Imagine keying a query to Google and finding your website as the first result.
At first, you probably can’t believe your eyes because this level of visibility holds unfathomable marketing power.
It is a breakthrough moment after making every effort to promote your business.
It is every business owner’s dream, isn’t it?
What if there is a formula you can follow to achieve the elusive top rank on search engine results?
What if there was a comprehensive on-page SEO checklist you could follow to make your page stand out to search engines? Fortunately, that formula exists.
This post provides you with a comprehensive on-page SEO checklist to guide you in optimizing your site for excellent performance.
You will learn about the factors that search engines consider in indexing sites and how you can leverage them to make your site rank better.
Here are some on-page SEO tactics you should explore:
- Craft your URLs carefully
- Have a compelling title tag
- Optimize your images
- Always craft worthwhile meta descriptions
- Take advantage of links
- Have rich snippets
- Take care of your technical SEO
- Have good content
Keep reading to find out how to propel your site up on SERPs.
8 On-Page SEO Strategies to Boost Your Ranking
On-page SEO revolves around optimizing the content on your website to ensure that it ranks highly on search engine results.
Here is what you need to do to make your site rank highly.
Craft Your URLs Carefully
You might not think your URLs affect your pages’ rank, but they do. URLs form an essential part of on-page SEO because they inform your readers what your page is about at a glance.
The best way to create a winning URL is to ensure it says something about the page.
The last thing you want is a URL that is merely a combination of letters and numbers that do not make sense.
Not only will readers dismiss your page because they cannot comprehend anything from the URL, but search engine bots will also not understand it. Thus, they will have difficulty ranking the page. As per Google:
As a rule of thumb, always set your primary keyword as the URL slug. That way, people will quickly know what to expect from your page.
Another tip to make your URL work for you is to keep it short.
Google tends to truncate overly long URLs, which often means that readers see a meaningless fragment of the URL on SERPs.
Here is a good example:
Have a Compelling Title Tag
One of the best on-page SEO rules that you must follow in designing your page is to have compelling title tags.
Your title tag is different from your page title. The title tag is the HTML element used to identify the title of your web page.
Simply put, the title tag is displayed on the SERPs, whereas your page title is displayed on your actual page.
A title tag is a powerful tool when used right. Many people will decide whether to read your page based on how you craft your title tag.
You want your title tag to compel your readers to click on your page. One way to do this is to make your primary keyword the focus of the title tag.
According to Google, it also helps to have a title tag that captures the essence of your content.
For example, the perfect title tag for this page is On-Page SEO Checklist: The Definitive Guide for 2022.
As you can see, the first part of the tag informs readers of the page’s focus and confirms that it will dwell mostly on on-page SEO.
Additionally, keep your title tag below 60 characters to avoid truncation. You may also want to use the title case on your tag to make it more appealing to the eyes.
If you have a relatively well-known brand, use your brand name to make your title tag more compelling. This can also help improve brand loyalty.
Another tip when crafting title tags is to emphasize why your content is unique. If your page contains detailed information about a particular topic, you can label it as a complete or definitive guide.
If, on the other hand, your selling point for a particular page is its relevance, label it as such.
A good example is “The Best Electric Bikes for 2022”. Such descriptions matter to Google and can help boost your rankings significantly.
Optimize Your Images
Images play a critical role in your pages and, consequently, your SEO rank. They help break large blocks of text, making your content more alluring to readers.
This increases dwell time, which in turn makes your page rank highly.
You can optimize images by compressing them so that they can load faster.
Short image load times contribute to overall quick website loading speeds, which Google has consistently confirmed is a critical ranking factor.
Use plugins like Short Pixel for WordPress or Short Time to compress your images. These are easy to use and will significantly affect your site’s load times.
You also want to name your images descriptively. Google recommends you do this to rank well on SERPs.
Consider adding Alt text to your images as well. That way, even if the images fail to load, your readers will have a good idea of what they are about.
Always Craft Worthwhile Meta Descriptions
Like title tags, meta descriptions matter a great deal when it comes to on-page SEO.
A good meta description is a summary of what your article is about. You can also think of it as an explanation of your title.
When creating your meta description, you want to ensure that it speaks to search intent. It must show your audience why they need to click on your page and read your article.
The best length for meta tags is around 120 characters. Be sure to have your keyword in your description, and use an active voice to communicate effectively.
Take Advantage of Links
Links, both internal and external, form an essential part of on-page SEO.
They signify to Google’s bots that your site is authoritative, thus contributing to better rankings.
Internal links help Google get a good understanding of your website.
That way, the search engine can recommend your site to those most likely to benefit from it. They also enable your readers to navigate your site easily and know where to find information within your site.
External links, on the other hand, make your site more authoritative and credible. They can also be invaluable to your readers if you use them correctly.
If you are unsure how to interlink your pages, you can use a plugin designed for that purpose. It helps you find link opportunities within your site so you can choose the best and most appropriate links for specific pages.
When choosing external links for your site, choose sites that Google considers authoritative and resourceful.
You also want to avoid any “Bad Neighborhood” sites, which is Google’s term for websites they do not advocate for, like gambling sites.
You should also seek opportunities to get other sites linking to your pages.
You can do this by offering to be a guest blogger on other sites and linking back to your site in your guest posts.
You could also scour the internet for websites that use your brand name in their content without linking to you.
Ask them to make your brand name clickable so you can take advantage of that link juice.
Have Rich Snippets
Rich snippets make it easier for people and search engines to know the contents of your site easily and quickly.
They can make a real difference in your SERP rank. Here is how a page with rich snippets looks.
Fortunately, using them is not as technical as you might think. All you need is Schema Markup, and you will transform your otherwise dull SERPs page appearance into a captivating segment. Google Markup Helper can be quite useful for this.
Take Care of Your Technical SEO
Taking care of the technical aspects of your site is one of the most critical on-page SEO requirements.
One of the things you should do is to ensure that your website has fast load times. Google has repeatedly said that page load times have been a critical factor in SEO ranking since 2010.
One way you can improve your page’s load time is to use top-notch servers. You should also optimize any media on your page so that it loads quickly and contributes to quick load times.
Secondly, you also want to ensure that you have a unique I.P address. This means that your site should not be accessible from multiple locations, as this is seen to be a security threat by Google.
Having HTTPS security for your site can also contribute to better page performance, as Google has confirmed that it is a lightweight ranking factor.
Additionally, make sure that bots can crawl your site with ease. You can do this by keeping your crawl depth below four levels so that search engines can easily navigate it.
Having a mind map for your site also makes it more navigable.
Another technical tip to boost your on-page SEO is to tag pages that don’t contain helpful information as non-index pages.
This ensures that Google does not index them, preventing them from dragging your entire site down.
Have Good Content
The final thing you must do for your pages to rank highly is to have quality content. Your content must provide readers with pertinent information logically and understandably.
You also want to organize your work properly by using headings to create a hierarchy.
Additionally, break up large chunks of text with images and infographics. This makes the page easy on the eyes while also increasing dwell time.
Also, keep your paragraphs short. Use simple language, and make your sentences concise. Most people in the U.S. read at a 3rd-grade level.
You want to be able to reach them with your content.
Wrapping It Up
On-page SEO may not be the easiest to achieve, but it can help propel your site up on Google’s search engine results page.
It includes managing the technical aspects of your page, having top-notch meta descriptions and title tags, optimizing images, making the most of link juice, and creating quality content.
Now that you know what to do to improve your pages’ performance from this on-page SEO checklist, all that remains is for you to execute it.
Start implementing the strategies shared here and watch your pages’ performance improve tremendously.