SEO is not dead. You might have heard the rumor but there is not much to it. In fact, you could say SEO is blossoming more than ever. If your business activities are based online, optimizing your website with some kick-ass on-page SEO techniques should be on the top of your list. A well-optimized website can drive up your organic traffic by 50% or more.
If you are just a newbie to all this, do not yield to panic. Yes, SEO is complex but it is not rocket science. This article will cover all the SEO aspects you need to implement to your website. All you need is diligence, patience and attention to detail.
What Is SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a technique of influencing the visibility of a website and its pages on a search engine result page (SERP). Search Engine Optimization remains one of the most effective ways to promote your business or blog. As a matter of fact, 50% of website visits come from search engines such as Google, Yahoo or Bing, with the first SERP accounting for 30% of that traffic.
So you see, ranking among the first links on the first search page is quite important. People very rarely click on the second page and the rest is like it is not even there. To achieve the top ranking, you need to roll up your sleeves and create a good SEO strategy.
50% of website visits come from search engines, first listing page accounts for 30%.
On-Page SEO
There are two types of SEO, on-page and off-page. However, before you get even thinking about any off-page strategies you need to get your page SEO in order.
As the name suggests, on-page SEO encompasses everything on your site. It represents the seemingly innocent-looking tip of the iceberg (a.k.a. content) as well as the humongous chunk of it that is hiding under water (a.k.a. HTML code). If you do it right, it can catapult your site straight to the SERP heaven. So, let’s check out what needs to be done.
Title Tag: Keywords to the Front
If you are not familiar with the term, a title tag is the title of a snippet that appears on the search page. It is one of the most important SEO aspects as it is the first thing Google crawls and customers see.
To maximize the SEO impact, try to front-load your keyword because Google puts more weight at the beginning of the title tag.
The trick with title tag is to find the perfect title that is easily recognized by the spider (Google Bot) as well as appealing to your customers. We recommend you to use Headline Analyzer by CoSchedule. This free miraculous software scores your title quality and its ability to result in increased traffic or social shares.
SEO-Friendly URL (Permalink)
Permalink is a name for static hyperlink (URL) that takes you to a particular web page. It forms a part of the snippet right under the title tag. There are still a lot of people out there who neglect their URLs and create 50+ character monsters, thinking it will not make much difference. However, this malpractice can very easily affect your site’s ability to rank well.
According to the study conducted by Marketingsherpa about the impact of URL length on ranking, short URLs have higher click-through rates than long complicated URLs. If you keep the URL short, the focus remains with the title. Long URLs are also proven to be more distracting and less trustworthy even to a laic user. They are also less likely to be shared on social media.
Matt Cutts, the head of webspam team at Google, revealed that four-five words long URLs are quite natural. But, if they get longer the algorithms weight the additional words a bit less and overly do not give the page as much credit. All in all, make sure your URLs are short, readable and encompass your keyword or its synonym. If you are in doubt, you can always read up more about the best URL practices.
Increase Loading Speed
This is one of the most important points on your list. In fact, page speed is one of the ranking factors Google actually officially confirmed. Plus, loading speed influences both, Google ranking and user experience.
One of the major factors influencing site speed is your hosting company. If your host is not doing that great speed-wise, it is best to find a better alternative as soon as you can. WPEngine, Hosting24 or HostGator list among the best hosts.If you are using WordPress, plugins such as WP Rocket, or DigitalOcean will help you speed things up a little.
You can measure the speed of your site on Google’s PageSpeed Insight tool.
But what is fast enough? Well,1 second is absolutely perfect, 2–3 is above average, 4–7 average and anything longer is basically a traffic suicide. A recent study conducted by Kissmetrics showed that if your loading time is as much as 4 seconds, you can lose 25% of potential visitors which can spike up your bounce rate. Website speed is a topic all on its own, so do not hesitate to find out more about ways to improve your site’s loading speed.
Use Multimedia
Including media such as photos, infographics, videos or gifs does not have a direct impact on your page rankings. Nonetheless, it matters because it improves user experience and boosts on-site user interaction which Google seem to watch out for more and more.
Well-chosen multimedia make you appear more professional and increase the perceived value of your content. Moreover, really engaging and stunning images or videos can prolong the time people spend on your site. If people stay longer and interact, it reduces your bounce rate which Google also takes into consideration. Websites with quality multimedia are also likely to receive more social media shares.
