Have you ever questioned why certain pages from specific websites consistently rank high on Google?
They understand the importance of implementing off-page and on-page SEO techniques.
These SEO experts acknowledge that creating appealing content is not all there is. The ability to match Google requirements and searcher’s query using specific on-page SEO techniques explodes the traffic of any website and increases its rank.
As a beginner, navigating the world of SEO (on-page and off-page) can be overwhelming, just like when I started in 2019. I’ve learned from industry experts, tried many things, and kept updated on SEO changes and updates.
In this blog post, I’ll walk you through a practical but simplified on-page SEO guide, organized into chapters, explaining the fundamentals and creating a build-up to the more technical aspects of on-page SEO.
What Is On-page SEO?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is perfecting your website and its content to improve its visibility and traffic through various activities such as keyword research, linking building, auditing, etc.
SEO includes steps taken to make your website appealing to users and search engines, such as Google.
When search engine crawlers navigate your website, they audit it to determine if it matches user intent and accessibility.
If your website appears perfect, they relay this information back to the server, and you stand a chance of increasing your rank on the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Therefore, it concerns all the activities to improve your website traffic and ranks.
There are three types of SEO. They are:
- On-page SEO
- Off-page SEO
- Technical SEO
On-page SEO, or on-site SEO, refers to any activity you carry out on your webpage to help increase its rank and traffic.
Let us relate this to a typical life scenario for a better understanding.
Congratulations! You just purchased an apartment, but you noticed the decorations don’t suit your taste, and you need to make it appealing to those who might visit.
You will carry out certain activities, such as painting, curtain fixing, positioning of furniture, and so much more, to make your home beautiful and appealing to visitors, known as interior decoration.
With this analogy, I won’t be wrong in saying on-site SEO is the interior decoration of webpages. It is the activities performed to make your webpage more appealing to search bots and users, which in turn helps boost your rank.
Difference Between On-page SEO and Off-page SEO
Both SEO strategies focus on achieving the same objective, but their work is slightly different.
Their focus:
On-page SEO focuses on researching and optimizing your content to rank for organic searches, focusing more on the web pages than the website.
Off-page SEO focuses on increasing the power of your website; it also focuses on how Google and viewers accept your content. This strategy is often not within your control; it is concerned with how powerful and famous your site is, and this is achieved by earning backlinks when appealing content is made.
It determines how high you will rank on search results.
Their factors:
On-page SEO factors include:
- Title tags
- Meta description
- Header tags
- Alt text Image
- Page experience
- URL structures
- Internal linking
- Page load speed
- Quality of content
- Mobile-friendliness
Off-page SEO factors include:
- Number of backlinks
- Quality of backlinks
- Link relevancy
- Social shares
- Reviews
- Brand mentions
Why Is On-page SEO Important?
The center of attention of on-page SEO is helping search engines (Google) and users to understand and relate to the content on your website better.
Therefore, it is crucial because it helps create a better understanding of your webpage. For example, the meta description and title tags—these tags are displayed on the browsers; it is the first text the user comes in contact with. When written well, it gives the users an idea of what your content is all about.
Here are some benefits of on-page SEO for your website:
1. Reduces clickbait
No one will want to visit a shop that doesn’t provide what they need. To make your customers stay, you will have to provide solutions to their problems.
When certain factors, such as expertise and relevant content, are met, click baits will be reduced because you offer appropriate answers to your audience’s needs.
2. Increases searcher’s time spent on your content
This importance is interrelated to the reduction of clickbait.
Users who see what they are looking for tend to stay and spend more time digesting your created content.
3. Increases relevance
It helps improve the quality of your webpage by satisfying users and gaining users’ loyalty by providing a positive page experience.
4. Assists search engines in determining what your page is about
On-page SEO is not only concerned with improving user understanding but also with search engines. Factors such as HTML codes tell Google what your page is about. Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) enable Google to weigh the value of your content to prevent the spread of false information.
How to Perform On-page SEO
1. Optimization of E-E-A-T
What is E-E-A-T?
Google’s E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It was coined to evaluate the quality of content displayed on websites.
The E-E-A-T concept is not a ranking factor but a vital quality evaluator factor.
In recent times, there has been an increase in the demand for validated information. Google uses this principle to probe every content upload to determine if they are from reliable sources.
Hence, website developers are expected to display relevant and reliable information that can be vouched for.
Experience
Google is keen on matching users’ intent precisely and expects each website to display a level of experience in content creation irrespective of their niche.
