What Are the Best On-Page SEO Activities?
Google basically serves as the homepage to the internet these days, with a staggering 93% of online experiences starting with a search engine. However, if your business is going to be discovered by its target market, you must use on-page SEO techniques to your advantage.
Considering 57% of marketing executives say on-page content development is the most effective search engine optimisation technique, putting these proven methods to work is set to give your business a huge push up the search engine results page (SERP).
So, what on-page activities will drive the best results? Here, we outline several search engine optimisation strategies that’ll enhance your visibility and drive customers to your website.
What is On-Page SEO?
If you’re new to the world of search engine optimisation, there’s a good chance you’re still trying to understand the difference between on-page SEO and technical SEO implementations.
On-page search engine optimisation involves the strategic improvement of front-end and back-end website features to appeal to search engine algorithms like Google.
By making changes to your website that directly address known SEO ranking factors, it’s possible to capture the algorithm’s attention and climb the SERP.
As a highly optimised website appears closer to the top of relevant search results, this process helps convince more consumers to visit your website and make a purchase.
Why Does On-Page SEO Matter?
Search engine optimisation continues to be one of the most effective techniques businesses have for attracting relevant customers. Yet, as more businesses get online every day, finding ways to stand out against the competition becomes increasingly difficult.
But an expertly optimised website gives your business the best chance of climbing the SERP and grabbing the attention of customers who care about your brand’s products and services.
In fact, research has found that 51% of users find a new product or company after conducting an online search. By using SEO to boost your search rankings and outperform the competition, you can ensure more consumers choose to buy from your business.
What Businesses Benefit from On-Page SEO?
Part of what makes SEO so powerful is that businesses operating at every level can use these methods to their advantage. However, small businesses find that SEO helps give them a chance against companies with more resources and larger budgets.
Why? A personalised search engine optimisation campaign will help your business reach your target market for an incredibly cost-effective price. By taking steps to level up your on-page and technical SEO, you can drive your business to the top of the SERP.
As the first five results attract around 67.60% of all the clicks for a specific query, understanding a tailored strategy designed to get you within touching distance of this position can enhance your brand’s fortunes forever.
The Best On-Page SEO Trends for 2022
The search ranking algorithm that underpins Google is a closely held secret. But over the years, the search engine giant has confirmed around 200 ranking factors that give search engine optimisation experts a precise idea about which trends in SEO have the biggest impact. Below, we’ve picked out some of the most effective tips to improve your on-page factors.
Conduct Keyword Research
Although keyword research isn’t actually an on-page SEO factor, you won’t be able to fully optimise your website without completing this process.
As this activity ensures you understand the terms your target market uses to search, these keywords can be strategically placed throughout your content to ensure you capture their attention.
Several detailed keyword research tools help streamline this task, including Semrush, Ahrefs Keyword Explorer and Google Keyword Planner.
By focusing on long-tail keywords specific to your products, you can increase the qualified traffic that finds your website.
Optimise Your Title Tags
Title tags are critical to establishing high-quality search engine optimisation standards. As these HTML elements specify the title of your webpage, they inform website traffic and search engines about what your page is about.
Considering title tags are often the first thing traffic will read on the SERP, these play a critical role in whether someone decides to click or not. This means you must craft a catchy, SEO-driven title that sets precise expectations about what someone can expect to find.
For title tag best practices, stick to 60 characters or less, include a primary keyword and write a compelling, emotive description that grabs attention.
SEO Your URL Structure
Don’t overlook the impact of a highly optimised URL structure. As these snippets of information provide users with clarity about the page’s content, a keyword-driven description can increase your click-through rate.
Rather than using the default URL option that is typically a combination of random letters and numbers, customise a short, readable URL that makes sense for your website traffic.
This step isn’t a direct SEO factor. But as Google now displays the URL on the SERP above the page title, an optimised written version will give your website an advantage over the competition.
Create Punchy Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions are potent HTML elements that take your search engine optimisation standards to the next level.
As these short descriptions are intended to provide a quick summary of the content for the reader, a keyword-driven message that resonates with your target market will boost your CTR.
Instead of letting Google choose a default meta description to display on the SERP, compose your own optimised version to generate more clicks.
By writing a compelling message that describes the information on the page, you can drive more potential customers to take notice of your website and consume your content.
Structure Your Page with Header Tags
Whether you’re crafting a razor-sharp blog post or a product description, ensuring each page is elegantly structured with subheadings wrapped in the correct tag is crucial to your success.
Rather than simply posting a big slab of hard-to-read text, structuring your pages makes it far more likely that your website traffic will receive the message and stay on your website.
