BlogSearch Engine Optimization (SEO)
On-Page Optimisation – A Complete Walkthrough to Rank on Top
Attaining nirvana, or in other words, grabbing a good ranking in a search engine, hasn’t been a cakewalk for a lot of people. Search engines have upped their game and are getting smarter & cleverer every day, so now it takes more than just good content to beat your competitors.…
What do you understand by On-page optimisation?
It’s simply a process in which various components of a single web page for a given keyword or a phrase start getting noticed by the search engines. As mentioned above, On-page optimisation is one of the basic steps to search engine optimisation. So what do you do with this information? All that you need to do is act upon a simple on page SEO checklist that will bring in more search engine traffic from every piece of content that you publish. Making it easy for you, we are summarising some of the most important on-page optimisation techniques here. You can apply some of these, if not all. This is sure to give your site a better standing where search engines are concerned, as well as increase your overall CTR (Click-Through-Rate) ratio.Publish High Quality -
Unique content can do well with or without on-page SEO factors. Few characteristics of quality content are as follows -- Exclusive Content
- Originality
- Content including text element
- Well Researched Content
Title Optimization
A no-brainer, it’s a known fact that a site’s title tag lends itself to one of the most important website optimisation elements. A short but effective and descriptive title tag should be just right for your visitors to know you and your business. The first thing to be showcased and indexed is, you’ve guessed it right – the title tag. So obviously, it is to give utmost importance. Out of a gazillion results that a searcher sees, your site’s title has to be interesting enough for them to want to find out more information. At the same time, your title also has to be appealing enough to the search engine in order to rank you above thousands of other similar websites like yours.Important things that need to be considered while thinking of the title:
- Your Name/ Business Name / Site Name: Shakespeare does not hold good here – this is a very important aspect. If you think that your customers may look for you by your brand name, then it will also help to put it somewhere in your title.
- Keywords: These are definitely the key to success. If you want to rank for a certain set of keywords, it will only help to place some of them in your title tag. A title tag symbolizes the whole feel & content of your website. So if you are selling clothes online, you could consider including keywords like – fabric for the season, dresses, etc., in your title tag. Don’t add too many keywords in your title. Write a title that is interesting to the users & also good for the search engine.
- Write short-length descriptions: Make sure your page titles are short. To be sure of your website rank, make sure you include all the keywords. As per google update’s the suggested character is 70, make sure to keep it below. Make your titles relevant and short.
- Meta Tags Optimization: It's a chance to promote your page and persuade users to visit your website rather than one of the others by clicking your link. A Meta Description is something you can’t and shouldn’t ignore. A site’s Meta description should comprise a short description of your website, letting the users know of the areas and services that your business specializes in. This small piece of information can prove to be a selling snippet. And if it is interesting enough, the searcher can choose to go for more information. But remember to make the Meta Description exceptionally unique. If it is too generic and written shoddily, then there is a good chance that your site will simply not make the mark and be royally ignored.
- Keyword Optimization & Synonyms: You need to think of the readers first and then the search engine while writing the content. It needs to be optimised, keeping both these factors in mind. Cramming up your site with too many keywords can make your site uninteresting and dull. So it is imperative to have a balance between your keywords & your content.
Important elements of Keyword Optimization:
- Research: A thorough research should be done before you decide on your keywords. There are many free tools available that can help you to do keyword research. Some of the famous ones out there are Google Adwords Keyword Tool, SEO book Keyword Suggestion tool & Uber suggest.
- Keyword Density: Try to keep an adequate keyword density so that it can help the search engine figure out whether your page is indeed related & appropriate for the keyword that you are targeting.
- Synonyms & Related Keywords: You could go for synonyms instead of having a high keyword density. This helps to make the content sound natural but still helps in SEO.
- Long Tail Keywords: It’s often a very good idea to focus on some long-tail keywords, as they are fairly easier to rank for.
Link Optimization
It makes perfect sense to optimise your internal & external outbound links for search engines as well as to lead your visitors down a better path.Vital features of Link Optimization:
- Make an earnest attempt to use good Anchor Text when you are trying to link to other people. Include a fitting keyword in the Anchor Text, which lends the outbound link the right meaning and value.
- A proper Internal Link Structure with the correct usage of Anchor Text will definitely help. E.g. “Home delivery of pizzas” is a better anchor text than “click here”.
Image Optimization
If you intend to use many images, you need to look at optimising them, too, as they can’t be read by the search engines. It might be an easy task for the user to interpret the image into its meaning. However, it’s a totally new ball game for a Web crawler because the whole interpreting process is completely different in its case. So you need to add special tags to your images for them to attain some kind of meaning.Some Important Image Optimization Elements:
- Alt-text: ALT text or Alternate Text is the text that describes your image. The text should be short but meaningful. You can use your relevant keywords as ALT text.
- Filename: Always remember to use the meaningful file name for your images, use names like “homes-for-dogs.jpg” instead of meaningless “DSC24045.jpg”. Try to keep the image file name the same or similar to the ALT text.
- Image Title: Using the title tag in images is an important aspect because it will show the title as a tooltip when a user moves his mouse over the image.
- Image Linking: Whenever you wish to link to your image, use the image keywords in your link text. For example: use “view the world’s most beautiful destination” instead of “Click here to view” as the anchor text.
URL Optimization -
It's critical to optimise your URLs for maximum SEO. It is divided into two sections. The first step is to optimise the URL, and the second is to organise the URL. An SEO-friendly URL is brief, descriptive, and incorporates your goal term, just like the page title. Best techniques for improving the structure of your URLs:- Use categories to your advantage - Sort your pages into categories to make it easier for users and search engines to locate what they're looking for.
- Add Breadcrumb menu - A breadcrumb menu is beneficial since it allows people to explore your website systematically because they always know where they are and how far away they are from the home page.