Our on-page SEO checklist unravels this mystery, providing all the pointers you need to optimise your content for Google and other search engines.
There's lots to discuss, so let's dive in!
Understanding On-Page Optimisation in SEO Strategy
To better understand on-page SEO optimisation, it might be helpful to picture the search engine (i.e., Google) as a librarian and your website as a book.
On-page SEO ensures the librarian successfully finds your book, understands its content, and places it within easy reach of readers—i.e., your target audience.
In other words, on-page SEO optimisation refers to how we help search engines find our web pages, understand their context, and rank them for terms our audience searches for.
Needless to say, there are several benefits to this:
- Improved brand visbility
- Increased website traffic
- A competitive advantage
- Enhanced brand credibility
What sets on-page SEO apart from its off-page counterpart is its focus on elements within your website.
For instance, this includes:
- Content quality
- Keyword usage
- HTML tags
- Internal linking
- Site speed
- Mobile-friendliness
- Ensuring an overall excellent user experience
As our final pointer hints at, on-page SEO is more than just about satisfying search engine algorithms. It's also about creating an engaging narrative that aligns with your user's search intent; you’re crafting a journey that guides users from their initial query to the solution they seek.
Done well, this should lead to longer visit durations, lower bounce rates, and higher engagement. All of these metrics signal to search engines that your website is valuable and relevant.
On the other hand, off-page SEO involves activities outside your site that enhance its authority and reputation—for example, building high-quality backlinks, social media marketing, guest blogging, and online directory submissions.
Unfortunately, we don't have space to discuss off-page SEO in much detail, so for the purposes of this guide, our focus is just on-page SEO.
Keyword Research for On-Page SEO Strategy
Before optimising web pages for on-site SEO, you need to understand the basics of keyword research.
So, what's a keyword?
In short, a keyword in SEO is a word or phrase people type into search engines when looking for information, products, or services.
That's why you need to pepper your website's content with relevant keywords. This helps search engines understand what your site is about and rank it accordingly.
At this point, it's also worth noting the difference between short- and long-tail keywords; both have their place. For example, short keywords can open the gates to broader traffic. In contrast, long-tail keywords can work wonders for engaging niche audiences with specific intents. These longer, more specific phrases often have lower competition and provide a clearer insight into what users want/need, allowing you to craft content directly meeting their needs.
Conducting Keyword Research
Keyword research is integral. It's the only way to get a concrete understanding of the keywords your audience searches for. With this information, you can tailor your SEO strategy to resonate with your audience's search intent.
We could write an entire blog post on how to conduct effective keyword research, so we'll do our best to keep this section brief. However, we can't stress enough the importance of keyword research. It goes hand in hand with executing effective on-page SEO because, without it, your SEO strategy is rooted in guesswork, which won't produce the results you need!
So, with that said, here are a few keyword research tips to get the ball rolling:
- Brainstorm topics: List topics relevant to your website that your audience might be interested in.
- Validate topics: Use keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to validate and find related keywords.
- Evaluate search volume and competition: Using the above tools, see which keywords attract high search volumes without too much competition. Needless to say, these are the best keywords for optimising content.
Strategic Keyword Placement
With a list of keywords ready to optimise your content, it's time to strategically place them throughout your website.
Pro Tip: Pick one target keyword per web page and a few supporting keywords. Once you've done that, follow the advice below:
Insert your target keyword:
- Within the first few lines of your page. This signals to Google the primary focus of your content, making it easier to categorise and rank your page appropriately.
- In your H1 tag (more on this below)
- Throughout the body of your page, in a way that reads naturally. This reinforces the page's theme to search engines without overwhelming the reader.
Ensuring your content flows naturally while remaining SEO-friendly is a delicate dance, so avoiding keyword stuffing is crucial.
As you may have guessed, keyword stuffing occurs when an excessive number of keywords are used in a webpage's content, often resulting in unnatural and repetitive text. This results in a poor user experience and can lead to search engine penalties.
Instead, strive for a keyword density that feels organic so you don't inadvertently compromise your content's clarity and value.
On-Page SEO Factors
This brings us to the nitty-gritty of our on-page SEO checklist—the key elements that can make or break your SEO performance.
Think of these as the gears in a well-oiled machine, each playing a critical role in propelling your web pages to new heights in the search engine rankings.