The search engine algorithms also read headers to help rank pages. This means you should optimise these headers with keywords, although readability must remain your primary concern.
Take the time to structure each page effectively and watch as your metrics soar.
Keyword Placement Matters
Keywords are one of the top trends in SEO because they form the basis for numerous optimisation methods.
But business owners must avoid going overboard, as so-called ‘keyword stuffing’ can lead to hugely damaging Google penalties that can remove your website from the SERP entirely.
While you want to add keywords to your page titles, meta descriptions, headers and more, you want your content to read as naturally as possible.
By aiming for a keyword density of 1-2%, you can include your keywords enough times without making your content difficult to read for your most valued customers.
Maximise User Experience
When Google ranks pages for a specific user query, the search engine aims to deliver results that provide the most satisfying experience. This is measured in Google’s Core Web Vitals report, which highlights how pages perform based on real-world data.
There are numerous ways to improve the user experience on your website. For instance, the use of header tags and smaller paragraphs help web traffic read your content. However, your content must also provide informative answers to questions that matter to your target market.
Meanwhile, you want to remove hurdles that annoy readers. This might include website buttons that lead nowhere, dead hyperlinks and pop-ups that only cause traffic to click away.
Add Internal Links
Internal linking has several positive impacts on your search engine optimisation. Primarily, it helps website traffic navigate your website with ease, as you add helpful hyperlinks to relevant sections.
For example, a new blog might link to older content that educates readers further on the same subject. This process ensures your visitors stay for longer, signalling to Google that your content is valuable.
However, internal linking also helps search algorithms understand the structure of your website. As search engine crawlers use internal links to move from one page to the next, more of your pages will rank on Google.
Outbound Links Boost Rankings
While there are plenty of technical SEO changes that improve the performance of your website, always ensure you’re providing your website traffic with plenty of value.
Although value will mean different things to different people, adding outbound links to your content is a great way to create extra depth within your blogs, articles and guides. Some business owners are naturally hesitant about sending website traffic to a destination away from their product pages.
However, linking to external content that enhances your arguments and provides readers with first-rate information will strengthen your SEO.
Implement Voice Search
Voice search is quickly becoming one of the main ways people browse the internet, with smart speakers and mobile search rapidly growing in popularity around the globe.
While you might not use voice search yourself, there’s no doubt that millions of people are trending in this direction when it comes to interacting with the online world.
By adding voice search features to your website, your business is keeping up with evolving consumer behaviour.
As many voice searches involve long-tail keywords, adding FAQ sections to your product pages can help convert users searching Google with their voice.
Boost Content Quality
Google wants to serve users with the best possible content on the internet for their precise search. If you want to surpass the competition, you have to take your content game to greater heights.
This means crafting high-quality content that’s genuinely useful for your target audience. Although the purpose behind this content is to get someone to purchase, providing informative and engaging information that goes above and beyond your rivals is essential.
Therefore, develop content ideas around problems experienced by your target market. Plus, optimise your content with valuable external links, quotes from experts and top-notch visuals.
Make Mobile-First Changes
Mobile devices now account for more than 50% of all internet traffic, meaning your website must have a mobile-friendly approach if you want to cater to the way customers search.
As Google has introduced ‘mobile-first indexing’, which expresses how the company sees the future of search, making sure your website keeps pace with change is vital to your longevity.
If you’re ready to make your website more mobile-friendly, you must prioritise the mobile user experience. This means using fonts that are easily readable on smaller screens while adding buttons that make navigation a breeze.
Meanwhile, check out Google’s own technical SEO recommendations for lazy-loading best practices and robots meta tags to ensure your pages achieve their potential on the SERP.
Add Social Sharing Buttons
You can ensure your website content gains even more traction by adding social sharing buttons.
These helpful on-page buttons for social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Reddit provide users with a streamlined way to share your content with their followers.
As generating high-quality content takes plenty of time and energy, spreading brand awareness and enhancing your reputation on social media can also translate into improved search engine optimisation metrics.
Chat to the Experts
It doesn’t matter whether your business is just getting off the ground or looking to maintain its status as an industry leader, undertaking a comprehensive search engine optimisation campaign is massively beneficial.
With the latest trends in SEO helping businesses stay current with the evolutions of consumer behaviour, implementing these changes and more ensures you’re perfectly positioned for success.
First Page Australia’s award-winning SEO specialists drive hugely profitable strategies for leading businesses around the globe every day. Chat with our talented team to find out how we’ll take your business to the next level.
