Module 2 – On-Page and Technical SEO

How to optimize content for SEO

On-page SEO is the process of optimizing various front-end and back-end components of your website so that it ranks in search engines and brings in new traffic.

“The most basic signal that information is relevant is when a webpage contains the same keywords as your search query. If those keywords appear on the page, or if they appear in the headings or body of the text, the information is more likely to be relevant.”
Source: Google’s “How Search Works” report

In the next sections, we’ll cover the basics of optimizing your content for search engines.

Allowing Search Engines to Index Your Pages

Search engines have 3 primary functions:

  • Crawl: Search webpages and look over the code and content for each URL.

  • Index: Store and organize the information it finds from crawling.

  • Rank: Provide the pieces of content that best match a person’s search query.


An advanced search operator sounds complicated, but it’s actually pretty simple. In the search engine, type “site:yourdomain.com” replacing the domain with your own. You will know how many pages are currently being indexed by Google.

Sitemap

A sitemap is a file of code that lives on your web server and lists all of the relevant URLs your website is carrying.

The Yoast plugin can generate a sitemap for you. Goto Settings and find the XML sitemap tool. Here is an example of the sitemap generated by Yoast.


Once you have the sitemap link, you will have to copy this link in Google Search Console, after entering with your google account.   

Tools to help you

With WordPress, the plugin Yoast is one of the best. It will help you to optimize your pages to respond to search engines.

Responding to all the suggestions of Yoast could be a long process. But it might be worth doing it.

With other CMS, you will surely find some tools to help.

Heading Tags

A page heading tag is an HTML element that provides a hierarchical structure to a web page.

Best practices are:

  • Your page title should have an H1 tag.

  • Subsequent headings on the page should have an H2 or H3 tag, and so on

  • Use your primary keyword in your page title

Title Tags

A title tag is an HTML element that specifies the title of a web page. The titles are displayed on search engine results page (SERP). Best practices are:

  • Keep your title under 60 characters. It gets cut off in search engine results.

  • Include your primary keyword in the title.

  • Make sure both your page heading and title answer the searcher’s primary question.

Images and Videos

Speed is important for your users . You can speed up your website by optimizing images and videos.

  • Fill the information (metadatas) of the images. Search engine can read this information.

  • Upload images at the exact dimensions you will use in your pages.

  • Write descriptive link text in your video.

External Links

These are links to other website’s content. When you link to quality external content, it shows your readers and search engine that you’ve done your research.

  • Write descriptive link text instead of using “click here” or “learn more”.

  • You will trust more a content if the sources are cited

  • Stay on topic. Don’t use text that has no relation to the page’s content

Internal Links

An internal link is any link from one page to another page on your website.

  • Used correctly, it help users and search engine crawlers navigate your site

  • It gives value and relevance to your website.

  • Make sure your internal links are “follow” links.

URL and Protocol

A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) specifies the location of a resource on the web. A URL is like an address. First, the protocol: the standard http or https (the S stands for Secure) after your domain.

  • Include your primary keyword in your URL and use hyphens between words.

  • Keep your URLs short and simple.

  • Make sure your URL describes the page that users will be landing on.

Meta Descriptions

A meta description is an HTML attribute that provides a brief summary of a webpage. It appears after the link in the search results.

  • You can use the tools of Yoast to edit your meta description.

  • Write compelling content with an average of 155-160 characters.

  • Include one of 2 keywords and avoid non-alphanumeric characters.

Responsive Design

Use a CMS with responsive design that will adapt to mobile, tablet and any size of computer.

  • Is your website mobile-friendly? Over 50% of internet activity across the world occurs on mobile devices.

  • Be aware of pop-ups on mobile. This will negatively impact the user experience and your SEO.

  • Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to determine if a page is
    optimized for mobile.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO is the practice of improving technical aspects of a website to help search engines crawl and index it more effectively.

  • Robots.txt is a text file that instructs search engine bots on how to crawl a website’s pages

  • Use the right protocol and ensure your website has a valid SSL certificate.

  • Use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to test how fast your website loads.