SEO Checklist: 7 Musts to Optimize On-Page Content
Better Your On-Page SEO
It’s well known that posting frequently to your page increases traffic to your site. Considering the 3 to 4 hours you invested to write a post, why not take an extra hour to enhance it with some SEO best practices.
We'll dive into 7 Tips to improve on-page SEO in just a moment.
But first, let's take a second to talk about quality vs. quantity. Research shows that longer content is definitely better for SEO. That said, don't ramble. Stick to 300-500 words minumum. When you write longer content - make every word count.
7 Tips to Make Your On-Page SEO Strong
Research and Analyze Keywords
Know that keyword research requires data analysis and an experienced eye. Including keywords in first 100-150 words of your content gives you a better chance of creating message match between the user’s search and your result. Once you know the process and like it, you should be able to find keywords in 30 minutes or less.
Here are two blog tutorials that we like:
Use Internal Links
Link to another post or page on your website. Linking to work on your own site is called internal linking, Google likes that!
Use External Links
Link to an authoritative site. Use an outside source to show users that your post is well-researched, rather than opinion based. I’m sure you get news from somewhere in your industry domain, so use it. This will build your backlink profile!
Customize Your URLs
URLs tell us what the page is about. Integrate your keywords into your URL structure. Use a dash instead of a space, do not use underscores or punctuation, and off you go! Here is a blog post on how to
customize your URL.
Optimize Images
Users love images. Help search engines love them too. Since search engines can’t see images, they read them. Take the keywords you researched and integrate them into the filenames and into the alt text.
If you are unsure of these steps, a simple Google search or blog post should take care of your questions. Check out this post on Optimizing Images for SEO. Side note: Make sure your images are relevant. You can find out why it’s important in our post on stock photography.
Include Keywords in Your Title Tags
Title tags are important because they are often used as a the preview snippet for your page. They are one of the first things Search Engines read. Title tags should a be concise, accurate description of page content. Include your primary keyword in the front (front-loading).
Heading 1 is the Most Important Heading
Heading 1, or <h1> is the first heading search engines (and humans) read on your page. It should also include the keyword you are targeting. Learn how to write effective headlines.
One Page Exercise: Change Keywords to Improve On-Page
Go back to an old blog post an update the keywords. Add new keywords to URLs, filenames, and alt texts.