On Page Optimization : Learn Keys to Smart Targeting

On page optimization is the procedure to ensure the content is relevant and provides a great user experience.

Unlike the approach of keyword stuffing, On-page optimization focuses on smart targeting, where keywords are mentioned in vital elements while still providing solutions to the reader. It means that content reads well, and also answers to questions for which reader landed on the page at first place.

SEOptimer, MozBar and SEO SiteCheckup are free SEO tools that can be used to scan the HTML of a web page and identify essential on-page elements, allowing you to check whether the page has been optimized or not quickly.

An Ideally Optimized Web Page

An ideal web page must do the following:

• Be hugely relevant to a specific topic (generally a product or single object)
• Specify the subject many times in the text content
• Include subject in the title tag
• Include subject in URL
• Include subject in the image alt text
• Get unique content about the considered topic.
• Link back to the category page
• Link back to subcategory page in case it is applicable
• Link back to its homepage

On-Page Ranking Factors is how your page is optimized can significantly impact its ability to rank, and it depends on the following:

• Content of Page: The content of a page is a search result position. It is that the user sees and is extremely important to the search engines. As such, it is essential to create good content. But what is considered as good content? All good content has two attributes from the SEO point of view. Good content should supply according to demand and should be linkable.
• Good content helps fill up for a demand: Information is affected by supply and demand, just like the world’s markets. The best content must do the job of supplying the most considerable demand. It can take the designing of an XKCD comic that offers nerd jokes to a large group of technologists, or it is a Wikipedia article which tries to explain the definition of Web 2.0. It can happen to be a video, a sound, an image, or text, but it must supply for an arisen demand to be considered good content.
• Good content is linkable: No differentiation can be done between the best and worst content on the Internet from an SEO perspective if it is non-linkable. If people cannot link to it, search engines are unlikely to rank it, which in turn the content won’t direct movement to the given website.
• Title Tag: Title tags are the second most critical on-page constituent for SEO, after content.
• URL: URL structure is vital because it serves the search engines to comprehend the relative value and adds a practical relevancy metric to the apparent page. It is also beneficial from an anchor text synopsis because people like to link with the exact word or phrase if the keywords are comprehensive of the URL. Let’s have a look at the URL examples:
  • The best examples of URL structure: http://www.example.org/strategy/video-game. This URL indeed depicts the authority of the information on the page. The data is used to resolve the relevancy of a given web page by the search engines. The search engines’ automation can deduce that the page likely doesn’t pertain to strategy in general but rather to the video games. It makes it an ideal candidate for search results related to video game history.
  • The worst examples of URL structure: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0467569. Unlike the above example, the URL does not give the data hierarchy of the website. Search engines can see that the page links to titles (/title/) and is on the IMDB domain but cannot estimate what the page is about. The text to “tt0467569” does not directly conclude anything that surfer is likely to search for. The data offered by the URL is of minimal choice to search engines.
• SEO Best Practice: Content pages are vital for websites and are almost always why visitors come to a site. Ideal content pages should be specific to a given topic—usually a product or an object—and be hyper-relevant. SEOs should ensure that the given website’s category regime is reflected in URLs along with smart inner linking.

Steps Taken for Ideally Optimized Web Page

1. Pre-Click and Post-Click Optimization

• There are two categories of on-page optimization – pre-click and post-click.
• Pre-click on-page optimization is visible to the user before they click on a result on the search engine results page or SERP. It includes the title tag, the URL, and the meta description.
• Post-click on-page optimization is visible to the user after they click on your listing and land on your web page. It includes the primary copy, the main heading and subheadings, hyperlinks, and images.

2. Title Tags

• After the primary body copy, title tags are the single most important on-page element to get right. They are the first part of the listing that a user sees after running a search, and search engines must pay close attention to the words provided. This, in turn, influences how well your web page will rank.
• Title tags are a critical go-to part of on-page optimization.
• Heavy Weight: They are a heavyweight SEO signal and the single most important place to include keywords.
• Higher Rankings – Web pages are ranked more favourably if they are done correctly
• First View – They are displayed as a blue clickable link and are the first thing a searcher sees

3. Avoid keyword stuffing

• There is a limited amount of space available in a title tag, which is different on mobile and desktop devices.
• Length can change periodically, so it’s essential to research the ideal size before making any changes.
• Things like the Portent SERP Preview Tool can be used to develop optimized title tags.

