Best Practices for On-Page Optimization

Let's cover the basic principles of On-Page optimization.

We'll cover what On-Page optimization is, the key SEO elements of a page and best practices for optimizing each On-Page optimization. Also called OnPage SEO is the process of optimizing webpage to improve their search ranking and in turn, drive relevant organic traffic to your website. Its goal is to enable search engines to recognize, understand, and rank your content accordingly. Ultimately, bringing the right people to your site.

When approaching content optimization, you can ask yourself questions like, how's the content currently performing? Are customers searching for the terms you're targeting? Do you have pieces of similar content that you should consider consolidating? And how are your top performing competitors targeting these terms?

There are a lot of components to a page that you can update to potentially improve its performance. Let's walk through some key SEO elements to look for and best practices for optimizing each first.

A well-structured URL helps search engines understand the content and hierarchy of the page, improving indexing and relevance for keywords. Remember to keep it simple and straightforward. Include your primary keyword as close to the root of URL as possible. Avoid parameter strings, capital letters, underscores or spaces, and use dashes instead. Avoid using stop words like of a and the et cetera, and keep it shorter than 2083 characters.

Next, the title tag is a critical ranking factor that provides a concise summary of the pages content directly impacting click-through rates and search engine rankings. Title tags should be unique to each page. 50 to 60 characters long. Include the primary and potentially some secondary keywords. Read naturally and include branding at the end.

A compelling meta description encourages users to click on the link and search results by providing a brief and relevant summary of the page's content influencing click-through rates. These should be unique to each page, 150 to 160 characters long, compelling and relevant to the page, and entice a user to click through.

Heading tags Organized content hierarchically, making it easier for search engines and users to understand the main topics and subtopics of the page. The H1 tag should map to the title tag, include the most important keywords and service, the title of the piece, and there should only be one of these per page for H2 to H6 tags. However, they can be used as the chapters of your content. There can be multiple of each type, and they should include secondary and tertiary keywords.

Optimize images with descriptive alt text, enhance user experience, provide additional keyword relevance and improve accessibility, which can positively impact search rankings. You'll want to include keywords in the alt text of the image. Ensure that alt text accurately describes the content of the image and make alt text short and descriptive. Keep in mind that alt text is important for ADA compliance.

Lastly, internal links help search engines discover new content, understand the site structure and distribute link equity, thereby improving the SEO performance of the linked pages. Remember that links are how your content gets found. You should use descriptive anchor text link deeply when possibly throughout the site, use links that feel natural to the reader, use relevant and follow links and try to a use between three to four links per thousand words of content.

On-Page SEO is crucial because it helps you ensure your audience can find your content when they need it most. By implementing a consistent optimization strategy for your content, you can maximize your visibility and drive more traffic to your website.