Hi everyone this is Digital Abhi and today I am going to discuss what is On-Page SEO. And the 13 factors that affect On-Page Optimization.
Also, if you are a video person, you can click here to watch the video. Or if you are quite busy, you can just listen to this content in podcast form.
What is On-Page SEO?
Now coming back to the question, what is On-Page SEO? It is a practice where we optimize the webpages of our website in order to rank higher in search engines. In this, we optimize both the content and code of the page.
For example, optimizing the meta title, meta description, headings, URL, and content on the page are some examples of On-Page optimization.
All of these factors are in your control and you can take actions to optimize them. And since, all of this is done on the website or on the webpage, that’s why it is called On-Page SEO or On-site SEO.
Importance of On-Page SEO
But what is the need for On-Page optimization? Why is it important? The thing is that search engines want to provide the best experience to their users. And in order to fulfill that need, they need to understand the content of the pages which they are showing in the search results.
And On-Page SEO helps search engines to understand the relevancy of the content of your page. So, a better-optimized page means a better chance to resolve the user’s search query. It also means that if a user visits your page, he or she is going to have a good user experience.
13 Factors that affect On-Page Optimization
Now let’s see the different factors that affect On-Page SEO. And if you are a WordPress user, you can use the Yoast SEO plugin to keep an eye on these factors. This plugin specifically tells you all the factors you need to consider in order to optimize your webpage.
1. Keywords
So, the first factor is the focus keyword. It tells the search engines what your content is about. This keyword helps you to target specific search queries. Make sure you sprinkle your focus keyword in your content. Your goal should be to keep the keyword density within 1.5% or 2%.
You can also use synonyms and different variations of your main keyword. Think of Google as a big dictionary. It will understand if you use synonyms and different variations. For example, the phrases ‘why SEO is important’ and ‘importance of SEO’ are one and the same thing.
One important thing here is that you need to avoid keyword stuffing. It is basically a black hat technique where you unnecessarily put your keyword here and there in order to cheat the search engine’s algorithm.
2. Title Tag
The next factor is the title tag. It is simply the title of your page that appears in the search results. You need to put your keyword in the title tag also. This will help the search engines understand what your content is about.
For the best practice, keep the length of your title around 50 characters. Another improvement that you can do here is putting the keyword at the beginning of your title.
You can see the Title Tag in the red highlighted area in the image below.
3. Meta Description
After that comes the meta description. It is a small description that appears below the page title on the search engine results page. In the meta description, you put a small summary that describes the content of your page.
The best practice is to keep the meta description between 120 to 160 characters. You should put your focus keyword in the meta description also.
Here’s one tip to keep in mind while writing a title and meta description for your page. Keep them eye-catchy so that you get more and more clicks. This in turn helps you in getting higher rankings in search results.
You can see the Meta Description in the green highlighted area in the image below.
4. URL of the Page
The third factor is the URL of your page. Again put your target keyword in the URL of your page. And try to keep the URL as short as possible.
Also, make sure that the URL is clean and simple. And it doesn’t contain special characters and stuff as it affects your site structure. A simple URL is better for the SEO of your website than a complex one.
The next factor is one of the most important. It is…
5. Content and On-Page SEO
It doesn’t matter if you do all the things right and apply the best practices. But if your content is not good, if it doesn’t meet the requirements of the user, then you’re not going to rank.
So, the content you want to put in should be created by keeping in mind the requirement of the user. The content should be easily readable.
Again, the Yoast SEO plugin can help you with that also. And not to please the search engine algorithm. Also, don’t put up duplicate content on your website. Why? Because if you put similar content on multiple pages of your website, it will only confuse the search engine. And we obviously don’t want that.
6. Heading Tags
After that, the next factor of On-Page SEO is the Heading tags. They vary from H1 to H6. The H1 tag signifies the highest level of heading. It contains the main heading of the page. H2 contains the sub-headings. And if you want to classify the content of your page furthermore, you can use H3, H4, and so on.
These heading tags help us in giving a proper structure to our website. So, we need to put our focus keyword in the H1 tag also. And if you need you can sometimes put the keyword in the lower level heading tags also.
