The Importance of On-Page SEO in 2023: A Comprehensive Guide
Search algorithms can change instantly in the fast-moving world of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). As a result, what was the most efficient SEO technique then is not going to be as relevant today.
The heydays of link building and off-page SEO as the most powerful SEO strategy are over.
Welcome to the re-emergence of the importance of on-page SEO as a key search engine ranking factor. While both off-page SEO and on-page SEO are classic SEO factors, there has been a pendulum shift in the direction of on-page SEO.
Why On-Page SEO Is Increasingly Important
In the past, it was all about links. Backlinks were king. You could get them by writing articles for other sites or by buying them. But that’s no longer enough. Today, you need to have a website that is well optimised for your keywords. This means having a site map, meta descriptions, title tags, alt tags, image tags, etc.
Did you know that SEO drives 1,000%+ more traffic than organic social media? Pause for a moment and think about what that implies as a marketer – the importance of on-page SEO cannot be overstated.
As Google search gets exponentially smarter, the algorithm is beginning to focus less on backlinks. Instead, on-page elements are getting more of the spotlight. What does this mean? Well, certainly keyword stuffing is not making a return. Instead, search engine crawlers are rewarding a combination of cleanly structured websites and user engagement.
According to Search Engine Journal, here are some key focus points for SEO this 2023:
- Using SEO insights as a means of obtaining business intelligence throughout the organisation.
- Implementing technical SEO best practices to guarantee websites deliver the experiences consumers anticipate and automating research and site fixes whenever feasible.
- Striking a balance between SEO and PPC and discovering synergies to adjust to market changes and Google updates.
In preparation for the changing of the baton, you will need to prioritise the importance of on-page SEO to get organic traffic for your website.
Optimising Your Content With On-Page SEO
Applying tactics that reflect the importance of on-page SEO is an essential part of any successful digital marketing strategy. It involves optimising individual web pages to rank higher in search engines and drive organic traffic to your website. By implementing effective on-page SEO techniques, you can improve the visibility and relevance of your content, making it easier for your target audience to find you online.
1. Keywords
SEO keywords are an integral part of the process, but they should never be used solely for their own sake. Keyword stuffing is no longer effective because it makes your content look spammy. You want to use relevant SEO keywords that describe what your page is about and match the target search intent.
For example, if your site sells dog food, you might include the following keywords:
- dog food singapore
- puppy food singapore
- buy dog food
- order dog food
Other than considering the search intent of keywords, you should not sprinkle them into your content without care throughout the content. In order to give your content the opportunity to rank higher, your selected target keyword should be placed within the first 100-150 words. Keywords that are used earlier in the content tend to catch the attention of search engines more.
That is not all. Search engines will look at how many instances where a keyword, or a similar phrase, are used within a page. Take the search query – “java programming” for an example, use it once, and those robots may not be sure if that is what your content is about. However, use the keywords strategically and they will become more convinced. Do not overstuff, and use keywords wisely.
Do use keyword research tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Keyword Finder to find out which keywords are popular and which ones are not. If you do not know where to start, try using Google Trends to see what people are searching for at the moment.
2. Headings
The search engines are big fans of structure, so be sure to use your H1 and H2 headers throughout your content. This helps the robots to determine the structure of any given page. If you are just throwing out walls of text. you are shorting yourself on potential gains.
Headings also allow users to have a better experience when reading your content, and it is easier for them to navigate to where they want to be. Think of how you would want a content piece to read, and add value to that in your content creation process.
3. Internal and external linking
Remember to always include internal links within your content! Search engine bots are able to better gauge what topic your page is covering with the appropriate links. At the same time, your website’s internal linking structure is considered a big ranking factor as they help crawlers understand the relationship between your website’s pages.
Other than internal links, pages also tend to rank higher when they have external links to authority websites. From a user perspective, you are helping them to get more relevant information to make a decision. So make sure to build relationships with other high quality sites. You can do this by commenting on their articles, sharing their content, and even guest posting on their blogs. However, do not over do external links as this would dilute the link juice of your page.
Another thing that search engines hate is broken links. They are one of the biggest reasons why people lose rankings. Broken links happen due to several factors such as unorganised content changes, server issues, malware attacks, etc. So, make sure to check your backlinks regularly, and fix any broken ones. It is recommended to use a tool like Ahrefs to find these broken links.