Websites with quality multimedia are likely to receive more social media shares.
So, for example, if you have an online store, make sure each of your products has a high-quality image (or even a product review video if you have one). And if you are also writing a blog, each of your posts should naturally include at least one multimedia file.
Image Optimization
Now that you know that images are important, you need to learn how to optimize them. Nothing in the online world goes unnoticed. First, Google crawls images based on their URL, name of the file and Alt Text. Be sure that each of these parameters contains your main keyword. The name of the file forms the URL of your image. It is in your own interest you do not keep a random image name such as 1352&^@%&(%800^^#$*(j)giKHJbbjkff#%hn. That is not going to help anybody and would create a dreadful image URL.
Next, Alt text is for the sake of search engines only. It is invisible to the user, appearing only in the source code of your web page. Furthermore, you can add a so-called Title Tag to your image as well. The title tag is the little text bubble that appears when you hover over the image with your mouse. Here is how the tags look like in the source code:
<img src=”image.jpg” alt=”image description” title=”image tooltip”/>
If you are working on WordPress, simply upload your image and you can easily set the ALT and TITLE TAG attributes. Spend time choosing the right keywords to describe your images.
Last but not least, we also recommend compressing all of the images you use. Compressing them will not affect their quality and your web page loading speed will be faster. You can use free online tools such as kraken.io or JPEGmini.
The Pen is Mightier than the Sword
Target groups are not kingdoms, and these are not middle ages. You cannot simply gallop over with a shiny sword and take what you desire. You are fighting for attention in an age where attention span is on its evolutionary minimum — you need to be craftier than that.
Blogging is your ultimate weapon and promotion tool.
Blogging is your ultimate weapon and promotion tool. The best thing is, you do not need to wait for anyone to give you space to shout out and flood the world with your uniqueness. Create your own space and go for it! If you are not a great writer, the market is full of skillful writers who know what they are doing.
Create Long Quality Content
So, why long content? Well, short posts are usually superficial and don’t give you the space to address any issue in depth. The recommended minimum length for an article is 1000 words so do not be afraid to go into detail. The more relevant information you provide the more likely you are to attract serious visitors. Moreover, a study conducted by SerpIQ confirmed that websites with longer content are more successful.
However, do not write extensively just for the sake of length. The reason behind the success of long posts is their quality. The quality of information as well as optimization and readability. Google will be able to recognize your efforts thanks to the following metrics:
- Repeat Visitors. If people return to your website after their first visit or save it as a bookmark, Google will notice these actions and it will increase your profile.
- Time on Site. Repeat visitors are not enough. It is also important how much time do they spend on your website. If they leave in 30 seconds or 1 minute, it can hurt your reputation. Long quality content matters because it prolongs the time visitors stay on your site.
- Bounce Rate. Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who “bounce” from the website after seeing just one page. It is important your page makes a great first impression on the user. A visitor stumbling onto your website and exiting within a few seconds is a red flag that indicates bad quality content and Google will drop your rank. One of the tricks to prevent people from bouncing is to add internal links at the beginning of your content. When people first land on your page, they are happier to click than when they are deeper in the article. It increases your chances of providing what the user is looking for at a glance.
- Dwell Time. Similarly to bounce rate, Google pays a lot of attention to “long clicks’” and “short clicks” which are also known as dwell time. Long quality content can make a difference between a bounce after few seconds of seeing your page (short click) and a few minutes of time spent studying the information (long click). Even if the visitor leaves your site after, the few minutes spent there will let Google know there was something of value to the user.
You can track and analyze all these metrics with Google Analytics. It is one of the best analytics tools on the market. If you create an account, you will be able to monitor page views, bounce rate, sessions and even see the conversions and actions taken on your website. And this is just the tip of the iceberg! But do not worry, the tool is complex but still quite user-friendly and free ;) If you are not doing so yet, get analyzing!
Wrap your Keyword in H1, H2, H3 tags
Another essential step is to wrap your title in H1 tag. H1 tag is like subheadline of your page and should always include your keyword. WP wraps your post titles in H1 automatically but some themes can override this so it is always better to check.
H2 and H3 tags are the subheadings of your main title. They are honestly not that crucial but it is good if you can include your keyword in the H2 or H3 subheadings one-time maximum, as it would not look very natural otherwise.
