On Page SEO plays a vital role in improving your ranking. In this chapter, we’ve combined a host of essential on-page SEO techniques that help you optimize your site for search engines and users.
On-page SEO is optimizing content (What you can see) and HTML codes, the technical stuff (What crawlers only can see), of a web page to boost search rankings and enhance user engagement.
In this chapter, we’ll walk you through the important on-page optimization practices that not only help you optimize your site for search engines but for humans too!
Http Vs Https
Search engines are striving hard to provide relevant information to users’ queries. Simultaneously, it wants to ensure secure access to the sites.
Google, in the year 2014, announced that sites with HTTPS get a little boost in their ranking. It marks sites without HTTPS as “not secure”.
As a result, sites with HTTPS are gaining users’ trust and higher CTR than sites without HTTPS.
Indexation
Another primary factor you should consider is page indexation. Simple site structure makes the crawling and indexing process easier.
Use Google’s Search Console to find out whether your web pages are indexed. Plus, it gives insights on your website performances and suggestions to improve your sites’ visibility.
If your website is complex, then create a sitemap for your site. It’s an XML file that lists all your web pages, which makes the crawling process easier for bots.
Keyword Research
SEO is not about search engines. All of our efforts are driving towards gratifying users by giving them the information in the simplest form. To carry out, you need to understand what your audience is looking for than what you assume.
Keyword research helps you find out your audience’s exact problem/interest and the exact words they use to describe it. Focus on these targeted keywords and create content relevant to these topics. Speaking their language will likely increase user interactions.
SEO & User-friendly URLs
Search engines use your page URLs to find out the context of your page. That means, optimizing your URLs with targeted keywords can lift your ranking and CTR.
Create short, unique and keyword-rich URLs. It’s best to use hyphens between words while creating URLs.
Title Tags & Meta Descriptions
Title tags and meta descriptions have little impact on rankings, but it helps users and search engines to understand the page relevancy to the query. Use focus keywords, but don’t overdo.
Both also act as a Call-to-action. Creating persuading title and description content will draw readers’ attention and increase CTR.
Note: Keep your title tag and meta description under 60 and 160 characters, respectively.
Content
Create content that is keyword-rich, informative and descriptive. Structure it in a way that helps readers to find the information easily. It is best practice to include social sharing buttons on your website to get your content shared and attract a massive audience.
Image Optimization
Images and visuals are a great way to engage with your readers and increase session time. Invest time in creating appealing images, infographics, and videos that encourage readers to share.
Optimize your image sizes and quality with proper file names. Additionally, use transcripts for images and keywords in the alt tag and other key attributes. It helps search crawlers to understand the image.
Outbound and Internal Link
Outbound and internal links are crucial aspects of SEO.
External links are links between sites.
Internal links are links within your site.
If you find some useful information related to your content and think that your readers benefit from it, then provide an external link to that site.
Similarly, building internal links helps you spread link juice, improves session time, and makes indexing easier.
Website Speed
In a fast-paced world, humans are less tolerant than ever. Websites that load slowly might affect your users’ experience, which tends them to hit the exit button. Google will analyze these user signals while ranking a page.
Compress your image files. Invest in the right web hosting provider and enable server cache. These factors can help you increase your page speed.
Mobile Optimization
Google prefers mobile-first indexing. Simultaneously, mobile searches are on the rise. If users don’t find your site responsive, it leads to bad user experiences and bounce rates.