On-page SEO is the process of optimizing every aspect of your website and pages in order to rank higher in search engine results, and it’s one of the most important things a Leesburg Florida business should focus on if your goal is higher traffic, better conversion rates, and better visibility. While search engine algorithms are constantly evolving, many of the core tenets of on-page SEO have changed very little, and the most effective strategies are unlikely to become obsolete any time soon. Below are some of the best time-tested tips Lake County businesses can use for improving your on-page SEO and unlocking your site’s maximum potential.
Tidy Up Your Titles
Your title tags are one of the most important on-page SEO factors that Google considers, and there are a couple of ways to give yourself an edge over the competition by cleaning them up. The closer your keywords are to the beginning of the title, the more heavily they are weighed, so try to place at least one keyword within the first 1-3 words of your titles whenever possible. Likewise, you can provide the long-tail versions of your keywords with a ranking boost by including relevant phrases such as “review” or “checklist” to your title. Even adding the current year to your titles can help, as long as it doesn’t look obviously out of place.
Make Use of Multimedia
Research suggests that images, graphics, charts, and videos on a page result in much higher dwell time and overall time spent on your site than pages that have text alone, and this gap is only widening as more and more people switch to mobile devices as their primary browsing tool. Strong multimedia can immediately capture a visitor’s attention, and being able to provide summaries and visual breakdowns of your content in a convenient at-a-glance format is an excellent way to improve your on-page SEO. Not only that, you can also include keywords in the file names and alt text of your images, which can provide yet another extra push up the rankings ladder. The effect may be small, but every little bit helps in an increasingly competitive market.
Lead with Keywords
As with your titles, you should aim to include keywords early on in your content – most experts agree that within the first 150 words is ideal. A long, meandering, or off-topic introduction before you get to the meat of your content can make it difficult for search engine algorithms to pin down exactly what the topic of your page is, and that makes your content more difficult to rank. There’s no need to go overboard and stuff your first paragraph with keywords, but always look for opportunities for a natural-sounding way to slip one or two into the first few lines whenever possible.
Use Links Wisely
Both inbound and outbound links can have a large impact on your SEO potential. Search engines are looking for links to and from high-quality, authoritative sites, so avoid the temptation to pay for links or sign up for directories that spam links, since these strategies are easy to identify and are often penalized. Building a strong network of links is a gradual process, but you can speed it up by providing the best content you possibly can, and by networking with other people in your field in the form of guest posts, testimonials, or community interactions on social media platforms. As well, keep in mind that you can also use internal links–links on your site that point to other pages on the same site–to increase the amount of time visitors spend looking at your content and interacting with your brand. Ideally, you should aim to be a comprehensive enough source on your topic that visitors will be able to find anything they might want to know about the subject on your site, instead of having to go to your competitors for answers.
Optimize for Mobile Use
Mobile devices account for almost 53% of all online traffic, and that number is only likely to grow, which is why it’s absolutely crucial that your website is optimized for mobile use if you plan on seeing your page at the top of the rankings. Your website’s architecture should be flexible enough to provide a high-speed, easy-to-read, and aesthetically pleasing experience to both mobile and desktop users, and if you’re specifically aiming for Google’s top spots, it is highly recommended to use a responsive design configuration, since that is Google’s preferred design pattern.
Create Quality Content
While it’s easier said than done, high-quality (or “10x”) content is likely going to be the biggest determining factor in whether your SEO strategies pay off in the long term. Providing visitors with content that they can’t get from anywhere else is the best way to keep people on your pages, and it also establishes you as a credible authority in your field, which translates into increased consumer confidence and brand awareness. Create content that solves problems, offers detailed tutorials, or asks thought-provoking questions, and leverage eye-catching multimedia to support your text and increase the likelihood of building backlinks. Content is the life-blood of your site, so if you don’t feel up to the task, it may be worth considering the services of a dedicated content writer or editor to ensure quality, SEO-optimized output.
Add Share Buttons
Adding social media share buttons to your pages may not directly improve your search engine rankings, but it does mean more eyes on your content, and research shows that visible share buttons can increase the rate of social media sharing by up to 700% compared to pages with no buttons at all. And because a strong foundation of links can give you a big push in the rankings, making it as convenient as possible for other people to link to your site is always going to be beneficial. Resist the temptation to add buttons for every social media platform under the sun, though–you are better off doing a bit of research into which platforms the bulk of your target audience spends time on and adding share buttons for those specific platforms to avoid diluting your content across too many overlapping audiences.
There are many factors that play into your site’s visibility and ranking in search engine results pages, but on-page SEO is unquestionably the most important. By applying the tips and strategies above, any Leesburg webmaster can ensure that their pages are carrying their weight when it comes to drawing in traffic, improving audience engagement, and providing a strong foundation for marketing campaigns and monetization efforts.