OnPage SEO: The ultimate guide for more organic traffic (2021)

In this article we explain what you have to pay attention to in OnPage optimization and how you can optimize your content perfectly.

The entry

When it comes to OnPage SEO measures, I’m sure you’ve already heard many times about the role written content plays for your site. With quality content, you can fill your site with more organic traffic and thus rise in Google’s top search results.

Nevertheless, good content alone is not enough. There are still quite a few requirements that need to be met. This includes, for example, a suitable design that sets you apart from your competition.

So today we’re going to show you how to organize your content to generate large amounts of organic traffic with it. Because that’s who you’re after. We have summarized the 14 best tricks of OnPage SEO here for you.

Content with SEO focus

The very first thing you should do is make sure that the focus keywords around which your copy is built are used in the title, headings and subheadings. For this, the use of H1, H2 and H3 headings is essential. It is also important to arrange them according to a logical and hierarchical structure.

Start with an H1 headline, the most important one on your page. Then use H2, H3, H4 etc. You have certainly used Roman numerals to arrange text before. The principle is the same here.

Why are these classifications so important for search engine optimization?

To rank the content of your page, Google uses so-called search bots. They can tell what your text is about from your headings. In order to help these bots index your site where you would like them to index it, using the keywords in these exact places is essential.

However, you must not forget the other entity for whom these titles and subtitles of your texts play an important role: your non-robotic audience. So make sure your headlines are useful and at the same time encourage people to read on.

At this point, it’s also helpful to note that Google has taken a different approach to headline sizing since May 2016. Until now, only the number of characters of the headline played a role. This has not been the case for two years.

The headings are now measured in their width. Pixels is the keyword: there are exactly 600. This corresponds to a number of approximately 55-70 characters. This may mean that using too many М or W letters will consume a lot of space. If your title is too long, Google may reformat your headline to produce a more appropriate result.

So, to follow all these advice you should use the right keywords and at the same time pay attention to the content as well as the length of the headline.

In a nutshell:

• Include the keywords in titles, headings and subtitles of your page.
• Make sure your title isn’t too long. (600px correspond to 55-70 characters)
• Turn your title into an H1 headline and then follow a hierarchical order.

The URL: Brevity is the key

The first of the rules described above also applies to the creation of the URL. The keyword to be indexed should definitely find a place here. It should also be kept short. As head of Google’s Webspam team, Matt Cutts explained that longer URLs are rated as less credible.

“For sure. You can have four to five words in your title. That’s perfectly normal. Then if you have three, four or even five words in your URL, that’s perfectly fine too. Beyond that, however, things look a little worse. From now on, our algorithms will weigh them less.”

Also make sure your URL’s look good in theSERPs!

Not like that:

webseite.de/9/9/2/5/on-page-seo-tips-to-keep-your-webpage-optimized

It’s like this:

webseite.de/on-page-seo-strategy

In a nutshell:

• Make sure it’s the right length: four or five words is perfect.
• Use your keywords.

Use helpful plug-ins for your site

If you’re using WordPress, there are some handy plug-ins you should definitely install. They help you to optimize your site. One of them is YOAST SEO . It is extremely helpful in creating titles. It checks its length and also gives you useful information about easy to implement improvements.

It is an ingenious tool that shows you how small details of your page can be further optimized to improve the readability and search engine optimization of your page. The analysis describes possible problems and suggests possible solutions.

Even if some of the German umlauts are not always displayed correctly, it is the best tool of its kind.

If you don’t use WordPress there is another useful tool that can help you in this regard.

Watch our video about the 5 best wordpress plugins here

But before you start thinking about plugins, you should take a look at the differences between popular content management systems (CMS) such as WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal and shop systems like WooCommerce, Shopware, Shopify, etc. One of the best and easiest systems to optimize is WordPress for blogs and websites. If you want to build a shop, a combination with WooCommerce as a webshop plugin makes sense, because WordPress alone is not designed for this. If you do not have the confidence to do this alone, you can work together with a WordPress agency and achieve very good rankings within a very short time – above all, there is less risk of making serious mistakes.

Keyword optimization

There is one very important rule regarding the positioning of keywords in your posts. We strongly recommend using them in the first 150-200 words of your text. In most cases, it happens all by itself. However, some post writers often tend to write long and detailed introductions without mentioning the keyword once.

So keep this rule in mind: the sooner you use the keyword, the better.

It makes sense, doesn’t it?

In brief

• Use your keyword in the first 150-200 words.

Scope is strength

Many studies have proven that content is better shared and generally performs better when it is long and detailed. This study, which was hubspot.com proves that there is a correlation between article length and organic traffic.

As you can see from the graph above, content with around 2250-2500 words brings the most organic traffic to your site. This tendency can be explained by the following approaches:

• Longer content generates more shares on social media.
• Longer content gives Google more material and therefore a higher probability to rank your content where it belongs.
• The likelihood of using long-tail keywords in long texts is much higher.
• Long content generates more high quality Backlinks which help your site to rank higher.

In a nutshell:

• Make sure your page consists of at least 1500 words.

Long Tail Keywords

As you already know, pages with more extensive content achieve many times better results on Google. This increases the likelihood of using long-tail keywords.

Long-tail keywords consist of four or more words, are low competition, have excellent conversion, and can get you tremendous amounts of organic traffic. So if your content is comprehensive enough, there’s a very good chance you’ll dominate your niche.

Why does using long-tail keywords work so well?

