On-Page Search Engine Optimization Focusing on the techniques that really matter to search engines and website visitors.
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BEFORE YOU WRITE CONTENT OR OPTIMIZE IT 1
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What’s Your Keyword Focus?
v Brainstormthetopicyouplanonwri3ngaboutandwritedownthekeypointsyou’llcoverinthepieceofcontent.
v Writedowna5-10searchphrasesyouthinkwouldpertaintothistopic.
v SearchforeachphraseinGoogleandreviewwhoandwhatshowsuponpageoneofthesearchengineresultspage.
v Documentanyphrasesthatshowaweaknessand/orwhereyoucreatebeEercontent.
v U3lizetheGoogleAdwordskeywordplannertooltoviewmonthlysearchvolumesforeachphrase.
v Narrowyourop3onsdowntoobtainablesearchterms–akanot60,000phrasespermonthinsearchtraffic.
v ThinkabouthoweasyitwouldbetocraOa3tleoropeningsentencewiththeexactphraseyou’reconsidering.
Before you write your first word, ask yourself what keyword phrase you would like this content to rank for in search. Not sure? Let’s walk through picking the right one.
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Keyword Selection Warning! Before you proceed further, as yourself two very important questions.
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Isthekeywordpreciseenoughorisitgeneric?
Haveyouusedthiskeywordbeforeinpages,posts,products,categories,ortags?
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Keyword SearchVolume GoogleResults Commentsparsley 201,000 29,700,000 Broad
parsleyrecipes 4,400 19,500,000 BeEer
healthbenefitsofparsley 2,400 729,000 MuchBeEer
parsleyjuicebenefits 260 596,000 Best
WRITE CONTENT THAT USERS & SEARCH ENGINES WILL LOVE 2
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Longer Content Wins With Everyone
Better for Keyword Ranking AserpIQ2012showed:• Theaveragecontentlengthofeachofthetop10resultswasmorethan2,000words.
• Theaveragenumberofwordsforthecontentinthe#1spotwas2,416.• Forthe#10spot,theaveragenumberofwordswas2,032.
Better for Obtaining Social Media Shares & Inbound Links Peopletendtosharelongercontentonsocialmediamorethenshortercontent.Peoplealsotendtolinkintolongercontentthantheywouldashorterar3cleorpost.
Better for Conversions Websiteconversionscanalsobealteredbycontent.Thelongerthecontent,themorelikelytheconversion.
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Long-form content has a variety of numbers assigned to in on the web. Long-form content is at least 1,000 or 1,200 words and really approaches towards 2,000 words.
OPTIMIZE CONTENT FOR SEO BEST PRACTICES 3
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Elements of On-Page SEO
v Pagename
v URLv Headers(H1,H2,H3,etc.)v Paragraphtextv Keywordvaria3onsandrelatedphrasesv Internallinksv Linkanchortextv Images
v Readabilityv Meta3tlesanddescrip3ons
We’ll go through these items one by one, but before we dig in, let’s review the list as a whole. When you break each down, you’ll see optimization is complely managable.
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Page Name Apagenameissimplythenameyougiveyourpagewhenyoucreateit.InWordPressthisisimportant,becauseitdefaultsotherimportantelementslikeURLsandH1headers.
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v Choosea3tlethatisrelevanttowhatthecontentdiscussesv Makesurethe3tleisuniqueanddoesnotduplicateanotherpage/post3tle
v Keepthe3tleshortsoitiseasytoreadanddigestedv Includethekeywordphrase,butdonotrepeatitv Usekeywordphrasetowardsthestartofthepage3tleifpossiblev Don’tforceingeographicalreferencesthinkingthishelpswithlocalsearch
Pro Tips for Optimization
URLs 10
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v Thisshouldalwaysincludeyourkeywordv Thisshouldbeasshortaspossiblev Thisshouldusewordsandnotunrecognizableparameters(funkycharacters)
v Usedashestoseparatewordsv Whilecontentsilosaregreat,keepsilosshortsotheydon’tcreatesomanylayers
thattheURLislongandunreadable
TheURListhewebsiteaddressforapieceofcontent.TheURLisdisplayedaspartofasearchresultinGoogleanditappearsbelowthedocument’s,tleandsnippet.