To create effective content, Google expects you to have exposure to events that improve your knowledge of that particular niche.
This factor is related to the expertise factor.
Expertise
Continuous exposure to activities specific to a particular niche improves your knowledge, and through experience, you are informed about different problems and topics surrounding your niche.
Over time you become an expert in your field, having a high skill level and knowledge to solve those problems effectively.
For example, a brand known for SEO content creation will rank lower when they create health-related content because Google identifies that brand under the SEO expert niche and can’t trust their content to be one of value in comparison to various medical websites.
Authoritativeness
The authoritative factor concerns your website’s fame, influence, and power.
Your website should be famous for constantly providing truthful content that various websites in your niche attest to and link back to.
This factor helps in boosting backlinks which automatically increases ranks.
Trustworthiness
Earning users’ trust can be difficult but possible; it is easier to gain the trust of someone physically, but in this field, there isn’t a familiar relationship between you and your viewers aside from the content you create to match their specific intent.
This is why Google emphasizes creating truthful content; it beckons users’ trust and keeps them loyal to you.
How to optimize for E-E-A-T
Showcase your authors in your bio to establish expertise.
It is no hidden secret that many individuals patronize brands with names. Adding your author’s name to a blog post ensures users trust you.
Create a bio page stating your qualifications in the niche of your choice by writing about the duration of your service or your accomplishments and area of study in your bio.
A bio helps Google to be aware of your content creator and their expertise.
The factors below are essential for an impressive bio:
- Name
- A picture
- Credentials
- Position
- Contact email or number
Work with trusted sources.
In carrying out your research, every data collected must be from a reputable source with high authorities. Avoid backlinking to websites that are known for spreading false information. Google can pick on tabs of such linking, which can respectfully hurt your website’s reputation.
Design beneficiary content.
The backbone of major ranking factors—every optimization strategy is null and void if the content is useless to users. Create a post that captures the users’ interest and provides a solution to their needs.
2. Title tags
a. What are title tags?
Title tags, or website page titles, are valuable factors you should consider; they are a HyperText Markup Language that describes the title of a webpage.
It is not visible on the website page but on the browser tabs and Google’s search result page.
b. Why are title tags important?
i. They promote understanding.
All optimization processes aim to achieve search engines’ and users’ understanding.
It is of vitality that your page and its content should be easy to grab fully and not in bits.
Title tags aid in achieving this by capturing the words that best describe your content briefly with your focus keyword inclusive.
ii. They influence users’ clicks.
Because title tags are visible on the browser tab, they will likely be the first thing users see about your content.
They play a massive role in determining how users perceive your page.
For example, when a title meets the exact query by capturing the relevant keywords and other related factors, the user is of the impression that your content is the perfect match to that specific query and will waste no time clicking.
iii. They improve page rank.
Click-through rates influence SERP ranking.
Suppose eight results match a specific intent, and Google notices many users clicking on the fifth result and staying for a long time. This automatically tells Google that the page with more traffic matches the user intent better than the rest, and in a couple of minutes, that page ranks higher above the rest.
c. Tips to write a perfect title tag
i. Match search intent by including a question form.
Title tags in question form often get a higher click-through rate. For example, “What are SEO black hats?” This title notifies the user that your page provides the answer they seek.
ii. Write in sentence case or title case.
Your titles should be written in a sentence case or a title case.
In a sentence case, only the first letter of the title is in the upper case, while the title case has the first letter of each word capitalized, except for the articles.
Example of a title in a sentence case: “Where are the search engines?”
Example of a title in a title case: “What Are Search Engines?”
iii. Keep the title between 40-50 characters.
It is ideal to keep the title within 40-50 characters. A shorter title may not provide room to add the relevant keyword, and a more extended title of 70-80 characters may not capture the user’s interest. Hence, it is advisable to keep the title at a moderate length.
iv. Include numbers or years.
People are attracted to unique title tags. Talking about uniqueness, adding a year or number to a title creates curiosity in the users to discover what your page offers.
For example, this title, “11 Unique SEO Trends in the Year 2023,” tells users that my content is about recent SEO trends, and I have unveiled 11 new practices to boost their SEO strategies.
Educational titles also have a higher chance of getting clicks.
v. Include keywords.
Top-ranking pages, when analyzed, often rank for some keywords. You must include the relevant keywords that match the specific intent in your title.
vi. Make use of power words.
Power words are words that increase the strength of your title. These words are capable of captivating the interest of internet users, and they can trigger emotional responses.
