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On-page SEO is a measure of how well your website is fitted to interact with search engines. This includes a wide range of performance metrics, accessibility metrics, and common customs for websites. Optimizing your on-page SEO is crucial for improving your website's search engine rankings and driving organic traffic. In this article, we'll share the best practices for on-page SEO optimization.

1. Optimize Your Title Tags

Title tags are the names of each of the pages on your website, and one of the most critical on-page SEO elements. In a very small space, you need to show Google and your customers that this page is going to be helpful. To optimize title tags:

• Be brief: Do not exceed 60 characters. They wont display anyways.
• Get to the point: Include your primary keyword close to the beginning
• Label everything: Write unique and descriptive titles for each and every page

2. Use Keyword Dense Meta Descriptions with Call to Action (CTA)

Meta descriptions provide a brief summary of a page's content. To optimize them:

• Keep it short: Limit meta descriptions to 150-160 characters
• Say what we are here for: Include your primary keyword naturally in a sentence
• Invite action: Write compelling descriptions that encourage clicks with a CTA

3. Use Proper Heading Tags

Properly structuring your content with heading tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) helps search engines understand your content better. To optimize heading tags:

• Define the Big Idea: Use only one H1 tag per page, usually for the page title
• Create a strong outline: Structure content hierarchically using H2 and H3 tags for subheadings
• Emphasize the important: Include relevant keywords in your headings

4. Optimize Your URLs

Clean and descriptive URLs make it easier for search engines to index your pages. To optimize URLs:

• Short: Keep URLs short and descriptive
• Direct: Include your target keyword
• Standardized: Use hyphens to separate words instead of underscores

Good Example: https://www.example.com/optimized-url

Bad Example: https://www.example.com/my-site/blog/this-is-not-a-great-way-to

5. Use Alt Text for Images

Alt text provides a textual description of an image for search engines and visually impaired users. To optimize alt text:

• Help the visually impaired: Describe the image accurately and succinctly
• Let Google know: Include relevant keywords, but avoid keyword stuffing
• As always, be brief: Keep alt text under 125 characters

6. Improve Readability and Formatting

A well-formatted page with clear readability improves user experience and helps search engines understand your content. To optimize readability:

• Use short paragraphs and bullet points for easy scanning
• Break content into sections with clear subheadings
• Use a legible font size and line spacing

7. Optimize Your Page Speed

A fast-loading page reduces bounce rates and improves user experience. To optimize page speed:

• Compress images and optimize file sizes
• Minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files
• Use a content delivery network (CDN) to improve load times

8. Ensure Mobile Friendliness

A mobile-friendly website is essential for both user experience and search engine rankings. This final point cannot be understated. We live in a world where people have screens of all different sizes, and Google will severely punish any page that is not easily readable on mobile. To optimize for mobile:

• Use responsive design to adapt to different screen sizes
• Prioritize content and navigation for mobile users
• Test your site on various devices to ensure compatibility

TL:DR

In conclusion, optimizing your on-page SEO involves implementing best practices for title tags, meta descriptions, heading tags, URLs, alt text, readability, page speed, and mobile-friendliness. If you want a clear snapshot of where you stand with all of these on-page SEO metrics, check out our SEO and Google Ranking Audit.