Employ Internal Links
Internal links are a great way to provide even more support and information to your visitors as well as show Google your content is relevant, interconnected and individual articles complement each other.
Always add a few internal links to your articles. If you publish new ones that are relevant to older posts, do not hesitate to update the older article with a new internal link to raise its value. Also, please try to add the links to a relevant anchor text that indicates the theme of the internal link.
Horrible: For more information about SEO click HERE.
Awesome: Effective SEO practices are essential for your SERP ranking.
Again, do not try too hard. 2 or 3 internal links per 1000 words are ideal, however, only use them if they are actually relevant. Any cheap tricks will be discovered sooner or later and backfire.
Employ Outbound Links
A lot of websites still ignore this practice. Why on earth should you direct traffic to other sites, even your competitors? There are several good reasons. Google wants to see you are an active member of the web — it is called a WEB for a reason. It helps Google better identify your niche and area of interest
Outbound links build your credibility. By linking to other authority websites you are providing more value to your visitors. You will save them time they would spend searching further information and let them know you care more about helping them than your personal agenda.
By linking to other authority websites you are providing more value to your visitors.
2–5 outbound links per 1000 words are OK. However, make sure the outbound links you are adding to your website are relevant and high-quality as Google can penalize you for connecting to dodgy low-authority sites. So sometimes fewer but quality links are a better way to go. And again, pair the links with appropriate anchor text.
Include keywords in first 100 words of your post
This is brief advice. Today, keyword stuffing can get you in trouble rather than get you ranked. Simply, focus on (naturally) incorporating your chosen keyword in the first 100 words of your post. It helps Google better identify the topic of the page. As Brien Dean, an SEO adviser and blogger, said: “Keyword prominence is the new keyword density.” Where your keyword appears in the article is more important than how many times.
Use LSI
LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) sounds way too professional but it is one of the best things that ever happened to content creators, writers as well as users. LSI is a response to keyword overstuffing. There were quite a lot of people who tried to cheat the search engine by stuffing meta descriptions and tags with hundreds of keywords causing irrelevant useless material rank among the first on SERP.
LSI watches out for synonyms, words, and phrases related to your keyword making sure the article actually is what it claims to be. If you are a professional and well-versed in your niche, you are probably using LSI without even realizing it.
However, if you want to double check you are using the right words go to Google and search for your keyword. Then, scroll down to the bottom of the first search result page. Google gives you a short list of searches related to your keyword:
If you really want to get into this, we recommend you use LSI Keyword Generator. It is a free online tool that provides you with a long list or related phrases in seconds.
Yoast: A Trick Up Your Sleeve
A truly good blog writer will be able to implement all of the blog-relevant on-page SEO nicks necessary. Nonetheless, if you wanna keep track of the SEO quality on your blogs, you can use tools such as Yoast. Yoast will not only watch out for all the necessary SEO techniques, it will also suggest ways of improving your optimization if it is not sufficient. Moreover, you can extend the SEO tool to check the readability of your posts to improve the user experience.
Lay Out Paths of Virtual Breadcrumbs
SEO breadcrumbs are an improved version of Hansel and Gretel’s idea of how not to get lost. Improved because no forest animal will eat them. Your website is not a house where everyone comes in through the front door… it is more like an off the grid hippie community entered from all directions and through various means. It can be chaotic and frustrating unless… drumroll… you sprinkle around little bits and pieces of information to ensure people find their way around no matter which page they come through first — breadcrumbs.
There are three types:
- Location Breadcrumbs. Indicate where the current page is located within the structure of the website. For example: Home > Blog > Marketing > Online Marketing > Article XY
- Path Breadcrumbs. Visualize the visitor’s path that brought him to the page, therefore might represent various logical paths a visitor could use to get to the age.
- Attribute Breadcrumbs. List the attributes of the page. This type of breadcrumbs is most commonly used in e-commerce sites. Their structure is similar to location-based breadcrumbs, however, attribute breadcrumbs use the page attributes describe the content. See example below:
In short, breadcrumbs help users better understand your website, can be used to point keywords to certain pages and help search engines understand how pages on your site relate to one another. However, do not sacrifice usability for SEO. Make sure the keywords you use and how you use them actually help the user to navigate through your site.
