Every website publisher wants to rank higher on a search engine results page (SERP). We can use On Page SEO methodology to get exactly that. But, how? It is accomplished through segmentation of content. It drives more organic traffic from the search engines. The advantage of using On page SEO methodology is that we can manage content on our web pages ourselves. Various factors that we need to focus on for improving ON Page SEO are:
- Title Tags,
- Meta Keywords,
- Meta Descriptions,
- Headings,
- Our Content that includes text, images, videos etc, and
- Outbound and Internal Links.
Now, we cover each of these factors in detail.
A. Title tag Optimization:
The title tag element specifies title of our web page and is considered as single most important indicator which defines our content. Include title of our web page in the title tags.
<title>TEXT HERE</title>
It is the title which attracts a user. So, if the title is relevant to our users’ query then he/she may choose to visit our website. Furthermore, it has to be precise and must convey whats available on our web page. The title length neither should be too short nor too large. Title length of 7 to 12 words is considered acceptable.
B. Meta Keywords:
It is not one of the factors as far as Google is considered. It won’t rank our website on the basis of meta keywords. Apart from that, meta data helps us with the information that is already stored in our data. One of advantages of using meta data is that with its help we can efficiently manage our data. Providing meta keywords to the search engines are optional and you may/may choose not to use them. Hardly, it would make much of a difference to your web page rank.
C. Meta Description:
Like meta keywords, Google doesn’t consider this one too as a factor for web page ranking. Still, we can use it as it gets displayed in the search snippet. The meta description provides a summary of our web page, and it is better to limit the meta description to 140 – 160 words.
The advantage of using meta description – when a user requests a search result, he/she gets millions of search results. It is not possible for the user to click each and every link to find the relevant web page. That is where meta descriptions in search snippets play an important role. If your web page description matches to the users’ query then, user will click your web page otherwise he/she will look for another website. So, it is always advisable to use meta description that summarizes the content of your web page.
D. Headings:
When the user first visits a web page, the headings assists in finding the relevant content position on a web page. These are used to segregate content on our web page. There are six heading tags – h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6. h1 heading is considered as the most crucial, as it defines what our web page is all about. It is always better to stick with a single topic for a web page. Multiple topics discussed on a web page not only confuses the search engines but also considered a bad experience from a user’s perspective. Imagine, on a same web page we are discussing environment and technology. Definitely, not something a user would want to read unless we have got our reasons.
Headings tags should be used sequentially – h1 tags followed by h2, then h3 and so on till h6. It shouldn’t be the other way round. A word of caution – do not stuff irrelevant keywords in headings.
E. Our Content:
Content is the prime reason why a user would want to visit our website. And, if we want our users to visit our website again then it is the key. Content can be in the form of text, images, videos etc. which needs to updated regularly. Fresh content is preferred by the search engines. If you’re reading this. Then, notice that we have updated the content of this web page. Over time the content of a web page becomes stale. And, gradually Google would begin to rank our web pages lower. It’s a free market. Anyone can anytime write on anything. So, what we written today could be fresh today. But, some other website publisher tomorrow would write on the same topic with new facts.
What happens to our content then? It becomes stale. So, its better to update our website’s content once a year.
Either focus on producing in-depth high quality content or provide the solution to a users’ query. Here, high quality content doesn’t mean that we provide research oriented articles. Our content can be of high quality if we are able to answer all the user-related queries on our web page.
F. Outbound and Internal links:
Lasly, we can provide outbound links when its not possible for us to explain the topic. For example – Lets say we are writing an article on Machine Learning and if we mention Artificial Intelligence somewhere in the article. Then, instead of explaining Artificial Intelligence and breaking the continuity of our article, we can provide an outbound link to website that explains the topic well, say, on Wikipedia. And, if user wishes to know more about the term, then he/she can click on that outbound link.
Internal links are our website links. It is necessary for search engines to crawl our website efficiently, so it advised not to go too deep with our website link structure hierarchy. For example – If a user has to click five times before finding a relevant web page then it affects user experience. And, not only that it also affects our search engine ranking.
In conclusion, if we can utilize it well then On Page SEO (Search Engine Optimization) methodology is great tool to rank better on SERPs.
