Search Engine Optimization has come a long way. From its humble beginnings to its domination in the search engines, you can’t go wrong with learning all about this helpful marketing strategy.
Let’s start off by defining the two different types of SEO you can use for your business or website. It can be segmented into either “off-site” or “on-site” SEO.
Off-site SEO:
Off-site Search Engine Optimization deals with multiple factors outside of your website that can help you with organic rankings in search engines like Google or Bing. This includes backlinks from other sites to your own (also known as link building), any social media sharing of your site, and networking with industry influencers and credible sources. Google, Bing, and other search engines use an in-depth algorithm based on authority within search rankings.
Is your content relatable to the leading rankings? Are credible influencers sharing your content? All of these contribute to the ever-changing process of off-site Search Engine Optimization.
Any business reaching to claim the top organically ranked spots on a search engine will need off-site SEO, but on-site SEO is what truly brings browsers into your site, which in turn, will lead to higher organic content rankings.
On-site SEO:
What are browsers looking for when they stumble upon your website? In most cases, browsers are looking for content or products that you’re supplying. The Keywords and content that you post on your site must be relevant and fulfilling some sort of need for your customers. Instead of relying heavily on outbound marketing tactics and pushing them down people’s throats, great content (inbound marketing) will entice browsers to visit and share your links.
There are numerous metrics that will help your website become successful. This includes title tags, meta descriptions, internal linking, page friendliness, and structured data.
Now that you understand the basic differences between off-site and on-site SEO, let’s dive into the metrics used specifically on-site!
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2. Title Tag and Meta Description
Keywords and Content
The frequency of high-quality keywords throughout your site is often thought of as the most useful on-site SEO strategy. Although carefully placing relevant keywords throughout your site is beneficial, there’s no comparison for quality content. Specific keywords should be used in headers and throughout the body of your content so that when browsers search for that keyword, your site will be available to them with the most relevant content.
For example, say an online shopper types in “chess set” and the photo on the left is the on the 1st page of google, while the photo on the right is on the 7th page.
The First Page of Google
- Notice the frequency of the keywords “chess set” and “chess board” is much higher throughout the content and titles.
- It clearly states the materials and dimensions used in each aspect of the set.
- The content is descriptive and enticing without being too long or redundant.
The Seventh Page of Google
- Minimal use of the relevant keywords throughout the content.
- Not enough information on the materials and quality of the set to justify such a high cost.
- Extremely vague description with little content.
Title Tag and Meta Description
How Your Site Will Appear
A title tag is extremely important for your on-site SEO because it’s what every viewer will see first and make the decision to click or not. The majority of us will judge our search engine results based on relevance of the title and meta description below it. The most efficient title tags display between 50-60 characters and have a pleasing appearance without cutting off words at the end, which would make it illegible. Here’s some examples to further illustrate the importance of title tags for your SEO efforts and meta descriptions that help to pull your potential customers in.
Title Tag: Notice how the title tag is clean, to the point, and doesn’t get cut off toward the end.
Meta Description: The meta description here uses the keyword “marketing” frequently and effectively with the services we offer. The length of the description also fits within the available parameters.
Title Tag: This title tag is not appealing because the end is cut off and doesn’t fully explain what the company provides. For all we know they might offer marketing opportunities throughout the United States, or just in one specific town. The title also doesn’t “pop” as well because it isn’t short or to the point.
Meta Description: The meta description is short which could be beneficial except that there is no rhyme or reason to why it’s shown this way. There is a misplaced “2” at the beginning. Does it have meaning or is it a mistake? The display is also uneven inside the parameters.
Internal Links
Internal linking is the process of connecting and intertwining all the pages on your website together. If you mention another service or product on one of your pages, connecting a link to that page will make browsing the site much more effective for your customers. On top of that, search engines can easily index your site and rank it based on the internally relevant content connected with one another.
Page Loading Speed
Have you ever clicked on a website and waited for everything to slowly piece itself together on the page? This is an immediate deficiency in the page, and as a browser I’d be very weary of revisiting it in the future.
There are two easy ways to speed up your page:
- Compressing Your Images: This will minimize the file size of each graphic without noticeably damaging the quality, ensuring a faster loading speed.
- Browser Caching: Most sites will load all of the graphic information every time you visit it, but with browser caching you can have the user’s browser remember the information, and load it from memory.
One great tool to use is Pingdom. Pingdom is a website speed testing application that tells you where you might be able to improve, or where you’re excelling.
Schema Markup (Structured Data)
Schema markup is code or digital vocabulary in which search engines will process and display on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
Notice the 5 star rating and publication date below the title tag. These can be done with Schema, and presented on the SERPs through Google, Bing, Yahoo, and so on. Adding structured data to your page will relay information to these search engines in a language they can understand and display on the results pages.
“Rich snippets” refer to the ratings, reviews, pictures, and publication dates that are all extra components to help quickly provide valuable information to a user. These few facts are automatically more appealing for browsers because of the additional information provided. If a browser is searching for a specific service and one of the sites has a 5 star rating while another is a 3 star, they’re more likely to click on the higher rated service because that information is readily available.
In order to swiftly and safely update your schema markups, you can use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool.
URL Structure
URL structure doesn’t necessarily have the largest impact on how a search engine will rank your page, but it does have an impact on who is clicking through. The benefit of having a readable title is that browsers will be able to deduce what the page is about and where it’s located on the website.
Most URLs will follow the structure of “protocol://domain.com/category/sub-category.” You might be looking for the Disney movie Moana on a movie website, and the URL would look something like http://moviewebsite.com/disney/movies/moana.
For example:
If I were to post a Facebook status with a movie recommendation that I think my followers would enjoy, this URL probably isn’t going to get a good click-through rate. This is because it doesn’t have any mention of the movie or keyword in the URL itself. Without any prior knowledge of www.imdb.com being a movie and TV online database, a viewer wouldn’t be able to process what they’re actually looking at.
This URL structure is more likely to get a higher click-through rate because of the order and keywords. As viewers, we can clearly see the keyword “critic” in the domain name, followed by the category path “movie”, and finished off with the actual subcategory movie title “Reservoir Dogs.”
Mobile Friendliness
The responsive design of a website for all mobile devices is almost imperative in the new digital age because mobile browsers outnumber desktop users. If a site isn’t mobile friendly, this might be a factor that deters browsers away from your site for good, and even to a competitor’s page.
Do’s and Don’ts
Do:
- Customize mobile design for users with “fat fingers” by introducing large user friendly buttons.
- Make the text legible for those on smaller mobile screens or with visual impairments.
- Test your mobile view to make sure there aren’t glitches or errors before publishing
Don’t:
- Use flash media player or pop-ups. Some mobile platforms may not support these and instead they will be dysfunctional annoyances to exit.
- Use large file images or videos. These may lengthen the pages loading speed (especially on a weak connection) and lead to a poor user experience.
Put This Knowledge To Use
This may be alot to take in and seem extremely confusing at first but by practicing and understanding the concepts, it becomes second nature. On-site SEO is just one of many contributions to perfecting your website and it’s rankings online. Investing your time in understanding how search engine optimization works can pay dividends in the end because many people don’t fully understand how it works and has personal or business benefit.
Need Help With Your On-Site SEO?
Looking for help with SEO in your area? Mack Media can be the agency you’re looking for! We’ll start out by getting a feel for what you want to achieve off and on your website. Our professional, trusted digital marketers want to help your business get off to a great start and to grow more than you thought possible. To get started, fill out our contact form (for a free quote) or directly call us at 203-778-1120. We look forward to hearing from you and can’t wait to help you grow your business!