Pro Tips for Optimization
H1 Headers 11
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v MakesureyourwebsiteorWordPressthemeusesH1tags
v MakesureyourwebsiteorWordPressthemeusesonlyoneH1headerperURL
v IncludeyourkeywordphraseinyourH1tagv Posi3ontheH1tagbeforeothertags(H2,H3,H4,etc.)
TheH1isthemostimportanttaganditshouldneverbeomiUedonapage,post,orproduct.SearchspiderspayaUen,ontothewordsusedintheh1tagasitshouldcontainabasicdescrip,onofthepagecontent,justasthepage,tledoes.
WhilemostWordPressthemeswillautoma,callycreatethisforyou,IseealotofwebsitesthatforgettousetheH1orincludemul,pleH1headerspercontentpiece.
Pro Tips for Optimization
H2-H6 Subheaders 12
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v UseH2-H6headerstobreakupgroupsofcontentv Includethefocusedkeywordphrasewhereapplicablev Includevaria3onsofthefocusedkeywordphrasev Keepheadersin3tlecasev Avoidlongsentencesasheadersv Avoidduplica3ngyourH1headerwithinH2-H6subheaders
SearchenginesandhumanwebsitevisitorswillusethesetobeUerunderstandthestructureofthepage.WhileheaderscanhelpwithSEO,theyarenotamakeorbreakSEOfactor.
Pro Tips for Optimization
Paragraph Text 13
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v Includeyourkeywordphraseanumberof3meswithinthecontent
v Don’tkeywordstuffv Usethekeywordinthefirstsentence
ofthepageandifthatisnotpossibleinthefirstparagraph
v Usevaria3onsandsynonyms
v Don’tworryaboutkeyworddensityv Insteadfocusonwri3nggreatcontent
aroundatopicandusethefocusedkeywordinanaturalmanner
Thissimplyreferstothecontentitselfandthiscouldresideonthehomepage,interiorpages,blogposts,products,etc.
Pro Tips for Optimization
Keyword Variations 14
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v Brainstorming
v Compe3torwebsites
v GooglerelatedsearchesattheboEomofasearchpage-->
v GoogleKeywordPlannertoolforAdwords
v Googleautosuggestphraseswhensearchingforthephrase
Akeywordvaria,onissimplyanalternatephraseforafocusedkeyword.Theyhelpyourankonthefocusedkeywordaswellasalternatephrases.
Pro Tips for Finding Keyword Variations
Images 15
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v Imagefilenamesshoulddescribetheimageanduseyourkeywordifpossible
v Imagealttextshoulddescribetheimageanduseyourkeywordifpossible
v Usetherightimagesizesoperformanceandspeedareprotected
v Writeandaddagood,keywordrichdescrip3onforanyimageyouwanttorankinGoogleimagesearch
ExampleofAltTextUsage
ReallybadaltaEribute:<imgsrc=”puppy.jpg”alt=””/>
BeEeraltaEribute:<imgsrc=”puppy.jpg”alt=”puppy”/>
ReallygoodaltaEribute:<imgsrc=”puppy.jpg”alt=”Dalma3anpuppyplayingfetch”>
SpammyaltaEributes:<imgsrc=”puppy.jpg”alt=”puppydogbabydogpuppuppies”/>
ImagesaregreatforSEO,usability,andsharingonsocialmedia.Whileallcontentwon’thavetheop,onforanimage,useanimagewheneverpossible.
Pro Tips for Optimization
Internal Links 16
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v Placelinkswheretheyhelpthereaderandprovidevaluev Linktoyourcornerstonecontent,services,andproductsv Linkwithgoodkeywordrichanchortextv Varyyouranchortextforalinksoitdoesn’tappearforcedv Don’toveruselinksandindoingso,makecontentunreadable
Aninternallinkconnectsonepageofawebsitetoadifferentpageonthesamewebsite.Internallinksprovidevaluetothehumanreaderaswellashelpsearchengineslocatecontentandknowwhatcontentisofmostvalue.
