4 timeless tips to improve your on page SEO

On page SEO is about more than just checking a few items off some list. Now more than ever, on page SEO has become complex, with optimization building on all the traditional elements we knew from years past. This article explores a few timeless principles to improve your on page SEO in 2017 and going forward.

1. Speed is everything

This may seem obvious, since it’s well known that user satisfaction factors into Google’s direct and indirect assessment of a site. In addition, bounce rates are high for pages with high-loading times, particularly for mobile browsing. Pages with fast loading times are likely to get more amplifications and backlinks, thereby creating higher engagement with your audience. If you need more evidence, speed, in itself, features as a direct ranking signal inside Google’s search algorithm. Everything must therefore start and end with speed optimization.

2. Learn searcher intent and fulfill their goals

Every query run on a search engine has an intent behind it. The searcher may be looking for information, learning how to do something or wanting to buy something. Often, the final goal may be different from the initial intent expressed in the search omnibox.

For instance, a person might search for wedding formal wear types. Looking at the query, we might infer that he/she is either a guest, bride or groom looking for ideas on what to wear (or ask guests to wear) to a wedding. Ultimately though, the searcher is looking to pick one idea/outfit and perhaps purchase it or pick it from their wardrobe.

As the owner of a relevant ecommerce site, your role should be to satisfy both goal and intent. This is easier said than done though: ranking for types of formal wedding wear as well as having a page telling searchers that this is the best outfit. For one, how can you tell whether the searcher is male or female? Ladies will want dresses, of which there are many types compared with men who’ll probably need tuxedos. In addition, what is considered formal in the UK may not be formal for black tie in the US. If you’re targeting men, publishing an article listing some of the best suits and tuxedos to wear at a wedding may satisfy both intent and goal. Then you can include links to places where searchers can find the suits as well as accessories to make a complete outfit.

3. Get rid of dissuading elements

Also, you want to remove/avoid any distracting or dissuading elements that prevent users from returning to your site. These are typically elements which impede content consumption, such as popups. Worth mentioning is the phrasing of such popups: “Do you want to know how to improve UX? Download our guide here”. And then the popup gives users two choices: “Yes please, I want to improve my site” or “No, I’m content to stay in the dark”. This is emotional blackmail that won’t make users like you more. And having multiple popups is even worse.

You can usually see the impact of having overlays in your visitor statistics. You must weigh these against the value of the emails/conversions you might get from such overlays and decide whether it’s a sacrifice worth making.

You must carefully decide which negative engagement elements are worth having. Bear in mind that pogo sticking is an indirect ranking signal. This is when a searcher clicks on your listing and visited your page, but they didn’t stay long before clicking back and going to some other site: meaning that your site wasn’t useful for their query.

4. Target your keywords

No discussion of on page optimization is complete without mentioning keywords. While their traditional structure and role have shifted, keyword targeting is still as important today as it was a few years ago. While there are some sites featuring in search results without an obvious keyword targeting strategy, it’s a smart idea to devote some resources into this area, provided it is balanced out with other on page SEO aspects.

Here’s what to look into in this area:

• Title
  Place your most important keyword term within the title element or page headline – provided it is fitted naturally. It could whether be a big bold headline on top of the page or included in the H1 tag. Both, however, should be closely matched, because you don’t want a searcher to click on the title only to find a different headline and hit the back button thinking that they landed on the wrong page.
• Page content, URL, Alt attribute and anchor linking
  Keyword terms should be obviously included in page content as well as external anchor links where it’s within your control e.g. if doing interviews in other sites. The URL is important is possible, but can be omitted if you’re unable to work it in naturally.
• Image file names
  This is especially important if you want your images to be found in Google image search. The image alternate text and captions are also important.
• Internal links
  This is also important provided you do so in a balanced and intelligent way to avoid the appearance of spamming.

Conclusion : Doing all these will set you on the right path for on page optimization that can deliver results in terms of: trust, engagement and conversions.

Author Bio : David Wicks is a Salesforce CRM trainer. He has many years of experience in installing the CRM in business systems. His expertise is indicated in magazines, websites, blogs and the Salesforce git. As a result, he is a valuable source of information about Salesforce. He was gracious enough to share it in this report.