Succeeding in organic search today requires optimizing for a combination of factors that Google considers important:
- Technical SEO
- On-Page SEO
- Off-page SEO
Over the years, we've seen an increased focus on off-page SEO tactics such as back linking and other technical elements. However the reality is, off-page SEO won't do much good if your on-page SEO is lacking or content sucks amongst other things.
Smart SEO experts know that on-page optimization should be constantly prioritized. Because the search landscape is ever evolving, it's important you stay up to date on the SEO knowledge, starting with these 8 most important tips from our SEO experts:
What Is On-Page SEO?
On-page SEO is important because it helps search engines understand what your specific web page is about in relation to what a searcher is looking for. It's a strong signal that your content will be relevant. As search engines become more and more sophisticated there is a greater focus towards relevance and semantics in search engine results pages (SERP's). Google, in it's ever complex web of ranking algorithms, is now much better at:
- Understanding what users are actually searching for when they make a query
- Delivering search results that will meet user intent (informational, shopping, navigational)
Adapting to these changes are very essential and you can surely bet that if your digital strategy does not constantly involve auditing your on-page SEO, your rankings will suffer as well.
You can however avoid this by ensuring that your website and its content - both what is visible to users on your webpages (text, images, video & audio) and elements that are only visible to search engines (HTML tags, structured data) are well optimized according to the latest best practices.
You should never ignore on-page SEO especially since there can be more headway made in your SEO strategy because you have more control when optimizing for on-site elements unlike the "pray you get it" backlink strategy. If you put effort into an on-page SEO strategy, you'll see a boost in traffic and a rise in your search presence.
Google's ranking algorithm is constantly changing - with it's most recent rollout of Core Web Vitals (learn more about that here) - staying optimized in your on-page SEO just may bring that extra advantage you need to rank on the first page of Google.
Pay close attention to these 8 items and I bet you that these will help improve your content and increase your website authority - increased rankings, traffic and conversions.
1. Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness
Or simply "EAT" is the framework that Google has been using to asses content creators and websites as a whole. Google has always put a premium on high-quality content. It wants to make sure that the sites are producing high-quality content to help answer a searchers questions. (it's all about searcher experience man!). Websites with relative content are rewarded with higher positions on the SERP's where websites with "iffy" content are generally on the 5th or 6th page - that's being generous! There is a clear relationship between what Google considers high-quality content and what appears in SERP's.
2. Title Tag
The title tag is a HTML tag that exists in the header of each website page. It provides an initial cue as to what the subject of that page is. It is featured prominently in the SERP's as a clickable link as well as in the "tab" of a browser Window. Google follows a strict path when trying to figure out which website pages to display:
- Reads the title tag
- Reads the meta description
- Reads the <h1> heading
More on #2 and #3 later....
Google claims that the title tag by itself does not have great impact on organic rankings, but where I beg to differ is when your website audit reveals missing, duplicate or poorly written title tags, these will all negatively impact your SEO results, so please make sure you are optimizing for this element!
3. Meta Description
Since the early days of SEO, meta descriptions have been an important optimization point. These meta tags provide an excerpt of what this page will be about (typically in 120 characters). These are displayed underneath the page title in SERP's from our example "Dark Matter Digital is an Orlando Digital Marketing Agency...."
While Google maintains that meta descriptions don't help with rankings, I challenge you to this - Search something on Google and report back how many poorly written meta tags are on the homepage or point out ONE that does not utilize the keyword you are searching or its variation in the meta description.
Besides helping with on-page SEO, having properly formatted meta descriptions help increase click-through rates (CTR) by improving the perception of the quality of the result.
4. Heading Tags
Heading tags are HTML elements that help structure a website page's content. Used in h1 - h6 where <h1> is the overall topic of the page. It is very useful to insert a high-volume SEO keyword from your list into your <h1> heading. Using a powerful SEO tool such as SEMRush will help you identify your high-volume SEO keywords
5. Keyword Cannibalization
Is it okay to have multiple pages targeting the same SEO keyword? "yes...." "Why not?" or my favorite "SEO science bro..." - guess what:
Besides missing out on an opportunity for you to rank that other page with another variation, Google could penalize both of those pages for duplicate content. - Also be careful about the amount of times you put the keyword on the same page without using a variation or long-tail SEO keyword, this is called "keyword stuffing" and could also result in a Google penalty.
6. Image Optimization
Adding images is a great way to make your webpages more appealing. - But please do not freak out our website developers by freakishly slowing down your page's loading speed. Adding images onto your website presents you the opportunity to add image alt-text to your images, which is a piece of text that identifies to Google what this specific image is about as well as ranking opportunities to show up on Google image search. Besides adding alt-text to your images, if you have ANY images at all, it's best to compress your jpgs/pngs to help with page loading times also!
7. SEO Writing / Content Creation
SEO writing means writing content that will please Google and be informative to your audience (take this post for example). There is a strategy behind writing solid SEO content - and it is more than just keyword research and fill in the blanks.
Simply producing content for the sake of doing so won't change a thing. Remember that you're writing content for people - to learn, get informed and help. Therefore this content must be high-quality, substantial and relevant.
8. Content Audit
Most content creators are focused on creating new content so much that they forget to audit their existing content. Newsflash Karen: MAJOR MISTAKE.
Auditing your existing content is crucial because it helps you to:
- Identify whether the information in your content is accurate or relevant to current searches
- Determine what new types of content needs to be created
- Evaluate whether your existing content is achieving it's goals and gaining ROI.
Content audits can greatly help your overall SEO strategy, so make sure if you are hired an SEO agency, they're regularly auditing your content.
Conclusion
On-page SEO is important if you want to increase your website’s chances of showing up in the search results.
Optimizing for on-site factors on a regular basis can help improve your rankings, traffic, and conversions.
If you are looking for a SEO expert to help improve your organic search results, or have any questions regarding any of the material we just covered please schedule a consultation or speak to our SEO experts
Feel free to email questions to us at anytime! info@darkmatterdigital.co
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