Improve Your On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing individual web pages in order to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic in search engines. On-page refers to both the content and HTML source code of a page that can be optimized, as opposed to off-page SEO which refers to links and other external signals.
What is a search engine algorithm?
Search engine algorithms are used by search engines to sort through billions of webpages and websites, and they’re the key to determining where your page ranks. When you put in a search query, the search engine takes your search term, puts in a ton of other variables, and returns a list of results that are meant to provide you with the most relevant information.
Try to satisfy both human and algorithm
Search engine algorithms can understand your words (but not to the extent a human can). Still — make your best effort to satisfy both human and algorithm by strategically sprinkling long-tailed keywords in your content.
Here are 5 ways to immediately improve your website's On-Page SEO
- Consistently publish relevant and authoritative content
- Update your content regularly too (some posts can become outdated)
- Metadata details
- Title Metadata
- Description Metadata
- Keyword Metadata
- Build a website that's worth linking to
- Strategically use your alt tags in images and videos
- Insert relevant links throughout your content too
- Don't forget your internal links either — make sure you link your own pages together whenever appropriate
Add LSI Keywords To Your Webpage
LSI keywords are search terms related to the main keyword you are targeting.
LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) Keywords are conceptually related terms that search engines use to deeply understand the content on a webpage.
In simpler terms, LSI keywords are basically synonyms of the words and keywords you are already using. 🙂
Monitor Your Technical SEO
Shane Barker's 9 Step Technical SEO Audit is brilliant.
Check it out below:
- Start by crawling your website with your SEO tool of choice
- Review your sitemap
- Check out the browseable versions of your website
- Check your internal links
- Test your site speed
- Check HTTPS content
- Use Google Analytics to compare site metrics
- Do a thorough backlink audit
- Re-Crawl your website
Match Your Content To Search Intent
How To Determine Search Intent
The best way to do this is to analyze the SERPs yourself.
SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page — to learn more about this, check out this piece by Mailchimp.
Start by typing in your focus keyword into Google. As you start typing, Google's Autosuggest feature will show you other relevant searches. Typically, these searches are the exact terms that your target audience is already searching for.
You can even scroll to the bottom of the first page of your search results and see all of the "People Also Searched For" and "Searches Related To". The best way to attract the right audience is give them what they want.
For a more in-depth analysis of Search Intent, check this out.
Are they looking for pricing information? Give it to them.
Are they looking to buy something? Point them to a purchase page.
Are they typing in a keyword that includes that word "free"? Ignore them.
You're looking for transactional keywords such as:
- Buy
- Purchase
- Deal
- Discount
- Cheapest
- For Sale
- Where To Buy
- Coupon
Use this transactional keyword generator if you have to. 😎
Reduce Your Bounce Rate
People will leave your website or landing page the second you give them a reason to.
They don't care about your website, your company, or even you yourself yet. They simply don't care about anything other than what you can do for them. If they get even the slightest inkling that you're not the answer, they're gone.
Lowering your bounce rate will dramatically improve your website's search engine rankings.
Keep people entertained. Keep educating them.
Ferociously publish high-quality content and you'll watch your bounce rate improve.
Look For Even More Relevant Keywords To Target
Finding one relevant keyword isn't difficult. But finding a pool of relevant keywords is a bit more tedious. Not difficult, just tedious and time-consuming.
Google's Autosuggest feature is perfect for this too.
It's a pure goldmine for finding other keywords and creating even more relevant content.
As you start typing into the search bar, you'll notice other suggestions popping up — these are real, actual searches people are already conducting.
There are a number of keyword tools you can use to make this way easier and A LOT faster.
My favorite third-party SEO tools are:
- Semrush
- SpyFu
- Ubersuggest
But nothing compares to Google's Keyword Planner.
This one has a much steeper learning curve, but this is the source for the most accurate data. No third-party tool actually has all of Google's data. Instead, they will display their best suggestions and recommendations based on the information they're able to collect from across the Internet.
Ferociously Publish High-Quality Content
Publish as much and as often as you can. Your content should be valuable (educational or entertaining in some way).
Over time, you'll build this enormous network of content that all points back to you and your business.
The more pieces of content you have out there working for you, the more chances you have of finding that next big-time client.
The best part about all of this content is that it's working for you 24/7 once published.
Publishing consistently like this has tremendous compounding effects (kind of like investing does).
Build Backlinks To Your Website
Having high-quality backlinks pointing to your website tells Google (and other search engines) that other people are finding your content valuable enough to feature it on their own sites.
Each backlink sends a positive signal to Google showing that you're more legitimate.
Google will reward you more and more as you accumulate these high-quality backlinks.
Guest blogging is one of the best ways to build your backlink portfolio... you're reaching out to other businesses who want to have quality content on their website. And you're making it insanely easy for them. If all they have to do is publish your piece, you have a much higher likelihood of getting that backlink.
Guest blogging isn't the only way though. Like mentioned earlier, if you consistently publish valuable content, people will link back to your website without you even having to ask.
How to start building high-quality backlinks
- Make a list of 20-25 relevant websites within your industry/niche
- Find the owner of the company or the marketing director (or Chief Marketing Officer)
- Write up a blog post or article that would complement each company's website
- Reach out to the business to offer a guest blog post
- In this article, you want to include a link that points back to a relevant page or post on your own website (this is your backlink)
Track And Monitor Your Results With SEO Tools
It's important to keep an eye on your website's ranking.
You don't need to be checking this every day — monthly would be sufficient but weekly would be even better.
There are numerous SEO tools out there.
Check out Hubspot's comprehensive list of 29 SEO tools here.
SEO tools help you build your website and create content in a way that satisfies the search engine algorithms. You're writing content for people, but optimizing it to satisfy the robots at the end of the day.