4. Meta-Descriptions

• Meta description tags are visible thru SERPs and their source code. User is unable to see them while viewing the main content of a page. A meta description tag is the short piece of descriptive text you see under the URL in a SERP.
• Meta description tags are important for on-page optimization, but they’re not a direct ranking factor. Including keywords in your meta description won’t have a direct impact.
• Meta description tags are a medium weight on-page SEO signal and encourage the searcher to click on your listing. If the meta description tag contains a searched term, it will be bolded, enabling the searcher to click through.

5. Keep it short and concise.

• Make sure it is two short sentences, at most.
• Max desktop: 156 characters (this may vary)
• Max mobile: 115 characters
• Use the SERP Preview Tool to test length.

6. URLs

URL stands for ‘Uniform Resource Locator’, which is another term for a web address. URLs are usually generated from the main heading of the page. This is good as a default because relevancy is added. But the downside is that they become long and repetitive and need to be shortened. When creating a URL for your web page:

• include your P1 keyword or a close variation
• keep it short and concise (around 70 characters before truncation)
• set the URL right at the beginning
• stick to conventions, such as using dashes and lowercase characters

7. Headings

• Headings, primary body copy, and images are the critical elements for post-click on-page optimization.
• Titles help to outline what a web page is about.
• They are used similarly on a web page to how they are used in Microsoft Word.
• The main heading must be in an H1 tag.
• Secondary sub-headings should be in H2 tags.
• H3 – H6 tags cannot be used as often in body copy but work in the same hierarchal sub-heading way

When creating headings for a web page, it is vital to ensure that they are meaningful to the user and not just geared towards SEO. But including your P1, P2, and P3 keywords in your headers is a good idea too. Try to remain natural rather than stuffing them in!

8. Keywords

• The keywords used should be tailored to the page type. Adding keywords can work differently depending on the page type:
  • Transactional pages tend to be more keyword focused and usually include the primary keyword or a close variant.
  • Like blog posts, informational pages tend to be more user-focused and sometimes have the primary keyword or a close variant.
• Keyword Targeting:
  • Avoid repeating keywords too often in the primary copy.
  • Use synonyms or close variations of keywords.
  • They must be incorporated keeping the language natural and human-friendly.
• As a rule, for 500 words, mention:
  • Primary keywords: two or three times
  • Secondary keywords: one or two times
  • Tertiary keywords: zero or one time

9. Page Copy

It is a high-influence on-page SEO signal and adds relevancy to the page. The body copy position on the page can also be a determining factor in search engine ranking. The primary copy is also known as body text. It can include hyperlinks, and it features after the main heading. The points to keep in mind for the length of the copy:

• There are no strict guidelines on size for the primary copy of your web page.
• It should meet the user’s expectations and contain what they have searched for.
• It should also be long enough so that search engines can recognize what the page is about.
• eCommerce queries can be as little as one hundred words, and informational issues can be over a thousand words.

10. Hyperlinks

In SEO, hyperlinks assist the page you are linking to. The way you relate to pages internally plays an essential role in search engine rankings.

• Relevance: Linking to pages with descriptive and easy-to-understand anchor text will pass more relevancy to the receiving page, so make sure you are linking to your important pages regularly.
• Reputation: Linking to pages internally is vital for increasing importance, so the more internal links your web page has, the more important it is deemed to be, and it will stand a better chance of ranking.

11. Images

Image optimization is essential because it is a lightweight on-page SEO signal and adds relevancy to your web page. The following simple steps you can take to optimize your images are to:

• Add a description in the image Alt text in your website CMS.
• Try to describe the image accurately, and this sometimes means including keywords.
• Make them concise, having two to five words.
• Give images meaningful filenames in the media library of website CMS.
• Filenames and Alt text can be the same, but they don’t need to be
• Make images web-friendly
• Use .gif, .jpeg,.png, and .svg
• Balance small file size and good quality

12. User satisfaction optimization

User satisfaction optimization is a vital part of your on-page optimization strategy and relates to rank brain.

• Optimizing your website to improve user satisfaction.
• It ensures that your content provides the answers search engines users are looking for. It includes:
  • Reducing bounce rate
  • Improving dwell time
  • Improving the clickthrough rate
  • Improving task completion

Final Words

On-page optimization is about writing keyword optimized copy which is readable and persuades visitors to take action. While the instructions may sound similar, there is a massive difference between writing SEO, optimized reproduction and keyword stuffing. Write optimized copy.