In Google’s algorithm, backlinks are considered as a signal of a website’s authority and relevance. The more backlinks a website has, the more likely it is to be considered a reliable and trustworthy source of information. As a result, Google tends to rank websites with more backlinks higher in its search results. When a website ranks higher in Google’s search results, it tends to receive more organic traffic, which refers to visitors who find the website through unpaid search results. Therefore, generally speaking, a website with more backlinks is likely to receive more organic traffic from Google.
4. URLs
It is extremely important that your URL is short, looks authentic, and most importantly, contain the keyword you are aiming for. As a rule of thumb, we recommend not having more than 5 terms in your URL.
In addition to the length of your URL, when it comes to SEO, it is recommended that you do not use underscores or special characters in your URLs. These make it difficult for both user and search engine alike to traverse your website.
For webmasters who use popular CMS like WordPess or Shopify, a user intuitive interface should exist on your page backend to edit your URL. In addition, ff you are using WordPress, there are plugins that allow you to easily create a template for URL structures.
5. Images
Images play a huge role in SEO. They help the search engines understand what your page is about, as well as provide a visual element to your content. Images should be optimised by size, resolution, and file type.
If you are uploading images from your computer, ensure that you are saving them in JPG format. The reason being, this is the best image format for SEO purposes. In particular, you should avoid using PNG images where possible as these typically have larger image sizes.
Be sure to use image alt tags, and ensure that the image has a clear description. Image alt text is used by search bots to understand the content of your image and how it is relevant to your page. Do ensure that the image alt tags make sense within the flow of content before and after it.
Original images are preferred over stock photos as they look much better and provide clear differentiated value to the user. In line with Google’s 2022 helpful content update and 2022 May core algorithm update, there is a greater emphasis on unique value provided by your webpage. This is where original images that show clear first hand experience with a product or topic can help immensely.
6. Videos
Videos are great for SEO because they are easy to consume and digest. Videos are also very engaging, which means they are likely to keep people on your site longer. You should aim to upload videos that are between 2-5 minutes long. It is also advisable to avoid including too much text in your video as text has proven to be much less engaging for users.
A quick tip is to align your video alongside important portions of your page. This ensures that the user sees your key content while also signaling to search engines the relevance of the content.
At the same time, videos do help to lower the bounce rates of your website due to their high engagement potential.
7. Title tags
The title tag is one of the most important factors for on-page SEO—if not the most important. It basically provides the search engines with an overview of the content within a page. The closer you can get your target keywords to the tag, the better it is for your ranking. By using your keywords within the title tag itself, you can improve the rankings even more.
According to Ahrefs, Google is 57% more likely to rewrite title tags that are too long.
If Google rewrites your title tags, it may result in a title that is not optimised for your target keywords or doesn’t accurately reflect the content of the page. This can lead to a decrease in click-through rates as users may not find the new title as compelling or relevant to their search query. It means that the original title tag you created was not effective, and you may need to reassess your on-page SEO strategy to ensure that your titles are optimised for search and user experience.
If you are looking to target long-tail keywords, you can utilise modifiers within the title tag itself.
8. Meta descriptions
The role of meta descriptions cannot be underestimated as well. Rather than let the CMS determine your meta description, it is better for you to craft your own unique one. Implement the target keywords within your meta descriptions to help your content stand out for users and robots alike.
Optimising For Mobile
Mobile SEO is becoming increasingly essential in the importance of on-page SEO as the majority of internet users access the web through their smartphones. According to recent statistics, 72.6% of internet users will solely access the web via their smartphones by 2025. This means that if your website is not optimised for mobile devices, you may be missing out on a significant amount of traffic and potential customers.
This involves optimising your website’s design, content, and functionality for mobile users. This includes implementing responsive design to ensure your website is easily navigable and readable on smaller screens, as well as optimising loading times to avoid frustrating users with slow page speeds.
Mobile SEO also involves optimising for local search, as many users search for businesses and services while on the go. This means ensuring your business information, such as address, phone number, and hours of operation, are easily accessible and accurate in local search directories and on your website.