Get Rid Off Deadweight Pages
Google’s Gary Illyes in an interview for Virtual Keynote exclaimed in relation to deadweight pages:
“Narrow it down as much as you can. Don’t create low quality and no value add pages. It’s just not worth it because one thing is that we don’t necessarily want to index those pages. We think that it’s a waste of resources. The other thing is that you just won’t get quality traffic. If you don’t get quality traffic then why are you burning resources on it?”
If you have a site with thousands of index pages of which many are not useful or visited, you are seriously damaging your ability to drive relevant traffic to your website. The smart move is to eliminate any pages that can damage your reputation or user experience:
- Archive pages
- Online store products with 0 sales
- Old service pages that are no longer relevant
- Outdated and low-quality blog posts
- Pages with little or no original content (e.g duplicated pages)
Social Sharing buttons
Make it easy for people to share your content. Including share buttons of leading social networks can increase your traffic as users are more likely to share something that has been shared by others. Some of the most effective sharing button designs are the ones that follow you as you scroll down the screen. No need to scroll all the way up or down to share!
Optimize Number of Clicks to Content
It is highly probable that the page with most authority and highest page rank on your website is your homepage. This means the closer your other pages are to your home page, the better will they rank on SERP.
The trick lies in reducing the number of clicks users need to do to get from your homepage to the page which ranking you are trying to boost. Simply put, the lesser the number of clicks the better (ideally no more than 3 clicks away)
Optimize for Mobile
Times when mobile optimization used to be an option are long gone. If your website is not responsive, Google will penalize you for it. Not to speak of the number of users you will annoy. An unresponsive site on a mobile is a navigation nightmare, everybody knows that. So, pretending like this does not concern you will not fly.
Times when mobile optimization used to be an option are long gone.
There are several factors you need to consider when optimizing your site for mobile:
1. Responsiveness
Did you know there is more than one way to make your site responsive? In fact, there are three. One of the biggest decisions you take will be deciding which of the options to adopt.
Responsive Design. This is probably the most known one. It requires only one URL, so you keep your page authority. However, duplicate content and endless redirects can slow down your site.
Dynamic Serving. This also requires only one URL and consolidates your page authority but, on top of that, allows you to include mobile-specific content. The downside is… it is quite difficult to implement and can be pricey to maintain. Choose this one if your mobile site has much stronger traffic potential. However, make sure you know what you are doing or have a skilled IT team behind you.
Parallel URLs. Obviously, you create two parallel URLs which will allow you to create mobile specific content. However, it splits your page authority. You are also running a risk of content duplicates which can harm your ranking. We do not recommend it.
2. Page Speed
If you think speed matters on the desktop, it matters a hundred times more on mobile devices. Mobile users are usually less patient as the whole point of looking for something on your phone IS the speed. To improve page speed, you will need to:
- Optimize multimedia
- Minify code
- Leverage browser caching
- Reduce redirect, etc.
3. Design
You most definitely need to adjust the design of your website. This does not mean simply making your website design “fit” the smartphone screen. Actually, the best way to go is to make your mobile site look like an actual app as much as possible.
First of all, design for big fingers. There is nothing as annoying as minuscule buttons which make it easy to click on the wrong thing. Plus, it makes people feel clumsy. As far as the world is concerned, your job is to spoil your visitors, make them feel awesome.
Furthermore, try to avoid using Flash, not all the devices have it. So, if you want to WOW your customers with special effects, opt for HTML5. And by special effects, we do not mean pop-ups. They are pretty irritating on the desktop and their ability to infuriate people grows as the screen gets smaller.
4. Local Search
Is your website an extension of your local business? Use it! Optimize your mobile site for local search and help people find you when they are closeby. Basically, you need to include your name, address and phone number in your metadata, embed google maps on your site or include your city or country in your content, titles or alt tags.
Before you Go
What do you think about our “short” list? Sounds like a lot of work but we can promise you it is worth it! On-page SEO can perform unearthly miracles with organic traffic growth. Having a blog or an online store is a great way to follow your professional dream but keep in mind you are not alone and the competition for attention is fierce. Once you have mastered your on-page SEO, you can learn more about off-page SEO and how it can help you boost your ranking.
Of course, if you have any other suggestions we might have missed please share them with us!
