How to Optimize On-Page SEO with Zero to Little Knowledge

New SEOs often confuse keyword placement with On-page SEO Optimization. Although keyword placement should be done, it’s still a tiny part of the whole story.

Plus, it’s not as important as it used to be, there are many other factors which I’ll be talking about here.

Nonetheless, On-Page stays the easiest part among the other family members like Off-Page and technical SEO.

So if you are done with your keyword research, and have written your content, this guide will help you with the optimization part.

1. Optimize your Title Tag

In almost all cases, we use our H1 tags as titles. So it makes sense to put your keyword within your title or H1 tag.

However, sometimes, your title might sound grammatically wrong when you try to use the exact keyword. So instead, you can try a variant that can go well with your title. For example:

Consider the targeted keyword as ‘optimizing on-page SEO' for this post. But I’ve used ‘Optimize On-Page SEO' in this post.

This also makes sure that your title sounds natural because that’s what readers are going to see in the SERPs.

Small tip. Keep your title under 60 characters to display it properly on the search engine results page. Use common sense and be creative about it.

2. Optimize your URLs

Always create short and specific URLs so that a user can understand what a particular page is about. Actually, it’s not just about the user but search engines also.

Search engines also read it like humans to understand the content a URL holds. So be logical and personally customize your URLs before publishing your content.

Example. Let’s say you run a blog about men’s shirts so here are two URLs from one of the blogs you’re going to write:

Bad URL: https://www.mensshirt.com/blog221457

Good URL: https://www.mensshirt.com/trending-white-shirts

The reason why one is good and the other is bad is because of clarity. A good URL instantly tells you what the page is going to be. Hence, more clicks on the SERPs.

Small Tip. You can edit your URL slug (part of the URL after the domain) using most of the CMS’. Editing means keeping it simple and short. Include your keyword but use a variation wherever necessary.

3. Optimize your Meta Description

It’s no secret that meta description and meta keyword are not SEO ranking factors. But you can still optimize it to get more clicks from the organic search page.

This is interesting because CTR (click-through rate) might improve your rankings indirectly. So here are some tips on writing an amazing meta description:

• Keep it under 120 characters.
• Include your keyword.
• Keep the search intent in mind.
• Mention the USPs of the article/blog.

Small tip. Google might not even include your version of a meta description, plus it’s not going to hurt your SEO in that sense either. Therefore don’t stress too much on this part.

4. Optimize Internal and External Links

Using internal and external links correctly can improve your site’s visibility and helps the user to understand your website. Therefore both types have different benefits.

Benefits of internal links: When a reader is roaming around your website, it increases the chances of buying your products or becoming a follower. It works as a CTA for many things and you are getting more engagement for free.

Benefits of external links: When you link to an authoritative, trustworthy, and relatable source, it helps your site in many ways. Google understands what you’re talking about and your readers trust you more. More goodness from the SEO point of view.

5. Optimize your Images

Everybody knows that images also rank on search engines—bringing more traffic. Here are three parts of image optimization you should never overlook.

a. Compress your images

Images are way heavier than text on your website. Therefore if images are not optimized, it can slow down the loading speed of your pages.

This is bad for SEO because page speed is a big ranking factor. So to save yourself, there are many tools that can optimize tons of images in a single click. There are also free WordPress plugins available for the same.

b. Rename your images

A descriptive image name makes it easy for Google to understand the context. Because Google can’t see the image so it has to rely on the image name for indexing purposes.

So when a camera or a screenshot uses the default naming pattern, it’s no good. For example IMG_58455.jpg or Screenshot 2021-03-11.png. is pretty useless.

To make it useful, here are some tips: be descriptive, avoid keyword stuffing, and use dashes to separate the words. For example, ‘cute-persian-cat-sleeping.jpg’ can be a perfect example.

c. Give it a useful alt tag

The alt text appears on the screen if the image fails to load, plus it helps screen reading tools to read for visually impaired users. Apart, the alt tag is extremely important for ranking your images on SERPs.

Therefore it’s equally important to understand what Google says about writing the best alt tags. Which is something like this:

• Use relevant keywords but avoid keyword stuffing.
• Be descriptive but keep it simple and short.
• Don’t include ‘Image of...’ or ‘picture of...’

To give an example, let’s write an accurate alt text for this image:

Fine: <img src=“cat.png” alt=“cat”>

Better: <img src=“cat.png” alt=“cat sleeping”>

Best: <img src=“cat.png” alt=“cat sleeping on a chair”>

Conclusion

Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, this guide will come in handy for whoever needs it. Optimizing On-Page is crucial if you want to show up your pages on the organic search results.

Do remember that most of the tips and best practices I mentioned are created around search intent. A term everybody should be obsessing about this year and beyond.

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