On page SEO: 8 principles for success | Weboptim

On page SEO is no longer a list of things to tick off. It has become more complex than ever before. A lot of time could be spent on on-page optimization. Instead, we're going to walk you through 8 principles behind the tactical work you can do to optimise your page for specific words. These days, they're not just words anymore, but rather phrases.

1. Meet the purpose and intent of the person seeking

Behind every search is an intention. We search for information, we perform tasks. Often the initial intention is different from the final goal we have achieved.

For example, if someone searches for wedding dress styles, we can infer that the specific intention behind the search is that they want to see different wedding dress designs that they could wear to a wedding, either as a guest, bride or groom. But the ultimate goal is probably to decide and then possibly purchase the item.

So this means that we must try to serve both the initial and the final intention. If we have an e-commerce website, we can say that we want to appear first for wedding dress types, and we want to be the page that is ranked by the search engine that tells people to buy that special tuxedo.

- We don't know if we'll need a black tie to go with it.

- We do not know whether the person doing the search is a man or a woman.

- A woman may buy a tuxedo, but she probably won't, at least according to statistics. They'd rather look for a dress.

- We might be more successful if the site had 20 suits that men can look good in for weddings. If we are targeting men or this type of suit is formalwear, then with a page like this we have a better chance of serving the intent of the searchers, meeting their goals, especially if we even link to small sites where they can buy different pieces or accessories for them.

2. Speed, speed and more speed

Simple, but the idea is great.
We know that the user experience is a signal that Google interprets indirectly in many cases, and directly in many more.
We also know that bounce rates are high, especially on slower loading pages on mobile.
We know that pages that load quickly get more links and are stronger.
We know that all of this has an impact on speed, which is positively correlated with rankings, and we know that Google considers page load time to be a small factor, but it directly affects rankings. So it is extremely important.

3. Build trust and engagement through UI, UX and brand building

Speed is certainly an important part of the user experience. But it's also critical, as these two factors affect our ability to be mobile-friendly and to be accessible to users across multiple devices.

They cover a lot of things, some of which have long been out of the control of search engine optimization. Fortunately, SEO is becoming increasingly multidisciplinary in marketing, so hopefully it can have more influence on things like:

Have people heard about our site?
Do they know us, do they love us? Do they trust us?
Are there UI and visual elements that make us trustworthy, even if it's the first time you've heard of us?
Do we provide intuitive access? (From a navigational and content consumption perspective)
Hopefully, there are some external links that indicate that the content and the brand are trustworthy. This could include references, reviews, etc.

4. Avoid elements that distract the visitor

Avoid any elements that confuse the user or distract them now or in the future. One of the most common of these is that you want to talk about what interferes with content consumption.

For example:

Pop up window: 'Want to stay married? If so, download the manual."
The user's response may be "Yes, of course I want to stay" or "No, I'm a terrible person and I won't click on the pop-up" followed by another pop-up.

This type of coverage has a negative impact on the site, you can see it in the user data, in the engagement rate. But we still have to choose what type of engagement deterrents we are willing to put on the site.

We know that the "pogo sticking" is also a ranking criterion. It is something that is judged directly and potentially indirectly. "Pogo sticking" means that a searcher clicks on our search result, goes to our website and then clicks on the "back" button and chooses another result. This is interpreted by Google as a very bad signal.

5. Keyword targeting

Keyword targeting is a classic in-page ranking factor, even today. It is worth using for a number of reasons.

Title elements
This is the most important.
It is good to include the most important keyword or keyword phrase in the title.
Include it in the page header, if possible. This can be the H1 tag, but it doesn't have to be. Just the big bold title at the top of the page. This is often the same as the page title, or at least very similar, because what you don't want is a user who clicks on the title and then lands on the page to find themselves with a different heading here and so hit the back button. This is dangerous.

Wording, outbound links, alt texts, URL
If possible, include the keyword(s) in the content and use them as anchor text for outbound links. Images should also appear in the alt text and URL.
For example, if our main page is about weddings and we're doing an interview about something, then on our about page we should put something about our wedding styles website and have the anchor text be keyworded.

Image file name
If you want to rank in Google's image search, include a keyword in the image name.

Internal links
Finally, we also use them in the text of internal links in a way that is intelligent and balanced, and does not appear to be spam.

When all the elements are ready, you have keyword targeting. But it's not like the old days when keywords got you where you wanted to be in the rankings. You need the other 7 points..

6. Targeting related topics

It's based on the fact that Google has huge lexical combinations and semantic analyses of keywords.
Related topics can be very important for search terms. If someone is searching for wedding formal dresses, it is unusual for them to find a page that is highly relevant to users, even though it does not contain the type of words or phrases they are looking for.
I need to think about what are the words and phrases that are relevant and how can I make sure that my content includes them? If I don't, the ranking will be worse than competitors who are already using it sensibly.

7. Snippet optimisation

The site is not just about influencing rankings. We also want to get clicks.
We want to have the best optimised snippet that is visible in the SERP.

Elements inside the page
This includes the title tag and meta description. The URL format is simple for main pages and more complex for subpages. If you have a non-seo friendly URL structure or inconsistent categorisation, Google will start categorising the pages on its own.

Date of publication
Less important, especially for users looking for fresh content. For example, if someone is looking for wedding formal dresses, they don't have to worry about the date. But what if many people are looking for 2017 formalwear? In that case, you need a fresh date. If Google sees that a lot of people are searching for it, it takes that as a sign, so it ranks the fresh content better.

Schema usage
This is also an option. For example, if we are a recipe site, we have a dedicated schema for recipes. If we're in the news sector, there's a separate one there too. There are many more, depending on where we are present, even locally.

Domain name
This is also worth considering. When you register a domain name and build a site, you need to consider why people will want to click on it, brand awareness, snippet optimization, etc.

Format of content
The format of the content is very important as Google, especially when it comes to search queries with multiple questions, shows longer meta descriptions. If we can get a piece of content together that answers the user's question, there is a chance that we can reach more space, and that would mean more clicks.
Works well for lists, forums and chat. It also works well for how-to content, step-by-step processes, and the like. The same is true for an instant reply option, where you want to appear at the top of Google search results with an immediate answer to a user's question.

8. Unique value + Amplification

What do we need to do to have a chance of getting places, good places, consistently good places?
If ranking is easy, you need classic, good, unique content. That's all. Be twice as good as your competitors, but target the same things. That can be enough to get good rankings.
Uniquely valuable content is needed. That means providing value that no one else in the search results can match. Don't just do a better job, but do a unique job, providing information and data that is more and more valuable.

Basically, we need to ask ourselves the following questions:

What makes us better than those that are already in place?
Why will it be difficult or impossible for others to copy us?
Who helps you to amplify the content and why?

Source: moz.com