In SEO, there are many factors that need to be considered so that a website can quickly rank up in the SERP or search results. To facilitate practice, SEO is divided into two types, namely on-page SEO and off-page SEO. In this article, we will discuss what on page SEO is and how to optimize it.
How to optimize on-page SEO for a website is not as easy as one might imagine. However, if done diligently, of course it will produce results. This time, Erzedka will discuss On-Page SEO Techniques with a more comprehensive and easy-to-understand explanation even for beginners.
On-Page SEO is a factor that can affect page rank. The better the optimization is done, the greater the chance for web pages to be displayed on the first page of search results for search engines like Google.
If your site is displayed on the first page of search results, of course, the chances of your site being visited are even greater. Especially if your site is ranked top on the first page of search results. This will also have an impact on the number of visitors or your followers, because the more visitors, the greater the possibility of being followed or purchased by services and products.
In essence, this optimization is one way to increase website traffic among many other ways. Immediately, see how to optimize the website on-page SEO below!
What Is On-Page SEO?
On page SEO is the practice of SEO optimization carried out on published content. How to optimize on page SEO focuses on the factors that are in the content. In simple terms, on page SEO can be interpreted as an optimization step to improve the quality of content so that it is easy to read and understand for website or blog readers.
Simply, On-page SEO is an activity carried out to optimize web pages, so as to improve website search engine rankings and get organic traffic. This can include keyword research, image optimization, faster page load times, improved title tags, better alt text, and much more.
Where the better your on-page SEO score, the higher your page's visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). Not only that, a good on-page SEO method will also make it easier for search engines to understand the content context and relevance of your website to the keywords you are looking for.
What are the Ways to Optimise the Web page for SEO?
There are at least 15 on page SEO strategies that you can do. From fixing permalinks to being simple to changing link settings to open in new tabs. What are the steps? Check out the explanation below!
1. Use Simple Permalinks
Simple permalinks are one of the main indicators of how to optimize on page SEO. A simple permalink will make it easier for search engines to recognize the topics you cover. Ideally, the permalink should only contain the focus keyword that you are targeting.
For example, say you're targeting the keyword men's watches. The ideal permalink for the content is something like this:
www.yourwebsite.com/men-watch
Unfortunately, WordPress creates your permalinks like this by default:
www.yourwebsite.com/2019/05/article title
So you need to change it independently. Relax, how to change the permalink structure is quite easy. You only need to open the WordPress dashboard then click Settings > Permalink. After that, select the Post Name permalink structure and click Save.
Finished! Now your website's permalink structure is simple and easy for Google to recognize.
2. Create a Compelling Content Title
When people search for a keyword on Google, they may only see the title and short description of your content in the search results. So you need to make the title as attractive as possible so that people are immediately interested in reading your content.
You can add numbers or adjectives to make the title of the article interesting. According to the Content Marketing Institute, titles with numbers perform 45 percent better than titles without numbers. As an example:
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That said, not all of your content is suitable for using numbers in the title. Of course, you don't have to be strict about always using numbers in your title. There are many other variations of titles that can also attract the attention of readers in the way of on page SEO optimization.
3. Add Image or Video
Content that contains only text is certainly very boring for readers. Apart from being boring, content without any visual media will also be tiring to read. So make sure to add at least one or two images to each of your content.
Even better if you add visual media like videos. According to Vidyard, articles with videos have a 53 times greater chance of appearing on the first page of Google search results than articles without videos.
4. Image Optimization
In the third point, how to optimize on page SEO, we recommend adding images to your content. So that the images you add can improve the quality of on-page SEO, there are a number of things you need to pay attention to.
First, don't forget to optimize the images you add. That is, make sure the size of the image is not too large. Large images will only slow down website loading. Therefore, you need to reduce the size of the image. At least the size of one image is not more than 100KB.
You can take advantage of image compression services such as TinyPNG, ILoveIMG, Trimage, Kraken, and OptiPNG. These services will help you reduce the size of the image without reducing its quality.
Second, give the file name according to the focus keyword that you are targeting. A file name that matches the focus keyword can help the image appear in Google Image Search.
Third, change the alt text according to the focus keyword. Alt text or alternative text functions to help Google identify the topics that you discuss in the content. In addition, the right alt text also makes it easier for images to appear in image search results.
To change the alt text, click on the image then on the right side you will see settings like this. Change the alt text according to the focus keywords you are targeting. If there are multiple images in a piece of content, you can modify the alt text with its derived or LSI keywords.
5. Make use of Headings and Subheadings
The next way to optimize on page SEO, you have to make it easier for readers to read content. You need to create a content structure that is clear and easy to understand. One way to create an easy-to-understand content structure is to use headings and subheadings.
Headings and subheadings serve to break your article into sections. Simply put, headings and subheadings are chapters and subchapters like in a book. With headings and subheadings, it will be easier for readers to find the important points they need.
Apart from that, headings and subheadings also help search engines understand your content. Headings make it easy for search engine bots to crawl content and see it as the subject matter of the content.
WordPress provides Heading 1 to Heading 6. Heading 1 is usually automatically used as a title. So what you can use next is Heading 2 to Heading 6. However, usually you only need up to Heading 4. In each of these headings, you should enter the focus keyword or its derivatives.
6. Put Focus Keywords in the First 100 Words
In addition to the title, the first paragraph must also make a good first impression on the reader. You have to be to the point about what you will convey in the content. So it's best to put the focus keyword in the first 100 words if possible.
