SEO: The importance of on-page optimization.
In our last blog post we talked about the importance of search engine optimization (SEO), specifically, the importance of planning for it during your next website redesign project. In the article, we just touched on the elements of SEO, but want to take a deeper dive into those elements to help you improve the findability and usability of your website.
SEO elements can be broken down into two areas: on-page SEO and off-page SEO. This article will focus on on-page SEO – and next month’s article on off-page — let’s get started.
What is on-page SEO?
On-page SEO is all the elements you apply to your website to improve its organic search engine result rankings. Elements include front-end content and backend metadata (the codes and tags that comprise front-end content). On-page SEO is the first step to getting your site found and creating the ultimate user experience.
Every SEO project should begin with thorough keyword research. If your site is dependent on ranking for certain keywords – this step should not be skipped — page keywords and phrases should drive front-end content and metadata, but remember, it is important to always write with the customer in mind.
Front-end on-page SEO elements
A good infographic for on-page SEO is “The Perfectly Optimized Page” by SEO Moz. We’ve broken down the elements below and explained them in greater detail.
Metadata Elements
Each page on your site should have unique and page relevant metadata elements — the elements are discussed below.
Title Tag: Title tags are what display in your site’s search snippet and browser tabs. Title tags directly affect a searcher’s decision to click-through to your site. One of the most important aspects of a title tag is that it is descriptive and relevant to the page content where the searcher will land. Keywords and keyword phrases should be front-loaded in your tag whenever possible. For example, if we are creating a title tag for our User Testing page, we’d create it as, Website User Testing – Pump Marketing Solutions. To avoid Title tag truncation by search engines, they should not exceed 60 characters.
Page Description Tag: The page description is not a search engine ranking element per se, but it is important. The Description tag appears below the Title tag in your site’s search snippet – like the Title tag, it directly affects a searcher’s propensity to click-through to your site. In essence, it is the text that drives qualified traffic to your site. A well-written description makes searchers want to learn more about your product or service. Using keywords in a page description helps create relevancy between a searcher’s search terms, and will appear bolded in the snippet. An Important note to remember when crafting a page description is that it must be highly relevant to corresponding page content. If page content does not match snippet content, the searcher will immediately leave your site (in analytic terms, this is call a bounce). When sites have high bounce rates, search engines deduce that searchers did not find the content relevant to the snippet, which can affect how they rank your pages. To avoid truncation, page descriptions should not exceed 160 characters, but note, the description in the example is only 156 characters and is truncated by nine characters. A good rule of thumb is to try and keep descriptions to 150 characters and keep the most critical information first.
URL and link structures: A well-structured URL and hyperlink is short and descriptive and should include keywords to show page relevancy. When well-structured page URLs and information hyperlinks are copied in to other sites and directories, they provide easy to recognize site and page identification. When structuring hyperlinks, on the back-end use the “href” tag as the text that displays on the page as opposed to the complete link.
Image Alt Tags: Image Alt tags identify images for search engines and visually impaired site visitors. If your image fails to load, Alt tags provide a text description of the image that should be displayed.
Page Content
Web pages should always be written with your customer in mind — they should be of value and contain content that is designed to inform, entice, and/or educate your audience. Research tells us the keywords customers use most, and it is these keywords that should appear strategically throughout your web page. Each page should also contain at least one image and one link to another page on your site or an authoritative third-party site. Page layout should flow in a way that leads the customer to take some action that is based on a page goal — meaning, the action you want site visitors to take.
Page Headings & Subheadings
Pages should be structured with headings and subheading that are wrapped in H tags — H tags are metadata that wrap the headings and subheadings to help search engines understand page content, flow, and relevancy. On the front end, headings and subheading call attention to content sections and help site visitors quickly understand page content.
H tags (H1-H6):
- The most important tag is the H1 tag — every page on your site should contain one and only one H1 tag. The H1 tag generally appears at the top of each page and provides a description of page content and whenever possible, should contain a page relevant keyword. The page’s main heading helps provide relevance to the searcher who has clicked on your search snippet.
- H2 through H6 tags are typically used to title subsections under the H1 tag on each page. Each page can contain more than one H2-H6 tag. Think of your web page like a book, the book’s title would be an H1 tag, and each chapter would be an H2 tag. If chapters require subsections, they would be titled with H3, H4, H5, & H6 tags.
Other On-Page Elements
- Social Sharing is becoming a more and more important factor in search engine rankings — if your content is good enough to share, then it must be significant and relevant.
- Page load time does not directly impact search rankings. However, slow page load times (and image load time) provide a bad user experience, and you run the risk of site visitors quickly bouncing off the site.
- Mobile Readiness is a key Google mobile search engine ranking factor. You can test your site’s pages mobile-readiness using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. One way to ensure mobile-readiness is to build your site on a responsive platform. This ensures your site renders correctly on all devices.
Summary
On-page optimization is about creating a great user experience while ensuring search engine comprehension. For the user, your site should be easily navigatable, and web page layout should be structured so site visitors can quickly find the information they need. Page content should be meaningful and relevant and written with a purpose. For search engines, the necessary SEO elements should be applied for optimal search engine rankings.
When you combine the user experience with SEO best practices, optimization occurs — as with any process or product, when even one part is defective, performance suffers or fails entirely.
Need help with any of the above on-page SEO elements? Give us a call, 360.834.2780, or send us an email — we’d love to help.