Simply put, On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing every single web page of a website in order for it to rank better in a search engine. Optimization means taking into account every single aspect of the page which when put together become a single coherent and relevant piece of content.
The good news is that in on-page SEO you are the master of the sea. Meaning, the media is yours and you can link to wherever you feel necessary, and thus, ‘vote’ for your own content. Although it is less important than links that are coming from relevant and authoritative websites, the links that you are giving to yourself are also important.
But there is more to On-page SEO than interlinking. You should carefully choose the keywords that you’re striving to optimize your content to. Meaning, devoting a piece of content to a very specific topic that search engine users are searching for.
Elements of On Page SEO
1. Neat URLs - As your URLs are indicators for the search engines what the page is actually about, they have to be keyword rich.
2. Title Tags - The title tag is essentially your page’s face in front of search engines. Title tags are the
most important on-page SEO element. That’s why they have to be representative and well-thought.
3. H1 Tag - The H1 tag defines a certain test as a title. While it can be the same as your meta title, it’s important that you still put it into <h1> tag, as that will build your content’s continuity and point out the topic of the page to the search engines.
4. Keyword Priority - All of your SEO efforts should be revolving around your focus keyword. A focus keyword is a word or phrase for which you want your page to rank on a search engine.
5. LSI Keywords - LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) is a search engine method used to determine the relationship between concepts within a piece of content. It includes synonyms and semantic families which represent the focus keyword.
6. Engaging Media - Including engaging images, videos, and graphics to your pages has an implicit effect on your SEO performance. If you’re able to catch people’s attention right after they’ve entered your website, the bounce rate will be reduced, which is a key indicator for search engines that you’ve created something valuable.
7. Media Optimization - The media, just like the test, plays a crucial role in your on-page SEO. That’s why optimizing images and other types of media is just another part of the process.
8. Outbound links and Internal links - Outbound are all of the links on your page that refer to an external source. A study conducted by Reboot a year ago shows that search engines take your outbound links into consideration. It is thought that the links you use on your pages are directly related to your relevancy, authority, and utility.
Internal links establish your site’s architecture and spread the so-called "link Juice". This means that search engines need to have an access to a crawlable link structure on your page and the best way to provide them that is including internal links within your pages. That also helps to increase the time spent on site which as we said is a great sign to engines.
9. Full and Lengthy Content - Now, I guess it’s obvious to you just as it is to me, that when you post a certain content, you’re trying to solve someone’s problem. People prefer spending time on pages that have a full, detailed and high-quality content as opposed to the ones providing short answers. The same goes for search engines. A case study by Backlinko proves the point by finding out that "the average Google first page result contains 1890 words". So, when it comes to your SEO, always remember that length is a strength.
10. Responsive Design - It’s 2018 and it shouldn’t be surprising that responsive design is a ranking factor. Google has stated multiple times that the responsiveness is its recommended design pattern. Once you take a look at the top results for any search, it becomes perfectly clear that it also affects your SEO performance. Even though here we’re talking about mobile devices, this is still a key element of your onpage SEO.
11. Loading Speed - The faster your website loads, the lower the bounce rate will be. And, as it was mentioned already, the percentage of people that enter your website and decide to immediately leave, will influence your rankings. A lot. Do your best for your website to load in no more than 2 seconds.
6. Engaging Media - Including engaging images, videos, and graphics to your pages has an implicit effect on your SEO performance. If you’re able to catch people’s attention right after they’ve entered your website, the bounce rate will be reduced, which is a key indicator for search engines that you’ve created something valuable.
7. Media Optimization - The media, just like the test, plays a crucial role in your on-page SEO. That’s why optimizing images and other types of media is just another part of the process.
8. Outbound links and Internal links - Outbound are all of the links on your page that refer to an external source. A study conducted by Reboot a year ago shows that search engines take your outbound links into consideration. It is thought that the links you use on your pages are directly related to your relevancy, authority, and utility.
Internal links establish your site’s architecture and spread the so-called "link Juice". This means that search engines need to have an access to a crawlable link structure on your page and the best way to provide them that is including internal links within your pages. That also helps to increase the time spent on site which as we said is a great sign to engines.
9. Full and Lengthy Content - Now, I guess it’s obvious to you just as it is to me, that when you post a certain content, you’re trying to solve someone’s problem. People prefer spending time on pages that have a full, detailed and high-quality content as opposed to the ones providing short answers. The same goes for search engines. A case study by Backlinko proves the point by finding out that "the average Google first page result contains 1890 words". So, when it comes to your SEO, always remember that length is a strength.
10. Responsive Design - It’s 2018 and it shouldn’t be surprising that responsive design is a ranking factor. Google has stated multiple times that the responsiveness is its recommended design pattern. Once you take a look at the top results for any search, it becomes perfectly clear that it also affects your SEO performance. Even though here we’re talking about mobile devices, this is still a key element of your onpage SEO.
11. Loading Speed - The faster your website loads, the lower the bounce rate will be. And, as it was mentioned already, the percentage of people that enter your website and decide to immediately leave, will influence your rankings. A lot. Do your best for your website to load in no more than 2 seconds.
