Practical Guide To On-Page SEO

​There are many websites on the internet, and they all compete against each other. The following steps will help convince Google that your website deserves to be on top of the search results.

​By Alain Houle, Alco Web Design LLC

Practical guide to On-page SEO

​Google is the most popular search engines because of its ability to return relevant search results. On-page SEO is the art of telling Google what your website is all about. Google does not know how to read but it knows how to count. On-page SEO is all about keywords frequency, consistency, concentration, usage, and placement. All the following ideas will help, but the ones on the top of the list usually bring a bigger bang for your buck. For each page of your website:

​Keywords Selection

​Keywords or search terms are used to quickly describe the main products, services, or ideas being promoted by a web page. To avoid confusing Google, there should be no more than one or two keywords per page. If needed, create multiple web pages to segregate products, services, or ideas.

​Page Content

Google heavily relies on the textual content of your pages to figure out what they are all about. Each keyword should come naturally 2-5 times through the text of the page and be present on top and at the bottom. Paragraphs or sections of the page not containing your keywords dilute your keywords concentration and should be avoided.

Google does not like cheaters and long gone are the days where webmasters were able to stuff keywords incomprehensibly through the text of the pages. Web pages should be informational, original, contain at least 500 words, and be written primarily for the people reading them. Don’t be a copycat and come up with your own original content to give your web page a chance to stand out of the crowd.

Page content is the most important but also the most overlooked step of Google optimization. Don’t make it an afterthought and get professional help if needed.

​Meta Tag Title (68 characters max)

​The Meta tag title is the most important Meta tag and is only visible on the Google search results. It is used to quickly tell Google and your potential visitors about the content of your page so they decide to visit your website. Be bold, be convincing, be inviting, a bit like a news headline. Your Meta tag title should contain your most important keyword(s). Make a good use of each available characters and avoid diluting your keywords concentration with common words such as “product, solution” and stop words such as “the, of, at” etc. Use different Meta tag titles for each pages of your website. Including a geographic reference will help your page to rank higher on the local search results, where your target visitors are likely located.

​Meta Description (156 characters max)

​The Meta tag description is very similar to the Meta tag title, but the additional characters give you opportunities to provide more details about your web page. The Meta tag description is only visible on the Google search results.  It is used to tell Google and your potential visitors about the content of your page and should contain your most important keyword(s). It is a bit like a short summary of a news article. Use different a Meta tag description for each pages of your website.

​H1 Heading

​The H1 Heading is the most important visible portion of your web page. Google sees is as the main title of the page and it should contain your most important keyword(s). The H1 Heading and the Meta tag title are very similar in concept and should be very similar. There is only one H1 Heading per page.

​Page Name (whatever.html)

​The page name is used by Google as a potential indicator of the page content and should contain your most important keyword(s) where it makes sense. This does not apply to your home page that is always called “index”.  Use different page name for each pages of your website.

Examples From My Web Design Page

​Keywords: web design, website design, small business
Meta Tag Title: Website Design - Alco Web Design - Appleton, WI
Meta Tag Description: Small business website design by Alco Web Design in Appleton, WI. We believe in creating impactful websites that will add value to your small business.
H1 Heading: Alco Web Design: Small Business Website Design Company
Page name: small-business-website-design-services.html

Lastly

​Creating a new website is very exciting but pretty useless if nobody finds it. On-page SEO is the cornerstone of your website optimization and it will make or break the success of your website. We are there to help, please don’t hesitate to contact us with any On-page SEO question.