By now, I’m sure you’ve heard enough about on-page optimization to
last a lifetime. I don’t want to repeat the same mantras you’ve been
hearing since last year. Yes, on-page SEO has become more important (I
can hardly remember a time when it wasn’t), and yes, on-page SEO can
make or break your chances at ranking high on Google SERPs. But what has
changed is the way we perceive and behave toward on-page SEO.
Most SEOs tend to think of on-page optimization as a very specific
technical influx of code. You know the drill: meta tags, canonical URLs,
alt tags, proper encoding, well-crafted, character-limit-abiding title
tags, etc.
Those are the basics. And at this point, they are very old-school.
They continue to appear on the on-page SEO checklist, but you and I know
that the whole demography of SEO has changed vastly, even though the
basic premise has remained the same. Because of that change, the way you
perceive on-page SEO has to adjust as well. That’s what we’re going to
look at now.
On Page SEO: The Foundation
If your website isn’t properly optimized on-page, your efforts off
the website (link building, content marketing, social media) probably
won’t yield substantial results. Not that they won’t generate anything
at all, but more than half your efforts may end up going down the drain.
There’s no clear rule book that says: do X, Y, and Z in on-page
optimization and your rank will rise by A, B, or C. On-page optimization
is based on tests, analytics and errors. You learn more about it by
discovering what doesn’t work than what does.
But of all the things to keep in mind, there’s this: If you don’t
take care of your on-page SEO, you’re likely going to fall or stay
behind: in rankings, in conversions, and in ROI.
Why The Fuss?
But first let’s clear this one up: Why the fuss about on-page SEO?
After all, there’s a ton of material available about it already. Many
experts have written well about it.
The changing demography of search engine algorithms has altered the
factors playing in to how one chooses to perform SEO. You can no longer
think in terms of keywords and inbound links alone. Similarly, you can
no longer think in terms of the meta and alt tags alone (yes, this
includes the title tag, too).
On-page SEO isn’t just about how your site is coded. It’s also about
how your site looks bare-bones (the robot view), and how your website
responds to different screens. It includes load times and authority. And
with the direction that Google is headed in 2013 and beyond, it’s clear
that on-page elements and off-page elements must line up and agree with
each other in a natural, clear, organic manner. That’s why we need to
reevaluate on-page SEO a little more carefully.
1. Meta Tags Are Just the Beginning
We’ve known and used meta tags since their arrival. The meta
“keyword” tag is long-gone, as an SEO ranking factor, but a lot of heat
has been generated in discussions about the utility of meta description
tags from an SEO point-of-view.
More significantly than SEO ranking factors, is the fact that meta
description tags provide an opportunity to affect how your website is
displayed in search results. A great meta description tag can get your
result clicked before the guy ranking above you. It’s still good
practice to use keywords when you can, along with geographic identifiers
(when applicable), but first and foremost should be the intent to
attract clicks from humans.
2. Canonical, Duplicate, Broken Links, etc.
Google’s robots have become very smart, to the point where broken
links and duplicate pages raise red flags faster than a bullet. That is
precisely why you’ll find canonical links (and their corresponding
codes) to be highly important.
Broken links and dupes aren’t just anti-SEO. They are anti-user too.
What’s your first reaction when you click on a link that just shows a
page error?
3. The Robot’s Point of View
Text remains the most important part of any website even today. While
Google does rank some videos and media higher than others for certain
keywords, well-formatted and content-rich websites still rule the roost.
To get a view of how your website looks to the crawlers, you can
disable the javascript and images (under Preferences/Settings of your
browser) and take a look at the resulting page.
Though not totally accurate, the result is pretty much how your
website looks to the crawler. Now, verify all the items on the following
checklist:
- Is your logo showing up as text?
- Is the navigation working correctly? Does it break?
- Is the main content of your page showing up right after the navigation?
- Are there any hidden elements that show up when JS is disabled?
- Is the content formatted properly?
- Are all other pieces of the page (ads, banner images, sign-up forms, links, etc.) showing up after the main content?
The basic idea is to make sure the main content (the part you want
Google to note) comes as early as possible with the relevant titles and
descriptions in place.
4. Load Time Averages and Size
Google has long noted the size and the average load times of pages.
This goes into the ranking algorithm by most counts and affects your
position in the SERPs. This means you can have pretty good content on
your website, but if the pages load slowly, Google is going to be wary
of ranking you higher than other websites that load faster.
Google is all for user satisfaction. They want to show their users
relevant results that are also easily accessible. If you have tons of
javascript snippets, widgets, and other elements that slow down the load
times, Google isn’t going to award you a high ranking.
5. Think Mobile, Think Responsive
This is one of the most hotly discussed topics in online marketing
today. From mobile ads and local search to market trend in
desktop/tablet consumption, it’s clear that moving toward a
mobile-optimized site is the wave of the future.
When you think of a mobile/responsive website, how do you go about
it? Responsive as in CSS media queries, or entirely new domains like
“m.domain.com”? The former is recommended often because this keeps
things in the same domain (link juice, no duplication, etc.). It keeps
things simpler.
6. Authority & AuthorRank
The author-meta gets a new lease on life with Google promoting the
AuthorRank
metric. It’s a little more complex than that now, however. You will
have to enable rich snippets for your website, make sure your Google+
profile is filled up, and link them up with your blog/website.
AuthorRank has emerged as a very important and tangible metric that
affects page rank, and is one of the on-page SEO tactics you should
definitely do. Not only will it improve your rankings, but it will also
improve your click-through rate in the SERPs.
7. Design Shouldn’t Be the Last Thing On Your List
Ironically, I had to write about this as the last thing because many
people remember only the last thing they’ve read in an article. Hardcore
SEO people regularly overlook the importance of design.
Aesthetics and readability stem directly from the design of a
website. Google is good at figuring out what shows “above the fold” on
websites, and Google explicitly recommends that you place content above
the fold so your readers are treated to information rather than ads.
On-page SEO isn’t only about the meta code and the canonical URL.
It’s about how your website connects to the user and to the robot. It’s
about how you make sure your website is accessible and readable, and
still has enough information under the hood for the search engines to
pick up easily.
