SEOs have long emphasized on the factors that impact offsite factors that impact the SERPs. However, a lot less has been talked about onsite SEO factors which have definitely helped many rank among the top results. Onsite factors also need to be considered very carefully if you want your website to rank higher. You need to recognize these important factors and use them to our advantage for better traffic to your website. Let us look at and discuss some of the most onsite content optimization tips that you need to work on to enhance your website’s SEO.
Meta Keywords
Meta keywords are not dead and will most probably never be. However, you need to use this space very intelligently. Do not push in as many keywords that come to your mind. Only add relevant keywords in the Meta tag keyword so that Google and other search engines only drive relevant traffic to your website. Never underestimate this tag’s ability to derive traffic. Ideally three to four keywords for every page should suffice. If you add too many keywords, it would become extremely difficult for your page to rank against anything.
Meta Description
The Meta tag keyword only tells the search engine what it must rank a web page against. However, when we are talking about meta description, it is recommend to be properly written. The users rely on it to decide on visiting or leaving a page. On the other hand, search engines also decide if the page that they are sending a visitor to is able to provide the desired information. A well written Meta tag description does not only improve your web page’s ranking but also directly adds to its relevance within the search engine. A well written Meta tag description also helps reduce bounce rate.
Title Tag
Catchy titles may or may not be a big deal to some. But do not fall for that trap that title tags do not matter. There are many ways in which title tags help improve your rankings online. The title needs to be interesting. It should directly add what has been addressed in the body. One of the misconceptions that a lot of content producers have started falling for is to increase CTR or click through ratio. They hardly care about the way these title tags impact the bounce rate. Always create title tags while keeping text below in perspective otherwise no matter how good the title it will only pull in more visitors who will not stay on your web page.
Alt Tag
Alt tag was originally designed to help web users know what was an image about if they could not see it due to slow internet. However, SEOs around the world have used alt tags to their advantage to get more traffic. Many modern SEOs who despite alt tags fail to understand the amount of traffic that is derived due to the image search. They only focus on other ways of optimizing images. However, they must know that Google sends a lot of traffic to image searches as well because we search for them all the time. Always make sure that the alt tag that you are using correctly describes the image. This will significantly increase relevant and organic traffic to your website.
URL Structure
URL structure is another important element that is often neglected by SEOs. A URL structure that does not support insertion of relevant content or keywords will only do harm and no good to your SEO cause. When you are selecting a URL structure, make sure that it contains title of the page in it or at least few relevant words from it. Otherwise, it will become difficult for search engines to categorize the content into appropriate categories. Many advanced and highly evolved CMS software allow you to choose the right type of permalink structure. For example, in WordPress you can make a lot of changes to the URL structure and make it look SEO friendly.
Use of Heading Tags
Heading tags use the specialized HTML tags that are built for the very same purpose. You can use H1, H2, and H3 tags too to distinguish different headings as per their importance. Headings are very beneficial for a web page. They make sure that your content is given proper structure. When you insert headings into content this also gives it a lot of structure. The readers can easily browse through and get to any particular part that they want. Google also likes headings instead loads of text and no breaks. No one has the time to find information that is hard to locate. Therefore, always intelligently use headings.
Internal Links
Internal link is not a science but an art. The ability to refer your readers to something relevant through anchor text links is not only important but also mandatory. You need to generate more content so that you can refer your own references as well. The idea is to ensure that you have covered the topics well enough that you do have something to refer on your website too and not sending your readers to someone else’s website every time there is something worth a read.
External Links
Domain authority has become an important measure through which search engines determine if they really need to send more traffic. A website that has more domain authority is considered usually an authentic source. However, in order to build domain authority, among other things, you must also share links of external sources too. This way Google and other search engines will know that you also care about your readers and are willing to accept useful reading sources for them. Therefore, never hesitate to give link to an external source if it is point on and does not astray.
Keyword Density
Keyword density is still there and it remains doubtful that search engines would ever let it go. There is no other way to determine about the content if Google fails to recognize and categorize content for its genre or type. Therefore make sure that you are using the right keyword density. The usual keyword density in the past was around 5% but that ratio has been reduced drastically. Now, you need to abide by 1 to 1.5% of keyword density in order to ensure that your content is not penalized. Do not overkill and even if you have used the keyword lesser by a few number of times it won’t matter much if you went for quality.
HTML Commenting
The code for any website needs to be clean. There are many developers who choose to ignore the fact that there are so many HTML comments placed in the website. Google and other search engines read everything when their robots visit a web page. Therefore, you need to make sure that you remove any PHP, HTML or other language comments into the web page created. Also, try to follow the clean coding conventions instead of falling for short outcomes, make sure that every bit of code is proper and avoid cutting corners.
Video Optimization
When you are including videos on your website, you need to make sure that they are able to bring traffic. In order to ensure that the videos that you have uploaded, you need to put in relevant tags that would help search engines know about the content within the video. Always make sure to take time to review the thumbnail preview image. Use the description for the video intelligently to make sure that the users are also able to understand it and you are not only able to increase CTR but also keep bounce rate in check.
Keyword Placement
The amount of keywords that go into a web page is very important. However this is not the only criterion to remember. You need to place the keyword at important places. The keyword must be placed inside the title of the web page. You also have to make sure that you do not put all the keywords in any given section of the blog. Spread them out evenly at the start, middle and end of the content. This will Google or other search engines will be continuously reminded of the topic of the content they are browsing.
Page Load Speed Time
Page load speed time has become an important part of Google algorithm. And as you would expect other search engines are following too. Therefore, make sure that you have a fast web hosting service. It has least amount of downtime and whenever visitors are visiting it, they are able to find see the pages much more quickly. Always keep in mind that page load speed time directly impacts the user experience and forms an important part of the onsite SEO factors. Therefore, never rely upon a service that is slow.
Responsiveness of Website
Lastly yet very importantly do not forget that you need to have a responsive website. Every search engine values a website that is equally accessible across all the browsers and platforms without any problems. Make sure that you have tested all the pages of your website before you think everything is in perfect working order. There are no exceptions to this rule and having a responsive website has become an unavoidable necessity.
