What is onpage SEO?
The On-page SEO is a technique that aims at the improving the positioning of a web page.
Onpage SEO requires, therefore, that all elements, within the page, are optimized for search engines.
So let’s see below what elements you need to keep in mind to improve onpage SEO.
What are the elements that need to be optimized?
1. The keyword
The keyword, or keyword, is the first thing to start with.
It’s a search term which when entered into the search engine produces results. This search term is used to optimize a web page so that it is positioned at the top of the SERP results.
Must:
Be unique. That is, each page must have its own.
Where to put it:
In the “Key phrase” field provided by the Yoast SEO plugin.
2. The title tag
The title tag is the part of HTML code that specifies the title of a given webpage.
Provides users with quick information about the contents of a result and why it is relevant to the query.
(Google)
The title tag is an element that tells the search engine the title of the page and is shown at the top of the browser tab and as the first element in the SERP.
Must:
- Contain the main keyword, possibly at the beginning.
- Have a length between 50-55 characters.
- Be unique. That is, each page should have a different title tag.
- Be specific, for example you should never use Home for the Homepage.
Where to insert it:
In the “SEO Title” field provided by the Yoast SEO plugin.
3. The meta description
The Meta Description or Meta Tag Description, provides the description of the page to spiders and users.
Must:
- Contain the main keyword.
- Have a maximum length of 150 characters.
- Be unique.
- Be specific and attract the curiosity of the reader.
Where to put it:
In the “Meta description” field provided by the Yoast SEO plugin.
4. The heading tag
This is the title inserted between the H1 tag, which is the title of the article or page.
Must:
- Contain the main keyword.
- Have free length and be catchy, it is meant for the readers and not the search engine.
- Be unique.
5. The permalink
A good practice is to structure the permalink so that it is talking.
6. Internal Links
Adding internal links in pages and articles gives authority both to these and to the site as a whole.
It’s important to get spiders back to your site and you can do this through internal links. This practice is called Link Juice.
7. Optimizing Images
The following factors should be considered when optimizing images:
- ALT attribute: The alternate text that is displayed when the image is lazy loading. It must contain the keyword.
- File Name: must be specific and contain the keyword so that the file can be easily searched later in the Media library and in case it is downloaded it is easy to understand the theme of the image.
- Size: Files should not be large, so the page loading will not be slowed down.
8. Robots.txt and sitemap.xml files
The sitemap.xml is a file that contains all the URLs to a site (pages, articles, categories, images…) that you want to be indexed. In this way the crawlers of search engines can perform a more efficient scan of the site. If you use the Yoast SEO plugin, the sitemap is generated and periodically updated every time a new content is created. All you have to do is tell Google Search Console the path to reach it.
The file robots.txt provides guidance to search engines on how to scan the site. This file is not mandatory, but it is very useful if you want to prevent search engines from crawling certain sections of your site. You can also add inside this file a declaration on how to reach the sitemap.xml.
Now you just need to do an analysis of your site to figure out how to start improving onpage SEO. A very useful tool might be Lighthouse.
Want help with onpage seo positioning?
