2023 On-Page SEO Guide for Increasing Website Traffic

Going digital isn’t just about creating a website but optimising it entirely. This means prioritising on-page SEO. You’ve read that right. While building backlinks is still essential, it is no longer the most efficient strategy there is today. On-page SEO is. 

On-page SEO is arguably the easiest and the most powerful SEO strategy. With On-page SEO, bringing new visitors to your website can be 

What is On-Page SEO?

On-page SEO, also known as, on-site SEO, refers to the process of optimising front-end and back-end components of your web pages in order to rank higher on the search engine. On-page SEO typically includes optimising content, internal links and HTML elements.  

Unlike off-page SEO where optimisation happens outside of your page such as link building, all the changes you make using on-page SEO practices will be seen automatically on your page. Hence, the name on-page SEO. 

Why is On-Page SEO so Important?

Is traditional on-page SEO still important in 2021? The answer is a big YES. On-Page SEO allows you to be recognised by Google as someone relevant and valuable through the content you provide to your audience. By using keywords on essential parts of your content such as the heading and the body of the text itself, on-page SEO optimised your website for both human eyes and search engine bots alike. 

2023 On-Page SEO Guide for Increasing Website Traffic

Given the importance of on-page SEO on search engine rankings, the next thing to do is to start optimising your page. 

Here’s a quick on-page SEO checklist you can follow:

• Create relevant high-quality content

Before diving deeper into the technical aspects of on-page SEO, the first thing you need to prioritise is choosing your topics and keywords. To do this, conducting keyword research is necessary. Start by searching on Google for terms that are relevant to your industry. This will give you an idea as to what topics and keywords rank the most and how your competitors are doing as of the moment. You can opt to use keyword research tools such as Ahrefs and AnswerThePublic. 

• Optimise your title tag

Optimising your page title (also known as the title tag) is one of the most essential on-page SEO practices. Page titles allow both visitors and search engines to know exactly what they can find on the pages of your site. 

One of the most effective strategies is to include your keywords on all the titles of each page. However, you have to make sure to include your keywords as naturally as possible. 

To optimise your page titles, here are other tips you might want to consider:

1. Keep your title under 70 characters. Titles longer than the maximum character will be cut off in Google’s search results. 
2. Avoid stuffing your content with too many keywords. 
3. Try including your brand name in the page titles. 

• Use headers

Headers, also known as body tags, are the HTML elements <h1>. <h2> and <h3>. These tags allow your readers as well as the search engine to identify which part of your content is most valuable to them. 

To optimise your content through your headers, incorporate your keywords in your <h1> and <h2>.

• Create compelling meta descriptions

Meta descriptions refer to short page descriptions that can be found under the titles in search results. Although meta descriptions are not a huge ranking factor, creating meta descriptions is still essential as they can result in more clicks and increased traffic. Thus, it’s just as essential as other on-page SEO practices. 

To optimise your meta descriptions, try following these tips below: 

1. Keep your meta descriptions under 160 characters
2. Don’t use alphanumeric characters 

• Be specific with image alt-text

Image alt-text can help you rank in Google image search, eventually sending traffic to your content. It allows Google as well as other search engines to find out what your images are all about. Optimising your images is now important as Google also prioritised image-based results along with text-based results. 

When adding image alt-texts, try keeping your content to shorter than 125 characters while making it as descriptive and as specific as possible. 

• Build internal links

Linking to internal sources allows readers to navigate your website and find more relevant information. While others think that doing so is bad for SEO, internal linking actually provides value to your audience. Thus, convincing them to stay longer on your site. This, in turn, allows Google to find your site relevant. 

SMMILE: Invest in On-Page SEO Today