On-Page SEO Basics
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) builds your site’s organic traffic and improves your site’s ranking on search engines. It is how potential customers can find you while searching for answers to queries such as:
- 🌐 Where can I find the best insurance broker?
- 🌐 I am looking for affordable auto insurance
- 🌐 What is liability insurance?
A previous blog: SEO—What is it and Why It’s Important to Your Business focuses on the foundations of SEO and how it can benefit your organization.
SEO is divided into two parts: On-Page and Off-Page. On-page SEO is all about your site’s content and how you organize your website. Off-page SEO is about how your content is promoted outside your efforts.
This blog will focus on your on-page SEO efforts (things within your control) and how you can maximize your efforts.
✅ SEO Checklist: Easy on-page SEO to include on your webpage
Page Title
- Appears in the browser tab—make sure you use title tags relevant to the content of your page
- Maximum length = 60 characters
- Write with the reader in mind, but ensure that your title is optimized for search engines as well
- Create clear title tags to describe to both users and search engines the topic of the webpage—they should be accurate and relevant to the page’s content
H1 Header
- Should be the same or slightly different from the page title
- Have only one H1 heading per page
- Use keywords to create your H1 Header—research keywords to help you understand your customer’s intent and target your audience
- Look for combinations of words that answer a problem or question your customers have
Sub-headers
- Use headings hierarchically—H2 headers work like chapters in a book
- Provide users and search engines with clues about the content and relevancy—anything that improves the user experience helps improve your SEO
- Use H2 headers to formulate questions that visitors may have and would appear in a search result Answer Box—the dropdown selections on a search result with questions relevant to a user search
Image Alt-Text
- Alt text improves image SEO and it helps the search engine to index the image correctly
- Adds more detail to make it more relevant and provides you with another opportunity to include your target keyword
- Think of how people search for images—they are usually looking for people’s names, product names or place names
- Improves accessibility for visually impaired users (AODA compliance) and improves overall usability
Content
- Focus on writing useful, information-rich content that uses keywords appropriately and in context
- Clean up duplicate content—make your content unique
- Publish new material regularly. This practice includes creating high-quality content, updating old content and refreshing existing pages
- Common types of content: infographics, blogs, podcasts, videos, social media
Usability
- Usability more than anything else determines if your website rises or falls in the rankings
- Ensure your web pages load fast
- Make sure pages are mobile responsive
- Always write for the human, not the search engine bots
Strong SEO is only possible when you combine high-quality content with effective on-page SEO strategies. ALWAYS write and design for the user and NOT the search engine bots!
Organic SEO is free and open to everyone. However, it does take a fair amount of time and effort to implement these winning strategies. Search engines are constantly updating their algorithms to provide their users with the best web experience.
SEO is a long-term strategy that takes time and commitment to see an improvement in your webpage’s search ranking. There are no quick solutions, but as part of a robust digital marketing strategy, it can help to ensure you’re getting the most out of your online presence.
