Thousands of sites are competing for top rankings. Is your content visible to your target audience?!
To achieve high rankings on the search engines, you need to work on the On-page SEO of each and every content page on your website. But, first of all, you need to know the meaning of the term.
What is on page SEO?
For the people who are new to the term, On-page optimization is every effective SEO tactic you apply on your web pages to get the peak performance in the search engine rankings or SERPs.
Behind all the updates from Google, there is one sole goal and that is to ensure the satisfaction of the visitors on your site. So, when you keep that thought in mind, it gets much easier to understand the techniques related to SEO your content page.
In this article, you will find basic fundamentals to the top SEO strategies to make your page more visible on search engine results.
1. Hit your main keyword right in the title
The SEO weight of the article depends highly on the title you choose. Having the main keyword inserted in the title increases the chance for your content to appear on the search engine whenever someone searches for the same term.
To further enhance the top ranking chances, you should try to add the keyword at the beginning of the title. Apart from offering better chances of appearing on the first page, it also increases the clicking possibilities by the potential visitors.
2. Target long tail searches with title adjectives
Do you feel the urge to click the link that has adjectives added to the title? Well, that is the habit of most of the information seeker on the internet. It has been observed that certain words grab the attention of the searcher and persuades him or her to click on it.
There is one more theory attached to the long tail searches that most people use terms such as “top” or “best” to find the needed information on Google.
The adjectives such as “Top Most” and “best” can improve the possibilities of ranking for the long tail searches as well. Also, you can use words like “Checklist”, “Guide” and others to bring more value to the title. But, don’t be pressurized about adding these words. It needs to look natural when you use it in your titles, so, shuffle your vocabulary box!
3. Place your keywords wisely in the content
This is how a beginner can start doing page optimization. Placing the keywords in the right places and in the right amount makes it a good content for Google. Plus, you need to have the capacity to keep the whole vocabulary directed towards the main keyword.
Let’s discuss all three points in detail.
Keyword density
It is true that search engines look at the keywords to understand the topic of the content. This is how Google presents the results for a query. But when the content seems like stuffed with the same word, again and again, it shows that you are trying to bluff. So, Google bans these type of contents.
To avoid this, you need to make sure that you have around 1.5% to 2% of keyword density throughout the content. Finding the right balance is important to get desired rankings without getting penalized.
Keyword placement
Keyword placement is another factor that you need to care about. If you are one of those who writes a long introduction revolving around the topic, then, make sure that you hit the main keyword within the first 100 words of the content. Also, restrict yourself from using the main keyword until the end of the content.
So, all in all, you should use the main keyword twice in the article. Once at the start and again at the end of it.
LSI keywords
While the main keyword does its job, you need to ensure that the language of your content seems highly directed towards the main keyword. But you can’t repeat the words to many times.
Then, what to do?!
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) - you can call it synonyms or closely related terms to your main keyword. To find these terms, you need to check the related searches at the bottom of the Google search result page. Plus, include the synonyms closely related to the terms you have in your target keyword.
Combine both the tactics and you can optimize your existing page for better SEO rankings.
You can use the following resources for keyword research and targeting:
- Top 7 Free Spots To Make Keyword Research Effortless
- Complete Guide On Useful Keyword Research For SEO
- How To Find And Target Long Tail Keywords
4. Make URL SEO Friendly
When it comes to the URL settings, you need to pay a little attention in making it as pretty as possible. By “pretty” we mean that it should be short and simple.
Why?!
According to the policy of Google, the first 4 to 5 words are given the maximum weight.
So, when you keep the URL short and simple, it becomes easier for Google to understand them.
Important Note: Make sure you add the main keyword in the URL. If you haven’t done it with your posts, then, do it now. That’s a simple and effective way of increasing rankings for an existing page.
5. Use H1, H2 and H3 tags for the classification of the content
It is obvious that you need to use headings and subheadings to offer a classified structure of your content. But you need to know how to adjust them in the body tags.
While the H1 tag is the headline or the heading, the H2 and H3 tags are used to tag subheadings. Most of the CMSs make H1 tag the heading tag automatically. However, it would be better if you take a look at the tag settings to make sure.
As for the H2 and H3 tags, you should keep it balanced according to the copy you have in the content. If the word count of the body doesn’t satisfy the number of H2 and H3 tags, then, Google algorithm can perceive it as a thin content. So, make sure that you classify the content according to the overall word count.
One tip would be to stay as natural as you can while making the H2 and H3 tags. Don’t try to overdo it.
6. Write meta description to impress Google and Visitors both
When it comes to adding a meta description, many website owners forget that potential readers also look at them. You can’t just stuff it with keywords and synonyms. Neither it impresses Google, nor does it justify the needs of the visitor. So, write the meta description to fulfill both the jobs it supposed to do.
The description can have the main keyword, but only once. Plus, the whole idea of description is to allow the potential visitor to inform about the content you have. So, spend some time and use the right words to describe the page.
7. Engage readers with internal linking
Internal links prove to very helpful in engaging readers for a longer period. Plus, it allows the reader to explore your site more and understand how valuable your content is. But yes, it is extremely important to keep it under control.
Always use the relevant links and keep the count around 3 to 5 links per post.
8. Leverage external links for better response
External linking is one of the most amazing ways to enhance the overall effect of the content.
When Google sees the links of the quality content on your page, it rewards you with better visibility. The quality external links make your page look more helpful and credible in front of Google. So, every content with 1000+ word counts should have around 3 to 4 external links.
Very important: While choosing the external links, you should make sure that only the credible websites get the place on your page. Also, the information in the links should be relevant to your content. Otherwise, this can get you a totally opposite effect as well.
9. Focus on quality as well as quantity
Although it seems like obvious, most of the sites these days are not able to find the right balance in their content. Either the quality gets compromised or the low word count harms the ranking.
You need to find the right balance and ensure that the content on the page has quantity as well quantity.
Creating high-quality content helps in winning the hearts of the readers. This shows to Google that your content is valuable to the people. Hence, your page gets better search performance on search engines.
Similarly, the length or the word count should be enough according to the topic. However, it would be better if you keep the word count above 1000 words. But as said earlier, don’t write to just fill words. Balance it with the quality of your writing.
10. Watch your site speed
Google has cleared that SEO ranking depends widely on the site speed. So, it would be better to keep an eye on the loading speed of the site. It should not take more than 4 seconds for your site to load.
You can try compressing the images or switch to a new host in order to speed up your site. Remember that it is necessary to get better rankings and make the visitor loyal.
So, keep these tips in mind and allow your site to leverage the maximum benefit of On-Page SEO. You will soon start seeing the results in the form of improved rankings.
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