Before we start the story of the factors that improve on-site SEO, let’s first remind you what on-site SEO, i.e. on-site Search Engine Optimization, is. Before that, briefly about SEO: it represents the process of optimizing a website in order to get a better ranking on Google. The essence is that the site is ranked well so that search engines can promote it on the first page for a certain topic/niche.
Now, what exactly is on-site SEO? Also known as on-page SEO, it is one of two types of organic Internet search, which is based solely on content created on your website. In addition to on-site, there is also off-site, which represents any movement that is redirected to activities outside the site itself, and which in turn affects better positioning. In order to bring you closer to this term, we will give you an example of the most commonly used off-site strategy – backlink. It is actually a link that leads from someone’s site or page to yours… or when you redirect readers from your blog post to another post/YouTube video – in a meaningful way, of course. A backlink or incoming link is very important when it comes to optimization because if other sites mention you, it will certainly affect your positioning.
But let’s come back to on-site SEO and introduce you to the factors that can help you better position your website in search results, say on Google.
Table of Contents
Content is king
You know how they say, “Content is king”. In fact, that is what Bill Gates said (wrote) back in 1996. But, you should keep in mind that simply writing content is not enough for it to be the king for you – it takes a lot more effort and work to stand out.
There are 3 ways you can improve your content on the website:
- By organizing the content, you achieve a better effect of the same, with easier consumption. The content organization actually involves dividing the text into headings and subheadings (emphasizing what your page or text contains), which consist of certain keywords that you specify for that text. With better organization, your text loses the monotony that causes many to leave such pages.
- By creating long-term content, your website gets a better ranking because certain pages or texts are constantly clicked on, which gives Google a sign that it is good content.
- With content that is relevant to the needs of users, which means that when creating and writing content you should think about the needs of people and what will benefit them.
Image Optimization
In addition to the content that is crucial for optimization, be sure to pay attention to the images you choose for your website. What is important about images is that they are in line with the written text, that they have a good resolution (who likes blurry images?), and that they must contain Alt Text, which is a kind of description of that image, which Google associates with the text.
In order to successfully optimize them, it is important to use quality images, name the file, and give the image a name when adding it so that Google can identify them (example: don’t keep the generic name IMG4568, but, say, Chocolate Cake/Cake recipe with chocolate). Also, make sure that these titles are short, clear, and that at least one of them is related to keywords.
When entering images, be sure to write Alt Text and pay attention to the dimensions of the images, so that your site does not lose speed because of that.
Internal Links for Better SEO
Internal links are links on your website that lead from one of your pages to another. Thanks to them, you can keep the attention of readers on the site and thus improve the optimal time that people spend there, which further affects better positioning.
Why are internal links also important? Because they help Google understand the connection between the pages on the site. If you have a website where you write about recipes, be sure to enter an internal link in each blog post, which leads to another post.
Example:
If you liked this recipe for chocolate cake, be sure to check out how to prepare raspberry and vanilla cake (the underlined part of the text would be a link to a page on your site to which you could invite your readers).
Technical Support and Site Protection
When it comes to technical support, it primarily refers to the protection of the site, which is redirected to the maintenance and operation of the same. It also affects user engagement and better keyword rankings.
Some tips for improving and working on better technical support are:
- Site protection, which includes installed SSL (HTTPS), which is very valuable for websites because it provides security for transactions and activities within it.
- Google even gives minus points (penalties, flags) to sites that don’t have it, especially if there is a payment-related part on the same.
- Delete links that point to invalid pages, meaning you should update your pages and blog posts from time to time to avoid this.
Optimization on Mobile Devices
In the age of smartphones, it is absolutely essential that your website be, so to speak, mobile-friendly. The fact that Google, before indexing (loading) data for a computer, first does it for mobile says how important it is.
When designing a mobile site, pay attention to the dimensions of the devices themselves. Two important things when it comes to mobile optimization are the adaptation of the site to each mobile device and its speed, which we are writing about within the following factor.
Influence of Site Speed on Ranking
Does the speed of the site affect the better ranking? Yes! Who stays for a long time on a website that is slow and which needs a few seconds to load? Nobody.
According to some research, as many as 50% of people leave a website that didn’t load in 3 seconds after opening. It simply says that the attention of today’s Internet search users is extremely small, so even if they enter a site that is slow, there is little chance that they will stay and wait, but will leave and seek the information they are looking for on another page. This reaction from users will cause Google to view your site as insufficient quality. You will admit, that is not your goal. So try not to overload your site with unnecessary elements – images that take up a lot of memory, plugins, large files, etc. It is enough to have relevant images, without any additional stuff.
User Engagement
Since you are creating a website for people and search engines, then it is definitely important to you that their engagement is large enough for Google to recognize it and to position you well.
One of the most productive, but also the most challenging ways, to get people to engage is with email marketing. It is one of the most difficult tasks for website owners and marketers. Getting someone’s email address is a big thing, perhaps a privilege, especially getting it from someone who uses it as a primary tool for communication, but getting them to open an email may be nearly hard. To get engagement, each phase must be accomplished successfully, and each step can be boosted using specialized platforms for email personalization, collection, and visual improvement – one of those is Benchmark. In short, there are three steps to increasing email engagement from beginning to end.
These steps are:
- To get attention, keep the headline short.
- The first few words (email preview) are crucial.
- The presence of Call-to-Action (CTA)
Ways you can measure user engagement are:
- CTR (Click Through Rate) is the ratio of users who click on a particular display on a browser and users who only view that page/ad.
In this metric, the meta description is very important, which should encourage the content to click. The best way to improve this metric is to enter keywords in the meta description so that they are bold, and in the SEO title, as well as to pass through the description the benefits that users have if they click on your page.
- Pages per Session is a tool that shows how many pages a user visited before leaving the site.
What it tells you, from a navigation perspective, is how interactive and engaging your site is. It can also let you know how interesting your blog posts or pages are to users and how well the internal links you put meet their needs. To reach more pages that users visit while on your site, you can begin by analyzing existing pages, with the goal of improving, and entering a call to action at the bottom of the page to encourage users to communicate in two directions.
- Bounce rate is specific because it might and might not have to directly affect the ranking.
Basically, based on the Bounce rate, you can measure how many visitors leave the site after the first page. If it is higher than 50%, it means that leaving the first page that users come to is frequent. The first page does not have to be the homepage of your site, but the first page that users have entered (which can be a blog post or an ad).
You can track all three metrics using Google Analytics.
