If you want your website to rank highly on search engine results pages, you will need to ensure your on-page SEO has been configured correctly.
Sometimes referred to as on-site SEO, this tactic is integral to the success of any search engine optimisation strategy.
To put it simply, if it is not configured as well as it could be, your website won’t be seen by as many people as it otherwise might.
Therefore, if you want to achieve improved search engine rankings, optimising individual web pages via on-page SEO is a very good way to start.
This post will present a complete guide on how you can do that and is aimed at those who are unfamiliar with the best SEO techniques and practices to adopt to enhance their online visibility.
Needless to say, if you implement the measures we outline in it to your own website, it should enjoy a significant boost in Bing, Yahoo, and Google’s search results.
What Is On-Page SEO?
On-page SEO is a practice that involves optimising specific elements of a webpage to better help search engines understand what it is about. This includes its content, title tags, meta descriptions, headings, URLs, and internal links.
The ultimate purpose of doing this is to improve a website’s position in search rankings and levels of organic traffic by making it more straightforward for search engines and users to determine how relevant the information contained within it is.
Why Is On-Page SEO Important?
On-page SEO is essential to the success of a website for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it lets you optimise elements within your website that better grab the attention of search engine crawlers. This means they will be able to index your website more easily and quickly to ensure it appears in results listings for queries based on any given keyword.
Aside from this, on-site SEO also signals more clearly to search engines which of them are relevant to a user’s search query.
Ultimately, this capability leads to higher rankings and increased organic traffic to your site because it ensures that more people are presented with information that is relevant to their search query.
On-Page SEO vs. Off-Page SEO
As its name suggests, on-page SEO is different from off-page SEO, so it is worth distinguishing between the two.
Essentially, on-site SEO incorporates any task completed on a web page (or internally) to enhance your SERP listings. On the other hand, off-page SEO focuses on actions performed outside of your website to give your rankings a boost.
Some examples of the latter include generating backlinks from other high-quality sites, social media engagement, public relations, and influencer outreach.
Both are vital for a robust SEO strategy. However, you should recognise that while you can directly control on-page search engine optimisation, you can’t control off-page tactics, which often rely on the actions and integrity of others.
What Makes a Page SEO-Friendly?
If you are new to SEO, you may be wondering what makes a web page SEO-friendly. Well, that’s a great question!
Overall, a page is considered SEO-friendly if on-page elements like its meta tags, descriptions, page headers, and URLs all feature related keywords on the page’s topic.
Additionally, it presupposes that you have created content of high quality that is tailored to a specific target audience, your HTML source code is well structured, and you have a clear site structure with relevant internal linking.
Other aspects include ensuring you have a fast loading speed, that your site is mobile responsive, and all your images are optimised.
These elements combine to make it easier for search engines to understand and rank the page higher in relevant search results.
On-Page SEO Basics
If your website is not ranking on search engine results pages as well as you would like, it’s time to take action!
Here are nine basic on-page SEO techniques you can employ right now to give your online visibility a significant boost over other websites.
If your website is not ranking on search engine results pages as well as you would like, it’s time to take action!
Here are nine basic on-page SEO techniques you can employ right now to give your online visibility a significant boost over other websites.
1. Write High-Quality, Unique, and Helpful Content
You may have heard of the phrase ‘Content is King’, which was coined by Bill Gates in his essay published on the Microsoft website in 1996.
This is more poignant than ever because for search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing, ensuring that people are provided with the most relevant information for their search query is what their SEO algorithms are all about.
Above and beyond anything else, you need to ensure that the content you post on your website is not just of exceptionally high quality but, more crucially, matches the search intent of your readers.
A good way to start is to perform keyword research using a keyword research tool like the one provided by Semrush or Ahrefs to determine target keywords and topics that best resonate with your audience.
For instance, whichever one you choose to use, if you type a term such as ‘DIY home improvements’ into it, you’ll be presented with a long list of related keywords, which you can filter by search volume to find the ones used the most.
You’ll want to bear in mind factors like keyword difficulty (KD %), which give you an idea of how competitive it is to rank on search engines for that term. The higher the KD%, the more difficult it will be, which is why you should target long-tail keywords that are generally less competitive.
