20 On-Page Optimization Best Practices from Easy to Hard
If you meet any SEO agency or SEO expert with industry experience, they will share with you the ultimate importance of on-page optimization for winning your SEO game.
But what exactly is on-page optimization?
On-page optimization refers to all measures that you can take directly within your website in order to improve its position in the search rankings.
Because on-page optimization is within your control, it is easier and less costly for you to implement effectively than off-page optimization.
The best part?
Based on my personal observations and personal experience, effective on-page optimization coupled with strategic keyword research improves your relevant search rankings on Google significantly and at a much faster pace than off-page optimization tactics.
So what are some on page optimization best practices that you can implement on your website easily?
I have ordered 20 on page optimization best practices for you from what I feel is the easiest for you to implement to what I feel is the most challenging to implement.
1. Title Tags
The title tag is a HTML code tag that allows you to give a web page a title. Title tags help search engines like Google categorize your content and attract people to click on your blog content.
Use Unique Title Tags for Every Page.
Make sure your Title Tag contains your main target keyword that you want to rank.
Length of Title Tag: 50 to 60 Characters.
Can the title of your blog article be the title tag? Yes. But only if it meets all the above criteria such as the character count.
2. Meta Description
A meta description generally informs and interests users with a short, relevant summary of what a particular page is about.
Create unique descriptions for each page on your site.
Include relevant information about your blog content.
Use specific, quality descriptions that summarises your page.
Ideal length of Meta Description: 120 to 158 Characters.
3. URL Structure
A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the web address of an internet resource, like a webpage.
Follow a short, simple and good URL structure.
Use HTTPS protocol & hide the www prefix.
Example of a good URL structure: https://thenoteway.com/best-farewell-gifts-for-colleagues-in-singapore/ - which follows https://homepage/article-topic-where-words-are-separated-cleanly-by-hyphens
Another example of a good URL structure: https://homepage/blog-category/article-topic-where-words-are-separated-cleanly-by-hyphens
Avoid confusing numbers and signs (e.g. &,$,#) that make your link look like a spam link.
4. Text Formatting
Ensure Your Test Is Formatted Properly with Headings (H1), Subheadings (H2) & more (H3, Paragraph).
Bold text may be used occasionally to highlight important keywords too.
5. Readability
Make sure your content is easy to read.
Use short sentences where possible.
Check for your readability feedback with Yoast SEO plugin if you use a wordpress site.
You can also use hemingway editor here to check for your readability. I personally aim for grade 5 readability but Grade 6 or Grade 7 is still readable and good enough.
6. Mobile Friendliness
Size of content and media should adapt to any screen size, without affecting the functionality of a website.
Most websites built using SEO friendly Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Webflow & Shopify are always mobile friendly.
Internal Linking
An internal link is a link like this from one page on your website to another page on your same website.
Implement a robust internal linking structure.
Use a reasonable number of internal links.
You can link from older and higher traffic pages to newer pages.
Make sure all internal links are natural and relevant for your site visitor.
External Linking
An external link is a link like this from one page on your website to another page on someone else’s website.
Link out to website pages that will add value to your reader.
Do not link to spammy, suspicious, low quality or irrelevant pages.
Do not link to your direct competitor with an article with the same content as you.
Make sure all external links are natural and relevant for your site visitor.
User Interaction
Ensure a good UI & UX design and get visitors to interact with your website more. Examples of good user signals:
Clicking on relevant Call to Action buttons.
Searching on search bars.
Filling out contact Forms.
Doing interactive quizzes/activities which I share about under point 3 here.
User Navigation
Ensure a good UI & UX design that allows for easy user navigation.
Have a well organised site menu bar that is easy to navigate.
Your Menu & Sub Menus should be clear and easy for anyone who lands on your site to check out your blog articles, products & services you offer.
Include a sitemap that is visible on your page.
Or you can engage an expert affordably to install a sitemap for you.
Image Optimization
Large image sizes slow down your website and affect your site visitor’s experience.
Choose a relevant file name.
Reduce image file size with https://tinypng.com/
Scale your images to a reasonable size.
Use responsive images.
Website Speed
Check and optimise your website speed on your own.
Or you can engage an expert affordably to check and optimise your website speed for you.
Website Security
Turn your Not Secure or HTTP Site into a Secure HTTPS site by installing a permanent SSL certificate to your website.
Or you can engage a website security expert affordably to install a SSL certificate for you.
Once you install a SSL certificate and make your website secure, a Secure Padlock (See padlock in image below on the left of my blog website URL) will appear on all of your website URLs.
Schema Markup
Decide on the schema markups you want to have or which are suitable for your business.
Implement the schema markups on your own.
Or get a schema markup expert to do it for you. I got someone to do my schema markup for me too.
Check/validate your schema markup! using this Schema validator here.
Site Visits
Increase site visits to your website as much as possible through social media channels and email marketing.
Rank your website for low competition keywords first to increase traffic to your site through SEO more quickly.
The more the traffic to your site, the more likely Google will rank your website better.
Content Length
Valuable, well written, long form content tends to rank higher on Google than short and irrelevant content.
Note: If the content is irrelevant, or long and draggy for the sake of being long, the content length will not matter and may affect your SEO negatively
Content Quality
Create outstanding content that adds more value to your reader than your competition.
Google also identifies outstanding content pieces with website user signals such as time users spend on your page, social shares, user interaction on your site, comments and uniqueness of your content.
Pages Per Session
Get your website visitors to visit more than 1 webpage on your website through relevant internal linking.
The more pages they visit, the better for your SEO.
Bounce Rate
Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors who navigate away from a site after viewing only 1 page.
The lower your bounce rate, the more engaging the content Google thinks your website has, and hence the better for SEO
Make sure your page is as relevant as possible with useful information and internal links.
Time on Site
The longer the time visitors spend on your website, the more relevant and engaging your content Google thinks your site has.
Longer user time spent on your website is a positive signal for your SEO.
Keep readers on your website longer through relevant internal linking, good user navigation, good user interaction, long form content and great content quality.
Now that you have learnt 20 on-page optimization best practices, make sure you use as many of them as you can on your website. It will help to improve the ranking of your blog content on Google in the long run!
Want to join my live SEO workshops and ask me any SEO questions you have? Join my SEO school for founders here.