Google Search Console will help you see what keyword searches are triggering your website to show up in the SERPs.
Boost Your Click-Through-Rate (CTR)
Your Click-Through-Rate is the number of clicks that your ad or website receives divided by the number of times your ad was shown.
Clicks / Impressions = Click-Through-Rate (CTR)
If you have a high CTR, it means that people are finding your page interesting enough to click it. The more times people do this, the more positive signals your website will be sending to the search engines.
If your CTR is low, it means that no one finds your page interesting enough and they'd rather click on another (or just abandon the search altogether).
A shorter blog post with a higher CTR will rank higher than a longer post with an abysmal one.
Use Strategic Internal Linking
If you have a number of pages or blog posts that cover the same topic, link them together where appropriate.
This will help Google find even more of your pages and add it to the index.
Brian Dean's List Of 200+ Ranking Factors Used By Search Engine Algorithms
Brian suggests Google uses more than 200 ranking factors when determining which rank to give a specific webpage. Each category is perfectly outlined here so you can head over to the ranking factors that most interest you.
- Domain Factors
- Page-Level Factors
- Site-Level Factors
- Backlink Factors
- User Interaction
- Special Google Algorithm Rules
- Brand Signals
- On-Site Webspam Factors
- Off-Site Webspam Factors
FAQ
How do I increase the odds that people link to my content?
Become a Data Source In other words: Publish something that other people can cite in their blog content. Bonus points if you can make it entertaining too. People love being entertained while they learn!
What's the best way to get links?
And the best way to build backlinks to your site is to publish content that people will actually want link to (see answer above).
Does my website need to be mobile friendly to rank on the first page of Google?
Yes. You must have a mobile-optimized version of your website to achieve a solid ranking. Most of the Internet traffic nowadays is coming from mobile so it wouldn't be wise to neglect the mobile version of your site.
How do I get more traffic to my site?
Optimize your page around several different keywords. Publish different pieces of content that focus on specific keywords. Don't make your blog post about the keywords though. You're writing about a topic and strategically weaving in those target keywords. The more relevant you are, the more rewarded you'll be with a higher ranking.
How do I know if my website is SEO friendly?
Every website is SEO friendly. It's just that not every site is SEO optimized.
What are the most important on-page tactics?
You must make sure your focus keywords (or target keywords) are in your titles and headings.
Your H1 heading is the most important of all.
Try to weave in your focus keyword here and then sprinkle it throughout the rest of your content.
What is the best way to rank in Google?
On-Page SEO is one of the FASTEST ways to improve your Google rankings, first and foremost.
BUT, if you have a brand new site and you try to rank for a hyper-competitive keyword, you won't be ranking on the first page anytime soon.
However, if you don't have your On-Page SEO in order, don't expect to see the first page ever.
What is the length of content?
If you want to rank on the first page for a lucrative keyword, you should be aiming for 1,500-2,000 words per article or blog post.
Content length does NOT guarantee a Page 1 ranking though.
There are millions of keywords you could rank for on Page 1 with a 250 word post... but it's likely not lucrative or even relevant to your business.
What are LSI keywords?
Wordstream believes LSI keywords are crucial to SEO.
In terms of SEO (search engine optimization), LSI keywords are search terms related to the main keyword you are targeting. They help to support your content and add more context to make it easier for both users and search engines to know what your content is about.
How do I improve my bounce rate?
Needless to say, lining up your content with Search Intent is a GREAT way to improve your bounce rate.
If you have a high bounce rate, it means you can't hold your audiences attention for very long.
Lowering your bounce rate will dramatically improve your website's search engine rankings.
How do you lower your bounce rate?
Create dope content that keeps people's attention and on your page (don't give them a reason to bounce!).
What is the best way to improve your above fold?
The #1 thing you can do to improve your above the fold area is to push your content to the top.
What are the benefits of visual content?
This makes your content more compelling and easier to understand. Video is huge.
And folks love infographics too.
Weave these into your content wherever relevant too. Search engines can read image file names and their alt texts... make sure these are always properly filled out to take full advantage of SEO.
What is the fastest way to rank a keyword?
The fastest way to rank a keyword is to find one that has low competition already.
Personally, I ranked a local epoxy flooring website on Page 1 of Google within three days. It's only in the 7th position right now, but I've barely started optimizing this page.
How can I master SEO?
SEO rookies can take Hubspot's SEO Training Certification Course for free (you'll have to sign up to access it though).
The best way to learn is to just start getting your hands dirty. No better way than trial and error on your own.
But that course above is an excellent launching point. If you're new, start there.
If you have ANY SEO questions at all, there's a comment section below. Please post them there and we'll give you our best answer every single time.
Where can I find high ranking keywords?
How do I know my SEO ranking?
You can easily find this within Google Search Console. If you don't have this setup, please reach out and we will get you rocking (no charge).
Can you pay Google to rank higher?
You can't pay Google to rank higher organically, but you can buy their ads and show up in the very first spot. The first three positions are ads anyway.
Some industries are highly competitive (especially for national brands), but local companies can build million-dollar companies with Google ads very very quickly. 95% of people just don't know how to do it right so they end up believe "Google ads don't work".
Don't be one of those people.
What gets you to the top of Google search?
A highly-optimized page with a strong domain authority will get you near the top of Page 1 very quickly.
How many ranking signals are there?
According to Google themselves, there are over 200 ranking signals. (via Backlinko)
What are the best SEO tools?
- Semrush
- SpyFu
- Ubersuggest
- Keywordtool.io
- Google Analytics
- Google Search Console
- Ahrefs
- SEOquake
- KWFinder
- Moz Pro
- Woorank
- Linkody
- BuzzStream
- ContentKing
- Keyword Hero
