‘Seearch Engine Optimization (SEO) can be hard and confusing. And with so much content being produced every day, sometimes the thought of being viewed in a search engine can be pretty overwhelming. But fear not! I’ve summarized some tips from the big guys to help break down some of the best on-page SEO tips that will help boost your search engine optimization rankings. So let’s get to it!

1. Start your title with keywords. As the most important factor for your published content, your title means everything. This is what’s going to show up in your listing and how Google and viewers will understand a summary of your content. If you get anything right, let it be this! Choose your first few title keywords to be the top keywords for relevant search queries. Need some help? Check out Google AdWords Keyword Planner for some ideas!

2. Use modifiers within your site. This allows your title to be more refined and therefore more easily picked up for search queries by their engines. Be as specific as you can.

3. Make sure that your title is wrapped in an <H1> tag. If you use WordPress, this won’t be a problem. But not every Content Management System (CMS) will do this for you. So to be on the safe side (WordPress or not), you can always insert your title into your post utilizing the <H1> tag within your html code of the content.

4. Utilize media to compliment your content. Media that engages with its viewers reduces bounce rate (when people exit your site) increasing the time they are on your site. Which means more opportunity to win them over!

5. Wrap subheadings in <H2> tags. Just like I mentioned earlier to wrap your title in an <H1> tag, wrapping your subheading helps your content idea to be more refined and supported for search engines. Make sure to use your target word in at least one subheading.

6. Keywords should appear in the first 100 words of your posted content. Not only will this help decrease your bounce rate (because you are talking about the very thing your viewers came to your site to read about in the first place), but it will also ensure Google to trust what you’re saying. Don’t babble. Stick to informative, relevant content!

7. GET RESPONSIVE. Please hear me out on this one:  Seeing as 80% of people are viewing the internet on their smartphone and just under that on other non-desktop devices, Google aims to deliver content that is not only relevant and authentic, but also easily accessible! If your website is not responsive (adjusting to mobile devices for better display), you run the risk of a Google penalty which will not only 1) ruin your search ranking chances but will also 2) increase bounce rates….which will also ruin your search rankings, since people are leaving your site because it’s hard to work with, telling Google, in short, that it stinks. Non-responsive websites are basically websites that look the same in layout on a desktop browser as they do on a phone – except extremely compressed text and layouts (to fit the device) and it’s just awful to read. If your clients still have to pinch-and-zoom on your website, it’s not responsive and as your audience is suffering – so is your online business front! Please contact me today (ASAP!) if your website is not responsive and give your viewers the experience they deserve, one standard for 2016 and beyond.

8. Outbound link. This allows your viewers to not only see your authenticity, but also tells Google more about your content when you link to similar and supportive content outside of your own website.

9. Link internally.  Ever started watching a YouTube video with the intention to watch just one and next thing you know, you’ve lost two hours of your day? Talk about #intenallinkinggoals ! Using at least two links to content within your own site reduces the bounce rate and increases time on your site from directing your readers to check out more of your awesome content! You want to do all that you can to refer viewers within your website and NOT boring them or frustrating them (with a non-responsive website) so they leave. Yikes! Tell your readers where to go. Simple.

10. Give your website speed a boost! It’s been said that you have 3-4 seconds of “grace” when it comes to site loading speed for a viewer. Anything past that runs the risk of increased bounce rate (user got bored, annoyed, and left). Combat this by getting better hosting (check out WP Engine) and compressing images (tinypng.com and WP Smush plugin if you’re on WordPress) for a jumpstart.

11. Thrown in some LSI keywords (thoughtfully). LSI keywords are context-clue words related to your keywords and content idea. Chatanya Singh said is well here: “…for example – Search engine discovers a page with the word ‘Apple’ on it. How does it differentiate whether the Apple is a fruit, Apple is a brand or Apple is name of any pet? It uses Latent Semantic Indexing keywords. If there are words like fruit, taste, and flavor in the article then it would be easy for search engines to determine that the article is all about the “Apple fruit”. Hence in this example, fruit, taste, and flavor can be termed as LSI keywords for the keyword ‘Apple.'”

12. Optimize your images! Ever download family photos to see something like DSC_2065 as the filename? You probably go back through the photos and rename them something like “Family Trip 2016.” The same thing should happen with your website media. So, starting with your image filenames, optimize your images with your chosen keywords (example: on-page-seo.jpeg). Then do the same with your Alt Text, too, which allows your browser the ability to use text in place of an image in case that image does not display in the browser (known as a “broken image”). Not only is this helpful to your readers, but it’s another opportunity for search engines to pick up on your content idea with supporting keywords. And as you’ll learn – when it comes to SEO keyword opportunity, the more, the merrier.

13. Use sharing buttons. While just having social media sharing buttons doesn’t necessarily increase your website rankings alone, more views will. So make it easy by blatantly directing people what to do next – share your awesome content!

14. The longer the content, the better. This doesn’t mean spammy, wordy nonsense. Google will see that and rightly penalize you. This simply means posting full, informative content that leaves your viewers more educated and trusting of you which drops bounce rate and gets viewers moving to more parts of your website (and returning). Plus, more content means more keyword opportunities!

 

There you have it! What did you think? What would you add? Looking for an even MORE in-depth breakdown? Check out this post by MOZ for more information!