There are lots of challenges running a business. Finding customers doesn't have to be one of them.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a long-term strategy that involves several factors to succeed. To appear higher on the organic search engine results pages (SERPs), a good combination of On-Page, Technical, and Off-Page SEO factors must be used.
Over the past few years, a surge of Off-Page SEO factors was introduced, which has changed On-Page SEO dramatically. While it's true that on-page optimization is less straightforward than it once was, it still plays a huge factor in how well you rank. It's also one aspect of your strategy that you have full control over and won't require a lot of time and effort.
So, let's go over what On-Page SEO is and why it's important.
On-Page, sometimes addressed as On-Site SEO, refers to the work that is done on a single web page for it to rank higher or more successfully in search engines. It includes all of the factors about a webpage, such as title tags, internal linking, HTML coding, keywords, URLs, meta tags, and text content.
On-Page SEO's importance plays a crucial role in how search engines rank your page. Google's algorithm uses On-Page SEO factors to get a better idea of what your web page is about, and who would be interested in it. It looks for keywords on the page, determines whether the content is new or not, whether there are external links or not, and based on these and more factors it determines your SERP rankings.
On-Page SEO is mostly about search engines understanding the topic of your web content or page. For them to do that, you must include certain elements that make it easier for them to get a grasp on its subject. Some of them are:
Having the right keywords on a page is crucial for On-Page SEO. They allow search engines to know what your page is about and how relevant it is compared to other web pages or content within the same topic. Doing keyword research should be one of your very first steps, as it gives you an idea of what topics your web page is about and which ones your potential readers would most likely use.
A title tag identifies a webpage by defining its topic and giving a brief summary of it. It's one of the main ways for search engines to understand what a web page is about. It's also one of the first things that users see in SERPs, so it has to be enticing to make them click on it. An optimized title tag usually contains the main target keyword to help with on-site ranking factors.
On-Page SEO is easier when you have well-structured internal links within a page. Internal links are used to connect one page of your website or web content to another. Doing this allows search engines to see the structure of your page, follow the different topics it covers, and understand its relevance compared to other web pages. It strengthens the connection between different parts of your web content or blog post while giving search engines an idea of what your content is about.
URLs are a big On-Page SEO factor as they improve the structure of your page and allow search engines to easily understand its relevance. It's important that your URLs contain keywords that describe the content, but also have a readable format. The more readable your URLs are, the better. In this way, search engines can easily understand the content of your web page.
Since the early days of SEO, meta descriptions have played a big part in optimizing web pages. The meta tags on a web page describe the basic information such as its headings, keywords, description, author, date of the last update, and more. They are used to give search engines an idea of what your web page is about. On-Page SEO factors make use of meta description to determine how well it fits the targeted topic, the relevancy of its content, and how users would find it through SERPs based on keywords.
Header tags also play a big role in On-Page SEO, as they support the structure of a web page. It is important to use header tags wisely to make sure it gives a clear path to search engines and users about the contents of your web page, such as its relevance and the different topics it covers. The most commonly used header tags are H1, H2, and H3 tags. This structure is used to separate the main headings from the sub-headings so that search engines could easily understand their importance.
Images are an important part of On-Page SEO because they support the content. Optimizing your images is a way to improve On-Page SEO factors and give search engines more information about the web page. It's recommended that you include the same keyword in your image file names, ALT tags, and titles to provide search engines with additional information.