to find the information they need.
Don’t use too many keywords. This method, also called “keyword stuffing,” was used by unethical SEO professionals to trick the system in the past. Google doesn’t like sites that use too many keywords. If you get caught doing this, your page could be moved down in the SERPs or even taken off the internet completely.
Keep your sentences and paragraphs short. If you’ve ever gone to a website and seen a wall of text, you know how hard it is to read long pieces of writing. Keep your sentences and paragraphs short to keep people from leaving.
Use subheadings. Subheads stand out because they are bigger than the rest of the text on the page. This will get people’s attention as they scan the page. Use a lot of it in your writing to help people move down the page.
Use bulleted lists. This may seem like a lot of talk about talk, but bulleted lists are a good way to break up information into chunks that are easy to understand. Use them when it makes sense to do so.
4. Visual Assets
Adding pictures, videos, and infographics to your page does more than just make it look better. It also gives you chances to make your SEO better.
More than 36% of people who shop online use visual search, which means that if you don’t use images, you’re missing out on traffic.
Make sure that your accompanying text is as good as it can be.
Make sure you know how big your image files are so they don’t load slowly. Make your images easy to share to find backlinking opportunities, which can help your E-A-T.
HTML
HyperText Markup Language, or HTML, is the code that is used to set up the structure and content of your web pages.
They tell the browser where and what to show the user. It also tells search engines what your page is about and where they should put you in their rankings.
Here are the things you need to think about for on-page SEO HTML:
5. Title Tags
In this case, it’s important to pay close attention to the details.
This piece of code that lets you give a page a title probably won’t get you to the top of the SERP rankings by itself.
But when used with other page elements (like the ones we’ve talked about here), it can help you build context and show how relevant your site is.
6. Meta Description
An experienced SEO worker is now throwing her hands up at the screen. “Oh, come on,” she says. “Everyone knows meta descriptions don’t have anything to do with SEO rankings.”
She isn’t entirely right. Even though there is a lot of evidence against meta descriptions being used as a ranking factor, she is wrong when she says that everyone knows that.
Even though they aren’t used much in SEO, they do have two major benefits: they can help Google figure out what your page is about, and more importantly, they have a huge effect on your CTRs.
Better meta descriptions tell searchers more about what your page is about, which makes them more likely to click on it. So don’t forget about them.
7. Optimizing an image
We’ve already talked briefly about how important it is to have visual assets on your page. Now it’s time to look more closely at how they work.
Here are some ways to make yours better:
Add alt tags that are good for SEO.
Choose the right file size and format so that it loads quickly.
Change the names of your files so they don’t have names like IMG 08759.
Ensure your images are mobile-friendly.
8. Geotagging (For Local Search)
Even though the economy is global, most business is still done locally. Connect with the people in your area by making sure your on-page local SEO is as good as it can be.
Even though this isn’t as important for big companies like GMC or Pepsi, it is for small and medium-sized businesses.
When you want to focus on local traffic, there are three main SEO strategies to think about:
Getting reviews and using third-party apps to improve local listings and citations, such as name, address, and phone number (NAP), website URL, and business descriptions.
Optimizing your local content, such as by making it work for “near me” searches, giving content that is specific to a location, or buying a local website or blog.
optimising and making connections with other businesses and groups in the area.
Make sure that your keywords include the name of your target location, and use them wherever they make sense in your content.
Read this to learn more about how to build your own geotagging SEO strategy.
Structure of a website
Two things make it important to have a well-organized website: First, a website with a logical layout will be easier for search engines to crawl, and second, it will give users a better experience.
Here are the factors to consider when optimising your site’s architecture:
9. Site Speed
A site that is hard to use and takes a long time to load does more than just annoy visitors and make them leave. It also hurts your search ranking.
Search Engine Journal dug deep into how the time it takes for a page to load affects SEO and found that page speed is a factor in how it ranks in search results.
But the minimum speed that your site needs to meet changes all the time.
At the moment, it can be done by meeting Google’s minimum Core Web Vitals threshold. If your site doesn’t meet these standards yet, there are a few things you can do, such as:
Putting compression to work.
Getting fewer redirects.
Optimizing images.
Using the caches in browsers.
10. Design That Responds
In 2016, it was the first time that mobile searches were more than desktop searches. And that number has only gone up in the years since.
More than 56% of all internet use is now done on mobile devices, and another 2.4% is done on tablets.
Since more people are using mobile devices, it made sense for Google to give sites with responsive designs more weight in mobile search rankings.
While it is still possible to rank in these results without a responsive design, Google strongly advises that sites offer a mobile version.
11. URL Structure
Once upon a time, URLs were a big part of SEO. Pros would make sure that their keywords were in their web addresses so that they would rank higher.
But Google changed it because that’s what Google does. And what used to be so important to rankings is now much less important.
That doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter, though. Search engines still count your URLs in your overall score, but they aren’t as important as they used to be.
But there is evidence that they affect how a site is ranked at first, and some experts think they are used to group pages. This means that they shouldn’t be your most important SEO task, but you shouldn’t ignore them either.
Here, you can learn more about how URLs affect how Google ranks pages.
12. Links
Remember the letters E-A-T from the start of this article?
Links from other trustworthy websites are one of the best ways for your website to show that you know what you’re talking about, that you’re an expert, and that you can be trusted.
Think about it this way: Would you rather give your 401(k) to a financial advisor who manages Warren Buffet’s portfolio or to your cousin Jimmy, who lives in your aunt’s basement? Jimmy might do a good job; he might even do a better job than the guy Buffet hired. But he lacks the trustworthiness that comes from a strong co-sign.
Links work the same way.
For SEO, you need to know about three main types:
Internal links, like this one, lead to another page on your website.
Outbound links, also called external links, are links that go to a site on a different domain, like this one, which goes to Google‘s SEO page.
Inbound links are links from other websites that lead to your page. Sometimes these are called “backlinks.”
Inbound links are by far the most important of the three. They are the most important for SEO, but they are also the hardest to get.
SEO professionals can get quality backlinks in a number of ways, such as by using social media, making infographics that can be shared, or even just asking for them.
But be careful: not all links that come in are good. Some, especially those from link farms, forum posts, and guestbooks, can be fake links that are meant to trick the rankings system. If you don’t get rid of these, they could hurt your rank.
On-Page SEO vs. Off-Page SEO
We’ve talked a lot about on-page SEO, but there’s also something called “off-page SEO” that’s just as important. As you might have guessed from the names, the difference is where it takes place.
On-page SEO includes things like keyword optimization, meta descriptions, title tags, alt text, and how your website is set up.
Off-page SEO is everything that happens outside of your site that affects how it ranks. This includes things like backlinks, E-A-T, local SEO, mentions on social media, and pay-per-click.
Obviously, you have a great deal more influence over your on-page SEO, but you must also consider your off-page SEO if you want to achieve your goals.
But before you spend a lot of time and money building links and promoting your site, you should first focus on making a good, relevant page that is fully optimised for search engines.
On-page SEO is a process that never ends.
Search engine optimization comes down to one thing: finding the best way to give searchers useful information and making sure your site is at the top of SERPs.
Your goal is to give users better experiences while also showing search engines how valuable you are. Lucky for us, these two go together. And they start with optimising the page itself.
Start with what you can control and carefully look at your site to find its weaknesses and growth opportunities.
If you get everything on-site in order, you’ll start to see results, including an improvement in things that aren’t on-site.
Just remember, SEO, like Tetris, is never done. But if you keep working and reading, you’ll get what you deserve.