Over 80% of the purchase of goods or services is caused by a Google search. If you do not see Google on the keywords that are relevant to what you offer, it also reduces the likelihood that they will choose you.
In this introductory article on onpage search engine optimization, we will have a broad and practical focus on what you can and should do on your own website. As a background to the post you should carry with you the most important for successful SEO:
Google loves good business. You will be the best company within your niche.
Onpage is a wide category and we will divide it into two parts – Approach and Technical.
Onpage SEO Approach
Stuffing more keywords and expecting better placements is no longer the case. You must also understand that Google can see which keywords there are a lot of money in and there is more or less obvious that there are strong incentives to be seen at the top.
The landing page text you are trying to rank should rather be seen as an “off” or “on” button. Either way, it is about this keyword – or not.
There is a certain clearance for how much you can optimise. But more is not always better as it used to be.
It also increases the risk of being punished if you have an optimistic onpage profile and also links to the website.
This is what you should do:
- Target 800 words
- The keyword must be included in the title and h1
- The keyword must occur at least once in plain text
- 0.7-1% of the text should contain the keyword
- Enter LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) terms, synonyms and enter the keyword in different variants. It is by far the most natural. It’s a sure way to optimize your text without spamming your keywords.
- Italic / bold mark a synonym (not the exact keyword)
- Alt tags will describe the image. Pressure is not in the keyword exactly. Explain the picture and try to get the keywords in part.
- Google likes big websites. Try creating relevant subpages and link back to the page you are trying to rank. Use everything from exact match, partial match and completely neutral anchor text.
- Include the keyword with exact match high up and early as well as far down and near the end.
Furthermore, you should not neglect the writing of related topics. If we take a simple example of football, where our goal is to be seen on the keyword “Football Pro”, you can name the names of different football profals a number of times and it increases the relevance of our primary keyword without increasing the risk of punishment (over-optimization of individual keywords).
Something you should keep in mind is that this is how to do for SEO 2017. Previously, it could be more aggressive and get better results. In a few years, however, this recommendation will also be misplaced. The future is in RankBrain (AI, Machine Learning), which makes Google see what real visitors like about your website. To only manipulate Google is a relatively short-term solution in relation to a corporate life. All you do is to increase the quality of your business on the web.
On page SEO: Technical
The technical one can go any way. For larger projects we will renovate everything from the first code until the last text is written and without a single link we can see really positive results.
Extend the domain name
By prolonging the domain name 5 – 10+ years ahead, you show Google that you are serious and here to stay.
The effect of this is discussed. However, we are seeing increased trust in Google and since it is not a direct cost when paying for future invoices, it is equally good to check this.
Fully responsive
That the website should be responsive today is a must and we do not have to argue for a long time. However, something interesting is that Google has prioritised desktop to prioritise the mobile. Formerly, Google went out of desktop, and made adjustments to fit the mobile. Today, we are switching roles where Google is from the mobile phone and making adjustments for desktop.
Getting the website fully responsive to all devices and displays is a must.
Page load time / Website speed
Page load time can be a little harder to get around, especially if you use a heavy WordPress theme. There is a Google Page Speed test you can do to get their ratings of how fast one’s website is. However, you should not starve blindly on this. There is no parameter for how well you see on Google. What Google wants is your website to be fast. Visitors also like quick websites and more tend to contact companies whose website is fast which, in turn, will increase your rankings thanks to RankBrain (AI).
A good company cares about its website and it will therefore be quick too. Which is another quality parameter.
SSL certificate
Google has assumed that they provide a “ranking boost” for everyone with https – see ” Google Starts Giving A Ranking Boost To Secure HTTPS / SSL Sites “.
This cost is about $150 per year and takes an hour for your developer to install. To check this is for many definitely worth it. Overall, it’s growing trust in Google and you’ll notice an increased tailwind.
HTML validation error
When you make your website, we recommend that you ask your developer to review the validation errors in your HTML code. It is not worth aiming to have 0 errors when some are difficult to solve. But a expert SEO company can help with it.
Final word about onpage search engine optimisation 2017
You will be the best company in your niche. Think long-term. Think about what benefits the visitor. Do not over-optimise against individual keywords. The website should be fast, safe and responsive. The text should primarily contain the keyword you are trying to view, but to a lesser extent than before. Focus on related topics and surround the keyword.
In the next part coming later in January we will go through offpage SEO.
Text by Nils Fridlund on Sunbird. Sunbird offers performance-based search engine optimisation and websites with unique web design built in WordPress.
