The Internet is a great marketplace, but it is one noisy marketplace. One has to optimize their website so that their voice is heard above the competition’s. One way to improve your site is through on-page SEO which increases your visibility and ensures peak performance. On-page SEO is the art of enhancing individual pages so that they can rank higher, thus earning you more traffic. It encompasses both the HTML code and the content, unlike off-page SEO which focuses on external signals. However, rules governing on-page SEO have changed as Google aims to ensure users get valuable content. Here is how to go about it:
Flawless UX
Have you stumbled across some government websites where you have to scroll through a design catastrophe? You would have likely considered the competition if only you had the option. This is an indicator that UX (user experience) is vital for success. Your users will stick around longer, and you will increase the number of people finding you. Therefore, ensure that the content is visually appealing, the text pleasant to read, and the content easy to scan – thanks to headers and sub-headings.
Internal Links
As any Seattle SEO consultant will inform you, Google uses links to find the relationship between content on your website and its value. Other than helping Google find the relationship between content, they give your audience more reading options and promote older content. Internal links also boost your ranking for particular keywords. By and large, the more engagement to relevant pages, the higher you are likely to rank.
SEO-Friendly URLs
Google has been quite vocal on the importance of the first three to five words in any URL. These sentiments were later supported by backlinko, who found out that websites with fewer characters ranked higher on the search results page. Therefore, ensure your URLs are short and sweet and that they include your keyword.
Optimize Your Title Tags
Other than SEO-friendly URLs, Google is ranking your website based on the title tag and whether it relates to the content on the page. Title tags are what people see on the search results page and the words that appear at the top of each tab on the page. Ensure that the title is shorter than 70 characters as this is the character limit, and use your keyword at the beginning of your title as this is where it carries more weight.
Include Modifiers in the Title
Half of your organic traffic comes from long-tail keywords. These six to eight-word search terms will never appear in any keyword research tool. Optimizing for these long-tail keywords can be a hassle, but adding modifiers, such as “the current year,” “best,” “guide,” and “checklist,” will help you rank for them. The bottom-line is that these modifiers allow you to rank for more long-tail keyword searches resulting in more traffic.
If you are to embark on an on-page SEO strategy, do not expect success overnight. It takes time and consistency, but it is quite fruitful. Also, though you cannot incorporate all the strategies above, make sure that you pick an appropriate mix that will help you rank higher and increase traffic.