If your business has a website, you surely want to increase your website traffic. But you don’t have the time, the expertise or the inclination to dig into this technical field.
Marketers agree that SEO is essential, never mind the rise of social media and other gee-whiz tools that pop up like mushrooms. Consequently, it pays to have a working knowledge of on-page SEO. And it doesn’t require technical expertise.
As you’ll see, SEO is only as hard as you make it.
Without further ado, let’s define on-page SEO. Essentially, on-page SEO consists of those things you do on a website page to attract search engines. That includes both content and html code, which provide natural search results.
Simply put, you can write compelling SEO copy by consistently applying only five on-page SEO elements.
Three reasons stand out that make mastering the basics of on-page SEO worthwhile.
· SEO Generates Leads: SEO positively impacts lead generation according to 59% of marketers
· Natural Search Beats Paid Search: 79% of search engine users say they always/frequently click on natural search results
· Search Beats Social Media: In 2012, the 2nd quarter average order value was 40% higher than from social media
To sum up, mastering the basics helps generate leads, boost website traffic, and increase profits.
With that out of the way, let’s dive into the 5 key elements you need to boost traffic.
Successful On-page SEO Starts With Titles and Headlines
Title should always include keywords. It’s the most important on-page ranking element. And for best results, you should use keywords towards the beginning of the title. Of course, the title should be relevant to the content of the page.
Improve On-page SEO with Meta Descriptions
Each page has a meta tag that serves to describe what your page is all about. It’s a summary that Google uses to describe your page on the search results page. Take advantage of this summary description by writing benefit-oriented copy. Write meta tags for human readers not search engines. And each page should have its own unique description. Don’t use one meta description for similar pages.
Strengthen On-Page SEO with Placement and Usage of Relevant Keywords
Keywords play a central role in search engine optimization. Searchers type keywords or keyword phrases into a search box. Placement and usage of keywords matters. Generally, the closer to the front of your content – the first 100 – 150 words, works well.
One quick word of caution. Do not overuse keywords or Google will flag you for keyword “stuffing”. Keywords should not make up more than about 5% of overall page content.
Selecting keywords searchers use, helps you write useful and relevant content. A free tool to use in
finding keywords to guide your content strategy is Google Keyword Planner. Familiarize yourself with this tool, and you can begin writing compelling content.
Fortify On-page SEO With Compelling Content – Frequently
Content is king. I know you’ve heard that before, but it bears repeating because Google’s bots search for content – quality content. Briefly, quality content is content that addresses your audience’s needs, wants and desires. Note, content is for users not search engines. Write content with the human reader in mind. Google favors new, original and frequently updated content, which tends to attract visitors. More visitors attract Google bots to crawl your page, resulting in higher rankings.
Boost On-page SEO With Social Media
Some say social media is or has replaced SEO. But that’s not true. Social media plays a different role – that of distribution. Namely, social media facilitates the sharing of your content with others. So social media complements SEO by distributing your content to interested parties or groups.
On-page SEO – No Technical Background Required
Clearly, website optimization is a broad and complex topic. However, prudent marketers do not shy away from SEO. They make SEO work for them, without worrying about having a technical background.
Focus on these five non-technical, on-page elements, and you’ll realize tangible results. It simply requires consistent application. By focusing on these five, you quickly master them because they’re manageable. This sets you up to delve into other SEO techniques, such as off-page SEO.
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