Examples of power words are ultimate, monetize, effortless, etc.
The more powerful words you use that converge emotional response, the more clicks you get.
vii. Make sure they align with your content to prevent clickbait.
This tip is crucial; the amount of time a user spends on your page is analyzed by Google, which tells search engines that your content was beneficiary to the user.
It is useless to optimize your title tags when your content is different from the title. Google sees this as deceptive; every title tag should reflect your content.
3. Meta descriptions
a. What are meta descriptions?
Meta descriptions are the sentences below the titles; they help to describe what your page is about.
Meta descriptions can influence your websites. Search engines often display these descriptions as a summary of your page. A well-detailed meta description can impact your click-through rates and increase website traffic.
Most times, web developers fail to add a meta description, and search engines automatically pick a sentence from their content and use it as a meta description. I highly advise against this, as the text search engines might choose may not be an accurate summary of your content.
b. Examples of meta descriptions
c. Features of a good meta description
i. Don’t make it too short.
In 2017, Google displayed a total of 275 characters on SERP. This implies that a meta description should not be short.
Neil Patel said, “Meta description between 119-135 characters can get a 3.4% increase in click-through rate.
A short description does not give room for a well-detailed explanation of your page’s content, and users might not know what to expect from such a page. I definitely will not click on a page that does not give me an insight into its content; it can be risky.
ii. Make it appealing.
Your meta description should communicate the benefits of your content. Make it compelling by initiating emotional response through the insertion of content values.
iii. Include keywords.
Keywords are a critical factor, and they cannot be overrated. Including the appropriate keywords in your meta description is vital. Emphasis should be made on keyword stuffing; avoid using numerous keywords that are not relevant to your description.
iv. Match search intent.
This factor is essential; your meta description should align with the user query.
v. Avoid using the same meta descriptions for different pages.
For each page, provide a different meta description; this will help tell search engines the uniqueness of each page and its content.
When you use the same descriptions, search engines assume your content pages provide solutions to the same query.
4. Header tags
a. What are header tags?
Header tags are also referred to as heading tags. These tags arrange content based on priority or importance and differentiate the various subheadings in content.
The header tags concept establishes informational ranks in your content creation, and HyperText Markup Language accepts up to six header tags in page structuring.
Here is a specification of header tags and their uses.
- H1 Tag
The H1 tag is the title tag; it captures the context of your content and is used to attract users’ attention. This tag describes the page’s primary purpose and is usually infused with the focus keyword.
- H2 Tag
The H2 tags are subheadings used to break the content into subsets of various sections. It is ideal for inserting your focus and secondary keywords in this header.
- H3 Tag
The H3 tags are a division of the H2 tags; they can be used to explain the H2 concept. The H3 tag describes in detail the concept of header tags.
- H4 Tag
The H4 tags are also subsets of H3 tags used to explain the listed points in an H3 tag. Most often, these tags are arranged in bullet points.
- H5 Tag
They are used to broaden the points made in header 4.
- H6 Tag
They are also used to explain some micro points in header 5.
b. Importance of headers tags
- It helps search engines understand your content.
- Adding appropriate headers to your content makes it easier for readers to interact with your created content. It makes the journey smooth and easy, readers will easily digest your content, and the time spent on your page by your visitors increases.
- Additionally, header tags influence the time spent on your page, decreasing the bounce rate.
Users who find your webpage appealing and easy to understand will stay and absorb your content in a stretch.
c. Optimizing your header tags
To optimize your header tags to increase your rank chance, you will have to do the following:
- Use one H1 title per page:
Using multiple header tags for a page will confuse search engines and reduce your rank drastically.
Google will not understand what your content is about and will not know what to rank you for.
- Make it unique:
Use keywords, questions, or power words to make every heading appealing to users.
- Reflect your content in it:
All header tags should correlate with the post title. Only write a subheading that captures the accurate picture of your content.
- Keep it short:
They should be kept brief, with 50-60 characters. Ensure at least one of your header tags from the H1 includes your focus keyword.
5. URLs and URL structure optimization
a. What are URLs?
URLs means Uniform Resource Locator; it is a specific web page address that helps people locate you.
It is seen in the address bar at the top of a web browser.
b. What are URL structures?
URL structures are the various elements that make up a URL.
A URL structure can include the following:
- HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)
- www (subdomain)
- Domain name
- Path or page
c. How to create a perfect URL
- Keep it short and readable.
