Fahim Ahmed
Ever wonder why you are not getting enough traffic and engagement on your site even though you have some really amazing content? Well, there is a good chance that your web pages are not perfectly optimized for search engines.
People often confuse on-page SEO with keyword optimization. There is more to on-page SEO than stuffing your content using your primary keywords and garnishing it with LSI keywords.
There is this misconception that by adding keywords here and there you can optimize your content for search engines. While keyword optimization and placement is a vital part of on-page SEO, it is not the only element.
On-page SEO and content optimization are crucial parts of white hat SEO.
But it is often overlooked by content creators as they are busy building backlinks to their site.
There are a lot of on-page SEO factors that can help you increase your SERP ranking, but only if you optimize them correctly.
Unless you improve your on-page SEO, there is no point in practicing other SEO strategies.
On-page SEO is the first step to a good SEO strategy. Your SERPs ranking basically depends on how well you have optimized your web pages using on-page SEO.
So, what exactly is On-page SEO and how can you optimize your web pages to get more traffic.
Let’s decode and fully understand what on-page SEO is all about.
What Is On-Page SEO
On-page SEO (also referred to as on-site SEO) is a simple SEO strategy that involves optimizing your web pages and content within those pages for search engines and users to rank higher in search results.
It is the easiest way to attract organic traffic by targeting a certain keyword and ranking for it.
On-page SEO is basically creating and optimizing content to match the user’s search intent. The better you optimize your web page, the easier it is for search engines to understand what your content is about.
Common on-page SEO practices include optimizing HTML tags, content, internal links, and URLs.
Optimizing your content using on-page SEO helps search engines to easily understand how relevant your content is for a search query.
It can also decide if your content is worthy of ranking high on search results for specific keywords.
Improving your on-page SEO can –
- Increase your SERP ranking
- Attract more website visitors
- Drive relevant traffic to your site
- Enhance user experience
- Increase session duration
- Reduce bounce rate
- Increase average time on page
The best part about on-page SEO is it is very easy to do and free of cost. Unlike off-page SEO, you don’t have to spend months on it.
Importance Of On-Page SEO
Back in the days (before Google’s ‘hummingbird’ algorithm update) on-page SEO was mostly about stuffing keywords within your content.
You could just target a certain keyword and place it all over your web pages.
Some people even used black hat on-page SEO tactics where they would hide keywords on their web pages.
Those hidden keywords were used to manipulate the search engine algorithm to easily rank higher. And surprisingly it would work
But things have changed for the better.
On-page SEO is no longer about stuffing keywords strategically. Google has become better at understanding the topics of a web page by scanning related keyphrases that are related to the focus keywords.
So bombing your post with your target keywords has become irrelevant and useless.
Having said that, traditional on-page SEO is still a very important ranking factor in 2021.
To rank your web pages you need to optimize your content for –
- Better user experience
- Understanding user’s search intent
- Decreasing page-load time
All search engines give the utmost priority to on-page SEO because it helps search engines better understand the contents of your web page.
Improving on-page SEO can help search engines provide the most relevant result for a search query.
How On-Page SEO Improves SERP Ranking
On-page SEO can have a dramatic increase in your SEO. It can help search engines determine the quality of your page without any off-page SEO signal.
Optimizing your web page will provide your website visitors with a better search experience. Above everything else, Google wants its users to have a pleasant search experience.
So Google tries to provide searchers with the best possible result for their search query. Along with keywords, Google focuses on a number of factors to decide if a web page is relevant to a search query and if it is worthy enough to rank high on search results.
Google doesn’t want its users to be annoyed by-
- Irrelevant search results
- Poor quality content.
- Spammy websites
- Slow loading time
- Bad user interface
- Misleading information
So unless a web page is perfectly optimized it is unlikely to show up on top of search results.
Google always gives priority to pages that are well optimized and provides value to its users.
Bottomline
There is so much more to on-page SEO than just adding keywords in your header. The old-school approach of stuffing keywords in a blog no longer works.
Nowadays, On-page SEO is more about being relevant to the searcher’s query and understanding the searcher’s intent.
Search engines are made for humans and not for robots. Instead of creating content for bots and manipulating search engine algorithm, creators should focus on creating user-friendly content that adds value.
Remember, we optimize web pages to provide a better user experience.
