24 Onpage SEO Tips for Better Rankings
René is Ranking doc's co-founder and specialist for data-driven SEO. René is all about KPIs and performance to make every SEO campaign a measurable success.
#1 Use Header Tags
#2 Place your main keyword at the top
#3 Your keyword belongs in the URL
#4 Your keyword belongs in the meta description
#5 Use structured data
#6 Ensure a positive user experience
#7 Create summaries at the top of the content
#8 Don't forget your search intention
#9 Create only unique content
#10 The length of the content also matters
#11 Thin content is an on-page killer
#12 Enhance Onpage SEO with Multimedia
#13 Use synonyms
#14 Up-to-date content advances your rankings
#15 Do not neglect spelling and grammar
#16 Form simple and clear sentences
#17 Don't be afraid to put (good) external links
#18 Internal links as an on-page must-have
#19 Optimize images' alt tags
#20 A good user experience is the be-all and end-all
#21 Responsive website as an on-page must-have
#22 Think about your page speed
#23 The longer the dwell time, the better
#24 HTTPS is part of the on-page standard
#25 Conclusion: Improve Onpage SEO
Onpage SEO refers to the optimization of individual websites so that they rank higher in the search engines and bring more relevant traffic. Onpage means both the source code of a website and the existing content itself, i.e. everything that can be optimized on a website itself.
The counterpart to this is the so-called off page SEO, which refers to all backlinks and other external signals that a website can receive.
Below we give you our best tips on how to make your onpage SEO fit for 2020.
#1 Use Header Tags
Use the right header tags for each section's headings to give search engines and your users a clear picture of your page and the subtopics you cover in the text.
The title of the page should always be implemented as an H1 heading and the individual sections of the text H2 headings.
Note: The H1 headline should only exist once, as a single page can have only a single page title.
If you want to break down the individual sections even more deeply into companies, then follow the hierarchy and always use the next lower heading level.
Therefore, pay attention to a correct hierarchy that is logical and clear.
By the way, there is no maximum number for H2 headings. If an H2 heading makes sense, it should also be used.
In terms of keywords, you should place the main keyword in the H1 headline. In the other headings come either the main keyword or other secondary keywords.
However, be careful not to stuff the headlines with the keywords, but to use keywords naturally.
A correct heading structure therefore not only serves the ranking, but also the user-friendliness of your content.
#2 Place your main keyword at the top
The placement of keywords is still an important on-page SEO factor. The earlier the keyword appears in the content, the sooner the search engines can determine what your content is about.
As a result, you should place the keyword as early as possible in the introduction of the text, preferably in the first 50 – 100 words.
#3 Your keyword belongs in the URL
Even though the keyword in the URL is considered a rather small on-page ranking factor, experience has shown that it is still important to integrate the main keyword into the URLs of your website.
In addition, the shorter the URL, the better.
A short URL provides clarity and clarity.
#4 Your keyword belongs in the meta description
Although the meta description is not a ranking factor, it is an important pitch to direct users from Google search to your website.
The meta description is the first impression for many of your visitors to Google and as is so often the case in life, the first impression counts.
Pack the main keyword into your meta description so that the search engines can better understand your page and rank you for the main keyword.
In addition, you can use the meta description to design the content of your website in the search results on Google.
Be sure to make the meta description "clicky" in such a way that users definitely want to click on your result and not the result of your competitors.
In summary, this is how you design your perfect meta description:
Short and crisp: 1 – 2 sentences
Add keyword
Arouse curiosity to click on the result
Make them meaningful and vivid, matching your content
Avoid duplicate meta descriptions for multiple pages
#5 Use structured data
You should use all structured data (schema markup) that makes sense for your website.
This not only helps the search engines to understand the content of the entire website and the individual pages.
It also gives you the opportunity, for example, to enrich the presentation of your website in the search results in order to stand out from the other search results.
Since Google will continue to expand the search results pages (SERPs) in 2021, the Structured Data is essential for any website that wants to be among the top results and thus an important on-page SEO factor.
#6 Ensure a positive user experience
When writing your content, you should consider the user experience.
This means that the layout and formatting of the content should allow users to quickly and easily navigate through your content to find the answer to the question as easily as possible.
Factors that influence the user experience include:
Clear and simple headings such as subheadings
Visual content such as images or infographics
The division of the text into many, clear sections
The use of bulleted lists and info boxes
The better your content design, the more likely users are to consume your content and find the question that answers.
The user experience is an enormously important ranking factor, as Google is increasingly evaluating user signals and including them in the ranking.
#7 Create summaries at the top of the content
Anyone who has recently observed Google's search results will notice that more and more so-called featured snippets are being played.
Google pulls the information for the featured snippets from the websites that are available for this search query on the first search results page.