Once you have selected the keywords you want to use, make sure you create specific yet detailed pieces of content around them that users will find helpful. Try to stand out from your competitors by offering unique insights.
2. Include Your Target Keyword Strategically
While the article’s content needs to be high-quality, it should also have the keyword naturally featured throughout it.
It is essential to include your keyword(s) in the following places because doing so will better help Google understand what your page is about:
- URL
- Page title
- Main header (H1 tag)
- Subheaders (some, but not all of your H2s, H3s, H4s tags)
- Introductory paragraph
Why is this important?
Well, wouldn’t it be weird to write an article about the Brisbane Lions AFL team without mentioning them by name – or, for that matter, other related terms like the Australian Football League, Gabba, or Lachie Neal?
It is a good idea to add exact-match keywords in these locations, although Google does have the ability to recognise related keywords and synonyms. However, if your target keyword is three or more words, you don’t need to use an exact match for it on every occasion,
In addition to these locations, you’ll want to mention your keywords a few times in the body of your article. There is no hard and fast rule for how many times – keep it natural, and don’t overdo it.
However, try to avoid doing it too many times, as this can be construed as keyword stuffing and can hurt your rankings.
3. Use Header Tags
HTML header tags help break up your content into different sections that are easy to read and outline a logical flow. This, in turn, enables search engines to better comprehend what your page is about.
Header tags appear like this on your page’s code – <h2>This is a header tag</h2>.
Try to include one <h1> tag per page for the main heading and a few <h2> tags for some of the main sections of your pages.
<h3> tags can be used to elaborate on any given section, the same with <h4> and so on.
For instance, a <h2> tag for a travel article might be ‘Best Time To Visit Toowoomba’, which could then include different <h3> tags in the section for summer, spring, winter, and autumn.
The great thing about headings and subheadings is that they also make it easy for users to absorb information from your page.
4. Optimise Title Tags
Often, title tags are the primary factor that persuades people to click on a link in a search result, and this action is heavily influenced by having an attention-grabbing title.
Ideally, title tags should be no more than 70 characters, as Google will truncate them if they are. Here are some other tips to bear in mind.
- Ensure they match the user’s search intent by telling them you’ve got the information they want to read.
- Include the keyword (or at least a close variation that makes grammatical sense).
- Add the year if it is for topics that require regular updating to show you’ve got the most relevant information.
- Try to pique the user’s interest through curiosity, but not misleading clickbait.
- Use words like ‘Ultimate’ or ‘Best’ to create an impression that your article is an authority on the subject.
On your website, you should create a title tag for every page you want search engines to index.
5. Optimise Meta Description Tags
In addition to your title tags, you should also write meta descriptions to attract more clicks on your search engine listings.
While they are not a ranking factor, they can bring more traffic to your website, so it’s worth taking the time to craft something compelling.
Here are some tips on writing good meta descriptions:
- Keep them under 160 characters.
- Include the keyword, as Google sometimes bolds these in its search engine ranking results.
- Match user search intent and tell them what to expect.
- Expand on the title tags and include information they don’t contain.
- Use an active voice that directly addresses the searcher.
If you are struggling for inspiration, do a search on Google for free AI meta description generator tools you can use. They won’t be as good as what will be crafted by our experienced on-page SEO experts, but they’ll help as a starting point.
6. Make Sure Your URL is SEO-Friendly
Page URLs are often overlooked by those unfamiliar with on-page SEO techniques. However, they do perform a key function.
As URLs are displayed as breadcrumbs in search results, they give users an immediate understanding of what to expect from your page and whether it will be useful for them.
We recommend adding your keyword to the end of your URL and avoiding using dates unless the content is about an event in a specific year – for instance, Sydney Games 2000.
You also don’t need to bother with function words such as ‘and’, ‘for’, ‘in’ or ‘to’. Instead, keep them simple and easy to read.
7. Add Internal Links in Relevant Places
Internal links hold a bit of sway when it comes to determining your listing on search engine results pages.
Primarily, they help to navigate readers to other important sources of information on your website, which helps to keep them on your site for longer and increase their chances of their search query being satisfied.