- Add a keyword.
- Your domain name should be easy to spell and attractive.
- Domain main should be easy to pronounce.
- Name the page in a way that explains the content of the page.
6. Image alt texts
a. What are image alt texts?
Image alt texts are text descriptions of your images; they work by adding a text tag to the HTML codes of the image placed on your website.
These texts are not visible to users, but search engines see them and use them to match your image to what users are searching for.
b. The usefulness of image alt texts
They are beneficial in SEO. When a user inputs a query of an image, a search engine crawler looks at the text on the back end of the website to select the best images that match such intent. When done right, it can help your image to rank above the others on Google.
c. Tips for writing a fantastic image alt text
- Don’t stuff keywords:
Don’t add multiple keywords to your image text; it makes it difficult for Google to know how the image relates to your content.
- Don’t repeat yourself:
Don’t use the same words or keywords for different images on your website.
- Don’t tag non-essential images:
Every text used should be an accurate description of the image.
- Be specific:
Be detailed as possible, and avoid using irrelevant words to describe the image. Don’t write “a picture of” or “an image of” at the beginning of your descriptions.
7. Internal links
a. What are internal links?
These are links from a page on your website to another page on your website.
For example, here’s an internal link to another page on the SARMLife website.
READ MORE: HOW TO MAKE MONEY BLOGGING (Coming soon)
Internal links link a page to another page where their content is interrelated.
b. Why is internal linking important?
It helps increase page authority, boosting organic ranking.
When a specific page on your website generates higher traffic than other pages, you can introduce an internal link to drive traffic from that page to the less-ranking pages.
c. Quick tips for internal linking
- Determine your page rank:
Tools such as Ahrefs can help you track your page and determine the exact page that needs to be featured in an internal link.
- Add internal links from relevant pages:
Every page you internally link to should be related to the content topic.
- Always link a page that gives more insight into your topic.
8. External links
a. What are external links?
These are hyperlinks on a page that references an external domain; it means linking to a domain outside your site as a reference or additional source.
b. Why are external links important?
Linking to other websites is a good SEO strategy, and Google states that linking to authoritative websites provides value for your users.
So, link to websites that follow the E-E-A-T principle, and it is also best to link to websites in your niche.
9. Use keywords
a. What are keywords?
Keywords, as the name implies, are words and phrases internet users type in search engines to find results.
They are vital as they link searchers’ queries and your content.
b. Types of keywords by length
i. Long-tail keywords:
Long tail keywords are made by combining more than four words.
A long tail keyword is usually longer than the other types of keywords.
For example, “red apple shops in Manchester.”
These keywords are particular and leave you no doubt of what the searcher wants.
ii. Medium-tail keywords:
They are less specific than long-tail keywords and less competitive than short-tailed ones.
It usually consists of 3-4 words.
For example: “red apple shops.”
This keyword shows what the user wants (looking for an apple shop) but does not specify the location.
iii. Short-tail keywords:
These keywords are very competitive, with 1-2 words. They are not specific, attract high search volumes irrespective of the niche, and don’t accurately describe your content.
For example, “apple” and “red apple” are short-tail keywords that contain only the subject matter.
c. How to use keywords
Specific rules are applied to keyword usage, and you must consider them to optimize your content.
i. Place keywords in the right place.
The proper placement of keywords is vital for SEO.
There are specific places where your focus keyword must appear on your page. They are:
- Title tags
- Meta description
- Header tag(s)
- Alt image text
- Conclusion
- Body of your post
ii. Include long tail keywords.
Long tail keywords have a specification function and are best used to attract users to your site.
iii. Avoid keyword stuffing.
Avoid using the same keyword multiple times without a natural occurrence.
10. Sitemaps
What are sitemaps?
Sitemaps are records of your website’s important pages or URLs. They assist search engines and users in finding your website’s different pages.
Importance of sitemaps
i. For easy website navigation:
Sitemaps make it easy for internet users to find their specific intent on your page in less time.
ii. Enables web spiders to understand your website:
They help search engines understand your content and your page.
Types of sitemaps
There are two types of sitemaps:
- HTML sitemaps (for users)
- XML sitemaps (for search engines)
i. HTML sitemaps:
The hypertext markup language sitemaps are solely for users, making it easy for users to find what they require on different pages on your website.
HTML sitemaps reduce the time spent by users searching for answers on your website.
ii. XML sitemaps:
The extensible markup language sitemaps are the most common.
