10 On-Page Elements for SEO Success in 2022

In this On-Page optimization article on Search-Pilot,  we will discuss why on-page SEO  is so important, and what On-page elements of SEO you need to optimize to be successful.

Getting to the top of Google search engine has never been more competitive

 Nowadays you will see a lot of experts and agencies focusing on off-page and technical factors, such as minifying code, link building, and so on.

However, On-page factors are just as important and we should not lose that in sight as well. To succeed in improving search ranking and generate more organic traffic, you need to manage all elements of SEO for your web pages.

What is On-Page SEO

On-page optimization (also known as on-site SEO) refers to all the measures that can be taken directly within the website in order to improve it’s position in the search rankings. it’s is the process of optimizing the content on your net page (both the written word and the HTML supply code) to make it as discoverable as possible.

Examples of this include measures to optimize the content or improve the menta description and title tags. Conversely, off-page SEO refers to links and other signals.

Why Is On-Page SEO Important

Does traditional on-page SEO still make a difference in 2022?

The answer is YES

In fact, here’s Google’s own “How Search Works” report

Even though Google is much smarter than it use to be earlier, it still uses the old method, like looking for keywords on your webpage.

In the analysis of 11M  google search results done by Brain Dean didn’t find a correlation between keyword-rich title tags and first page rankings

But if you search any competitive keyword, you will notice that the top ranking pages almost all of them use that exact keyword in their title tag.

That been said:

But there is more to on-page SEO than putting keywords into your page’s HTML.

To rank your content in 2022, you also need to optimize your content for:

• Click through rate
• User experience
• Page loading speed
• Search Intent
• Dwell time and Bounce rate

Why  Do On-Page SEO?

On-page SEO leads to higher search rankings, increased traffic to your site, and more conversions. The results of on-page SEO take time, but once your on-page SEO strategy gets off the ground, it can make your online rankings and sales soar.

.There’s more to on-page SEO than cramming keywords into your page’s HTML.

To rank your content in 2022, you also need to optimize your content for:

• User experience
• Bounce Rate and Dwell Time
• Page loading speed
• Click-through-rate

10 On-Page Elements

You want to know what on-page SEO elements you need to optimize? We have put together this simple list of the 10 most important factors.

You will need to work on optimizing all of these on every page on your website to have the greatest impact.

Let’s take a look at the factors:

1. Meta Description

The text that appears below the title tag in a search results page is called the meta description.

You have more characters to work with than a title tag, which you should use to elaborate on what the page is all about.

Just like with title tags, they are not one of the most significant on page ranking factors by themselves. Not directly according to Google themselves. However, a good meta description will help convince users to click on your page in the results (improve CTR).

A good local SEO strategy is to work in local signals into the description to help people and search engines.

2. Page URL

The URL of your new page or blog post is another essential on-page SEO element that gets noticed first. When you’re deciding which URL to use, be sure to consider your target keywords. Always include your target keywords in your URL and separate them with hyphens.

It is also recommended to make your URLs short and concise. Avoid lengthy URLs  riddled with numbers. Keep your URLs keyword-focused, neat and descriptive. It should be able to give users an idea of what your page is all about.

3. Alt Tags (image optimization)

Alt tags are a bit of HTML code that helps search engines understand what pictures, videos and other media are on your page.

The issue is that while search engines can read and understand text, they are not yet able to read what is contained in an image or video.

Therefore any time you include a piece of multimedia on your page, make sure you give it an alt tag. Treat it like a title tag for the specific piece of media.

Example, if your Dog training page has an image of a jumping puppy, you should set the alt tag to say alt=”jumping puppy”. That tag acts as text to tell Google what the image shows.

4. Keywords

Anyone who knows anything about SEO knows that keywords are very important.

However, a common mistake is to try and create multiple pages to rank for one keyword. More is better, right?

Actually, the opposite is true.

When you have multiple pages trying to rank for one target keyword, search engines aren’t sure which page is the best one to show to a user.

They all wind up competing with each other, and in the end they will collectively rank lower than having one page focusing on it.

Don’t bother much about keyword density and LSI keywords. Instead improve search engine rankings by using topic clusters. Group keywords/pages in terms of topics,  using long-tail keywords to build topical relevance. You can also use h-supertools to find good SEO keywords

In simple English:

Create pages that are optimized for relevant keywords and then group them together so searchers and Google can find them

5. SEO Content

All the elements mentioned above are helpful, but in the end the most important on-page element that will affect your rankings is the content.

Good content, whether  it is for organic traffic or local SEO content, shouldn’t just be trustworthy and authoritative.

