The best digital marketing strategies are designed to attract and convert web traffic into customers. Learning to optimize for SEO and conversions simultaneously gives you the best of both worlds.
On-page SEO includes any content that is found on your webpage, including keywords in headlines and slugs, as well as in body copy. It does not include infographics and downloadable assets, which can be SEO optimized as well but don’t count towards your page ranking.
On-Page Optimization
The goal of on-page SEO is to improve a webpage’s visibility in search engines by ensuring it contains relevant, quality content and follows best practices for optimizing that page. On-page optimization includes everything that’s directly within your control, including keywords, title tags, meta descriptions, and web page design. In addition to boosting rankings, on-page optimization also helps Google better understand your content and serve it to users with the right intent.
While some people make SEO seem difficult to understand, on-page optimization is actually fairly straightforward. The key is to create a logical structure for your website and focus on creating quality content that matches user intent. As a result, on-page SEO is actually much easier to execute than off-page or technical SEO, which deals with more complex issues like site crawlability and information architecture.
On-page SEO focuses on optimizing individual web pages, and the best place to start is by making sure that your pages have an effective title tag and meta description. These are the first things Google looks at when determining whether or not a page is relevant to a user’s search query, so it’s important that your titles and descriptions accurately reflect the topic of the page.
Other on-page SEO factors include image alt-text, which should be a part of every page’s strategy (and not just an afterthought). Images are an important component of a user’s experience, and they can boost rankings if they’re optimized for SEO. They should be relevant to the topic of the page, and should contain a keyword or two.
Another on-page SEO factor that’s often overlooked is readability. By making your text easy to read, you’re essentially telling Google that your content is valuable. This is an important element of on-page SEO, because it can reduce your bounce rate and ultimately help you rank higher in search results. If your text is hard to read, it will likely drive people away from your website, which can hurt your SEO, ranking, and conversions. Therefore, it’s important to make your content as readable as possible.
Internal Linking
In on-page optimization, internal linking refers to the process of connecting your website’s pages through content. This is an essential technique for creating strong page hierarchy and boosting SEO, as it signals to search engines that your pages are important and relevant. In addition, it can also improve user experience by making it easier for users to navigate your site and find the information they’re looking for. An SEO company in Sydney can easily do this for you.
Aside from the SEO benefits of internal linking, it can also help make your content more readable for visitors. This is especially important for long-form content, as it can help readers digest the information more easily and decrease the likelihood of them leaving your site or bouncing back to the search engine results page.
Another way to use internal links is to point visitors from high-traffic pages to conversion-optimized pages. For example, if you have a blog post that has high traffic but doesn’t convert, consider using internal links to channel that traffic to your website’s most in-depth guide on the topic. This way, you’ll have more chances to convert them into paying customers.
Ultimately, internal linking is one of the best ways to optimize your site for search engines. It can help your pages rank higher in search engine results, resulting in more organic traffic and increased opportunities for conversions. In addition, it can help you rank for keyword phrases that are based on user intent. For example, if you want to rank for “burger restaurant near me,” then you’ll need to include that phrase in your meta description and internal links.
The best internal linking strategy will vary depending on your business model and website structure. Centralized sites tend to be more content-heavy (think SaaS, agencies or closed marketplaces) while decentralized sites scale with their inventory (think public marketplaces and consumer websites). Regardless of your site structure, you should have a robust internal linking strategy that’s designed to improve your page’s hierarchy and boost SEO.
Meta Descriptions
Meta Descriptions are the short paragraphs that appear underneath a search engine results page (SERP) title, and while they don’t have much of an impact on SEO rankings, they do play an important role in influencing click-through rates. When they are effective, they are like a mini advertisement that entices users to click through and learn more about the content or products you’re offering.
Because of this, the meta description is an excellent opportunity to use your most important keywords within the snippet to help boost CTR. However, you need to be careful not to over-do it; this will only confuse the user and may cause them to lose interest in your site.
While the exact right length of a meta description is unknown, the best practice is to aim for a maximum of 160 characters or less. Anything longer than this will get truncated in SERPs.
When writing your meta description, it’s important to keep in mind that Google sometimes rewrites them. This is usually done when the meta description on a webpage does not accurately summarize the page’s contents, or if the keywords used aren’t relevant to what the searcher is looking for.
As a result, it’s also a good idea to create unique meta descriptions for each of your webpages. This will ensure that you are not creating duplicate descriptions, which can hurt your ranking and potentially lead to a penalty from Google.
In addition, using a USP (Unique Selling Point) in your meta description can be an effective way to encourage users to visit and convert on your website. A recent study by Clickz found that ecommerce sites who implemented a USP saw their search click-through rate increase by 33%.
The process for crafting a meta description for each type of page can vary significantly. The approach to writing a meta description for your blog post, homepage, or product page will all be different, but they should all have one thing in common: they should be accurate and enticing enough to encourage conversions.
Investing time in optimizing your website’s on-page elements is essential if you want to improve your rank and attract more visitors. With the right strategies in place, you can take advantage of many new opportunities for increased traffic and conversions.
Keywords
When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), there are many different aspects to consider. Experts generally categorize SEO efforts into three broad categories: on-page, off-page, and technical SEO. On-page SEO involves techniques that can be used within your website to improve its rankings, such as optimizing title tags, internal links, and meta descriptions. Off-page SEO includes activities like link building, directory listings, social promotion, and guest posting. And technical SEO covers more technical elements such as page speed, structured data, and security.
While there are many different on-page SEO tactics, some of the most important are keyword research and content optimization. Using keywords that are relevant to your target audience will help you attract more qualified visitors and increase your chances of conversion. In addition, using long tail keywords that are specific to your business can often result in a higher conversion rate than more generalized keywords.
Another on-page SEO technique that is highly effective for improving conversions is adding targeted call-to-action (CTA) phrases throughout your website. These phrases should be relevant to the search query that led users to your site and clearly explain what action you want them to take. For example, if you have a product page for a particular product, you can add CTAs that encourage users to contact customer support or purchase the item.
Title tags are another on-page SEO technique that can be used to improve your conversions. Title tags are HTML tags that describe what a page is about, and Google uses them to determine whether a page is relevant to a user’s query. For this reason, it’s essential to use keyword-rich title tags whenever possible.
Meta descriptions are another on-page SEO technique that can help you improve your conversions. Meta descriptions are the short text that appear under a page’s URL in search engine results pages (SERPs). They can influence click-through rates by encouraging users to visit your site. For this reason, it’s important to write compelling meta descriptions that entice users to click on your result.
Images are also an on-page SEO technique that can be used improve your conversions. By including relevant, descriptive alt-text, you can make your site more accessible for visually impaired users and improve your rankings in image searches.