Practice SEO On Page Optimization with these 6 steps

 What is SEO On page Optimization?

SEO On page Optimization is the common term that we used to describe to the changes that are made in a website. SEO On page Optimization is actually helping Google  to make websites crawlable to it by URL. A website has two sections: head section and body section. Head section contains snippet, which includes the title, URL and description of a website. There are two types of snippets: basic and advanced.In advanced snippet, star rating is also included other than title, URL and description. 

Steps involved in On page optimization

a. Title section optimization

Title is very important in a webpage. So it should be catchy and attractive. At the first glance of the title, readers should get the idea of the webpage. Title is included in the snippet portion of a website.

Title guidelines 

• Three or more keywords 
• Meaningful
• No spelling mistakes
• Unique
• Title length should not exceed beyond 512 pixel width
• Impressive and attractive
• Avoid full capital letters or full small letters

Google Search console: Search console is a basic Google tool used for SEO practice. Its older name is Google webmaster tool. Its function is to find out any issue/error of the website. If one or more web page has the same SEO title Google will show it as title duplication error in search console.

If our web pages has irrelevant SEO title Google usually ignores it and shows as H1 tag in the body portion of the snippet instead of SEO title. In 2014 Google update, it says that  SEO title should contain 55 to 60 characters.

b. Meta description 

Meta description part comes after the title section of the webpage. It's the description of the title of the webpage. In the below image, the section in blue part is Title and the description just below is meta description.

                   <meta name="description" content="aaaaa"/>

Above example shows meta description in html( hypertext markup language) model.

 If meta description is not added or irrelevant, Google shows the content from body portion of the webpage in its snippet.

Meta page Cannibalism: If SEO title is similar in one or more web pages of the same website, the clash between the web pages is termed as meta page cannibalism.

Meta description guidelines 

• Width:1024 pixel
• Characters:155-160(page)& within 155(blog/articles). This is because of the fact that Google shows published date in blog post or articles.
• Unique, impressive, attractive and relevant.
• Focused keywords in meta description should appear once instead of stuffed keywords as a part of SEO on page optimization. So websites may get impressions/CTR (click through rate).

There is an option for re optimization if we want to make our websites more impressive.

How to write keyword meta tag

e.g. <meta name="keywords" content="SEO company Kochi, SEO service Kerala"/>

When Google noticed keyword stuffing, it published a blog post in September 2009 which stated that Google doesn't use keyword meta tag for ranking.

Robots meta tag 

Robots meta tag is the meta tag which provide instruction to the robots which comes to crawl the web page.

<meta name="robots" content="index, follow"/>

<meta name="robots" content="no index, follow"/> (not allowed to crawl)

<meta name="robots" content="index, no follow"/> (no equity will be passed)

c. Body section optimization 

 H1 tag is the visible portion in a webpage. Everyone pays attention to it because it is the most biggest text whenever we open a webpage. H1 tag is the identity of a web page. Like H1, there are H2 and H3 and these should be connected to H1.

H1 tag guidelines 

• Do not cross the limit of 12/13 words
• Without spelling or grammar mistakes
• Relevant heading for H1 tag
• Use one H1 tag for the same webpage.

If  more than one H1 tag is used in the same webpage, it will contrast each other. As a result, Google will save it as a temporary database. This is known as sandbox. It's a type of error. To avoid this, secondary keyword can be used in H1 tag.

d. Content optimization 

Content optimization is very important in SEO optimization. Webpage should have a quality and meaningful content.

Content guidelines

• Simple Content
• Avoid complex sentences
• Relevant topic
• Add space after comma and full stop
• Avoid lengthy sentences  (maximum 20 words)

Google usually avoids lengthy or complex sentences. Reading easiness score was introduced for this purpose.  Simple meaningful sentences will get the highest reading easiness score.

Old school SEO practices 

Earlier, there are certain myths related to SEO optimization practice. One myth is that Google considered keyword density for published web pages and it should be 5% minimum. Keyword density means the number of appearances of focused keywords in the webpage. But it was not true. Google doesn't consider keyword density. The Second myth was that the published web page will get a high rank if it make some keywords bold at certain places. But Google denied this. There is no chance of giving higher rankings to bold keywords. But bold keywords will get reader's attention and they can easily understood the idea of the topic. In short, every published web pages should be optimized for users too.

e. Image optimization

Images will attract more readers to a website. Adding  relevant images will improve the quality of a webpage. img src  tag is used to represent an image in a webpage.

It is an helping factor for Google to identify or rank the image. Three things are to be considered to rank an image. They are:

• In the alt tag, add name of the image
• Add filename to the image
• Adding suitable keywords in the content and alt name tag of the webpage help Google to identify the image.

f. Anchor text Optimization

The clickable text displayed in a hyperlink that's usually blue and underlined is Anchor text. Otherwise anchor- tag added keywords. Anchor text is the visible portion in the content portion of a webpage. If hyperlink added anchor text is sent to another webpage, it will boost up crawling. When a webpage sent hyperlink   to  highly trusted websites, that webpage will get that trust value. If anchor text gives link to a webpage inside the webpage, that link is called internal link. It will boost up internal navigation and increase the trust value. If somebody clicks the hyperlink and goes to another website connected with it, it will count as an impression and thereby reduces bounce rate. On the other hand when somebody visits the website and leave the page suddenly, bounce rate will be high. As a result, ranking may get affected. 

Authorship Optimization

When the published page has the authorship and Google recognised that, the editorial power of that webpage will increase. As a result, the authorship value will rise. Earlier,  Authorship Optimization practice was applicable in Google plus.  But it was stopped by Google as a result of Shakeup algorithm change in 2013. 
Before that, Google will show the image linked with Google plus profile in the search results of Google as a part of authorship optimization.

In short, SEO On page Optimization is a necessary part to improve the overall quality of a webpage. It's an important process that helps Google to understand the intention of the user and thereby delivers search results that user wants.

 I have  published a blog about the History and Evolution of SEO. Please check to know more about SEO.