Content that is optimized for SEO should:

• Be something that people want to link to and share on social media
• Be original – you should avoid duplicate content across your site
• Be interesting and cover information that people actually want to read about
• Encourage engagement with readers so they interact with the page or click on other pages

Even if you have content that is written by the foremost expert in the field, it won’t rank as the number one result if  it doesn’t achieve that.

6. Title Tags

Your title tag is one of the first crucial on-page SEO elements. Make sure to have your target keyword(s)  in the title of your page.

Generally speaking, the closer the target keyword is to the beginning of the title tag, the more weight it has to search engines.

Be  mindful of the length of the title. A title length of between 50 to 60 characters is recommended.  Anything longer than that, you will run the risk of having your title getting truncated in search results.

7. User Engagement

We  have earlier discussed the importance of having users engage with your content.

Google uses behavioral data to see how engaged readers are with your pages. If they’re engaged, it tells Google that your content has high quality, interesting, and trustworthy to real people.

And on the other hand, if it does not engage with your audience then Google will assume it’s low quality or not what users for a given search want to see. This will reduce the ranking of that page over time if it is not fixed.

The following are some examples of engagement:

• Users interact with a tool you created
• Users stay on a page for a long period of time
• Users click on another page to read more

In general, you can tell how engaged people are with a page based on its bounce rate. If a high percentage of users leave the page without any of those engagements, that’s a bad sign that you have more work to do.

8. Heading Tags (H1, H2, H3)

Heading tags are a bit of HTML code that helps search engines and users understand what content is on a page at a quick glance.

Each page should have one H1 tag, and  H2 tags to outline the main categories of information on the page.

You want your headings to introduce what the next section of content is all about. The more specific you get, the more specific the heading tags should be.

Let’s take that example of the dog training page. Here’s how you could structure the content using subheadings:

• H1 = Dog training
  • H2 = House Training
    • H3 = crate training
    • H3 = how to house train dogs
  • H2 = Proofing Behaviors
    • H3 = common dog behavior problem
    • H3 = dog behavior management

The structure of your headings should go from general to more specific. Setting them up this way helps search engines better understand the topical focus of the page: Dog training.

This also helps them understand the specific information it contains (House training, Proofing behavior, etc). For users, headings also help make your content easier to read.

9.      Internal and External Links

Internal and external links within your content are key parts in an SEO strategy, as they serve as a signal to Google that your website is a good resource for information worthy of citation.

Adding at least two to three internal links into your content not only helps users find other relevant content sources within your website,  it also keeps search engine bots on your site longer, which leads to more pages being indexed. Linking to two to three authoritative and reputable sites also helps in boosting trust signals, which is valuable to obtain in SEO.

10. Mobile-friendliness

This is another major ranking factor for a page, how friendly it is for people viewing it on their mobile devices. This is called “mobile-friendliness”.

There is not much point in having great content if users are struggling to view it on their phones.

More than 50% of all online traffic is done on phones. As a result, Google now indexes websites based on their mobile pages, not their desktop pages anymore.

To have a “mobile-friendly” page, it needs to be easy to read and function properly. A common issue with a page developed for desktop first, is that when it gets adjusted for mobile that text or images become too small to see. Or other interactive elements don’t work, become hidden or broken, e.t.c.

There are tools that will show you how mobile friendly your page is. Once again, Google has a Mobile Friendly Test tool that you can use to check how mobile friendly your page is. If it rates poorly, you know you have some adjustments to make.

Conclusion

These on-page SEO elements will collectively have a major impact on your website’s rankings.

On-page SEO is but one of the many aspects of search engine optimization. The overall structure of your website, including the design, mobile-friendliness, fonts and images, and more, as well as off-page SEO elements, such as backlinks and social media bookmarking, all come into play as a whole when considering an effective SEO strategy.

While it is important to make sure the technical SEO and off-page elements are also optimized, you should not ignore the on-page factors.

Many of these elements will not significantly affect your search engine optimization on their own, they will when taken as a collective unit.

There is a high amount of synchronization between them all, such as how SEO content, page speed and mobile friendliness all affect each other.

When you have a website with pages that have great optimization, your pages will rank higher and earn more organic traffic, users will engage with them more, and lead to more conversions.

Written by Muogbo Elochukwu Chris on February 06, 2022

Founder of Search-pilot.

 Now it’s your turn

Now i would  like to turn it over to you to spark a debate or lead a new discussion.

What in this post were you excited about? What was useful? What would you like to read more about?

Or maybe you just have a question about something you read.

Either way, let us know in the comments below.