This may surprise you, but fewer and fewer people are searching on Google with just two or three words. With the continuous development of Google’s search engine algorithms, it is already able to handle more complex queries effectively.

This is exactly why it is becoming more common for people to search Google with very long and specific sentences.

Long-tail keywords are not very competitive. One reason for this is that big companies and well-known brands don’t target these keywords. Another reason is that Keyword Planner tools usually don’t show these long-tail keywords. The opposite is true for head and body keywords. You’ll definitely find less competition.

Finding long-tail keywords can be very difficult, but once you find them, you can easily use them again and again in your content. This is how you gain organic traffic and shares for your page.

If you want to find out the best way to get to those long-tail keywords, just take a look at our post Keywords: The Ultimate Guide to Effective Keyword Research (2019). .In a nutshell:

• Find long tail keywords
• Use them in your content

Increase the usability

Usability, or user-friendliness, affects all sorts of areas. Media, social media features and technical optimizations have an impact on usability.

Add media to each of your posts

Add media to your posts, and to all of them. Why? It greatly improves the user experience. While images and other media don’t have a huge impact on Google rankings. The behavior of your users, on the other hand, does.

Values are created that are classified as particularly important for Google. Images, videos or infographics can significantly reduce the bounce rate of your page. The result: users spend more time on your site. Another pleasant side effect. The more you beautify your page using varied and useful media, the more your link will be shared.In a nutshell:

• Add media such as images, videos or infographics to your posts

Image descriptions are great for SEO

Not everyone knows about the ‘alt tags‘, which are displayed as alternative texts in WordPress. In fact, they’re usually underrated, but they definitely deserve your attention.

Even though the robots Google uses are highly sophisticated, they still remain robots. They can’t tell what’s in the pictures you’re using. That’s why it’s imperative that you alt tag these images and give them a proper description. It’s best to include one of your keywords in the description of the image.

Why it is worth describing the pictures:

It’s simple. It creates a clear structure for Google’s algorithms. It gives the bots of the search engines information about what is on your image, which afterwards also helps the users to find your page via the Graphic Search Engine.

Use internal links

Using internal links on your site is of immense importance in SEO terms. Internal links are basically just linking from one of your posts to another. The end result is that robots as well as users can navigate around the site with ease.

Well created internal links help the like:

• They improve the user experience. If you succeed in grabbing the attention of your users and they feel comfortable on your site, they will return.
• They help index your site. A good internal linking helps Google’s robots to rank your page correctly.
• They reduce bounce rates because the user can easily navigate back and forth between your subpages.

Thanks to internal linking you can describe keywords that you would like to improve elsewhere on your site.

Important. Internal links will not work if the linked word is not clear enough. Through the clarity of the Anchor text it becomes directly clear to the reader and Google what the target page is about. Achor texts like “learn more” or “read more” should be avoided.

A great example of internal linking is Wikipedia. Of course, Wikipedia uses hundreds of internal links on their articles. But that’s Wikipedia for you. They can and they should. On your site, two to three internal links per page are perfectly adequate.

Don’t forget the external links

Just as important as the internal links are the external links. It is highly recommended to use external links on your site. About 2-4 at 1000 words. This helps Google identify the theme of your page.

However, keep in mind that the pages you link to also play a role in your ranking. Credible sites can help you improve the credibility of your own site. For example, linking to pages of official authorities can bring many benefits.

Speed up your page

The following topic is a very important one. Google places a lot of importance on the loading speed of your page. It is one of the most important factors for SEO. Even a one-second loading time can have far-reaching consequences:

11% Reduction in page visits

16% Reduction in visitor satisfaction

7% Loss of conversions

According to the Akamai Report, 47% of users expect the page to load in two seconds. 40% leave the page after a three-second loading time. Actually, it’s not surprising. At a time when technological progress is already so advanced, consumer expectations are also rising. They no longer have patience for slow-loading pages, and in these cases are more inclined to click over to the competition.

Visitors don’t like slow pages. Neither does Google.

“two seconds is he threshold for ecommerce website acceptability. At Google, we aim for under half a second.” Maile Ohye, from Google.

“Make sure they [web pages] load fast, for users. I aim for less than 2-3 secs” John Mueller, Google (2016)

What can you do to reduce the loading time of your website?

• Try to reduce the size of your website to a minimum
  
• Remove plug-ins from your site that you can do without
  
• Limit the use of social sharing button
• Enable and use browser caching

Make your site responsive

Very important! Responsive designs have almost become Google’s top priority. In 2015, the internet giant began penalizing sites that weren’t optimized for mobile and tablets. This also makes sense, since most people now surf mobile. If you are negligent here you can expect immense visitor losses. So make an effort to have a working layout on all devices.

Use social sharing buttons

Use social sharing buttons on your site. Sharing buttons don’t have a direct effect on your Google ranking, but they definitely have a positive impact on your site. By adding social share buttons, you can increase the number of times your page is shared by 700%.

If your content is also of high quality, you can expect a lot of shares on the social media platforms.

Always stay up to date!

We’re nearing the end. However, we still have one important tip for you.

Stay up to date – because: What is a priority today may already be irrelevant tomorrow!

In fact, such changes are often on Google’s agenda, as the company is always looking for the best and most effective algorithms that optimize the Internet more and more for its users. So try to stay on top of the latest news. Keep an eye out for the latest changes and adjust your site regularly to keep up with the latest news.

We wish you gigantic traffic and a successful Google ranking!