Getting your website on the first page of the search engines is very crucial. Three-fourths of the users of search engines, do not click beyond the first page. On-page SEO is one of the most fundamental practices, which can be implemented to boost SERP rankings and increase website traffic. Here are the most important and effective On Page SEO Techniques that you can use to increase website rankings in search engines.
Search Engine Optimisation is an essential element of any online marketing strategy. SEO is undertaken in two stages: On page SEO and Off page SEO. On page SEO refers to the practice of optimising the factors that affect rankings of webpages. These factors include HTML codes, meta tags, keyword placement, etc.
How is on page seo done? On page SEO involves optimizing the technical aspects of the webpages and also content optimization. Parameters of On page SEO include updating content, use of infographics, optimizing title tags, etc.
On page SEO techniques are important because:
- They help search engines understand a website better: On page SEO techniques help the search engine crawlers to measure if the content is relevant to the search query.
- They increase page rankings: On page SEO helps your website rank higher in SERPs. There are many on page optimisation factors like URL, keywords, internal links, etc. that impact the website’s rankings.
- They are fundamental for the success of any SEO strategy: Without on page optimization, the chances of your website showing up in the SERPs are low. Thus, On page SEO is important for enhanced visibility and increased traffic.
Mentioned below are the essential parameters of on page SEO that can improve visibility and boost rankings of a website in SERPs.
Identify key landing pages and optimize them
A landing page is a web page, which is created for a marketing or advertising campaign. It opens when a search engine user clicks on an online advertisement. Google Analytics offers statistics about the major pages on your website, where the website visitors are actually landing.A well optimized landing page can improve sales and lead generation. A well designed landing page usually doesn’t have a lot of navigation. It has useful content and CTAs. The Optimisation of landing pages depends on:
- Keywords: To optimise a landing page, use long-tail-keywords in a natural manner.
- Content: Make sure the content of the landing page is unique, useful and of value.
- Design: The design of a landing page must be professional. Even if the content is good, a bad design will deter visitors from the website.
Page segmentation
Page segmentation is the splitting up of web pages into separate segments. This helps search engine crawlers to focus on the main part of the webpage. It allows the crawlers to distinguish between advertisements, navigation, and other page elements that are not related to the content. Page segmentation is even more important when viewers view the web pages on mobiles. Generally, many parts of web pages are hidden when you view them on mobiles. Thus, highlighting and dividing important parts of the webpage, distinguishes the content relevant to the users.
Use close variants of keywords
In search queries, users don’t necessarily use specific keywords all the time. To make it easier for the search engines to understand what the viewers want, a database of close variants of various keywords is used. This allows the search engines to match content with search queries and return with relevant results. Thus, in addition to using keywords, the content should have synonyms or close variants of the keywords. Using variants adds value and also makes it easier for the users to understand the content.
Optimize the title and meta description
Title tags specify the title of a webpage. While meta descriptions are attributes that provide a summary of the web pages. Optimizing title tag and meta description is an important On page SEO technique.
- Optimizing Title Tags: Here is how you can optimise the title tag
- Keyword: Use primary and if required, secondary keywords in your title tag.
- Length: Try and keep titles between 50 to 60 characters.
- Optimizing Meta description: The following factors play a key role in the optimisation of meta descriptions
- Keyword: The focus keyword should be included in the meta description.
- Length: Meta descriptions are usually 155 characters long.
- Include CTA: A call to action gives the viewer an incentive to visit your website.
- Unique and relevant: The meta description must be unique and relevant to the content.
Make your website mobile friendly
According to a 2016 report, nearly 60% of the search queries on google were done on mobile. A lot of users now search for information about products via mobiles. Thus, it is important to make your website mobile friendly. This can be done by:
- Responsive Web Design: Websites, which are responsively designed use CSS media queries to change the content based on screen width, screen orientation and resolution. Thus, the same content is shown to the users on mobile and desktops, but it automatically adapts to the screen size.
- Page Speed: Because of internet connectivity or hardware issues, high page speed is even more important to make a website mobile friendly. Compress images, use HTML5 instead of Flash, leverage browser caching, etc. to enhance the page speed.
You can check if your website is search engine friendly by using Google’s free Mobile Friendly Testing Tool.
Use infographics
Infographics are a visual representation of information. They present data in an easily understandable form to the viewers. Infographics can be read on smartphones, tablets and other handheld devices. Not only do they present information in a unique and interesting way, but also leave a lasting impact on the viewers.
Infographics are an effective marketing tool, which help in spreading brand awareness. Infographics can be shared easily and are linkable. They can be shared on sites other than your own. This gets you backlinks and more website traffic. To create an effective infographic, keep the message bold, use minimal text and information, add sharing buttons, add alt tags and make unique content.
Regularly update content
Updating old content is necessary for effective SEO. You can repost your best content by tweaking the titles, adding more relevant information and updating old statistical data. Viewers don’t want to see outdated information and thus updating the content is necessary. You can also improve posts that did not get much traffic by updating them. Analyse the keywords that were used, and change them if necessary. Update old data, photos, broken links, optimize the content and then relaunch the post. Updating old content keeps your website fresh and more new visitors keep coming in regularly.
Your website is the key to a successful digital marketing strategy. To maximize the digital marketing efforts, it is important that your website ranks high in SERPs. These on page SEO techniques are effective and can drastically increase the website traffic. When combined with quality content, which gives value to users, these techniques can boost traffic and conversions on your website.