With that said, let's look at what you need to pay attention to to up your SEO game:
Create Keyword-Rich Title Tags
Similar to newspaper headlines, title tags are among the first things people see on Google's search results. So they're vital in making a good first impression—both to users scanning a myriad of search results and to search engines determining the relevance of your page.
That's why it's important to craft page title tags that are both descriptive and keyword-rich.
An optimised title tag will communicate your page’s content succinctly while including your target keyword in a way that reads naturally.
Pro Tip: Question-based title tags captivate users, drawing them in with the promise of answers. Such titles often enjoy a higher click-through rate - in some cases, by over 14%!
Meta Description Tags
A 'meta description' is just a fancy term for the few lines of text that appear beneath your page's title in search engine results.
Although meta descriptions aren't a direct Google ranking factor, they influence click-through rates (CTR). It stands to reason that engaging and relevant meta descriptions attract attention and encourage users to click the link.
A high click-through rate tells search engines that your page appeals to users searching for a specific query. Often, this indicates that you're offering a good user experience, which Google loves and sometimes rewards with a boost in search engine rankings.
When writing an optimised meta description, it can be no longer than 150 characters (that's all that appears on Google's results page).
To make the most of this short space, it might be helpful to view meta descriptions as short pitches that persuade potential visitors that your page holds the answers they seek (while naturally incorporating your keywords).
URL Structures
A clear, descriptive, and keyword-optimised web page URL showcases the page's topic and relevance to search engines and users alike.
Well-structured URLs also form an integral part of your website's architecture, reflecting the hierarchy and flow of your content, which, again, helps with your website's wider SEO efforts.
Pro Tip: To create a memorable and SEO-optimised URL, always trim unnecessary fluff and incorporate one or two target keywords in a way that reads naturally.
Use Heading Tags
A heading tag is an HTML element defining your web page's headings and subheadings.
Heading tags guide readers through your page's narrative, indicating each section's importance. This provides search engines with some much-needed insight into the organisation and relevance of your content.
That's why incorporating relevant target keywords into your headers while maintaining a natural tone and flow is an art that can significantly elevate your on-page SEO strategy.
Similarly, using heading tags from H1 to H6 should be intentional and strategic. While the H1 tag signals the page's overarching theme, subsequent headers break down the content into more digestible chunks, making the text easier to navigate - especially for readers scanning your text.
Alt Text for Images
Image alt text is a frequently overlooked treasure in the on-page SEO chest.
Image alt text is just a short description added to an image. Screen readers pick up this text to help visually impaired users understand the image.
However, besides boosting your website's accessibility, this descriptive text also conveys the image's context and content to search engines, helping them rank the web page accordingly.
Moreover, optimised alt text can also open the doors to the visual realm of search engines like Google Images, driving additional traffic to your site.
When crafting alt text, the goal is to provide a brief yet descriptive summary of the image. It should reflect the image’s role within the page's context, integrating relevant keywords without falling into the trap of keyword stuffing.
Internal Linking Strategies
Internal links on your website form an unseen web, tying together a multitude of pages. This facilitates user navigation and aids search engines in understanding your content’s value.
When done right, internal links can significantly boost user engagement, keeping visitors on your website longer and lowering bounce rates.
Not only that but by linking to other pages on your site, you're distributing link authority throughout your domain. This can be particularly powerful when linking from high-authority pages like your homepage to other pages that could benefit from a boost in rankings.
Pro Tip: Incorporating relevant, high-authority external links can further enhance your site’s credibility.
On-page SEO: Other Best Practices
Now we've covered the specific on-page elements you need to optimise, let's discuss some best practices to turbocharge your SEO strategy:
Create High-Quality Content
Valuable content is the bedrock of on-page SEO. It speaks directly to the reader by addressing their needs, answering their questions, and guiding them along their customer journey.
However, creating web page content that resonates with your target audience doesn’t happen by chance; it’s a deliberate process that involves aligning your strategy with user search intent.
To achieve this, we recommend conducting keyword research (as mentioned earlier in this guide). Then, take these keywords and produce something of value by adhering to Google's E-A-T criteria. These stand for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, which are the principles Google uses to assess content quality.
In other words, your content should not only inform but also provide examples of experiences and proof that showcase your brand’s depth of knowledge and expertise.
