On-page SEO is all about taking control of the factors you have access to on your own pages. These can range from you content, your target keywords, the way you structure your content and how you interlink pages on your website.
While al lot of self-proclaimed SEO experts tend to define search engine optimization in terms of backlinks or off-page factors you cannot control, don’t let the hype get to you. The truth is, if you take care of the factors you can control your chances of getting decent traffic to high traffic from Google are actually quite good.
At the end of the day online publishing is all about delivering on the expectations of search engine users. As long as you can give them what they’re looking for you should be fine.
How to do on-page SEO even if you’re a newbie
Even if you’re just cutting your teeth into search engine optimization, as long as you follow the checklist below you should be fine. Of courses, this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are a lot of factors you can control on your page. Each of these factors require its own process.
But, if you are looking for a quick start guide on on-page SEO and you haven’t optimized pages before, this is the best checklist around. Just follow these steps and you will have a more then even chance of ranking on Google for your target keywords. Provided you picked the right keyword targets.
Pick the right target keyword for your article or blog post
I can’t emphasize this enough, your target keyword must have a low keyword difficulty when you analyze it using a paid SEO tool like Ahrefs or SEMrush. As much as possible, shoot for the lowest difficulty rating for your target keyword.
The next selection factor is the monthly search volume for your target keyword. It’s not enough to pick “easy” keywords. You should pick targets with a decent traffic volume.
Finally, your targets must be directly related to your niche. Otherwise, you may end up attracting the wrong eyeballs with your content.
Place your keyword in the title
Now that you have the right target keywords, make sure that you put the main target keyword in the title. What makes this a little more complicated is that your mention of the keyword must be grammatically correct. You can’t just slam the keyword in there to make an incomplete or to make a grammatically incorrect sentence, that’s not going to help you.
It’s also important to make sure that the title is set up in such a way that it calls the reader to action or draws some sort of emotional reaction. This is how you make sure that your title is engaging enough that Google users will click it is they see it in their search results.
Place your keyword in your meta-description
If you’ve installed the WordPress plugin Yoast SEO or Rankmath, there’s going to be a field for meta-description. Enter your keyword into your meta-description but make sure it is as close to the beginning of the sentence as possible. Just like your title, it must call the reader to action yet be grammatically correct and clear. Don’t lie with your meta-description, whatever promises or claims you make must be accurate.
Include your keyword in the first paragraph of your article
Many surveys of top-ranking content, show the target keyword on the first paragraph. Again, your mention of your keyword must make sense and must be grammatically correct.
Include your keyword in at least one sub-heading
Sub-headings help you organize your content. They are a series of promises you make to your reader. When they read a question in the sub-heading, they naturally expect the answer to follow in the paragraph below.
One of your sub-headings must include your keyword. You can phrase this in the form of a question or you can put the keyword in a strategic spot in the sub-heading. Regardless, the sub-heading must be a complete sentence and must be grammatically correct.
Make sure each sub-heading has something to do with your keyword
When you look at your main keyword you will notice that it actually brings to mind many different sub-issues. For example, if my main keyword phrase is, “Do cats eats bananas?” A natural question that flows from that phrase is, “What nutrients do bananas contain?” Going from there you can ask a follow up question of, “Which nutrients do cats need and which are harmful to them?”
All of these make for great sub-headings. When using sub-headings always think of your main keyword. Do they build on to the topic that your keyword brings to the table, or do they go off on an unrelated tangent? You don’t want a rambling article.
You want your reader to get the sense that every piece of information contained in your article, truly delivers on whatever it is your main keyword promises.
Does your content deliver on the search intent behind your keyword?
People using Google use different keywords to search for the same thing, put yourself in their shoes:
- Why would they use your keyword instead of another?
- What kind of result are they probably looking for?
- What kind of experience do they want to walk away with?
When writing your content make sure that it’s organized and researched in such a way that it fully delivers on the intent behind your keyword. Maybe the keyword is commercial in nature and people are looking to buy a product, they just want some guidance so they can make an informed decision.
On the other hand, maybe they’re just doing some research so they just need a basic overview. Whatever the case may be, your content has to deliver on the intent behind the main keyword it’s targeting.
Does each heading pull up content that answers sub-points of your keyword?
Google has a snippet function. Basically, people ask a wide range of questions about a topic. Google will then show how a piece of content answers each specific question, directly. Your content should have this structure.
You have your main discussion about your target keyword and the rest discuss sub-points, or closely related sub-topics. When you pose such a question immediately follow up with a detailed answer, don’t just say yes or no. You have to explain the full range of nuances behind the answer. This is the difference between a high-quality snippet answer and a meaningless one.
Do you interlink using the main keywords of the articles you’re linking to?
Each of your website’s pages target their own specific keyword. When you interlink one page to another, don’t interlink them randomly. You should link them using their target keywords.
What makes this a little bit tricky, is that you have to pair the link with a call to action. When somebody’s reading content on one page, you must introduce the link in such a way that it adds value to the content that they’re reading. They should get the impression that by clicking that link they will come across information that will improve or add value to what they’ve read on the page that they click away from.
This is strategic interlinking and if you get the hang of this you improve the overall experience on your site. In turn, Google will tend to rank your content higher, because they factor in user experience.
Using tools like Surfer SEO and others, you can quickly find related keywords to your target keyword. When adding pictures to your post, make sure you tag them with related keywords.
This way every single element of your pages add to the SEO value of your content as a whole. Put all these pages together and the all tend to increase the domain authority of your site.
Make your article’s target keyword your page url
Even if you come up with a fancy title that includes your keywords, when it comes to the actual url of your article or blog post, restrict it to your keyword. This makes it much easier for Google to find your content.
The final word on quick and easy on-page SEO
If you follow all the tips above and make sure you deliver the kind of experience your visitors expect, don’t be all that shocked when Google rewards you with higher rankings. This usually doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s definitely worth working for. Make it a habit to follow the steps above so you can maximize the SEO value of every single page on your site, even though you’re not an SEO expert.
Need experienced on-page SEO help? Contact Gene Eugenio to help you level up your on-page SEO