![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clicktrust.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/1-On-page-SEO.png\")
<\/h2>\nWhy is on-page SEO important?<\/h2>\n
Improving your on-page SEO involves working on different aspects of your web pages content such as:<\/p>\n
- \n
- The use of keywords in the content<\/li>\n
- The use of long-tail keywords<\/li>\n
- Development and use of qualitative content<\/li>\n
- SEO optimized URLs<\/li>\n
- Internal links<\/li>\n
- Metadata, etc<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
We will come back to those elements in more detail later. The point is that if you optimize all those factors together, it will increase your page relevance and ultimately help improve your organic ranking.<\/p>\n
Relevance is key!<\/strong><\/p>\n
Whether you\u2019re working on keyword selection or metadata optimization, there is one common element you always need to keep in mind: relevance<\/strong>! You will see this term coming back a few times as it\u2019s the common thread of this article.<\/p>\n
To present it very simply, to be relevant the most basic rule to follow is that your page\u2019s content needs to match the search query a user is going to look for. This includes the content on the page itself, inside the URL, the title tags, meta descriptions or in the headings. That way Google can easily match the search query to your webpage content.<\/p>\n
Of course, in 2022, it\u2019s not that simple. SEO is more challenging, you have more competition and if you want to increase your chances to rank in high positions, you will have to optimize several elements on your page and try to always be better than your competitors.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The different on-page SEO factors<\/h2>\n
Use of focus keywords in the page content<\/h3>\n
As we saw above, relevance is the common element of your on-page SEO strategy and this includes the use of your focus keywords within your webpage content.<\/p>\n
First, start to define the keywords you want to rank for and the page you want to associate with them. Then ensure that those are present on the dedicated page. This might sound like a very basic rule but it\u2019s often underrated and yet, it\u2019s a pretty quick win!<\/p>\n
Be sure to not use them too much either otherwise Google might see it as keyword stuffing which could negatively impact your ranking. The goal is to find the right balance.<\/p>\n
Another piece of advice we can give is to make sure you are using your focus keywords in the first 150 words of your page content. Why? Both Google and users will give more attention to the first part of your page. They both need to quickly understand what your page is about when screening it. We\u2019ll see below different elements you can use on your page to highlight your focus keywords and be sure you optimize your website SEO-wise.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Title tags<\/h3>\n
Also named \u201cpage titles\u201d, title tags are tags that will define the title of your page, just like a title of a book or an article for example. When Google will look for a result that\u2019s relevant to show for a user\u2019s search query, it will look for a correspondence between the query and a webpage title (amongst other factors). Here we go again with relevance!<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s go through some advice:<\/p>\n
First, verify all your website pages yourself and be sure they all have a title tag. If they don\u2019t, Google will automatically use any text on the page and use it as a title tag, which will then be shown in the search results. It will most likely not be as relevant and as attractive compared to a very nice title tag you can write yourself, meaning you have fewer chances that users will click on it.<\/p>\n
You can easily check your title tags using different SEO tools such as SEMrush<\/a> or Screamingfrog<\/a>. These tools will scan your website and also highlight pages with missing title tags. If you want to do a manual check, you can use browser extensions such as Meta SEO Inspector or SEO peek, which will give you a view of your metadata, including the title tag.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clicktrust.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/2-SEO-Peek.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Once you\u2019ve highlighted the pages that you need to work on, it\u2019s time to write amazing title tags. Here are the points you need to keep in mind when writing them:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Use your focus keyword:<\/strong> it\u2019s an opportunity to use a focus keyword and improve your chances to rank for it<\/li>\n
- Relevance to your page\u2019s content:<\/strong> of course, the keywords you will use in the title tag also need to match the other on-page SEO element of your page<\/li>\n
- Describe the content of the page:<\/strong> very basic, but when reading the title tags, both Google and the user need to understand what the page is about<\/li>\n
- Match user search intent:<\/strong> when defining your page content and title tag, you need to know what your audience is searching for. Then build your title by trying to answer that search.<\/li>\n
- Make them attractive to read and click on:<\/strong> don\u2019t forget about the click-through rate impact. Ultimately you want the users to find the information they are looking for and make them click on that title tag in the search results to drive traffic to your site. So make it catchy! Adding a call-to-action or a question mark at the end for example can improve the click-through rate: \u201cLooking for a home insurance?\u201d<\/li>\n
- The length:<\/strong> it\u2019s recommended to respect a length of 60\/65 characters to be sure your title tag will be fully displayed in the organic search results.<\/li>\n
- Use your brand name:<\/strong> it will give more weight to your title and will catch users’ attention quickly, resulting in a higher click-through rate<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
Headings<\/h3>\n
Headings or headlines are used to bring structure to your webpage. You are going to use headings (H1) and subheadings (H2, H3, H4, etc) to give titles and sub-titles to the different paragraphs that your content is built with.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Heading 1: is often used to define the title of the content or highlight what the content is about<\/li>\n
- Headings 2 and 3: are used as subheadings<\/li>\n
- Headings 4, 5 and 6: can be used for big content for example that will need a more developed structure<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
Headings are very important for different reasons:<\/p>\n
1) Help users and Google understand the content:<\/strong> heading 1 is the top element that will be read, so try using a headline that represents your page content, it will help Google and users quickly understand what your page is about. With a descriptive heading, both should also be able to know if the content you\u2019re proposing can answer a question or fit with the search query.<\/p>\n
2) Improve user experience:<\/strong> headings are helpful in understanding how the content is organised on the page and how you need to read it. Usually, the first heading (headline 1) is bigger while the other headings are smaller. So headline 1 will catch the user’s attention first, and help them understand that this is the title of the content while other headlines are sub-titles. They are very helpful to understand the hierarchy of the content.<\/p>\n
Headings are also useful to quickly understand what the different paragraphs will be about. By scanning the headings, the user should get a quick idea of the overall content of the page.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clicktrust.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/3-Subheadings.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
3) Improve accessibility:<\/strong> headings can also be very helpful for users with disabilities that use programs such as screen readers for example. A screen reader will scan a page’s content and read the page content orally, allowing people with sight issues to understand the content without seeing it.<\/p>\n
On top of that, there are a few best practices that you can use when writing your headings:<\/p>\n
- \n
- The length:<\/strong> Don\u2019t make it too long. A length of 50-60 characters is ideal<\/li>\n
- Make it unique:<\/strong> each of your pages needs to have a unique headline 1. If you have pages with identical or similar headings, you might make it harder for Google to identify which page is the most relevant for a specific search query. This can harm your rankings for that query.<\/li>\n
- Look at the SERPs and what your competitors are doing:<\/strong> once you have listed your focus keywords and matched them with the right page, try to look for a few and see how results are showing in the SERPs and what headlines your competitors have written to guide you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
You can use the same tools we shared above to crawl your website and automatically get a list of your website pages that are missing or have duplicate headings.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Alt tags<\/h3>\n
Also named \u201calt text\u201d, alt tags are a way to optimize your website\u2019s images for SEO. Alt tags are attributes that describe the content or the function of an image. An image alt tag looks like this:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clicktrust.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/4-Alt-tags.png\")
<\/p>\nAlt tags are can also help in case an image is not loading. Imagine that your page and its content are loading, but the image itself is not. Well instead of seeing a broken image icon, the users will see alt text which will give them an idea about the image content without actually seeing it.<\/p>\n
Alt texts are also helpful for accessibility. As for the headings, alt tags can also be helpful for users who are visually impaired. If they use screen readers, the program will read the alt text of the image out loud and allow users to understand it without seeing it.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clicktrust.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/5-Coffee.png\")
Source: https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
Understandability and context: when correctly optimized, it\u2019s very helpful for search engine crawlers who will read the tag, and understand what the image is about. More importantly, it gives them contextual information about the content of your page. In other words, search engines should be able to understand the connection between the image and your page content (and we\u2019re back to relevance!). All of these will help search engines to index your images properly and make sure to show them to users for a relevant search query.<\/p>\n
Here are a few tools which can help you highlight images on your site that are currently missing alt tags: seoptimer<\/a>, seositecheckup<\/a>, sitecheckerpro<\/a>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
SEO optimized URLs<\/h3>\n
We also call them \u201cSEO-friendly URLs\u201d. The objective is to make the URLs of your page easily readable and understandable for Google and users. Along with your page content, headings, alt tags, etc, URLs are another opportunity that you can use to highlight your focus keywords and show to Google the relevancy between the user search query and the content you provide. We\u2019ll see below a few tips on how you can build SEO-friendly URLs.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Include your focus keyword:<\/strong> here as well the objective is to allow users and Google to understand quickly what your page is about just when reading your URL. On top of that, it\u2019s another opportunity for you to show Google the relevance between your URL and your page content, title, headings, etc.<\/li>\n
- Try to keep them short:<\/strong> avoid using URLs that are too long, and try to respect a max size of 115-120 characters. Too long URLs will also give the impression that the website is complicated to navigate through.<\/li>\n
- Avoid unnecessary and unclear parameters:<\/strong> remove words or parameters (numbers, question marks, underscores, spaces, etc) that Google bots won\u2019t be able to read and understand and that will add unnecessary extra characters to your URL. Words are everything both Google and users can understand.<\/li>\n
- Use hyphens:<\/strong> if you are using several words in your URL don\u2019t forget to separate them with hyphens. For example https:\/\/www.mysite.com\/insurances\/family-insurances.<\/li>\n
- Show website structure:<\/strong> using an organized URL structure will help Google and the users to easily understand how your site is structured and the hierarchy between your pages: https:\/\/www.mysite.com\/main-category\/sub-category\/product-page<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Qualitative content<\/h3>\n
As discussed above, relevant content is a pillar of any SEO strategy. However, just creating content is not sufficient. Your content needs to be relevant and qualitative to outstand the competition. The key challenge is to satisfy both Google and your website users. Keep in mind that the more relevant the content is, the more likely you are to rank higher on the SERPs (search engine results pages).<\/p>\n
Here is some advice we can share to create relevant and qualitative content:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Use trustworthy resources:<\/strong> be sure to provide correct and up-to-date information to your users<\/li>\n
- Make your content visually attractive to read:<\/strong> don\u2019t hesitate to add images or a video. Or even better, create an infographic to illustrate the subject of your content<\/li>\n
- Make it easy to read:<\/strong> avoid very long paragraphs and use headings. It will make it easier for the user to understand the subject of the paragraphs at first sight, but also the structure of your content<\/li>\n
- Avoid keyword stuffing:<\/strong> we know it\u2019s important to use your focus keywords inside your content but overusing it can be spotted by Google and could negatively impact your ranking<\/li>\n
- Solve a problem:<\/strong> try to think about a subject or question you know your users might be interested in and bring them a solution or very relevant information<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Long-tail keywords<\/h2>\n
What are long-tail keywords?<\/h3>\n
Unlike \u201chead\u201d or \u201cseed\u201d keywords, long-tail keywords are more specific and often longer keywords that can look like phrases. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n
Head keywords:<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- on-page SEO<\/li>\n
- iced coffee<\/li>\n
- holidays<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Long tail keywords:<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- how to optimise on-page SEO<\/li>\n
- iced coffee recipes<\/li>\n
- where to go on holidays in December<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clicktrust.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/6-Long-tail-keywords.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In some cases, long-tail keywords can indicate that people are in a more advanced research phase. Indeed, the more specific the search query, the more the users know what they are actually looking for or what need they want to answer.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Why use long-tail keywords?<\/h3>\n
Because these keywords are more detailed, they generally have a lower search volume than the broader keywords. But this doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that you shouldn\u2019t care about those low search volume keywords.<\/p>\n
Target audience:<\/strong> Let\u2019s say that you offer more specific products or services and succeed to match those specific queries to your website content then this is a good opportunity for you to rank on a specific niche of long-tail keywords.<\/p>\n
Less competitive:<\/strong> Long-tail keywords are also easier to rank on. As there is generally less competition for long-tail keywords with little search volume, you will be more likely to rank in a high position. This is even more true if your website is new. In this case, ranking high on head keywords will be very difficult.<\/p>\n
Easier to address:<\/strong> the more specific the keyword, the more you know how to match or answer it. It makes it easier for you to know what page you want to rank for and what information needs to be on that page to match the query. While if you\u2019re trying to rank for a broader keyword, you will have to display more information on your page to be sure something will match the query and hope to rank with it.<\/p>\n
Discover missing content on your site: doing keyword research with long-tail keywords can also help you discover content that might be missing on your site. Do the exercise to try to discover what your ideal customers are searching for, develop your keyword list & extend it with long-tail keywords. You might discover interesting questions or subjects that are currently missing on your site but that you could create and provide to your target audience. As we saw above, creating qualitative content is important for SEO and this can be a way to discover some interesting topics!<\/p>\n
Higher conversion rates:<\/strong> as we saw above, people using more specific queries are often in a more advanced search phase, which can mean that they will have higher chances to convert when landing on your website.<\/p>\n
\u201chead\u201d keywords on the other hand, with their very high search volume, are often complicated to position on because they are way more competitive. It will require more effort to try to rank at a high position for high-level keywords which will be more generic.<\/p>\n
Those keywords would bring you more organic traffic because their search volume is higher but maybe not the audience you would like to see converting on your website. Whereas by using a more specific approach with long-tail keywords you know that users that will land on your page are in a more advanced research phase.<\/p>\n
Whether you will choose for long-tail keywords will depend on your business. It will depend on your content and what you want to offer to your audience. In some cases, it\u2019s just difficult to use long-tail keywords or not necessary. In other cases, \u201cseed\u201d keywords are needed to define your product or service so it\u2019s just more relevant to try to rank on those.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
How to find long-tail keywords?<\/h3>\n
Here are a few tips or tools you can use to help you define long-tail keywords:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Use the SERPs:<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- auto-suggestion<\/strong>: when you start to look for something in Google, you will see automatic suggestions given by Google to finish your search. There you can easily find longer search queries.<\/li>\n
- related searches<\/strong>: at the bottom of the page results you will see that Google displays \u201crelated searches\u201d, all related to the search query you typed<\/li>\n
- \u201cpeople also ask\u201d<\/strong>: when looking for something in Google, you will often see a section on the result page where Google displays questions people ask that are related to your research<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clicktrust.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/7-People-also-ask.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Answer the public<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n
This tool allows you to enter a keyword, filter per country and discover all kinds of questions people ask themselves about the keyword you entered. With this tool, you can easily discover \u201cwhat, \u201cwhere\u201d, \u201chow\u201d, and \u201cwhy\u201dlong-tail keywords.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
- related searches<\/strong>: at the bottom of the page results you will see that Google displays \u201crelated searches\u201d, all related to the search query you typed<\/li>\n
- auto-suggestion<\/strong>: when you start to look for something in Google, you will see automatic suggestions given by Google to finish your search. There you can easily find longer search queries.<\/li>\n
- Make your content visually attractive to read:<\/strong> don\u2019t hesitate to add images or a video. Or even better, create an infographic to illustrate the subject of your content<\/li>\n
- Try to keep them short:<\/strong> avoid using URLs that are too long, and try to respect a max size of 115-120 characters. Too long URLs will also give the impression that the website is complicated to navigate through.<\/li>\n
- Make it unique:<\/strong> each of your pages needs to have a unique headline 1. If you have pages with identical or similar headings, you might make it harder for Google to identify which page is the most relevant for a specific search query. This can harm your rankings for that query.<\/li>\n
- The length:<\/strong> Don\u2019t make it too long. A length of 50-60 characters is ideal<\/li>\n
- Relevance to your page\u2019s content:<\/strong> of course, the keywords you will use in the title tag also need to match the other on-page SEO element of your page<\/li>\n
- Use your focus keyword:<\/strong> it\u2019s an opportunity to use a focus keyword and improve your chances to rank for it<\/li>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clicktrust.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/8-Topic-clusters.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clicktrust.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/9-Website-architecture.png\")