We know that your website content is great and valuable but what use is that content if no one can find it? We have created this on-page SEO guide to ensure your newly published content is well optimized and visible in organic search listings.
- Keywords
Before we begin writing our content, we’ll want to determine a keyword focus for the copy. A great tool to help determine a keyword strategy is Google’s Keyword Planner. It provides data such as your monthly search volume as well as visibility into your competition. You can stay as broad as you would like with your search or you could narrow your search to include specific regions, cities, even languages.
- Copy
After we’ve established a priority keyword to target, we’ll want to weave it into the copy. It’s important to remember here that keywords should only be placed in the copy when it’s natural. Don’t stuff the page with keywords! It is important to write for the user first and search engines second.
There is not a magic number of times a keyword should be placed in a page but generally, it’s best to place it in the title or in an <h1> or <h2> tag. If it makes sense to put it in another place, great! But don’t go overboard.
- Images
Because we know you’re up to date on web design best practices, we know you’ll have beautiful images thoughtfully displayed throughout the page. These images can be optimized, too.
There are three key considerations when optimizing an image: size, title, and alt text.
- The size of an image affects pagespeed, so ensure the file is no larger than necessary.
- The title of the image should include keywords (if applicable), and each word within the title should be separated by dashes.
- Filling out the alt text field will help search engines better understand the context of an image. Again, if a keyword is relevant in describing the image, feel free to add it. But if it’s a picture of a dog on a post about SEO, do not write “seo” in the alt text field.
- URL
Your new page or post is going to need a URL. There is a lot to consider here, but here are a few best practices:
- Proper subdirectory placement ensures well maintained site architecture
- Include your keyword in the URL (if it’s already included in the title, chances are it will be automatically pulled into the URL).
- Separate-words-with-dashes
- Don’t_use_underscores_
- Remove stop words
”Awesome Blog Post” – /blog/awesome-blog-post/
- Cross Linking
Cross linking is a great way to increase user engagement and a search engine’s overall understanding of your website. Does your new page or post mention:
- Related products
- Related services
- Related topics
If so, link to them! Continuously serving up relevant content to the user is a great way to keep them engaged in the website. In fact, you might like this post on SEO for single page applications.
- MetaData
Metadata is data that helps to describe other data- simple right? Well metadata also helps search engines understand what a specific page is about, it is a piece of the SEO process.
- Title Tag
- Title tags should include the prioritized keyword, a branded term, and convey what the page is about
- Title tags can be about 55 characters long – don’t exceed this limit!
- Search engines put more weight on words at the beginning of a title, so make sure branding comes at the end: “Awesome Page Title | Mobomo”
- Description Tag
- Meta descriptions do not impact SEO, but they’re crucial to CTR
- Descriptions are limited to about 150 characters
- Well optimized meta descriptions convey what the page or post is about and include a compelling call-to-action
If you follow these basic guidelines then you can sit back and watch the traffic roll in!