They are created for search engines as they provide a hierarchy of your pages’ information to the search engines, which makes it easier for web crawlers to understand and reduce the time spent indexing your website.
This sitemap also tells the search engines the last time a page was updated.
11. Featured snippet optimization
a. What are featured snippets?
According to Google, featured snippets are special boxes where the format of a typical search result is reversed, showing the descriptive snippet first.
They are short, brief answers to users’ questions at the top of SERPs and help answer them immediately.
b. Types of featured snippets
There are different types of featured snippets.
i. Paragraph:
The paragraph snippet amounts to seventy percent of the total features, ranging from 40-42 words and 250 characters.
They mostly occur in question-form searches and have post titles that start with “How,” “What,” or “Why.” These suggest that they give educational and beneficiary information.
ii. List:
It amounts to an average of 19% of total featured snippets. They consist of about 44 words.
iii. Tables:
They are 6.3% of total featured snippets. They consist of 40 to 45 words.
c. How to get featured snippets position for your posts
- Identify the opportunities on Google using Ahrefs.
- Discover content ideas by using Answerthepublic.
- Carry out keyword research.
- Use a header when answering questions.
- Match user intent by providing valuable information.
- Add relevant graphics that match your content.
- Organize your content ideally and attractively.
- Validate your content by ensuring each piece of information is accurate and trustworthy.
- Analyze your competitors to know what they do better to get more featured snippets.
- Update your outline to fit recent trends and queries.
12. Get a rich snippet with structured data
a. What are rich snippets?
Rich snippets are search results that draw your attention to structured data on web pages.
They are used to provide relevant information to users immediately and provide solutions to urgent searches.
They are Google search results that provide additional information, add visual interest, and make it easier for users to digest content.
b. Types of rich snippets
i. Movie Markup
This markup displays information about a specific movie and shows the movie’s release date, cast, run time, and genre.
ii. Product Markup
This displays specific information about a product; such information includes price, availability, and product ratings.
iii. Music Markup
This markup gives relevant information about an artist’s music and displays album names and specific release dates.
iv. Reviews Markup
The reviews markup will show the star ratings below a description in the search results.
v. Events Markup
Events markup provides information on specific events, such as where they occurred and the time and date of the event.
vi. Recipes Markup
The recipe markup allows you to show certain cooking elements such as ingredients, diets, and calorie contents of the meal.
c. How to optimize for rich snippet
i. Build up your data.
Organize your data structure. Although structured data may not be a ranking factor, it assists Google in understanding your website and makes it more attractive.
ii. Examine your data.
Test your data structure using Google’s Rich Results Test tools. After this is done, work on the lapse detected by the tool.
On-page SEO Don’ts
There are rules to everything in life; in most areas, when rules are broken, inevitable consequences are faced. This is the same for Google.
Google has specified specific rules which have to be followed no matter what. Google needs you to follow such rules because it is more concerned with increasing a positive user and page experience.
We have uncovered how you can perform on-page optimization. Now we will look at the “don’ts of on-page SEO,” also known as the black hat SEO techniques.
You should avoid these when optimizing your webpage.
1. Keyword stuffing
What is keyword stuffing?
Keyword stuffing is inserting important keywords in written content, meta descriptions, and title tags.
Keyword stuffing is a search engine optimization (SEO) technique once considered a ranking strategy used in previous times.
It is also known as spamdexing. Here, keywords are added to meta descriptions, content, and anchor text, aiming to increase the website’s ranking unfairly.
Keyword stuffing may result in a temporal or permanent website ban on search engines.
Why keyword stuffing doesn’t work?
There are various reasons keyword stuffing does not work.
I don’t want to read content that repeats the same word multiple times without a proper natural occurrence.
Multiple insertions of a particular word tend to disrupt a user’s journey. Because you are more concentrated on writing for search engines, you neglect the most crucial factor of the user experience.
When users search and don’t find what they need on your site, they will leave to search somewhere else.
There will be a reduction in your website’s reputation.
In recent times, search engines are focused on relevant and helpful content.
Hence, keyword stuffing won’t work. Major search engines use algorithms that can find and eliminate such unfair practices.
2. Hidden text
What is hidden text?
This old spamming technique focused on writing content exclusively for search engines. The writer inserts keywords in large amounts and colors the font to sort the color of the background, making the multiple occurrences of keywords invisible to users unless highlighted.
Why hidden text doesn’t work
Although you can use this technique to cover spoilers and conceal specific data from unenlightened users, search engines note it as a punishable crime.