Even so, not all focus keywords are suitable to be placed in the first 100 words. If it's not possible, you don't need to force it to put the focus keyword in the first paragraph. With notes, you make the first paragraph interesting and clear so that the reader immediately knows what you will discuss in the article.
7. Use Responsive Themes (Mobile Friendly)
By a responsive theme, we mean a theme that is compatible with any device. Whether opened on a desktop, tablet or mobile device, your website will still run well and be responsive.
Unfortunately not all WordPress themes are responsive. So you have to be careful before choosing an SEO friendly WordPress theme for your website. Make sure the theme you choose is responsive on all devices, especially mobile devices.
What's more, Google has now implemented an on page SEO optimization method with mobile first indexing which requires website owners to create mobile friendly websites. With the Google Mobile First Index, Google now assesses website performance through the mobile version of the website. If your mobile version of the website results in poor performance, it will most likely have a negative effect on the overall quality of the website's search engine optimization.
8. Insert Outbound Links
When creating content, try to have at least one link to another website or outbound link. However, not a random website, huh. Make sure the website you use as a referral source has a good reputation.
Outbound links serve to show that the content you create has a credible source. With a link that points to the appropriate referral source, your content is also considered to have the same topic as the referral website.
9. Maximize Internal Links
Not only outbound links, you also need to maximize internal links in terms of on page SEO optimization. Internal links are links that point to other content on your website. This type of link is important to make it easier for readers to move from one content to another on your website.
In addition, internal links also help search engines to understand the context and relationships between pages on the website. Google prioritizes websites whose content is interconnected. And through internal links, you can show the connection between content on your website.
10. Increase Website Speed
Slow website loading will only frustrate visitors and then leave your website. The more people who leave your website, the higher the bounce rate. A high bounce rate will certainly have a negative effect on the quality of your SEO.
Therefore, you must increase the speed of your website. Now try to check how fast the loading speed of your website is. You can check it using one of these 10 tools.
If your website loading speed is still above 5 seconds, you should start being vigilant. Because according to Google research, 53 percent of visitors leave websites that load more than 3 seconds.
What do you need to do to increase website speed? There are many steps needed to speed up loading a blog or website.
11. Use LSI Keywords
You really need to repeat the focus keyword several times in one content for how to optimize on page SEO. However, that doesn't mean you can overdo it. Repeating keywords excessively will only make Google think of your content as spam.
To work around this, you can use LSI keywords. LSI keywords are keywords that still have a similar meaning to the keywords you are targeting.
Why do you need to use LSI keywords? Because the keywords provided by the keyword tool are usually the result of homogenizing several similar keywords. As a result, the variations of keywords given are limited.
Even though not everyone uses the exact same key. The reality is that people use a wide variety of keywords to search for a topic. So, variations of these keywords are called LSI keywords. To find LSI keywords, you can use services such as LSIGraph or LSIKeywords. For maximum optimization results, you can also insert LSI into the meta description.
12. Add Social Media Share Buttons
Even though shares on social media don't directly affect SEO quality, you can't ignore them. Social media can help you reach and build new audiences across multiple platforms.
Moreover, Indonesian people are known to be active on social media. Based on the 2017 APJII research, 87 percent of Indonesian internet users use the internet to open social media. The hope is that your readers will share your content with their friends and followers on social media.
So that readers can easily share content, you need to add share buttons to all of your website content. That way, they only need to press the share button and automatically share content on the social media of their choice.
To add share buttons on social media, you can use share plugins like AddToAny and MasShare. There are many social media plugins that you can choose from.
13. Pay Attention to Content Length
The number of words in the content is also an on-page SEO indicator that you need to pay attention to. There is no exact number of words that must be in the content. Because the determination of the number of words is always different depending on the targeted keywords and competitor content. Maybe you need to create 800 words of content for keyword A, while for keyword B, you have to create 2000 words of content.
You need to measure how long your content should be. The trick is to look at the word count of competitors' content. At least look at the number of content words that are in the top three rankings of search results. After that, create content that has the same number of words or more than competitors.
14. Make Sure to Create Quality and Solutive Content
Apart from the number of words, another thing that must be considered when writing SEO friendly articles is the quality itself. Without good quality, no matter how many words you write, it will be difficult to win the competition in Google search results.
What is quality content like?
Content should answer readers' questions. When they type a keyword into a search engine, what they expect is an answer. So make sure to provide relevant information according to the searcher's needs.
15. Set Links to Open in New Tab
Maybe opening a link in a new tab looks trivial, but it can improve the quality of the experience for your website visitors. Imagine, if there are three or four links in one article, readers need to press the back button repeatedly to return to the first content. Apart from being tiring for readers, it is also feared that opening links in the same tab will increase the bounce rate.
Unfortunately, WordPress automatically sets up readers to open links in the same tab. So you need to change these settings independently. No need to worry because the method is very easy.
How Will you Optimise On-Page SEO?
In SEO, there are many factors that need to be considered so that a website can rank up in SERPs or search results quickly. To make practice easier, SEO is divided into two types, namely on page SEO and off page SEO.
That's how to optimize your On-Page SEO website or blog that you can do. But keep in mind, there are no instant results for SEO. You need to do it consistently, monitoring all of your content or site every time. You need to continue to look for other SEO knowledge according to existing information and technology developments.
Closing
Doing on page SEO optimization is one of the best solutions for how to increase your blog traffic. On page SEO optimization is also not difficult. By implementing the 15 steps above, you have improved the quality of on page SEO well.