On-page SEO is much more than a checklist of factors to optimize. It’s also a great way to get your content in front of Internet users, develop your brand and build customer loyalty.
In this article, we’ll explain what SEO on-page is, why it’s essential, and demystify the elements to consider when optimizing your natural SEO on-page
What is on-page SEO?
On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing a website’s content to generate more organic traffic
For those unfamiliar with SEO, the terminology may seem technical. An on-page SEO strategy is in a way a specific formula with an essentially user-centric approach. The ultimate goal of any on-page SEO strategy is to meet users’ expectations, notably by providing them with quality content
Why is on-page SEO important?
On-page SEO is essential because it helps users and search engines to read and interpret a website’s content It’s worth noting that a quality on-page SEO strategy involves much more than adding keywords to title tags and meta descriptions.
That’s not to say that meta titles and descriptions don’t play a big part in your on-page SEO strategy – quite the contrary! What we mean is that you need to think beyond what will appear in search results Think of your website as a book: if the cover looks great but the pages are mediocre, it won’t take long for readers to switch books. When web pages aren’t optimized, they lead to a high bounce rate This has a very negative impact on SEO in general.
11 Ranking factors of on-page SEO
Now that you understand what on-page SEO is as well as its importance, let’s take a look at 11 essential ranking factors that help landing pages rise to the top of organic search results.
- Keyword mapping
Always start with your SEO audit on-page by mapping keywords If you don’t know exactly which terms to target, there’s no point optimizing the page at the risk of working in vain. Chances are, the subject you want to rank for can be addressed in a number of ways. That’s why it’s important to target keywords with a high search volume After all, if keywords have traffic, it’s because users are looking for them.
Not sure where to start? Choose 3 to 5 keywords you want to work on, including long tail keywords, to make sure the subject of the page you want to optimize is clear.
For example, in this blog post, we’ve decided to target the following keywords:
- SEO on-page
- on-page SEO
- what is on-page SEO
If you scroll up and take a good look at the title and subtitles of this blog post, the keywords we’ve just listed will become apparent. Read on to find out why this is essential!
- Search intent
Think about how users will find your content. Then do the same research and optimize the page according to what’s offered in the search results
Pay attention to all the features you see: images, rich snippets, Knowledge Graph, People Also Ask (PAA), videos, even sponsored ads, etc. Google is constantly testing and optimizing its search results based on user behavior. This means you can be sure that what you see on the first page of your query is what your target audience is looking for, so why not take a leaf out of Google’s book?
- “Duplicate content”
SEOs and content managers know duplicate content as plagiarizing someone else’s content. But in the context of on-page SEO, this expression can take on another meaning, that of duplicating your own content
When you’ve been blogging for years, you might forget certain topics you’ve covered before. If you don’t take certain steps before writing, you could rewrite an entire article on a topic you’ve already covered. To avoid this kind of mistake, you can use a tool like Siteliner to see what you’ve already published on a specific keyword. You’ll then know whether to create new content or not, whether to update old text or not. It would be a shame for two of your pages to become competitors. You’d be wasting your efforts for nothing. What’s more, it could affect your SEO.
- The title (<h1>)
The page title, also known as the tag <h1>, remains the most crucial heading on a page. It’s even considered a major ranking factor. What’s more, it’s usually one of the first elements visitors and search engines notice when viewing a web page. A good <h1> can improve engagement and lengthen the time spent on the page, thus reducing the bounce rate.
When writing a title for your website or blog, be sure to include target keywords In addition, you need to make the title sufficiently descriptive to avoid blank-sheet syndrome.
- Subtitles (<h2> – <h6>)
Like the page title you’ve just explained above, subtitles should include target keywords and make sense when set apart. Think of the whole thing as a table of contents. It helps users to understand what the landing page is about, and to scan and locate information easily. Subheadings also serve to provide a positive user experience
When writing subtitles, be sure to rank them by importance, with the<h2> being the most important (after <h1>, of course) and the <h6> being the least important.
Never use subtitles just for style’s sake! This will harm your website’s accessibility, user experience and SEO. If you don’t like the look of your subtitles, work with developers to solve the problem instead of sweeping them under the rug!
- Legibility
To attract a wider audience, content must be easy to browse and digest To achieve this, here are the rules to follow:
- Use short, simple sentences
- Use bulleted lists
- Good dose of jargon, acronyms and technical words unfamiliar to the general public.
- Split overly long blocks of text into shorter paragraphs, separating them with descriptive subheadings
- Avoid passive voice.
