On page SEO guide

How to make your posts more interesting to search engines? These are simple SEO rules that can help you rank your posts better. Although SEO science can seem a bit intimidating at times, I promise these 11 tips are easy to understand and implement quickly and efficiently. On page SEO is not quantum physics anymore. It used to drive me mad but as time goes by, as I do my research and learn a lot about SEO I can say that this has totally been demystified.

Although sometimes the world seems to be living by that famous idea from Heraclitus - Panta rhei, some things still remain the same. Yes, SEO is changing with each passing year and Google really keeps up with making our job of ranking good in search more difficult with each new SEO tip. But worry not, for now the most important elements of good SEO have remained the same. Being a good writer is still very important because no amount of SEO craftsmanship can`t substitute bad writing.

1. Friendly permalink URLs

Avoid ugly un-customised URLs. Use your URL to say to search engine what are you talking about. First 3.5 words in a URL are the most important. Says the Google.

2. Title with kyword

Title tag is THE most important element when it comes to on page SEO. Pages with their key word in the title ranked better than those that had the key word somewhere in the middle.

3. Multimedia

It is important to have great, compelling content that tells the reader who you are and engages him in your story. But, it is important to have pictures, videos and other available multimedia in your posts because that attracts users more than just text, thus reduces your bounce rate and increases time on site.

4. Outbound links

They help Google to focus on your page`s topic, thus this helps you boost your page`s rank in Google.

5. Keyword in first 100 words

Putting the relevant keyword early in your content emphasizes that your article is about that particular keyword.

6. H1 Title tag

That is your headline tag. Most platforms automatically add this tag but some themes are built to override it, so check your settings and see if it needs to be adjusted. H1 tag for your title tag is the most important thing for your on page SEO and the best thing you can do for your blog.

7. Loading speed

This is an important signal to search engines. Users don`t like to wait for pages to load and if it takes more than 4 seconds they usually leave. That is a bad sign, search engines do recognise it and your bounce rate increases. Use CDN, compress images and have a good and fast host for your site.

8. Social sharing buttons

Search engines do recognise the importance of social sharing and to take it into consideration when ranking your site.

9. Long content

Longer content ranks significantly higher in Google. At least 1500 words per post.

1. Bounce rate

Why do people stay on some sites and leave others? First impression is the most important one, but a second too. Take loading time into consideration but more importantly your design - make it simple, clean and user friendly. Write compelling stories and add internal links to your posts.

1. LSI keywords

Google uses them to determine page`s relevancy and quality. LSI can be found at the bottom of Google search (searches related to..) or in Google Adwords Keyword tool.

Don`t be afraid to do your research. I know these three little letters, S - E - O, can be a little bit intimidating at times but, if you just give yourself enough time to do your homework on what it takes for good SEO and to really understand it, you will be OK. Awesome, as a matter of a fact. As scary as it may seem it is really very simple and can be summarized in one or two sentences. Like Jason DeMers did for Forbes magazine:

Ensuring that your topic and keywords are clearly identifiable in your content, URLs, and header and image tags isn’t difficult (though it does take time), and will go a long way toward ensuring the best possible organic search rankings for your content. But most important of all, ensure that you’re publishing awesome content on a regular basis. That’s the foundation of on-page SEO in today’s modern era of SEO.

From my experience, SEO sounded really, really scary and when a friend of mine told me how this is basically cheating and that Google can and will punish me and ban me, I was terrified. What to do? Just play by the rules and you will be ok.

It took me some time to find a source from which I can understand and really learn about this topic, and I did baby steps. Connecting the dotts can seem slowl at times but in the end it will all fall into place. Lucky for us, Wordpress has amazing plug-ins that can really help. All you have to do in the end is just write. And write good.

How do you SEO your blog? Do you believe in SEO commandments or do you just play it by the ear?

photo source