These texts are not hidden from search engines. Google reads the hypertext markup language (HTML), a programming language webpages are written in.
HTML has color code instructions, which help search engines discover these texts. When found, your website can get penalized.
3. Repetitive text
What is repetitive text?
In repetitive texting, certain words and sentences are usually used multiple times.
The writer inserts unnecessary links into these words, interrupting the understanding of the content, hoping to increase website rank.
Google’s algorithm has made it possible to recognize unnecessary linking and texts that are not naturally occurring.
4. Cloaking
What is cloaking?
Cloaking, as the word entails, means to hide, disguise, or mask up.
It is when content presented to search engines is entirely different from that presented to the human user.
This technique screams deception as the search engine and users are on different pages.
A user inputs a query, and search engines select the best pages based on the information presented to meet the user intent. If a user clicks on a page presented by a search engine and the content doesn’t fit in any way to this query, users can get frustrated.
Search engines prioritize the user experience above all ranking factors, and cloaking doesn’t comply with Google’s standards.
Getting caught by search engines will result in penalties.
On-page SEO Analyzers
What are on-page SEO analyzers?
These are software application tools that assist in search engine optimization. They are created with the sole aim of making the optimization process easy and faster.
Google constantly releases updates, and it can be challenging to keep up with all of Google’s changes. These automated tools use a certain level of artificial intelligence to reduce stress and help you rank.
How can on-page SEO analyzers increase your rank?
There are various ways these analyzers can help increase your rank; these are but a few.
Content idea guides
These analyzers are assistants that help make search engine optimization easy and less stressful.
Tools like AnswerThePublic help you discover what users are searching for.
This tool gives you an idea of your niche, and you can map your content to fit users’ recent searches.
Website audit
With the discovery of these tools, it is now easy to run a site analysis any time, any day. Tools like Screaming Frog help identify missing pages, meta descriptions, and keywords.
It also discovers errors you may not have noticed in URLs and codes.
Keyword research
These tools help discover keywords relevant to the particular content you want to create. It provides proven words that will assist in optimizing your content better.
Track progress
SEO users track their progress based on their ranks.
When content created doesn’t rank, we take it to mean we should improve our SEO strategies.
It is often difficult to track your content’s performance, especially when they are numerous. These analyzers help you track your progress and notify you when ranks fluctuate.
Best on-page SEO analyzers
1. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a fantastic advanced SEO tool with a vast database and a large crawler.
Although quite expensive, it is one of the best tools for keyword research, SEO analysis, and reports.
The website audit by Ahref is effective and efficient; it also suggests solutions to lapses on your website.
It checks the properties on your website and generates relevant keywords and links.
It can explore the competition in your niche and run a competitive analysis on your competitor’s website to discover their SEO strategies.
Ahrefs helps monitor your ranking profiles and gives you updates on rank fluctuations. It assists you in giving your best and enables you to modify your SEO strategies to create better content.
Features of Ahrefs
- Site explorer
- Content explorer
- Keywords explorer
- Site audit
- Rank tracker
Pricing
- Trial period – $7 for 7 days
- Lite plan – $99/month.
- Standard plan – $199/month
- Advance plan – $399/month
- Entrepreneurs plan – $999/month
2. Google Analytics
Most individuals use Google Analytics and Google Search Console together, especially when using the free version.
It grants you free access to products to help you manage your website’s SEO.
It gives you an insight into customers’ behavior across different platforms to help you understand your customer’s journey and how they interact with your sites.
The access it grants you is expected to help you optimize your marketing ROI (return on investment).
Furthermore, Google Analytics generates a detailed explanation of your data analysis and manages your data efficiently.
Features of Google Analytics
- Built-in automation
- Reporting
- Advertising workspace
- Exploration
- Data collection and management
- Integration
Pricing
- Free
3. AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic is a search discovery listener and keyword tool that listens to data from search engines like Google and provides you with a list of questions that people are searching for around your chosen keyword.
It allows you to structure your content to appeal to your audience and increase traffic and conversions.
Features of answerthepublic
- Keyword research
- PAA (People also ask) insight
- Keyword visualization
Pricing
- Individual plan- $9/month
- Pro plan-$99/month
- Expert plan- $199/month
4. Screaming Frog SEO Spider
Google’s famous site crawlers are not the only ones capable of crawling websites.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider is an excellent and powerful site crawler capable of crawling large and small websites.
The tool performs a wide range of activities.