If you write a short summary for your content at the top of the page and there are certain search queries on the first search results page, you increase the likelihood that Google will play your summary in a featured snippet, if a small summary is required.
In addition, summaries at the beginning of a text also help your users so that they immediately know what your content is about.
#8 Don't forget your search intention
The so-called search intention defines the intention of a searcher with his own search.
Since Google can now evaluate very well what needs the users have and what makes a good search experience, Google rewards content that is valuable and relevant for the searchers.
An example: If a user enters the search phrase "Most Beautiful Restaurants Hamburg", he does not expect a 3,000-word article about Hamburg, but he expects a list of the most beautiful restaurants in Hamburg. If you don't list the most beautiful or best restaurants in Hamburg in your content, you probably won't rank for it, no matter how good your content is.
This means that if you want to reach the top spots on Google for a particular search term or phrase, look at the current search results for it and try to derive what the searcher expects with that search query.
#9 Create only unique content
If search engines don't like one thing, it's Duplicate Content – a real on-page SEO killer.
If you have two or more pieces of content on your site that contain the same text, then Google is confused and doesn't know what content or page to rank.
As a result, both contents or pages will not rank well.
In addition, Google tries to keep the so-called crawl budget, i.e. the amount of pages to be crawled, as low as possible.
This means that if you have duplicate content, Google will have to duplicate all the content or pages unnecessarily and will punish you with bad rankings.
Remember: Search engines love unique content.
#10 The length of the content also matters
Studies manifest that long texts on average outperform the short texts and rank better.
The term "long" is subjective and varies from industry to industry.
The colleagues from Backlinko found that the texts of the first Google results page contain an average of 1,890 words.
This correlation of the long texts with the high rankings is due to the fact that longer texts usually deal with a topic more comprehensively than shorter texts and provide more information.
But beware: Do not forget the search intention, because not for every keyword is automatically helpful a lot of text.
#11 Thin content is an on-page killer
When you provide content on your website, make sure that it is as valuable as possible so as not to upset search engines or users.
Thin content is a bloodlust in the on-page SEO area.
Your content on your website, as already mentioned, should not only consist of many words, but also illuminate the content of the topics covered in sufficient depth and really provide all the relevant information that the user needs to satisfy his need for information.
Don't just write on your company website that you offer certain services, but try to describe your individual services in as much detail as possible and reveal all the relevant information that a potential customer needs.
A perfect performance text contains the following sections:
What services are offered?
What advantages does the customer experience as a result or how is his life improved as a result?
For whom is this service best suited?
Which references are already available?
What questions are often asked about this service?
The more deeply the topics covered are examined, the more valuable the content is classified and ranked by the search engines.
Anyone who does not convey any added value in their content in today's world, in which about 4 million new blog articles are published per day, will not rank.
#12 Enhance Onpage SEO with Multimedia
Use appropriate media content such as images, infographics and videos. The use of this media content can help to:
increase the dwell time,
reduce the bounce rate,
and push the sharing of your posts.
In addition, good media content increases the likelihood that other domains will link to you and you will receive valuable backlinks.
#13 Use synonyms
Due to the so-called "semantic search", you can now rank for keywords that do not even appear in your texts.
This is often the case with topics that are closely related or have different names.
This means, for example, that you can also rank for the keyword "pasta" with a text about "pasta".
So always use the common synonyms of your main keyword to make sure that you also rank for the semantically related keywords.
But beware: Different synonyms of a keyword can be associated with a different search intention. If this is the case, you should create a separate text for each of these keywords, which serves the corresponding search intention to rank.
#14 Up-to-date content advances your rankings
Google loves fresh and up-to-date content. That's why the timeliness of a piece of content has a significant effect on your rankings.
Since Google displays the date of the last update of an article, it can be deduced from this that Google evaluates this information and takes it into account in the ranking.
Furthermore, a current date in the search results increases the likelihood that users will click on your search result. You certainly wouldn't click on a result on SEO Trends 2021, which was last updated in 2018, would you?
#15 Do not neglect spelling and grammar
Google and other search engines have already officially confirmed several times that you should pay attention to spelling and grammar in your content, as the search engines prefer error-free content.
This does not mean that this is an official ranking factor and a piece of content is removed directly from the index due to a small spelling mistake.
As the Google Webmaster Guidelines reveal with regard to content, correct spelling and grammar are associated with high-quality content. That's why you should make sure to create content that is as error-free as possible – for the sake of your users and your on-page SEO.
#16 Form simple and clear sentences
The Google update BERT (October 2019) has no direct influence on the evaluation of the content, as it only refers to the search queries of the users themselves.
Voice searches can thus be better understood and served.
Nevertheless, it can be deduced from this how the content should be designed in the future. Of course, the content should be formulated. Clear and simple sentences should preferably be chosen so that the search query and search result can be better matched.
