What Is On Page SEO And What Are The On Page Ranking Factors

If you want to improve your search rankings, then you’re going to need to understand how the algorithms work and how you can optimize your website in order to rank higher. The first step in this process is understanding what on-page search engine optimization (SEO) actually is and how it differs from other types of search engine optimization. It’s also important to understand what the on-page ranking factors are, as these will make up most of your efforts when it comes to improving your website’s search rankings with on-page SEO.

What Is On-Page SEO?

On-page SEO, short for on-page search engine optimization, refers to all of a website's SEO-related elements that appear on its own pages. On-page SEO factors include content, tags, URLs and more. For example, if you are optimizing a web page that is built in WordPress (it has related posts module), your on-page SEO includes but is not limited to meta tags and proper title/description/keywords usage. On page SEO is really critical for websites of all sizes because most search engines give credit for backlinks when ranking sites in their results but ignore any link building done by sites listed within a specific domain.

On-Page Ranking Factors

Let’s now talk about on-page ranking factors, what are these factors and how can we improve our rankings through these? So let’s have a look at few of them.

1. Content of the page or post
2. Page titles and meta descriptions
3. Internal links
4. External links

Content Of The Page/Post

The content of your page or post is a major ranking factor. Your page title and description, in particular, are taken into account heavily when Google evaluates how relevant your page or post is on a certain topic. This is why it’s important that you optimize both of these sections while still creating valuable content.

If you don’t believe us, consider reading The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine which outlines Google’s ranking algorithm. According to PageRank, backlinks from other pages are an incredibly important factor for ranking highly in search results (despite recent updates). In fact, Google bases 34% of their ranking factors on links from external websites! Fiver SEO Tips

Page Title And Meta Description

Your page title and meta description (which is what Google displays in search results) are often seen as a ranking factor, so be sure they’re keyword optimized. If you don’t have time for detailed keyword research, just make sure that your page title and meta description use terms closely related to your target keywords. That way you’ll at least help Google more easily find your content.

Page Title Optimization Tips

In order for a page’s title to rank well in search engines, it needs to be optimized. There are two main title optimization factors that you need to think about: length and keyword usage. Search engines prefer shorter titles over longer ones, so don’t feel like you have to stuff your title with keywords in order for it rank well.

1. Try to write a short and descriptive title
2. There is no need to add your domain name in the title

Meta Description

Google Meta Description and you’ll probably get results talking about how meta descriptions aren’t that important. A meta description is not as critical as it used to be, but it can still influence whether or not your page shows up in search results. Here are some tips for creating good meta descriptions.

On-Page SEO And Internal Links

Internal links on your website can be used in a variety of ways, but they’re important for SEO purposes because they give search engines insight into what pages are related.Create internal links between webpages on your site and include them in your content to help search engines understand relationships within your site. Using these links also helps visitors easily navigate your site as well. Not sure how many internal links you should have? Search engines recommend three to five per page!

When creating internal links, use anchor text that accurately describes each link. Avoid using generic anchor text like click here or this page when possible. For example, if you want to link an internal page about employee benefits with another one about employee benefits FAQs, use specific phrases like benefits FAQs or our benefits program instead of generic terms like learn more or click here.

On-Page SEO And External Links

One of your goals should be to ensure that search engines know what every page on your site is about. In order for them to do so, you need links from other websites pointing at each individual page. And, since search engines want fresh content, you’ll want new pages and new information added constantly. Additionally, any time a new external website links to your website it helps improve search engine rankings.

Bonus Tips For On-Page SEO

There are several factors that can make or break your SEO ranking, and many of them can be adjusted by you. We’ve compiled a list of some on-page SEO techniques that can help increase your search ranking. Keep in mind that these are not all of our recommendations for optimizing your website for Google, but rather a simple cheat sheet we hope will get you started.