On-page SEO is a self-explanatory term. It means optimizing an individual page of your website for search engines. You’re doing this with the intention to rank higher in searches, and you’re doing it with every single page of your site.
In practice, on-page SEO is more than checking few simple tasks off a list. As you keep working, you’ll keep discovering new things to learn.
If you’re just a content creator, you don’t really need to dive into the technical aspect of SEO. All you need to do is write great content that has potential to rank well. That’s what we’ll focus on today. We’ll list 8 on-page SEO tips for non-technical content developers.
1. Quality Is a Major Factor
What makes a page worthy of being shown in the search engine’s results? – Content! Of course, there are other important elements. But when you’re focused on non-technical factors, quality should be your one and only priority.
Mabel Miller, content developer from BestEssays.com, shared her insights: “In terms of SEO, great content is linkable and delivers value. When writing, you should always answer questions, so you’ll make the piece valuable to read. You should also go in depth and offer something new, so other writers will link to you as an authority source.”
So, what’s the first on-page SEO tip? The content has to be absolutely useful. So, use social media, Quora, and Reddit to find out what the target audience wants to know. Then, answer those questions and make the content so good that it will become an authority source.
2. Keep the Buyer Persona to Mind
Who are you writing for? If you own the business, you probably identified your buyer persona. You tailored the service or service according to the needs of this realistically generalized persona. Now, you have to write content for them.
And if you’re just a writer, make sure to ask your client about their buyer persona. Find out about their main goals and pain points. Then, write content to address those aspects.
3. Implement Keywords in a Very Organic Way
You can use a tool like Keyword Explorer by Moz to find relevant keywords. Google Keyword Planner is the standard choice, but it’s a tad more complex to use. Based on the needs of your target persona, you can search for relevant keywords for your content. If the keyword is marked with a high score of difficulty, it will be harder for you to outrank competitors. But with good content and persistent posting, it can be done.
However, it’s important to use keywords strategically. Put them in the title and the subheadings, so the search engine will easily detect their relevance. Do not suffocate the content with keywords. In the world of SEO, that’s called spam and Google doesn’t like it. The keywords should effortlessly fit in your sentences.
4. See What Your Competitors Are Doing
Competitive analytics is an important element of on-page SEO? How is this even related to the web page you’re developing? You want to make it better than any similar page a competitor might offer. At first, you’ll need to research the keywords and topics you target. Read through competitive websites and set an intention to write something better. If you really want to target a topic but you don’t have a good base of knowledge, spend some time learning. You can team up with professional essay writers or editors to make that happen. Services like A Writer may be very useful in such case.
And if you really want to analyze your competitors in detail, you shouldn’t limit the process to reading their blogs. Use a tool like SEMrush to see a comparison of competitive sites by keyword, search rank, and more.
5. Add Authority Links
Outbound links will take your readers to pages that add more value to the lesson they learn from your content. If, for example, you’re trying to prove a point regarding vaccination, use links to scientific research, where your readers can find validation.
This strategy has a positive effect on your SEO practices. The search engine will see that you’re adding value by taking the readers to useful resources.
6. Include Internal Links, Too
The goal of SEO is to show Google that your website is useful. For that purpose, you want to minimize bounce rates. When people come and stay at your website, the increased traffic throughout your pages is a good thing.
You don’t want to overdo this, but it’s always good to link your readers to other useful text at your website. Use the links only when they make sense. As you keep developing new pages and content, your internal linking strategy will get easy.
7. Write Great Meta Descriptions
The meta description is the text that appears in the search results. It describes what the page is about. It should have a clear logical flow, but it’s best to include a keyword, too. You’re writing it for the audience to understand how relevant your content is to their quest. But you’re including the keyword for Google to see it’s relevant, too.
The meta description shouldn’t be longer than 150 characters. Make good use of that space and write something that will inevitably lead Google’s users to clicking that link.
8. Write Longer Content
No; you won’t ramble just to write more words. You’ll write in-depth posts, which answer all questions regarding the topic in a single place. It’s best to write one in-debt article than a series of short posts.
HubSpot analyzed the social shares and backlinks they got, only to see that content above 2500 words got them the best results.
So write away!
The page will rank well if the content is good. That’s the golden rule of SEO. But there are other elements to pay attention to, and you’ll encounter them on the go. For start, it’s enough to focus on the eight tips we listed above.