Getting your on-page SEO factors just right is sometimes quite a challenge. Just when you think you’re on top of it, Google throws a spanner in the works by changing their ranking algorithm. In many ways the only thing we can be sure of in terms of SEO is that it is in a constant state of flux. Something that works today might not work tomorrow.
However there are some on-page SEO factors that have been relatively stable in their SEO importance. Making sure that these elements are incorporated into your page while making sure you are aware that with each passing Google update and new social media initiative, there are always changes coming. In fact, that’s almost all we can really be certain of!
So to ensure that you get off on the right footing as it regards your on-page SEO here are 7 tips you’ll want to ensure receive your full attention.
7 On-Page SEO Tips to Help Your Pages Rank Better
Title Tags and the page META Description – It’s important to get this right: Google wants to see no more than 60 characters in the title tags, and less than 160 in the META description. Try to employ your main page keyword in both, and make sure your description is one that will appeal to a visitor.
Keywords – Don’t litter your page with them. In fact each page needs to be optimized for one primary keyword and the density of that one on the page should be 1-3%.
Image tags – Be sure to tag your images ALT tags accurately. This will also help your images to get indexed in Google images, and get you more traffic.
Employ internal linking – Be sure to link to relevant and useful content within your own pages, preferably using keyword anchor text to get there. This is a major signal for Google that you’re trying to be of use to your visitors.
Get mobile friendly – Mobile now brings more than 50% of all traffic, so it’s not much of a surprise that starting in April 2015 Google will penalize pages that are not mobile friendly in their search results.
Privacy Policy, Contact Us, and Terms of Service – Make sure you have each one of these, and the information there is accurate and up to date. This is also a ranking signal.
Make your pages load fast! – Make sure your pages are loading as fast as possible because this is a signal that Google really looks at. Compress your imagery, and even switch to better hosting if yours doesn’t get your page loaded in less than 4 seconds.
So while these on-page SEO ranking factors are working and should be considered a neccessary part of your content planning, you should also be aware that Google is contantly changing, tweaking, and refining its ranking algorithm. The best practice as a web site owner is to be sure to stay in-the-loop when dealing with future algorithm changes.