Avoid long and confusing sentence chains. Make it easy for a voice assistant to understand and play your content.
#17 Don't be afraid to put (good) external links
When evaluating your content, the search engines also consult the outgoing links to determine the overall value of the content.
As a result, you should always explicitly mention the sources you use when creating your content in the form of quotes and links.
This will have a positive effect on the authority of your page.
#18 Internal links as an on-page must-have
An internal link is a link that links from one page of your website to another relevant page of your website.
On the one hand, this creates a higher added value for the reader of the text, as he receives additional content that fits thematically to the current content.
On the other hand, a good internal link makes it easier for search engines to crawl your other website.
In addition, the so-called link juice can be passed on through an internal link, so that the linked page benefits, for example, from the high authority of the linking page.
This means that the authority of a page of your website can be increased by an internal link from a very authoritarian page. And a high authority has a very positive effect on the ranking of this site.
When linking internally, make sure to always choose a good anchor text so that the search engines can better classify the linked page.
Therefore, write not only the link of one of your pages in the content, but one or more words, which you then link to the corresponding link.
#19 Optimize images' alt tags
Like the other HTML tags of a website, the alt tags help Google to interpret the images of your website correctly.
Since the search engines cannot interpret the images visually, we help them to understand what an image shows by means of a description in the alt tag.
In addition, more and more websites are being designed to be barrier-free so that people with disabilities can also use them without any problems. For Internet users with impaired vision, alt tags are an important feature to better understand websites.
It cannot be ruled out that Google could therefore give more weight to alt tags in the future.
#20 A good user experience is the be-all and end-all
Even if the user experience is not a direct ranking factor, it is still important for the rankings.
Google is now able to evaluate many parameters from which the user experience can be derived. The better these parameters such as dwell time, page views and Co., the higher the probability of good rankings.
A good user experience is created by:
Good and intuitive navigation
Good content design
Mobile responsive Websites
Fast loading times
Clear and logical page architecture
Therefore, make sure that your website and your menu structure are not overloaded with unnecessary things and that users like to visit your website.
The better the user experience, the more satisfied the search engines and customers are.
#21 Responsive website as an on-page must-have
At the latest since Google's "mobile-friendly update" from 2015, a website should be mobile responsive in order to be a top result in Google search.
This means that if your website and content isn't well representable on mobile devices like smartphones and iPads, it will be difficult to rank as a relevant result and rank high by Google.
This was reinforced with the "mobile-first indexing" update from 2018.
If you want to test whether your website is displayed optimally on mobile devices, you can check this with this Google test tool.
#22 Think about your page speed
Since 2010, the loading speed of a website has been an officially confirmed ranking factor by Google.
The faster a website loads, the better users will find it and the better the website can rank.
A slow website can therefore cost you rankings as well as users or money in the long term.
Walmart, for example, found that for every second that page load time was improved, conversions (customer completes a purchase online at Walmart) increased by 2%.
Make sure you compress your images on the site as much as possible and, for example, don't use inline CSS to keep the loading speed fast.
#23 The longer the dwell time, the better
Dwell time is the amount of time a user spends on your site consuming your content after they find you in Google Search.
The length of stay can basically be divided into three possibilities:
The user comes to your website, sees the content and leaves immediately.
The user comes to your website, sees the content, consumes it and finds it helpful.
The user comes to your website, sees the content, consumes it, can't get enough of it and stays there for a long time.
Google uses this dwell time as a quality indicator. The longer a user stays on your site, the better.
If users leave your website directly or only stay shortly afterwards because they only scan the content for a short time, that's a less good sign for Google.
There are various SEO techniques that you can use to make the content so exciting that users stay on your website for as long as possible.
#24 HTTPS is part of the on-page standard
Since 2014, Google's stated goal has been to make the Internet safer.
Therefore, the search engine prefers websites that have a so-called HTTPS encryption.
Since it is an officially confirmed ranking factor, you should definitely bet on HTTPS and no longer on HTTP.
Conclusion: Improve Onpage SEO
Not all on-page SEO ranking factors are weighted equally. Our experience shows that some factors are much more important than others.
These are our top 7 that you should focus on first if you want to get your website ready for 2021:
Up-to-date of the content
Internal linking
Meta description
Mobile Responsive Website
Page speed
Search intention
After you have taken these factors into account in your on-page optimization, you should consider the other factors below.
Use this article as a checklist that you can consult again and again if you want to create new content.
Use this article as a checklist that you can consult again and again if you want to create new content.
Finally, it can be said that the weighting of individual factors can vary depending on the niche or industry.
While in some areas the EAT factors (Expertise, Authority and Trustworthy) are of paramount importance, in other areas, for example, page speed plays an important role.
Accordingly, be sensitized to your area and test what is most important for your website.
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