Introduction: How to use this article

This article was written in order to help you choose the right SEO activities for your website. We classified all the important on-page SEO techniques and factors in alignment with Google Algorithm, so you can see which of the tasks are the most valuable for your website and which can be done with lower priority. If you are looking for off-page SEO techniques, please read my another article.

The article consists of three sections – Content, HTML and Architecture, as these are the pillars of the on-page SEO. We parted each of the sections into three segments, indicating how much each of the factors will influence your Google ranks and called them respectively: +15 to SEO score, +10 to SEO and +5 to SEO score. This way, you can easily see which of the factors are the ones to focus on!

Section 1: Content

On-page SEO content is a content created with Search Engine Optimization in mind. That means that whenever you write new content for your website you need to have in mind what Search Engine will look for looking at your website.

1.1 Quality

Search Engines are getting better and better at prioritizing the good quality content over the one that’s made with them in mind. How do they do it? They see how visitors react on your content. The better quality the content, the longer the visitors will stay on your page, as they are genuinely interested in what you have to say and want to read on.

That’s why the most important thing is to write content that will give your visitors good quality information on the topic you write about. Make sure all your links are working, avoid misspellings and grammatical mistakes. Keep your sentences short and understandable. Make sure that nothing distracts your readers (e.g. too many ad banners), as this can result in them not reading your text till the end. (+15 to SEO score)

1.2 Keyword Strategy

Keyword strategy is an essential on-page SEO technique to getting ranked high on Google. To develop a strong keyword strategy, make sure to rely on keywords strongly connected to your business. Come up with a long list of keywords your potential customers would be interested in researching within your industry.

You can do it in many ways, e.g. by checking your competitors’ websites for phrases and blog topic ideas. You could also try writing down your keyword in Google search and instead of clicking on a Search button, focus on the suggestions that Google displays below. You can also use Google Keyword Planner or similar tools, like SEMrush, that based on the keyword you write down, will come up with a list of suggested phrases that people search for online.

After you’ve come up with your keyword list, use one of the tools mentioned above to analyze the amount of monthly search and the keyword difficulty scores for each of the keywords.

Choose only the keywords that have the best ratio between the two – meaning the highest monthly searches and the lowest keyword difficulty. (+15 to SEO score)

1.3 Keywords

Keywords you are using on your website are very important as a on-page SEO factor. They can be seen as a bridge between your website (so the content you want your audience to read) and your audience (so people who would be interested in your business). Therefore, while choosing your keywords, make sure these are the phrases your audience would use to search for the topics you write about. (+10 to SEO score)

1.4 Descriptive

More descriptive content usually means both more keywords (which are naturally placed and not stuffed in your text) and approaching the topic more in depth. The more in depth the content, the less the visitor will feel the need to visit another, similar page (e.g. of your competitor!), because you will answer all their questions in one place. (+10 to SEO score)

1.5 Broad

Create content for every level of the sales funnel. Think of what questions your audience would ask on each step of their buyers’ journey. Write them down and start answering each and every one of them. You can make them into articles or blog posts. That can be a great way of attracting more visitors to your website. The more you write about the topics related to your business the more the search engines will see you as an expert in your field and will send more traffic your way! (+10 to SEO score)

1.6 Updated

Try to refresh some of the old articles you’ve written by working on a new, more catchy title, changing meta description, adding some internal links to your text etc.

Google wants you to keep updating your content, so it never goes out of date and keeps being useful to your audience.

These changes take much less time than writing a whole new article and a refreshed article can bring a lot of new traffic to your website. (+5 to SEO score)

Section 2: HTML

HTML refers to the code that your website is written in. Also from this level there are many changes you should consider in order to get better Google ranks. All of the activities mentioned in this chapter can also be implemented by using your Content Management System (e.g. WordPress), without coding knowledge.

2.1 Title tags

Title tags are extremely important to your Google rankings. To optimize your title tag, write a title that includes the most relevant keywords for the page. Keep it short and coherent, up to 50-60 characters.

Title tag is a <Title> element found in the <head> section of your website’s HTML code. Title tag is extremely important, because it appears as the title of a search result for your page in Google. Title tags let the readers know what they can read about after clicking on the link to your page. Search engines use it to find out what your page is about – that’s why it has an important place in Google algorithm. (+15 to SEO score)

2.2 H1 tag

Header 1 (or in some CMS – Heading 1) is the most important header you should make sure to always include on your page. It’s a great idea to write your main keywords within the Hl. Remember that you should only have one Header 1 per page. It shouldn’t be too long (like title tag – it should be between 50-60 characters) and your keyword should be only used once, so don’t try to overdo it.

