Onpage Optimisation

What is Onpage SEO?

SEO (search engine optimisation) is the process of tweaking ranking factors with the purpose of boosting organic search ranking. Onpage SEO, sometimes also called onpage optimisation, is the practice of improving on-page ranking factors (elements within your website) to enhance user experience and increase organic web traffic. 

Optimise Your Title Length

Although coming up with a title for your content may seem easy, you should put more thought into it because it may just make or break your SEO strategy. Making an impression is always a priority when you want to stand out and be noticed. When people browse SERP (search engine results pages), the first thing they see are titles. In the few precious seconds they first see the SERP, your title determines whether you get a click or an impression.

When coming up with a good title, strike a balance between catchy and relevant. On the one hand, you want your title to stand out and grab people’s attention; on the other hand, you can’t simply put click-baity titles and not deliver the content your title promises. You also want to keep your titles short. According to research conducted by MOZ, your titles should be 50-60 characters long so you’ll have 90% chance of Google displaying your title the way you wanted it to.

Write A Good Meta Description

Metadata has always been an important part of SEO. Meta descriptions are the words that appear underneath your title in the SERP. These are the second most important thing when making a good first impression. After people notice your title, they usually read the description underneath before deciding to click on your page or go past it. Although meta descriptions themselves don’t directly influence rankings, they influence click-through rate, perceived quality of content, and expected result (whether your content will answer their query or not). To optimise your meta description, draft a summary of your content in 50-160 characters and make sure to convey the value your content will provide potential readers. It’s important that your meta description builds on your title as well since Google could use this as a snippet in the SERP to give people an idea of what they are going to get should they click on your page.

Create Relevant Content

Though Google, the world’s biggest search engine, used to crawl pages for content keywords only, they retired this feature in 2016 in an effort to shift towards content relevance. Keywords still remain relevant in 2020 but cramming as many keywords as possible within a webpage, a strategy used by traditional SEO, will no longer work and can even be detrimental to your page rankings if people find your content irrelevant and leave quickly. Instead, you ought to communicate clearly what your website offers and what value your pages can give the user. According to Alexa Blog, 80% of online searches are questions. Onpage SEO ensures that you answer these questions in a satisfying manner. If before you need only pick a keyword or set of keywords and use it in the title and several times in the body, now you need to pick a keyword, find other keywords that are related to it, and use these altogether throughout your article to answer questions people ask. 

Build Onpage Links

There are two kinds of onpage links that help your website rank better — internal and external links. Internal links are links that link to other pages in your website. Internal link building is important because it helps search engines determine how valuable a content is; additionally, linking popular pages to less popular pages boosts rankings of both popular and not so popular pages. Meanwhile external links are those that link one website to another. Having plenty of external links in your pages is also valuable because they give search engines a better understanding of your niche.

Images

If you’ve ever stumbled on an article that has plenty of words but no pictures, you would understand why most people leave that page in search of other content. It’s because pictures talk. With so much information available today, people notice images more than words. Onpage SEO takes advantage of this and tries to use images to help convey the message of its content. To do so effectively, use original photos as much as you can and make sure that the photo encapsulates what you wish to say. Also, take note that search engines not only crawl pages for words, they also crawl images. Hence you can also use images to rank. To do this, you must first make sure they have appropriate file names so you can give search engines an idea what it’s about. Also, don’t forget to include relevant keywords in the Alt text or alternative text. Putting the image close to relevant keywords in your content also helps. Lastly, choose the appropriate file format (JPEG, PNG, or GIF) and keep your file sizes as small as possible to let your page load as fast as it can.

Create Relevant Content

Though Google, the world’s biggest search engine, used to crawl pages for content keywords only, they retired this feature in 2016 in an effort to shift towards content relevance. Keywords still remain relevant in 2020 but cramming as many keywords as possible within a webpage, a strategy used by traditional SEO, will no longer work and can even be detrimental to your page rankings if people find your content irrelevant and leave quickly. Instead, you ought to communicate clearly what your website offers and what value your pages can give the user. According to Alexa Blog, 80% of online searches are questions. Onpage SEO ensures that you answer these questions in a satisfying manner. If before you need only pick a keyword or set of keywords and use it in the title and several times in the body, now you need to pick a keyword, find other keywords that are related to it, and use these altogether throughout your article to answer questions people ask. 

Build Onpage Links

There are two kinds of onpage links that help your website rank better — internal and external links. Internal links are links that link to other pages in your website. Internal link building is important because it helps search engines determine how valuable a content is; additionally, linking popular pages to less popular pages boosts rankings of both popular and not so popular pages. Meanwhile external links are those that link one website to another. Having plenty of external links in your pages is also valuable because they give search engines a better understanding of your niche.

Images

If you’ve ever stumbled on an article that has plenty of words but no pictures, you would understand why most people leave that page in search of other content. It’s because pictures talk. With so much information available today, people notice images more than words. Onpage SEO takes advantage of this and tries to use images to help convey the message of its content. To do so effectively, use original photos as much as you can and make sure that the photo encapsulates what you wish to say. Also, take note that search engines not only crawl pages for words, they also crawl images. Hence you can also use images to rank. To do this, you must first make sure they have appropriate file names so you can give search engines an idea what it’s about. Also, don’t forget to include relevant keywords in the Alt text or alternative text. Putting the image close to relevant keywords in your content also helps. Lastly, choose the appropriate file format (JPEG, PNG, or GIF) and keep your file sizes as small as possible to let your page load as fast as it can.

532m, one of Australia’s pioneers for SEO services, offers free page auditing. Do you know if your website is optimised for onpage SEO? Have your page audited for free today to find out! Send us a message now.