The practice of optimizing individual web pages to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic in search engines is known as on-page SEO, which stands in contrast to off-page SEO which refers to links and other external signals. On-page optimization should be part of any successful SEO strategy, as it consists of changes that can be made directly to your site. The following are 7 on-page SEO hacks you can use today to immediately boost your rankings in search engines such as Google and Bing.
What is on-page SEO?
SEO, or search engine optimization, refers to practices designed to improve a web page's rank in search engines such as Google. SEO can be broken down into two categories: on-page and off-page.
On-page SEO refers to any technique that focuses on changes you make within your website. These strategies are often quick and easy ways of boosting your ranking, even if they don't have a huge impact on an individual page’s traffic alone. Most importantly, however, these strategies build up your website’s foundation for later off-page SEO efforts like backlinks and guest posts.
Why On-Page SEO Is Important
RankBrain, Google's newest search algorithm, has upped its emphasis on website content and structure. Poorly written blog posts that don't meet users' needs won't rank for anything other than an audience of one: you. Optimizing your on-page SEO is one of the easiest ways to get more page views from organic search traffic. But as simple as it seems, not everyone does it.
Many bloggers don't know what on-page SEO is or how important it is to their blogs' growth. A recent survey showed that only 35% of respondents had heard of on-page SEO before taking part in the survey. That means 65% hadn't even considered optimizing their blog post content for search engines!
So if you're one of those people who haven't considered optimizing your blog posts for search engines (or if you're simply looking to improve), here are seven quick tips to help boost your rankings and drive more visitors back to your site.
7 On-Page SEO Tips
Start With Good Content
Before you start optimizing, make sure your content is solid. The most important thing on a page is its content. So, before optimizing for SEO (or anything else), make sure that your blog posts are well-written and accurate. Include keywords in your title, meta description, and body text. And lastly, include your target keyword in a few links at least once or twice within each blog post.
The idea here is simple: give Google something it's looking for via on-page SEO and it will reward you with better rankings! It can take anywhere from weeks to months for your SEO efforts to kick in, so be patient. You'll know when they do because your traffic numbers will increase!
Optimize Your Title Tag
Title tags aren’t just a catchy way to draw in potential readers—they’re also an important part of SEO. For search engines, title tags are both snippets of text and metadata that help define a web page. Google, for example, will often pull bits and pieces from your title tag as well as your actual content when defining what your page is about and where it should be ranked in search results. To optimize your on-page SEO, consider focusing on keywords that support both human readers and search engine algorithms. Add some numbers or bullet points for additional appeal. When in doubt, keep it simple with words you might use when telling a friend about your blog post over coffee (e.g., the best way to boost ranking). You can always go back and add more keywords later if you need to.
Remember: SEO doesn't have to be complicated! It's all about playing by search engine rules, which means giving users something easy to read and remember while still making sure search engines understand what your blog post is all about.
Create Valuable Headlines
One key way to create a compelling headline is to think about the interests of your readers. While on-page SEO factors are important, they are only one part of your overall SEO strategy. Don’t forget off-page SEO factors like building quality links that point back to your site from other blogs and websites. While there is no magic number for how many links you need, research has shown that there’s a clear correlation between how many links you have and how high you rank in search engines.
Think about it: if Google sees that 20 blogs all link back to your website, Google will likely assume that content must be relevant and valuable if it’s so widely linked. That goes a long way towards improving your rankings!
Write For Mobile Visitors
In addition to desktop visitors, more and more internet users are using their smartphones or tablets for web browsing and surfing. So, if you haven’t yet optimized your blog posts for mobile audiences, it’s time to fix that!
Mobile-friendly on-page SEO can help you rank higher on mobile search results. Google says its updates for mobile web searches will be a signal contributing factor in how it ranks websites. To increase your traffic with mobile visitors, make sure that your blogs are user-friendly on any platform – big or small screen.
With on-page SEO techniques, you’ll see an immediate boost in rankings and website traffic. For example, a recent study by Moz found that on-page SEO increases organic clicks by 15% on average. If you want to get your blog noticed by new potential customers online, take advantage of these tips now!
Use Specific Keywords
First, try using specific keywords in your titles. A lot of people will automatically use general terms like the best SEO hacks or the ultimate guide in their blog post titles. However, these are vague and more difficult for search engines to understand, which means they'll have a harder time ranking highly. So, a simple trick you can use is including certain keywords (e.g., blogging tips) throughout your title; that way you can both optimize your on-page SEO and make it easier for people searching with specific terms (e.g., blogging tips) to find your page. It's a win-win!
In addition to titling your blog posts strategically, you should also focus on optimizing specific keywords. This involves making sure each page has relevant keyword variations sprinkled throughout its content and HTML code. For example, if I'm writing an SEO blog post about how to increase my website traffic through blogging, I would include some variations of blogging tips in my headline as well as different versions of blogging within my body text. The more specific terms you use, like blogging tips for beginners or SEO blogging hacks, the more likely people searching with those terms will find your blog post!
Maintain Good Internal Linking
Make sure you have a plan for link building, as it’s vital for good on-page SEO. But one thing that can often be overlooked is internal linking (i.e., links from one page of your site to another). Internal links help users navigate your site; they can also make it easier for search engines to find your pages. Google may use internal links as a ranking signal, but there’s debate about how much weight it carries (either way, it can’t hurt). When used properly, internal linking is a great way to build traffic and improve UX—after all, your audience will thank you for helping them get around quickly and easily!
A lot of people do internal linking in their blogs with posts like 10 ways to lose weight or 5 best diets. While these posts are helpful for readers, they don't provide any value to search engines. The content isn't unique because many other sites already published similar lists online, so it won't rank well in search results on its own—especially if those lists aren't linked to other relevant content on your site.
In addition, blog posts aren't indexed by search engines until they're published anyway (which means that an indexable list doesn't exist until after publishing), so there's no point in doing these types of articles unless you want a nice list of post on your blog itself.
Add ALT Tags To Images
Alt tags are important for both SEO and accessibility, meaning they’re an easy win-win in your blog post. Make sure you provide descriptive alt text for each image, as it’s one of many signals search engines use to determine what a page is about. In addition, visitors who have images turned off or who browse with screen readers will hear a description of your image instead of seeing it. For example, if you were to include a photo of a dog on your blog post, write something like a dog with a ball as opposed to a just dog. Not only does that help SEO, but it also helps people who can’t see your photo. This makes blogging easier on your eyes and better for SEO. The key is consistency; try to keep all alt tags around 50 characters so that there’s no big jump between them on your blog posts.
Conclusion
There are a lot of SEO tricks out there, but I’ve found these seven to be among some of my favorites. Try them out on your next blog post and see how they work for you!
And remember, it takes time to implement SEO changes on your blog. Be patient as you optimize—but don’t forget that all of these strategies can improve search rankings, which will help boost traffic in no time at all.