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As a content marketer, one of your priorities is to help your readers and search engine crawlers better understand the information on each web page.
Every page on your website must provide an answer/solution to your audience’s question. Something they’re looking for the solution.
Unlike human visitors, search engine spiders can’t read text on a page. They follow many patterns or signals to determine the relevancy of a page to users’ queries.
They do this to present users with the most relevant information.
To help search engine crawlers understand the context and intent of your website pages, you must incorporate structures, patterns, and clues into your content creations.
This will help provide the on-page SEO best practices that search engine spiders use to return relevant information to users’ queries within a fraction of a second.
Over the years, some self-acclaimed SEO experts have devised “the complete list of Google 200 ranking factors”. One of the most successful and well-received among these lists is the one written and published by Brian Dean of Backlinko.
This list of 200 ranking signals no doubt creates a lot of buzz in the SEO industry. Many content marketers took it close to their hearts and carried out the implementations of these signals religiously.
But recently, I stumbled upon an article by Gianluca Fiorelli for Moz.
In this article, Gianluca pointed us in a different direction on the 200 ranking signals to another myth in the SEO industry.
Irrespective of what any SEOs say or claim about Google 200 ranking factors. One thing is sure.
Google never reveals the exact details of its search algorithm to anyone.
But we know that content and link signals stand at the top of the search ranking factors. In a question-and-answer section, Andrey Lipattsev, a senior search quality strategy at Google, reveals this.
Based on research by hundreds of SEO firms. Agencies. Experts. Marketers and observations from different reputable sources.
We can explore the process of successful working elements of on-page SEO optimization. And come up with working SEO strategies that have the potential to influence the ranking position of a given web page.
7 On-Page SEO Tips to Increase Search Rankings
Based on these, I present you with an advanced guide to better on-page SEO optimization best practices that work.
Bear in mind that, like the 200 Google ranking signals. This list of seven on-page SEO best practices is not a complete or absolute list.
They’re just “part” of what is working.
And not in any way the determinant factors that Google uses to determine the on-page relevancy of the web page.
Use them to modify your web pages at your sole discretion.
1. Keyword Usage and Placement.
It starts with knowing what you want to rank for – focus keyword. You’re dead in the water if you don’t know what your ideal customers are typing into search engines to find information about your niche market.
A competitor’s SERP analysis can be a great way to start. Free keyword tools Semrush keyword magic can help you research top-ranking pages in SERP.
The next step is strategically placing the focus keyword in ideal places on your web page.
But while this practice remains one of the most informed best practices for on-page optimization, its influence on search engine ranking has been known to have fallen in recent years.
This does not mean you should ignore its importance altogether. Keyword placement alone has minimal effects on ranking web pages in search engines.
For instance, if your focus keyword is “SEO Ninja, “below are the ideal places to have your focus keyword appear.
- i. Article Headline.
- ii First paragraph.
- iii. Last Paragraph.
- iv. Subheadings in the “H” tag.
- v. Meta Description.
Putting your focus keyword in these areas improves search visibility and gives users a better understanding of your content topic. And it gives maximum user experience.
2. Heading Tags
The heading tags are part of your on-page SEO strategies. It would help if you didn’t ignore or misuse them.
Tags are used to differentiate sub-sections or sub-headings on a page. It lets the users quickly know that ok! Here is another essential section in this document.
The essential is H1.
Your site HTML coding should automatically wrap up your page title in the H1 tag to help simplify the process. So, each time you publish a new blog post, the headline is in the H1 tag by default.
The industry standard for using H tags on a page is to start from H1. H2 follows it, and on like that, it goes down to the least important of them all – H6.
They should follow a hierarchy.
If a page title is in the H1 tag, the following heading should be wrapped in the H2 tag. It will be unethical SEO practice if you’re not following this rule.
From the user’s and the search engine’s point of view, properly implementing H tags positively impacts your on-page SEO.
- Keywords included in H tags give search engine spiders the signals to understand the consistency of keyword usage on a page with the rest of the content.
- Your focus keyword SHOULD be included in your page H1 tag, which is very important for SEO benefits as search engine spiders pay utmost attention to this section on a page.
- Breaking up your content with heading tags gives users a better experience as they can quickly scan through content to the most interesting part of the content.
- Using styling text or fancy font for H tags is unacceptable and should be avoided altogether.
- Stuffing keywords in H tags could result in Google penalizing your site for keyword stuffing, so be cautious about how you use it.
- Headings tags should be visible on a page; hidden text in H tags could land you in Google’s court.
3. Synonyms
While writing your content, do not focus alone on using your focus keyword. This is important if you’re going to reach a broader target audience.
Users generate keywords that content marketers target within their content. These words vary in usage or language but may also mean the same thing in concept.
For instance, “PPC’ also means Pay-per-click if we’re talking about the content marketing concept.
So, using other variations of your target keyword is a good on-page SEO practice, as search engine spiders possess billions of synonyms. And different variations of words to match the user’s queries even if the user didn’t use the exact phrase to find your content.
Instead of repeating or using the same target keyword throughout your content, use other related words that users might use to find you.
4. Word Placement
Every web page is divided into different sections: header, footer, body, sidebars, navigation, etc.
Essential words shouldn’t be placed in an area that is not easily visible to users on the page. Like the sidebars or navigation menus if you want them to rank or compete in the search engines.
The body section of your web pages should be, in my opinion, the only text area that should contain the most important words that matter most to your readers.
For example, how many of your blog readers take note of those banner ads on your sidebar?
Few, right? I guess.