7. Page Speed
The next one is Page Speed. It means how fast your page loads when someone opens it. We know that On-Page SEO is all about proving a great experience to the users. And a fast loading page means a better user experience.
You can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, Gtmetrix, and Ubersuggest to check the page speed. Ideally, it should be under 3 seconds.
There are a lot of techniques like caching and minifying JS and CSS which you can implement in order to optimize your page for higher speed. We will discuss all that in a blog post.
Want to use this infographic on your website? Just copy-paste the code given below:
<p align="center"><a href='https://digitalabhi.com/what-is-seo/'><img src='http://digitalabhi.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/On-Page-SEO-Infographic.png' alt='On Page SEO Infographic' width='540' border='0' /></a><br/><strong>Factors Affecting On Page SEO<br/>Image Source: digitalabhi.com</strong></p>8. Optimized Images for a better On-Page SEO
The next factor is Images. We know that Images boost the user experience. But on the other hand, they also slow down the page. So, we need to make sure that the images we use are properly optimized. And how can we do that?
We can use tools like tinypng which significantly decreases the size of an image without affecting its quality. If you are a WordPress user, you can also use plugins like Smush.
9. Alt tag
Along with that, we can also use alt tags for the images we use on our website. In the alt tag, you can put the description of the image in 3-4 words. It helps the search engines to understand what the particular image is about.
Coming to the next point which is…
10. Internal links
When you link one page of your website with another page of your website, then it is called Internal Linking. It helps you to drive traffic to other pages of your website as well.
11. External Links
When you link a page of your website with a page of some other website, then it is called External Linking. They help search engines to understand the context of the content.
Both internal and external links play an important role in On-Page SEO. Also, make sure that the page you are linking to is relevant to the content of the page.
12. Anchor Text
Another thing related to linking which affects On-Page SEO is anchor text. It is a word or phrase on which when you click, you are redirected to some other page. It can be the page of the same website or a page of some other website.
For example, I type a statement ‘Let us connect on Linkedin’. Then I can link the word LinkedIn with my LinkedIn profile. And in this statement, the word LinkedIn will be the anchor text. This anchor text describes the page you are linking to.
13. Responsive Website for a better On-Page SEO
Last and again one of the most important factors of On-Page optimization is Responsiveness. Or having a Mobile-friendly website. You need to make sure that your website is Responsive. It should adjust itself when the screen size changes.
Having a mobile-friendly website plays a very important role in the user experience. Why? Because more than 60% of the searches are done through mobile devices. You can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool to check if your website is responsive or not.
And if you want an insanely amazing mobile-friendly website for your business, then you can contact me or shoot me an email at contact@digitalabhi.com.
Conclusion & FAQ(On-Page SEO and its Factors)
I have tried to conclude this whole article in form of an QnA snippet. I hope it helps.
What is On-Page SEO?
It is a practice where we optimize the webpages of our website in order to rank higher in search engines. In this, we optimize both the content and code of the page. For example, optimizing the meta title, meta description, headings, URL, and content on the page.
Why On-Page SEO is important?
Search engines want to provide the best experience to their users. And in order to fulfill that need, they need to understand the content of the pages which they are showing in the search results. And On-Page SEO helps search engines to understand the relevancy of the content of your page.
What are the factors that affect On-Page SEO?
Here are the 13 techniques which you can implement for a better On-Page optimization:
1. Keywords
2. Title Tag
3. Meta Description
4. URL of the Page
5. Heading Tags
6. Content of the Page
7. Optimized Images
8. Alt Tags
9. Internal Links
10. External Links
11. Anchor Text
12. Mobile Responsiveness
13. Page Speed
So, that was all about On-Page SEO and the 13 factors affecting it. Thanks a lot for taking out time to read this post. I hope this episode added some value to your life. If it did, do hit the like button. Or if you have doubts, comments, or queries, you can let me know in the comments.
Other than that, you can also connect with me on social media. You can share your doubts directly there. I will be happy to help you. Also, stay tuned. Why? Because I am consistently putting valuable content for you. Stay happy, stay blessed.
Let’s Connect Socially:
