One of the most important things you can do to help your website rank on Google is to show that it’s relevant to a user’s query. Google uses many different signals to determine relevance. Of those, On-Page SEO is likely the most important signal that you can directly influence. And you can do that just by making changes to your website content. Therefore, understanding the essentials of On-Page SEO is critical to helping your content get noticed on Google.
What is On-Page SEO?
That’s a great question – glad you asked. We call this part of SEO “On-Page” because everything takes place “on” website pages. Although the word “on” can be a little misleading. On-Page SEO requires using metadata that’s never actually seen on the page. But since the metadata appears in the HTML of each page, it’s considered part of it.
In this post we’ll consider two major components of On-Page SEO: SEO Meta Tags and On-Page Content. We’ll dig into what we consider to be the essential elements every page needs to have to rank better. We’ll also touch on how On-Page SEO has evolved over time to include meta tags beyond just the Title and Meta Description.
There are links in this post pointing to further info on each of the topics we discuss. On-Page SEO is complicated and encompasses a lot of different concepts. We recommend taking the time to learn them all.
We’ll also provide some code examples using the actual meta tags from this blog post. Very meta, right? Right?
But before we dig in, a word about keyword selection.
Keyword Selection
Choosing the right keywords to focus on is a critical and often overlooked aspect of On-Page SEO. Take some time to think about what you want to focus on with your content. Is it a single, discrete topic or a multi-topic epic? Can you cover the most important aspects of the topic in a single post? Can you also do that in a way that’s fresh and contributes something new?
Before starting, keep in mind that single topic pages tend to fare better for SEO. Search engines are definitely getting smarter, but they still favor focused over diffuse content in their search results. If your topic is really complicated, consider breaking it up into related pages or blog posts.
1. Standard On-Page SEO Meta Tags
On-Page SEO has evolved to include a number of different meta tags. In ancient times there were really only two that mattered: the Meta Title and Meta Description.
Well, there was one other meta tag that was important for SEO in those days, but it’s long been deprecated and it shall not be named here. Do yourself a favor and run screaming from anyone who insists on using the tag that shall not be named.
The Title and Meta Description affect how your website appears in search engine results pages (SERPs, for short). These should be included on every page of your website.
Here’s an example of what they look like in a standard 10 Blue Link result:
Here’s how the code for these meta tags looks in the HTML of a webpage:
<title>WordPress Website Design | Yamaretto</title>
<meta name="description" content="We build modern, responsive websites with the world's most popular website design platform, WordPress, which powers over 75 million websites worldwide.">
Canonical Tags
Sometimes multiple URLs represent the same page, and that can confuse search engines. Use canonical tags to indicate to search engines which version of a page to add to their index.
It used to be that canonical tags were mostly used when multiple versions of a product or service page required consolidation. In that sense, they were generally limited to being used for eCommerce SEO. Given how easy canonical tags are to implement on most websites these days, it doesn’t make much sense to neglect them.
The benefit of being able to declare which version of your content is the one that search engines should give credit to and show in their search results easily outweighs the effort involved in implementing canonical tags. Therefore, we consider them a standard SEO meta tag.
<link rel="canonical" href="https://yamaretto.com/on-page-seo-essentials-guide/">
2. Social Media Meta Tags
Meta tags for social media sites like Facebook and Twitter allow you to have greater control over what your content looks like when it gets shared. By default, these two social media sites will use your Title and Meta Description to make a headline and description for your content when shared.
But there may be times when you want to customize the messaging of your content when it gets shared on social media networks. Some messaging may resonate better with different audiences.
Additionally, social meta tags like Facebook’s Open Graph and Twitter Card give you a chance to provide additional information about you and your content:
<meta property="og:locale" content="en_US">
<meta property="og:type" content="article">
<meta property="og:title" content="On-Page SEO Essentials: A Practical Guide | Yamaretto">
<meta property="og:description" content="On-Page SEO is an important tactic for helping your website rank in Google. Read on for practical tips you can implement to help your content get noticed.">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://yamaretto.com/on-page-seo-essentials-guide/">
<meta property="og:site_name" content="Yamaretto">
<meta property="article:publisher" content="https://www.facebook.com/Yamaretto/">
<meta property="article:author" content="https://www.facebook.com/jonathon.emery">
<meta property="article:section" content="SEO">
<meta property="article:published_time" content="2018-09-25T22:55:59+00:00">
<meta property="article:modified_time" content="2018-10-18T04:36:38+00:00">
<meta property="og:updated_time" content="2018-10-18T04:36:38+00:00">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://yamaretto.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/On-Page-SEO.png">
<meta property="og:image:secure_url" content="https://yamaretto.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/On-Page-SEO.png">
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1024">
<meta property="og:image:height" content="558">
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="On-Page SEO is an important tactic for helping your website rank in Google. Read on for practical tips you can implement to help your content get noticed.">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="On-Page SEO Essentials: A Practical Guide | Yamaretto">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://yamaretto.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/On-Page-SEO.png">
3. Structured Data
Structured data, also known as Schema.org markup, is a way to convey important information about your website content to search engines. Search engines can then use that information to show your content in more interesting and visually compelling ways in their search results.
Some common examples include Rich Cards, Local Packs, and the Knowledge Graph. See Google’s guide for a more complete list. In short, structured data powers a lot of helpful Google Search features, and getting your content into those features is a great way to get noticed.
It used to be that very few websites implemented structured data. Given how easy it is to implement with JSON-LD, structured data should not only be added to every page, but it should be also be considered standard SEO metadata.
Here is what the JSON-LD structured data for this post looks like:
<script type="application/ld+json"> {
"@context": "http://schema.org",
"@type": "NewsArticle",
"mainEntityOfPage": {
"@type": "WebPage",
"@id": "https://google.com/article" },
"headline": "On-Page SEO Essentials: A Practical Guide", "image": [ "https://yamaretto.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/On-Page-SEO.png" ],
"datePublished": "2019-7-9T08:00:00+08:00", "dateModified": "2019-7-9T09:20:00+08:00",
"author": { "@type": "Person",
"name": "Jonathon Emery" },
"publisher": { "@type": "Organization",
"name": "Yamaretto", "logo":
{ "@type": "ImageObject",
"url": "https://yamaretto.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Yamaretto-Logo-e1561678894288.png" } },
"description": "On-Page SEO is an important tactic for helping your website rank in Google. Read on for practical tips you can implement to help your content get noticed." } </script>
4. Page Content
The single most important thing to remember about web page content is that it should provide the best possible answer to the search that led someone to the content in the first place. Do that, and you’re already well positioned to rank highly in Google.
That said, there are some specific elements you can improve on to enhance your On-Page SEO. Let’s dig in!
On-Page Headings
Headings are probably one of the most misused elements for On-Page SEO. It’s not uncommon for publishers or web developers to use headings to style text to be larger. This is neither a web development nor SEO best practice. HTML heading elements should only be used in the main body content of a page. They should be used hierarchically, starting with the main headline or title of a post or page in an H1 tag.
Headings should be used in descending order from the beginning of a page H1 to H6 to provide structure and context to the content.
Headings should also contain the focus keyword or topic for the page, and/or close variations of it. Think about headings like you’re writing an essay. Each subheading should be represent a section that supports the main topic in some way.
Page Copy
The keywords or topics you’re trying to target need to appear in the page copy. It’d be really strange to write a piece about “running shoes” without actually using the words “running shoes”, wouldn’t it? However, you don’t need to adhere to any strict rules about “keyword density”. That particular theory has been widely debunked, and it’s pretty obvious when page copy is written for search engines instead of users.
Since we’re aiming to provide the best possible content on the topic we’re writing about, we should also include closely related topics. Using the example above, if we’re writing about “running shoes”, then it makes sense to talk about different types of running shoes, their various features, and what types of surfaces they’re best for.
Remember – the point of On-Page SEO is to improve already great content that can stand on its own. We just want to make some tweaks to satisfy search engines without sacrificing quality.
Images & Video
Images and video also play an important role in On-Page SEO. Part of delivering the best possible answer to a question or the most comprehensive piece of writing is to enhance it with visuals.
When possible or relevant, include visuals such as images or video that help readers understand the points you’re trying to convey. This could be anything from an infographic or simple image to an instructional video or lecture.
For example – check out this great video on On-Page SEO by the ahrefs team for some more tips on On-Page SEO:
Now that you’ve got some of the essentials of On-Page SEO down, go forth and optimize! And feel free to drop us a line if you want to know more about On-Page SEO – is there anything we didn’t cover here that you’d like to see?
