Obtaining a high search ranking requires a combination of off-site optimization practices as well as off-site practices. Today, we’re going to reveal some key on-page SEO practices to encourage higher search rankings and ultimately more traffic.
Title Tag
Don’t underestimate the importance of using a unique, highly relevant title tag for each webpage on your site. Title tags are displayed as the title in search listings, making it the first thing a user sees when performing a search. Page titles should be relevant to their corresponding content, and if possible, contain the keyword for which you are trying to rank. Keep in mind that Google typically displays no more than 60 characters of a page’s title, so keep your title tags under this limit for maximum visibility.
Meta Description
If page titles are the most important on-page SEO element, meta descriptions are a close second. Meta descriptions are displayed under page titles in search listings, helping to convey the page’s content to users. Much like page titles, meta descriptions should be unique and relevant. However, Google normally displays no more than 60 characters of a page’s meta description, so it’s recommended that you stay within this limit.
Add Links
Some webmasters assume that external links are bad, as they offer visitors a way to exit their sites. While it’s true that visitors can leave a website by clicking on an external link, this doesn’t necessarily mean they are bad. On the contrary, including external links in your content shows Google (and other search engines) that your website isn’t a one-way street. Subsequently, search engines may rank your website higher in their results. Just remember to avoid linking to direct competitors, because you don’t want them to capture your sales.
Speed it Up
How long does it take visitors to load your website? Internet users have become increasingly impatient in recent years, with many waiting just 4 seconds on average for a website to load. If the site fails to load within this length of time, they’ll exit out. You can check your site’s load times by visiting http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/ and entering your URL.
Avoid the Wall of Text
One of the most common mistakes webmasters make is creating a long wall of text with their site’s content. Even if the actual content is thoroughly researched and well written, few visitors will take the time to read it unless it’s broken into small, easy-to-digest section. You can make your site’s content easier to read by breaking it up with headings, sub-headings, bold, italics, bullet lists, and images. Improving the “readability” of your site will attract more visitors, increase the average duration visitors spend on your site, reduce bounce rates, and more, all of which can prove helpful in encouraging higher search rankings.