Always remember to write for your audience in the first place, while still having in mind the SEO rules. Make sure your headline is interesting and attention-catching – usually using one of your keywords in the headline will follow naturally. (+15 to SEO score)

2.3 First 200 words

Make sure to insert some of your main keywords and phrases in the first 200 words of your text. The first words you use are the most important not only for the search engines but also for the readers – most readers will never get all the way down your text, so by putting your keywords in the introduction you can make them more curious and interested in reading the rest. (+10 to SEO score)

2.4 Meta description

Meta description plays a very important role on your page – it’s a short description of what your page is about and it can be seen in Google’s (and other search engine’s) search results. It’s the first thing that people interested in the topic you write about will see, before actually visiting your website – that’s why it’s very important to make the description interesting and include your main keywords in it to let both Google and your audience know what your page is about. Keep your meta description within 160 characters. (+10 to SEO score)

2.5 Body

Your keywords and phrases should be in between 1-3% of the whole content of your page. This amount is enough to show Google what you are writing about, and it’s not too much so you are not overdoing it and Google will not penalize you for it. Also remember that your text should be more than 400 words. Google likes in-depth content and in-depth usually equals long! (+10 to SEO score)

2.6 URL

Your main keyword should be a part of your page’s address. It’s yet another way of making it easier for Google to realise what your page is about. (+5 to SEO score)

2.7 H2-H3 tags

Even though Headers 2 and 3 are much less important than Header 1, it still gives you a few Google Algorithm points to use these on your page. You don’t need to put your keywords in each of them – remember, first and foremost you need to sound natural to your reader – nobody likes reading content that has been written with search engine in mind! (+5 to SEO score)

Section 3: Architecture

Website architecture is a way of structuring your website. It’s main goal is making the user experience better through the design and planning of the technical, visual and functional components of your website. Search engines will prioritize the websites with the better architecture, since they are more user-friendly.

3.1 Crawlable

Crawlability is search engine’s ability to access content on your pages and be able to crawl it. When search engine’s crawler is able to crawl your website, it saves it to its index. Therefore, it’s extremely important for SEO to have your website crawlable – otherwise, it will not appear in Google search results.

You can make your website easier to crawl by working on your site’s structure and build an internal link structure, which will allow the crawlers to easily reach even the pages hidden deep on your website. You can also make sure you don’t have any broken links on your pages and use technology that supports crawlability (e.g. if you gate a page behind a form, the crawler will not be able to “get through” the form). (+15 to SEO score)

3.2 Mobile-Friendly

With the majority Google searches being done from mobile devices it is easy to realise how important it is for our websites to be well-prepared for mobile visitors. It also gains more and more priority in Google Algorithm, so the better prepared for mobile you are the higher in Google rank you can get. These two reasons are more than enough to consider making your website design fully responsive. With responsive design, your website will change its content and layout accordingly to the device it’s seen on.

When designing for mobile users, also make sure that your text is easily readable on small screens, create fun content in HTMLS (not Flash), keep your pages design clean, with a lot of white, negative space, so it looks “lighter”, adjust your button sizes, so they are easy to click on and be very careful with adding pop-ups to your page – they can be hard to close on a small screen and are even more annoying on mobile. (+15 to SEO score)

3.3 Speed

The loading speed of your page is an important factor in your page’s Google rank. The ideal loading time of a page should be no longer than 3 seconds. Remember, that making your loading time short is not only important for your Google ranks, but even more importantly, for making your visitors stay on your website.

To make your page speed faster try to pick a host for it that fits the size of your business. Be careful with putting too many ads on your page as well as adding photos that are too large. Also, make sure that your theme is not too heavy. (+10 to SEO score)

3.4 Canonical tags

Duplicate content is seen as something negative by Google, when it crawls your website. Sometimes however, duplicate content is needed on the website and cannot be avoided. In these cases, canonical tags should be used, to tell Google which is the original content, that it should crawl, index and return on SERPs. (+10 to SEO score)

3.5 Https

HTTPS was created to make your website more safe for the visitors. It helps you make transactions on your website secure and allows authorization. Since Google will always favour websites that are certified and can be trusted, it shouldn’t be as a surprise, that changing from HTTP to HTTPS will give you a boost in the Google ranks. Besides some extra points from Google, HTTPS gives a clear sign to your customers that your website is safe to buy from and adds to your company’s credibility. (+5 to SEO score)

3.6 Sitemap

A sitemap is a list of all the pages that are a part of your website.
By using a sitemap, you can help search engines in getting a full overview of all your pages and understand the structure behind your site.
This way, even the newest pages and the ones nested deeply in your site’s structure will be visible to the search engine and you can start ranking for them. (+5 to SEO score)

You may also like my article talking about the top 3 on-page SEO factors that contribute over 95% of all.

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