However, they also have notable on-page SEO benefits because they help search engines find all of your pages on your website, how they are related to each other, and pass what is known as link authority between them.
You don’t want to add too many internal links to your website; only ones that will enhance the content and user experience. When creating them, keep the anchor text natural, and make sure they always open them up in a new window.
8. Use External Links to Authoritative Sources
As well as internal links, it is a good idea for your content to have external links to other websites that are viewed as authorities on the subject you are writing about.
According to Google, this is a terrific way to give your readers more value because it can validate the information you relay to them.
For instance, if you reference a statistic taken from a piece of research on the rising average life expectancy in Australia, it would be good to directly link to its webpage to benefit from ‘link juice‘. (We’ve just provided you with an example of an external link done well!).
It’s worth noting that over time, external links will become broken as other people remove or redirect them from their site. Therefore, you should keep on top of these changes by using a Broken Links Checker tool otherwise, as too many broken links could affect your rankings.
9. Optimise Your Images
Images are another on-page SEO tactic often overlooked by those who simply upload them to their web page without optimising them.
A fully optimised image can significantly improve the user experience of your page because if the file size is too large, it can cause the page to take a long time to download.
Additionally, you’ll have less chance of featuring prominently on Google Image pages, which means you’ll potentially miss out on a lot of traffic.
The best way to optimise images is to write descriptive alt text that explains what your image is to search engines and those reliant on screen readers. A good example might be ‘The Storey Bridge in Brisbane at sunset’.
When writing alt texts:
- Keep it to under 125 characters
- Naturally, add the target keyword
- Don’t use phrases like “photo of” or “image of”
Other ways to optimise images include using descriptive file names that give a clue as to what the image is about and compressing their file size to enable them to load more quickly. If you have a lot of photos on your page, consider using a lazy-loading plug-in.
Advanced On-Page SEO Tips
Aside from these nine basic on-page optimisation tips, there are some advanced tactics you can employ to help search engines understand what your page is about and improve your position in search results.
They include:
- Boosting the loading speed of all your pages
- Making your website friendlier for mobile devices
- Using Schema Markup for rich results
- Optimising your page for featured snippets
- Incorporating voice search optimisation
- Regularly updating and refreshing your content.
Our friendly team at Paperstack would be delighted to discuss these strategies with you in more detail as part of the SEO services we offer to our clients.
FAQs
Here are some answers to questions our team at Paperstack is frequently asked about on-page SEO.
How Much Does On-Page SEO Cost?
The cost of performing on-page SEO work varies depending on a few factors. They include how many pages your website has, your starting point, the level of keyword research required, and the length of time you engage our services.
Before we commence any search engine optimisation work, we will provide you with a full quote for you to approve based on your needs.
How do I Optimise a Page on my Website?
Optimising individual web pages involves making both textual and HTML-based changes to them.
Some of the main techniques you can adopt to improve their search engine rankings are to publish content that better aligns with the user’s search intent, craft keyword-rich meta titles, meta descriptions, and page headings, and fix broken links.
Can I do On-page SEO Myself?
Yes, you can do on-page SEO yourself. However, unless you have several years of experience of working within the search engine optimisation industry, you might not be able to perform tasks like optimising title tags and meta descriptions, identifying relevant keywords, or understanding Google analytics as well as our expert team.
Essentially, this means it might take you longer to be successful in ranking highly on search engine results pages for each of your individual web pages.
What other types of SEO are there?
Apart from on-page and off-page SEO, several other aspects fall within the remit of search engine optimisation. They include Local SEO, International SEO, Ecommerce SEO, Technical SEO, and Mobile SEO.
The experienced team at Paperstack can apply strategies for all of these aspects onto relevant pages of your website.
Conclusion: Start Optimising Your Pages Today!
On-page SEO is not an easy or quick fix. However, if it is performed by SEO professionals with extensive knowledge of the best search engine optimisation practices to adopt, the results can be extremely long-lasting.
At Paperstack, we are experts in identifying and rectifying the on-page factors that are negatively influencing your website’s user experience and ranking on search engines.
If you want to develop an on-page SEO strategy to supercharge your site’s performance, contact our friendly team today to kickstart the process.