Here are some statistics that further prove the importance of optimising for mobile:
- 72.6% of internet users will access the web solely via their smartphones by 2025. (CNBC)
- 51% of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product when conducting a search on their smartphones. (Think With Google)
- 58.99% of all website traffic worldwide comes from mobile phones. (Statista)
Optimising For Click-Through-Rates (CTR)
While we all would love more organic click-throughs, you need to make an effort to smoothen the process. While getting everything on-page fixed up is good, it can be wasted if users are not clicking through. Here are some tips for improving CTR:
1. Use question title tags
Around 8% of search queries are phrased as questions, according to Moz.
When users have specific questions, they often use search engines to find answers. These questions can be phrased in various ways, such as “what,” “who,” “how,” “why,” and others. Based on user behaviour and data analysis, it has been found that around 8% of search queries are phrased as questions. Search engines like Google and Bing have taken note of this and have adjusted their algorithms to better understand and provide relevant results for these types of queries. This has led to the rise of featured snippets, which often provide a direct answer to the user’s question at the top of the search results page.
Usually, question-based title tags tend to have better CTR than plain old statements. By positioning your content as a question that people would ask, it is likely that your page will be providing the answer. Give the people what they want.
2. Use the current year
Nobody likes old news and data. By utilising the current year in your title and/or description, you are keeping your content up-to-date and relevant to the audience.
3. Use keywords
This is another way to increase the click-through rate of your page. If you use the right keywords in your meta description, you can ensure that the search engine spiders pick them up and rank your page accordingly. As such, this can be seen as putting key phrases that your target audience is likely to use so that your website immediately appears relevant to them.
4. Include an offer in your meta description
Offers are always popular amongst consumers. They provide immediate value and allow you to position yourself as someone who is willing to give something away for free. Use offers in your meta description to encourage people to visit your page.
Optimising For User Experience
In addition to all that we have covered, the overall user experience can also impact on how well your content will do on rankings. Dwell time, bounce rate, and more metrics are taken into account. By keeping your audience happy, you are doing yourself a favour.
1. Deliver relevant content swiftly
According to Bright Edge, 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine.
When users click on a piece of content, they are looking for answers straight away. Do away with the pleasantries, and dive straight into what they want. Avoid taking up space with too many images, and make your content the star of the show.
2. Decrease the page loading speed
Everyone is impatient on the Internet, and that is a fact. How fast or slow your page loads is part of the user experience. If it is too slow, you can bet they will be closing that tab real soon.
Core web vitals is a set of metrics that allows you to analyse your website’s performance from multiple angles. These include things like speed, mobile friendliness, security, and more. In particular, core portions of core web vitals include:
- First Contentful Paint (FCP)
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
- Time To Interactive (TTI)
These metrics allow you to see where your site stands in terms of loading times, and what was the page loading experience like for a user. Do use Google Search Console to do a bulk analysis of persisting CWVs issues on your websites’ pages.
3. Include sitemap
A sitemap is a list of pages on your website that provide information like the URLs and last edit date. This helps Google know which pages are linked together, how fresh the content is, and how they are categorised. A sitemap is usually created by hand, but there are tools such as Screaming Frog which are available to help create them automatically.
Other than the typical sitemap, there are also extensions such as author, video, and image sitemaps. An image sitemap provides links to images on your site, and includes metadata about those images. This means that when someone clicks on an image, they get additional information about the image itself.
When a search bot crawls your website, it relies largely on your sitemap to find all pages and prioritise the crawl.
4. Optimise your content
The final step in the process of optimisation is content optimisation. The purpose of this step is to ensure that your content is being crawled and indexed correctly. It is important to note that not every page needs to be optimised. Some pages may only need a few tweaks here and there, while others may require a complete overhaul.
You should always start with the most popular pieces of content, and then move onto other types of content as these carry the most potential impact. Oftentimes, refreshing an old but still visible article brings an instant burst of organic traffic in.
Leverage The Power Of On-Page SEO
At the end of the day, search engines are constantly updating their criteria when it comes to ranking and determining what is best for their users. If you are looking to come out on top, you need to be aware of the new changes that are always in the pipeline, so you can work better and more efficiently get organic traffic.
The growing importance of on-page SEO is but one of those ways. If you find yourself needing some help to understand it all and get an optimised website, get in touch today with the best SEO services agency in Singapore – First Page. Our SEO experts provide a free SEO consultation, and let you know the best ways to grow your website and explode your traffic. Contact us today to learn more.