This is because it does not matter most to them but maybe only to you. This may be due to the economic reason behind it. So also, search engine spiders consider the less essential sections on your blog a smaller amount.
To get the most out of your on-page SEO benefits, I suggest you have your primary keyword in the first paragraph of your document.
Other variations may come anywhere in the content as they are used naturally and not forced to fit in.
5. Co-occurrence
There is a method of indexing and ranking that search engine spiders use to group web pages called Phrase-based indexing.
It is a process of indexing web pages based on complete phrases and ranking them on the relevancy of those phrases.
Using a co-occurrence concept makes it easier for search engine spiders to return the most relevant information to the user’s queries.
This is based on the co-occurrence of your target keyword with other closely related or often mentioned terms and phrases.
For instance, if we’re talking about “best affiliate network programs,” there is the possibility of mentioning “Share-a-sale, “ClickBank,” “Commission Junction,” etc.
A page that targets “best affiliate network programs” as its main focus keyword could also rank for these related search terms.
If the page earns more incoming links from relevant websites than competitors’ websites, it will rank high in SERP.
This is why you should leave nothing out when writing your content. Go deeper and have all the meat and potatoes that deserve to be included in your document.
You never know what keyword(s) in the content will bring you the most organic traffic.
6. Content Depth
The length of an article itself is not a direct influence on ranking.
But what makes this work is that lengthy articles give room to express yourself further and clearly. It allows you to touch on every aspect of the subject without leaving readers hanging.
We can explore a topic further at 1000 or more words on a page.
Your target keyword can be fully utilized and occur at a good ratio to the overall word count, which is considered keyword density.
More content on a page provides enough room to fuse in other related search terms you want to target within your range.
Studies show that the average content length of the top 10 Google rankings is a 2000 word count, according to SERPIQ.
However, it is essential to remember not to create long-form content for longevity’s sake just because you want your article to be 2000 or more words count.
It may result in rambling all over the place without any meaningful facts, education, or entertainment derived from reading the content on the part of the users.
To attract organic traffic, consider writing long, in-depth articles, blog posts full of facts, case studies, education, tutorials, quality reviews, and drop-jaw entertainment.
7. Topical Targeting
It is a good and ethical practice to base your content on “a” particular topic.
It helps search engine crawlers and users identify and understand what you’re talking about.
But we can help take this further by going all out on the subject and targeting more related keywords within a single piece of content.
Suppose you’re writing about “What is blog commenting?”.
You have answered the question once you have defined what blog commenting is.
But you don’t have to stop there.
In the same content, you can answer how to leave a helpful comment on a post, find do-follow blogs to leave comments, why one-liner comments might hurt you, etc.
If you follow this approach to writing your content, you’ll surely create something that looks like the ultimate guide to an xxx topic.
This is because you’re leaving nothing out of it. And writing 2000 or more words will become a pretty simple task.
Also, you could rank for keywords related to those other topics within that same content that talks about what blog commenting is.
What you’re doing, in essence, is covering a blog theme instead of just writing about a sub-section of it.
This topic won’t be complete without leaving you with some of the finest tools on the internet for better on-page SEO optimization.
8 On-Page SEO Tools to Ease Your Task
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
This is a must-have tool for every WordPress blog owner, and the best part is that it is FREE.
Yoast SEO plugin will let you know if your content is SEO optimized. And if something is wrong with your on-page SEO, you’ll see a notification like color indicating where the problem is.
First, if things look good, you should see all the fields in the image circled red turn “Green.” Then, to further explore your on-page analysis, click on the tab “Page analysis.” You’ll have all the details of your current page to read.
Though not every aspect covers this post, you’ll benefit from evaluating it with the Yoast SEO plugin. But you have the luxury of measuring your content on-page optimization progress with this SEO tool.
2. Google Keyword Planner
Keyword research and popularity contests are still the bases of content marketing. With Google Keyword Planner, you can search for keywords with better ROI and ad group ideas, determine the performance of each keyword in the market, and create a new keyword list.
3. SiteLiner
SiteLiner is one tool I find helpful.
Just enter your site URL and let the tool do the job. It will find broken links on your site, duplicate content, internal page rank, errors on the page, etc.
4. SEO Browser
SEO browser is used to see a page like a search engine spider sees it. It shows you the page without the stylings or other graphics on the page, suitable for checking:
- Metadata.
- Robot.txt.
- Internal and external links.
- Text-to-page weight ratio.
- Java script elements.
5. Google Search Console
There is no better place to check your site healthily than Google tools.
The Google search console tool lets you quickly check for your site structure data markup. Site speed. Keyword insight. Crawler errors. Schema.org validation. Search queries and Google index status, etc.
6. SEO Chat
This tool does a lot of work.
From SEO tools to generating schema.org code, content marketing tools include pay-per-click, web design, etc. You have many valuable tools within this unique on-page SEO tool.
SEO Chat is a must-use tool for all SEOs.
7. Anchor Text Over Optimization Tool
This is a tool for checking your anchor text diversity. It lets you know if you’re over-optimizing a specific anchor text and highlights the area you need to modify.
Just input your blog URL and let the tool handle the rest of the task. After analyzing your website, it will offer you a detailed report for your manual review.
8. Title and Description Optimization Tool
This title and description optimization tool will give you a great insight into what the top 8 Google search rankings for your choosing keywords are doing to optimize their articles.
Enter your keyword, choose the country, and let the tool show you what your competitors are doing.
I found it helpful.
What other on-page SEO optimization tools have you used and found helpful? There are lots of them out there.
Let’s hear about your experience in the comment section.