Page Speed
Page speed is more than providing users with a convenient browsing experience; it’s a crucial ranking factor. As such, it can impact where your website appears in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Slow page loads are akin to roadblocks on the information highway. It deters visitors from lingering on your website and tarnishes your brand’s image. Not to mention, Google, ever the user’s advocate, may penalise slow-loading sites by demoting them in search rankings.
So, how do you increase your page load times?
Tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights provide a wealth of actionable recommendations to improve your site’s loading times.
We also recommend doing the following:
- Compressing images on your website pages
- Streamlining your website's code
- Leveraging browser caching
Don't worry if this sounds too technical. Do some research into apps and plugins—there are tons on the market that do the majority of the heavy lifting for you!
Mobile-Friendliness
Nowadays, everyone has a smartphone, so a mobile-friendly website isn’t just a bonus; it’s a necessity. In other words, ensuring your website is mobile-friendly is akin to rolling out the red carpet for most internet users.
Google recognises the dominance of mobile browsing and rewards websites that cater to the mobile experience.
To optimise your website for mobile, use tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test and Lighthouse. These provide insights into your website's mobile performance, making it easier to pinpoint where necessary adjustments need to be made.
Regular Monitoring and Updates
Given the ever-changing digital landscape, maintaining a top position in the SERPs involves regular monitoring and timely adjustments.
Algorithm updates can significantly impact your website’s visibility. So, tracking these changes and understanding how they affect your site allows you to pivot your strategies accordingly.
Pro Tip: Stay ahead of the curve by following authoritative SEO blogs and keeping an eye out for Google's latest announcements.
In addition to monitoring algorithm updates, staying on top of your website's SEO metrics is imperative. A thorough SEO audit is akin to a health check for your website—it's the best way to identify SEO opportunities and weaknesses and take action.
For example, reoptimising old content is often a good starting point; updating brand/product information and optimising pages for higher-ranking, more relevant keywords can breathe new life into your web pages.
Advanced On-Page SEO Techniques
With the SEO landscape growing more competitive, employing advanced on-page SEO techniques can give you the edge you need to stand out.
Schema markup is one such example. You can include this type of code in your website to give search engines a deeper understanding of your page, including reviews, events, products, and more.
Based on this schema markup, you can create rich snippets. Rich snippets are best described as enhanced search results. They directly display additional information, such as reviews, ratings, event details, product information, etc., within Google's search results.
For example, adding schema to a recipe page can show the recipe's cooking time, ingredients, and ratings directly within in search results.
Pro Tip: To ensure your schema markup is correctly implemented, tools like the Structured Data Testing Tool offer a way to validate your code.
Targeting Featured Snippets
Featured snippets are the crown jewels of the SERPs.
They appear above Google's regular listings at the top of the search results page and aim to provide an immediate, direct answer to a user's query. Featured snippets often appear in a box and can include text, lists, tables, or images.
Thanks to their prevalence, earning a place in a featured snippet can dramatically increase your click-through rates.
To target a featured snippet, you need to anticipate the needs of your audience and present information in a straightforward and accessible way. This involves crafting informative, succinct, and well-structured content. Bullet points, numbered lists, and clear, concise answers to common questions are the key ingredients for snippet success.
Are You Ready to Master On-Page SEO?
As we conclude this guide, one thing is clear: on-page SEO is crucial for achieving and maintaining high search engine rankings for your web pages.
By meticulously optimising web page elements with relevant keywords, improving your site's speed, and ensuring mobile-friendliness, you significantly increase the likelihood of boosting your website's SEO.
But remember, SEO optimisation is an ongoing process. Regularly updating your content and monitoring your website analytics allows you to adapt to changing trends and maintain a competitive edge.
That's all from us! Following this on-page SEO checklist will set a solid foundation for your website's organic exposure. However...
If you need a hand elevating your on-page SEO, Conturae is always ready and willing to help! We craft authentic, SEO-optimised content with remarkable speed, outpacing traditional freelance services. We achieve this by striking the perfect balance between AI-fuelled efficiency and the talent of professional human writers and SEO experts, ensuring you receive high-quality content in a fraction of the time.
With a team boasting unparalleled expertise, Conturae is your go-to partner for enhancing content quality, boosting search engine rankings, and achieving your SEO goals. Don't wait—contact Conturae today and let us transform your SEO strategy!