To help you, there are online tools that assess a page’s readability score.
- The ALT attribute of image tags
The ALT attribute of <img> tags (also known as ALT text) allows screen reader users to hear the description of an image aloud. ALT attributes on images still play an important role in website accessibility.
They’re also important for SEO, as search engines don’t read images. They therefore take into account the ALT image attribute in the HTML to find clues about its content.
The content of an image’s ALT tag can work with other on-page SEO factors to improve the page’s ranking chances and, by extension, improve visits and conversions.
When writing ALT tags for your images, be sure to:
- Write an accurate and concise description of the image.
- Limit your description to 140 characters, roughly the length of a tweet.
- Use relevant keywords wherever possible to reinforce the relevance of the page itself.
- Avoid keyword stuffing!
- Internal and external links
Internal links can help establish link equity to other pages on your website. As blog posts are more likely to generate external links, it’s particularly useful to link them to your product or service pages
On the other hand, external links should be used sparingly, be authoritative and always open in a new window.
When linking from one page to another, use anchor text that describes the page you’re linking to. For accessibility reasons, be sure to avoid generic descriptions for the anchor such as “as mentioned here”, “see in this article”, “this link”, “click here”.
- The title tag
The title tag or meta title is one of the most important elements for on-page SEO It’s a direct keyword ranking factor It serves as the blue link in search results, which visitors click on to get to your site.
The ideal length for a web page’s title tag is around 50 to 60 characters. If it’s longer, Google will truncate it.
Here are our tips for writing a successful title tag:
- Keep text length between 50 to 60 characters (545 to 560 pixels).
- Create a unique title tag for each indexed page
- Always include the target keywords, preferably at the beginning of the title tag.
- Keep the user’s intention in mind when writing the title tag. Make sure it’s sufficiently descriptive and catchy to make the surfer want to click on it.
- End the title tag with the brand name.
- The meta description
The meta description has no direct impact on page positioning. However, it does affect the click-through rate, which remains a powerful SEO tool. When written effectively, a meta description provides a clear and concise message in targeted search results, which can entice potential visitors to click through to your site.
If the length of the meta description is not mastered and the number of characters exceeds, Google may truncate or simply ignore your text and put another in its place (notably an excerpt of text within the content of your page).
Here’s how to write your meta descriptions successfully:
- Do not exceed 160 characters for pages without a date and 145 characters for pages with a date such as blog posts, news, etc. (the date will be displayed and embedded at the beginning of the meta description).
- Create a unique meta description for each indexed page.
- Write meta descriptions keeping in mind the CTA (Call To Action or Incitation To Action) or the objective of the page to be optimized. Ask yourself what message this page wants to convey to the user?
- URLs
Don’t let your content management system (CMS) write your URLs for you. As with WordPress, the CMS takes the page title and turns it into a default URL. If the title is too long, Google will also truncate it for search results.
When writing URLs, be sure to :
- Write concise URLs (you can remove articles and prepositions, for example)
- Use only hyphens to separate words.
- Use lower case letters
- Integrate target keywords
Please note: if you decide to update existing URLs, don’t forget to set up the appropriate redirects!
In summary:
Now that you know what you need to do to ensure your on-page SEO is top-notch, you’re ready to audit your content! Below is a summary of everything we’ve explained in this article. It will help you optimize your pages more easily.
Checklist for on-page SEO:
Use the following checklist as a starting point to evaluate the essential factors of your on-page SEO:
- Keyword mapping : the page targets 3 to 5 keywords, uses synonyms, focuses on long-tail keywords and avoids keyword stuffing.
- Search intent: the page has a clear focus and objectives. Content aligns with Google’s search characteristics (images, snippets, AAP, etc.)
- Duplicate Content (to be avoided): the page and its content must be unique on the site, not dealing with a subject already covered before.
- Title <h1> : the page uses a tag <h1> which includes main keywords.
- Subheadings <h2> – <h6>: the page uses tags <h2> – <h6> to separate topics and make reading more fluid. Subheadings also include target keywords.
- Lisibility: the page should be readable, use simple sentences, avoid jargon, acronyms and use mainly the active voice.
- ALT attribute of image tags: images on the page contain alt attributes that are sufficiently descriptive when read on their own.
- Internal and external links: all links use descriptive and relevant anchor text. External links must be of high quality and open in a new window.
- Title title: no longer than 60 characters, includes target keywords and ends with the brand name.
- Meta-description: no longer than 160 characters and unique to each page.
- URL: must be short and relevant to the article. It uses hyphens, lower case letters and targeted keywords.
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