It can be used to find broken links and server errors; it discovers errors in URLs and fixes them.
It can generate perfectly modified XML sitemaps and images, track your SEO success and identify lapses in your SEO strategies.
Features of Screaming Frog
- Broken link finder
- Duplicate contact finder
- Title page and meta descriptions analyzers
- XML sitemaps generator
- Integration
- Site audit
- Grammar checks
Pricing
- Free plan– comes with limited features.
- Paid version– $199 yearly.
5. SEOmator
SEOmator is an SEO audit software application and web crawler that grades different SEO factors on your website, such as internal and external links, page speed, and rank tracking.
It assists with on-page and technical SEO optimization and monitors and analyzes competitors’ metrics. It’s a fantastic tool for website optimization.
Features of SEOmator
- Keyword research
- Rank tracker
- Backlink checker
- Reporting
- YouTube rank tracker
Pricing
- Lite – $49/month
- Standard – $99/month
- Advanced – $279/month
Google’s Ranking Factors
What are ranking factors?
Growing up, maintaining a specific grade and position in school was a great obsession of mine.
Constantly getting my desired position came with a feeling of satisfaction, and when I missed it, I was furious with myself and determined to do whatever it took to regain it.
Ranking in SEO can be related to our schooling experience; it refers to the position of your content on the search engine results pages (SERPs).
The worst place to be is the second page of SERPs because people hardly go there.
I cannot remember the last time I looked at the second page. You and other internet users can probably relate to this experience.
A popular SEO joke suggests the second page as the best place to hide a dead body because the chance of finding it is low.
Ranking factors are the criteria and signals used by search engines to evaluate a web page to determine its rank.
Having a page that ranks first means when users insert their query, your page is the first webpage that pops up and matches their intent.
These factors determine how high and low you rank on a search engine.
To be part of the first page of SERPs, you must meet these criteria.
Types of ranking factors
There are various ranking factors, and it is often difficult to know what area a factor falls under.
With this in mind, I have differentiated various ranking factors into their specific types.
More so, this differentiation will help you identify the particular ranking factors you need to optimize.
There are four types of ranking factors:
1. On-page Google ranking factors:
This is also known as the on-page SEO checklist, the criteria that must be met on a website and are within the control of the web developer.
On-page ranking factors list includes the following:
i. Relevant/High-quality content:
Beneficiary content is still a chief determiner of rank, and every content published should provide a positive user experience.
ii. Optimization of keywords:
Choose keywords that have a high traffic potential. The keyword chosen should blend naturally with search intent.
2. Off-page Google ranking factors:
These external factors are not much within your control and can be challenging to manipulate.
Off-page ranking factors list includes:
i. Total backlinks:
Backlinks are chains between one webpage to another, creating a relationship between two or more websites. The number of backlinks you get can boost your rank.
ii. The number of relevant domains linking to you:
The website content linking to you is crucial; Google considers this factor and checks the website content to determine if they fall under your niche.
For example, as an SEO writer, linking to a hair growth website is irrelevant. It assumes my content is created for people in my niche, so an external link of such will be highly useless to my users.
iii. The number of unique domain linking:
Getting a large number of backlinks seems good, but guess what! Getting backlinks from unique, trustworthy, efficient domains is top-notch.
Google sees a backlink as a voucher, and when it comes from a page known for providing quality, helpful content, it increases your influence in your niche.
To get such quality links, you must create quality content that matches user intent perfectly.
iv. Total relevant anchor text:
Anchor text is a word where links to other websites are inserted in.
Google’s policy states that anchor texting should be done cautiously, and the words used should give the users and search engines an idea of the link.
3. Technical ranking factors
This SEO strategy concerns a site’s technology regarding its content and structure.
You might have excellent content, but it will be challenging to rank if your site has technical issues.
Technical Google ranking factors list includes:
i. Page speed:
This is the amount of time taken for your website to load.
Every aspect of SEO is essential. If you create content that fits user intent but has a slow website, you risk facing penalties from Google, and your content might not be visible on the first page of SERPs.
ii. Mobile-friendliness
An increase in mobile users simultaneously led to the rise of internet users.
On April 21, Google updated its algorithm to increase the ranks of pages that are friendly to mobile users.
This algorithm is specific to mobile users and doesn’t consider the whole website but single web pages.
iii. Architecture of website
It can also be called a website blueprint, and it is the plan used in creating the website design, specifying different makeup and function of a website.
