Are you looking to optimise your content and see improvements in your rankings? Content optimization and On Page Optimisation are two of the cornerstones of good SEO, and they’re also great places to start if you want to see some quick wins and take advantage of any opportunities in your site rankings.
What is On Page Optimisation?
On Page Optimisation is essentially the practice of refining the content on a page to focus on a specific keyword or search term. On-page optimization involves various on page seo elements that impact a webpage’s ranking and user experience.
There are essentially three core pillars of Search Engine Optimisation;
• Technical Optimisation (eg site speed)
• On Page Optimisation
• Off-page Optimisation (eg backlinks)
While other aspects of SEO are concerned with the authority of a site, the technical aspects, the volume, calibre and nature of the content itself, or optimising for local search, On Page Optimisation is a laser-focused approach to make each individual page as relevant as possible for a particular keyword topic.
It’s one of the simplest ways a website owner can make improvements to their site’s SEO, and it’s also one of the factors that a business owner has the most control over. This makes On Page Optimisation a great option for those who are new to SEO, yet it can also be a powerful way to use advanced strategies to improve search engine rankings.
How does On Page Optimisation help search engines?
While many business owners are keen to see their site ranking well in the search engines, the best way to do this is to focus on optimising individual pages for specific keywords or phrases. After all, when users perform a search online, they are presented with a selection of relevant pages, rather than directed to the main site.
For this reason, drilling down to focus single pages on highly specific keywords is a winning strategy in modern SEO.
Strategically adding internal links can help search engines understand the relationships between different pages on a website, enhancing user experience and potentially improving site ranking.
This strategy also allows a site to rank well for multiple keywords. For example, the content on a website’s Home Page may be a broad overview of a business, or it may include a selection of products or services. While it is possible (and good practice) to do On Page Optimisation for the Home Page, some of the most effective SEO results will likely come from more specific inner pages that are each tailored to a more precise keyword goal.
To illustrate this with an example, imagine a business owner wants her site to reach online users looking to buy Luxury Stationery. This term may be a good description of her product category, and it does provide a clue to the search engines what the site is about, yet it’s likely that her potential customers are using more specific terms in their online searches.
Using On Page Optimisation, this business owner could create or optimise pages that are a closer match to more specific terms, such as Luxury A4 Diary, or Luxury Day-To-View Planner. Each of these pages could easily be optimised using these terms, and they would likely rank much higher for those searches than more generic or broad keywords.
Using On Page Optimisation, combined with careful Keyword Research, is an effective way for any business owner to improve their rankings and enjoy more organic traffic to their site.
Key On Page elements to optimise for target keywords
Now that you know the benefits of On Page Optimisation, you’re probably wondering how to make those changes to your site pages and start seeing improvements. There are a few key places on each of your website pages that you can easily optimise to improve your rankings.
Meta tags play a crucial role in improving search engine rankings and driving audience engagement.
URL
One of the best places to include your specific and relevant target keyword is in the URL of the page. This is the link or address for your page on the internet, and can also be a key marker in terms of SEO. Giving careful consideration to the words included in your URL is one type of On Page Optimisation that can boost that page’s rankings. If you’re creating new content, you can carefully craft the URL to include your chosen keywords. However, if you have existing content that doesn’t include the desired keyword, it may be possible to set up a redirect to a new URL that is more relevant and optimised.
Page/meta title
The Page Title and/or its Meta Title is another strong indicator of the page’s content, and as such it’s another key factor in On Page Optimisation. Generally, the title of a page reflects what the content is about. This gives a clear signal to search engines what is likely to be included in the rest of the content. By optimising the Page Title or Meta Title, i.e. including a relevant keyword and target keywords, you give your page the best chance of being recognised as a good reference for that term which the search engines will be more likely to rank.
Meta Descriptions
A more advanced step in On Page Optimisation is to edit the meta description for each page. This is an opportunity to reinforce the signals you want to send to the search engines, i.e. give more information regarding the themes, topics or details of your content. The more specific and precise information available to search engines, the more likely they are to match your pages with the people who are searching for those topics.
Headings
Headings (subtitles) are an additional way to optimise individual pages. Again, these provide a deeper layer of information about the page content. As such, they can be useful to reinforce the keyword topic with secondary keywords that are relevant and support the main focus of the page. While Headings provide an opportunity for further On Page Optimisation, it’s important to not ‘keyword stuff’, i.e. shoehorn your keyword into every possible location. Keyword stuffing can harm SEO efforts and creates a poor reading experience, as modern search engines are designed to detect and penalize such practices. Headings can be used to add subtle variations to your theme while also representing the main topic.
Image title and alt tags
Editing the Image Title Tags is another type of On Page Optimisation that can again provide clues to search engines trying to ascertain what your content is about. When you optimize images by tagging them with relevant keywords, compressing them for faster loading times, and writing informative alt text, it reinforces the theme of the content which can help with SEO. It also provides a more accessible experience for any visitors with sight issues.
On Page Optimisation is a powerful way for business owners to make their site more search engine-friendly. When done correctly, it can deliver quick wins, improve rankings, and make the entire site more effective as an online resource that search engines will select to present to your potential customers.