HereisGoogle’sverbiageonthisreportwithintheirhelpsec3on:
Thenumberofinternallinkspoin3ngtoapageisasignaltosearchenginesabouttherela3veimportanceofthatpage.Ifanimportantpagedoesnotappearinthislist,orifalessimportantpagehasarela3velylargenumberofinternallinks,youshouldconsiderreviewingyourinternallinkstructure.
Pro Tips for Optimization
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Link Anchor Text 17
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v Makesurethisclearlydescribesthedes3na3onlink
v Ifpossible,includethefocusedkeywordv Don’tmakeitspammy–don’tforcethekeywordifitcan’tbeusednaturally
v Avoidclickhere,page,readmore,andar3cleasanchortextasitdoesnotinformhumanreadersorsearchenginesofthenatureofthelink
Anchortextistheclickabletextthatuserswillseeasaresultofalink.Thistextisplacedwithintheanchortag.YousetthisinWordPresswhenyoudefinethelink.Anchortexthelpsuserswithdisabili,esandsearchenginesbeUerunderstandthelink.
Pro Tips for Optimization
Readability 18
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v Useshortparagraphsv Usebulletstohelpdigestlistsv Usesubheaderssovisitorscanscancontentv Userregularverbiageandskiptheindustryjargonv Don’tallowimagestointerferewithtextflow
v Saynotobling,brightneon,andunnecessarymovement
EaseofusemaUerinSEO.Ifreadersstayonthepage,thisincreasesyour,meonsite,whichinturnhelpsSEO.
HappyVisitors+HappyGoogle=HigherRank
Pro Tips for Optimization
Meta Titles and Descriptions 19
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v Apage’smeta3tleshouldbea3tle(notasentence)
v Makesureitisuniqueanddoesn’tduplicateothermeta3tles
v Makeitinforma3ve,yeteasilyreadable
v Includethefocusedkeywordphrasev Ifpossible,keepthekeywordphraseasfartothebeginningaspossiblev Thisisyourfirstopportunitytoreachpoten3alvisitors,somakeiten3cing,butnot
cheesy
v Keepitunder55characters
Ameta,tleanddescrip,onaretheveryfirstthingapoten,alvisitorseesforyourwebsite.Theyshowupinsearchengineresultpages,sothisisyourfirstopportunitytograbsomeone’saUen,on,gaintheirtrust,anden,cethemtotakeac,on.
Pro Tips for Optimization of Meta Titles
Meta Titles and Descriptions 20
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v Apage’smetadescrip3onmightbeasentenceortwoorashortparagraph
v Makesureitisuniqueanddoesn’tduplicateothermetadescrip3ons
v Makeitinforma3ve,yeteasilyreadable
v Includethefocusedkeywordphraseinitv Ifpossible,keepthekeywordphraseasfartothebeginningaspossiblev Thisisyourfirstopportunitytoreadpoten3alvisitors,somakeiten3cing,butnot
cheesy(yepthiswasrepeatedbecauseitisimportant)
v Keepitunder150characters
Pro Tips for Optimization of Meta Descriptions
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Crappy Content
Peoplewritecontenttofillwhitespace.Don’tdoit!Youneedtoproviderealvaluetowebsitevisitors.
Youhavetohavesomethingreallygoodtoresonatewithreaders.
NoamountofSEOwillhelpbadcontent,sostartwithsomethingsolid.
Writegoodcontentandyouwillberewardedforittenfold.
You’vedoneyourkeywordresearchandyou’vewriEenyourcontent.
Whenyoulookcloselyatthecontent,yourealizeyouusedvaria3onsofyourkeywordphrase(good)buttotallyforgettousetheactualkeyword(bad).
Takethe3metogobackthroughyourcontentandweaveintherightfocusedkeyword.
Becarefulaboutwhatyoureadontheinternetandwatchar3cledates.
Un3lyouareconfidentwithyourSEOknowledge,refrainfromop3mizingyourpagesandposts.
Takethe3metolearnbestprac3ces.Anddon’ttrysomethingunlessyouhaveasolidgraspofthetac3candtheposi3veornega3veramifica3onsthatmayresult.
Forgetting the Keyword Inaccurate SEO Knowledge
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Thanks for Coming Today!
RebeccaGillFounder of Web Savvy Marketing Instructor at DIYSEOcourses.com @rebeccagill on Twitter
Want more SEO education?
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