As a business owner, you hear about SEO all the time. It’s an important factor in creating a successful website. There are many pieces of conflicting advice about how to do on-page SEO, though, and much of it may be out of date. Here in July 2020, let’s chat on what’s currently up with on-page SEO
On- Versus Off-Page SEO
On-page SEO is distinct from off-page SEO. On-page SEO is things you do to your web pages, even if it’s applied across your whole website. Off-page SEO, meanwhile, is things you do off your site. For example, if you place a guest post on another site and they let you link back to yours in your bio, that’s off-page SEO. For now, let’s focus again on on-page SEO.
Keyword Selection and Density
Keyword selection is an essential component of on-page SEO. Otherwise, all the optimization in the world will not help your site rise through the search results list. You can read more about the selection of keywords and key phrases here.
In general, keyword density should not exceed 2.5% of the total word volume. It can also go as low as 0.5%. Typically, 1% to 2% is the range to aim for though. If you push the keyword more, you will lose some of your on-page SEO points when the search engine indexes your pages.
Keyword Placement
It’s essential that you spread your keyword choice throughout the text. However, there are some specific places it should appear as well. One of the more often missed locations is the introduction, which starts the keyword spreading. Your on-page SEO tool will yell at you if it can’t find all the components of your keyword within a single sentence.
The other easy to miss location is the headings. Your keyword should appear in H1 (aka the article title). It should also appear in at least 1 subheading per 300 words of content. Using this ratio ensures that you don’t miss this opportunity to drive home what your article is about.
Meta Description
The meta description may not appear on the page, but it’s still part of on-page SEO. While there are many ways to write a compelling meta description so that people click your site on the search engine results, including the keyword is still essential. Try to work it into the meta description naturally, and do not attempt to force it in more than once.
Slug Choice
The slug is the unique part of a URL that takes someone to a specific page within your site. You can modify the slug, and many businesses do in so URLs are a little more memorable. This slug is another place to make sure your keyword is for SEO purposes.
Alt Image Text
Alternative text is controversial since many on-page SEO tools encourage you to stick your keyword in here too. What they may not realize is that alt text is an accessibility feature. Stuffing keywords in it distorts that purpose and can limit your audience. If you would like to learn more about writing accessible alt image text, click here.
Linking
Collaboration is key to building the internet, and that reflects in the priorities given to on-page SEO. Linking comes with a variety of terms. The important thing is never caving to the shortcuts that promise x number of links for a measly fee. That’s a quick way to drop your search engine results ranking like a stone.
Perhaps the more natural way to understand the links you control is internal and external. Internal refers to links that point to another page on your website, like a blog post that dives deeper on a topic. External refers to links that point to another site entirely, and you must choose them for quality.
Inbound and outbound are a slightly different story. Inbound links point to your website from somewhere else on the web and indicate to the algorithms others trust your content or vibe with what you’re saying. Outbound links are like externals and point to another website. These form the spiderweb of connections on the world wide web.
Inclusive Measures
Creating an inclusive world wide web is gaining prominence. Though right now, many of these measures do not have to do with your individual web pages. Inclusivity is necessary for you to have the widest audience possible.
For example, most sites have a setting to allow the browser to override the font settings you set. While this sounds like it would disrupt your careful branding, it’s actually a good thing. It allows people with dyslexia to read your site, hard of sight folks better access, and more.
Another example involves headings. Many people use headings for emphasis and visual appeal. However, jumping back and forth simply because a line looks cool can hurt your site. Screen readers and other accessible technology rely on headers being “in order” for navigation. Willy nilly use of header levels disrupts that.
These are two examples; however, there are many more available. By starting now, your website can be a valuable space to communities that are often left out of other places. Plus, you will have less to change if and when legal mandates come through for accessibility.
How Many You Need to Hit for On-Page SEO
This article talks about a lot of different on-page SEO points. However, you do not need to hit every one of them perfectly every time. You can miss one or two and still be considered in a good spot for SEO purposes. You just need to make sure you don’t keep missing the same points all the time.