The structure of a website makes it easy for users to navigate and find helpful information. It also helps search engine crawlers better understand what your content is about.
Website architecture influences user experience.
iv. Site security
Site security refers to the protocols to prevent scams, hacking, and errors (cyber attacks). Google is adamant about users’ safety.
Having a secure site is crucial. If your website is attacked, it can be blocklisted, resulting in traffic loss.
4. Performance and Behavior ranking factors
These factors relate to site exhibitions and users’ behavior when interacting with your site.
Performance and behavioral ranking factors include:
i. History and age of domain:
The age of your domain can affect its rank.
When search engines notice an old domain with a history of constantly delivering relevant content, it automatically ups your rank.
ii. User experience:
This is an important ranking factor.
Google monitors how users relate to your content by analyzing the time spent on your website. If the time is short, Google tags it as your content unable to satisfy users’ needs. Still, when users spend quality time on your web page and keep coming back to your content, Google suggests user satisfaction was achieved and increases the rank of your website.
On-page SEO Optimization Using AI
Ways AI can be used in on-page optimization
There are various ways AI can improve a website, and it is not specific to some functions but cuts across different SEO strategies and technical search engine optimization.
They can be used to:
- Choose your topic.
- Get your topic analyzed.
- Run data analysis.
- Develop your content.
- Website audits.
- Competitors analysis.
- Broken link building.
- Keyword research.
Benefits of using AI for on-page SEO optimization
i. Performs site audit:
The principal aim of artificial intelligence is to perform cognitive tasks better and faster than humans.
AI is a brilliant tool for data analysis and discovering content gaps.
On-page SEO optimization with AI can help mount your content by examining top-ranking content and discovering certain areas you need to improve on.
ii. Speeds up the research process
A common issue writers face is creating relevant content on a subject they are not experts on.
To overcome this issue, writers conduct intensive research and study to understand better and create beneficiary content.
AI can help speed up the research process and overcome this issue by providing content topics and well-constructed content outlines.
iii. Provides a solution to writer’s block:
Some AI tools that help in content writing also solve writer’s block and make writing efficient, saving time and preventing you from overworking.
Cons of using AI for SEO
Artificial intelligence is considered an effective tool to improve SEO strategies but isn’t short of disadvantages.
They are dependent on data analysis. When used in writing content, there may be some disadvantages.
Here are the disadvantages of using AI for SEO.
i. Provides content that sounds robotic:
Content generated with artificial intelligence is often presented with this problem.
Some applications can’t understand users’ feelings and how humans will react to written content, so it creates content based on data analyzed and the algorithm it uses. Hence, you will have to read and edit AI-generated content.
Technological advancement has created AI in SEO tools to understand human needs and interact with web pages like a human will.
ii. Plagiarism and lack of originality:
Most AI tools steal pieces of information from different websites and paraphrase them. AI-generated content may include parts of different content on a website; this technique is against Google’s already-set guidelines and can lead to penalties when discovered.
Because artificial intelligence relies on collecting data from available sources, it cannot generate its text, doesn’t understand human emotions, and cannot write a text to relate to the predicted feelings of the users who may visit the website.
iii. Contents are below the E-E-A-T protocol:
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness is a principle Google uses to score and evaluate content.
Google tries to promote trustworthy websites that provide valuable content to users and reduce misinformation and the creation of harmful and useless content.
Artificial intelligence does not have expertise in various aspects of life, so its delivery will be less accurate than that of a human expert in such a field.
This reduces users’ trust in your website because the content made cannot provide needed solutions.
FAQs on On-page SEO
What is the difference between on-page SEO and technical SEO?
On-page SEO is concerned with your elements such as content, meta tags, title tags, image Alt text, and headers that are visible to the users.
Technical SEO mainly concerns search engine crawlers; they include page speed, website architecture, HTML, and more.
What does on-page SEO include?
It includes optimizing factors such as title tags, meta descriptions, featured snippets, image optimization, headers, and more.
How to rank on Google’s first page?
To rank on Google’s first page, you must optimize your content and website while focusing on user experience.
Conclusion
On-page SEO is one of the only things within your control in SEO, and it increases the chance of your page ranking higher on Google if all ranking factors are met.
It is a flavoring technique that adds more taste to your content.
To be an expert, you will need to take note of all optimization points listed in this practical guide, as being an expert requires constant practice.
How helpful was the practical guide to you? Let’s know by leaving a comment below.
READ ALSO: THE IMPACT OF AI IN SEO | THE FUTURE OF SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
