In this article I am going to discuss the importance of both on-site and on-page SEO which are both technically the same thing. Both terms are commonly used so I wanted to mention them both so you know they both mean the exact same thing so not to be confused if you hear or read one or the other. On-site and on-page SEO are absolute vital aspects of your web page design and you should take on-page SEO very seriously because it can make or break you.
So what is on-site and on-page SEO?
On-page SEO refers to the search engine optimisation techniques that you have applied on every single page throughout your website and covers areas such as your:
Web page content - the actual written about your products,services, company history etc on every page
Page titles - The short descriptive title given to your page to tell search engines what the page is about
Page descriptions - The short (but longer than page title) page description that you add to describe in a little more depth what the page in question covers.
Page keywords - Not used as much nowadays as search engines ignore meta keywords. Instead, keywords can be used in web page content text, page titles and page descriptions.
Image names and alt tags - the images on your pages should be named to reflect what the image or page is about
Image title and alt tags - Similar to page titles except this is the text element that will appear when you hover over an image as seen on most websites.
Web page content
We page content is in a nut shell text. That's it! Simple isn't it? Yes, and no. How many times have you performed a search on Google for a product or service and typed in a word, phrase or sentence and clicked enter? You have done this a thousand times. We all have. The websites that appear in the search results will primarily appear because the specific word, phrase or sentence you just typed is written somewhere on the pages that appear in the search results. As simple as it is, it still is not that simple because the sites that appear in prominent positions appear for a number of reasons that will all be covered on this page and the sister page.But before we get to that it will be useful for you to know that how well you write the content of your pages and the amount of information that you do write can significantly propel your web pages above the competition.
Google and the like want to give one thing to their users - the most relevant and most intelligently written articles and web pages. Think about it for a moment. If you are based in Pattaya and sell imported Cuban cigars and you have one page with a short description that reads "Cuban cigars for sale" then how is such a short description going to convince Google that your site is resourceful when you can't even be bothered to elaborate further and explain in detail who you are, what you do and what you sell.
Firstly, how many people in the world are there who are selling Cuban cigars? Tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands. So for your page text that you just used to try and get people to find you by writing "Cuban cigars for sale" - well, you are competing with everyone of those sites and there is no way your website will be listed in the top 100 let alone top 5.
But this is what is beautiful and so simple about writing web page content because you have the power in your fingertips to explain so much but with so little by narrowing down and being specific to who and what you are, where you are and what you are selling. For example, you are in Pattaya, in Thailand, selling cigars. So that is your golden opportunity to target that market and get your site ranked at the very top. Take a look at the type of description that you should be writing on that page as written below:
"Imported Cuban cigars for sale in Pattaya, Thailand. Our Cuban cigars are made from the finest Cuban tobacco. Our Cuban cigars are genuine, premium, Cuban cigars all available at very cheap and competitive prices in Pattaya and throughout Thailand. Contact us for wholesale and retail prices if you would like to buy in bulk."
There you have it. Your description is short and sweet and has just covered so many words and search terms that people will type when searching for Cuban cigars in Pattaya. The keywords written in the description are of course "Imported, Cuban, Cigars, Pattaya, Thailand, Finest, Tobacco, Genuine, Cheap, Prices, Wholesale, Retail, Buy, Bulk".
So when writing any text for any page, be sure you take the lesson you have learned here. Use words and search terms that you yourself would search for when looking for a product or service. Don't keyword stuff on the page. Just write informative descriptions and you will soon see your website rise to the top of the search pages.
Meta titles and descriptions
Web page meta titles and web page meta descriptions are also important aspects of on-site and on-page SEO and it's easy to understand why.
Imagine opening up a book that doesn't contain chapters or chapter headings. That is a useful way to compare web page titles and descriptions. Without web page titles and descriptions all your pages are is just text after text.
If you don't assign your pages with titles and descriptions then the search engines will auto add these themselves using random data from the page itself. But ideally you should manually add a page title and description for every single page yourself. This takes just a few minutes to do for each individual page and this is something you as the business and website owner should do.
All websites PATTAYAMEDIA build have a backend admin area like as seen in the picture where you can change and edit your web page titles and descriptions anytime in a matter of minutes.
Click image to enlarge
But before we get to that it will be useful for you to know that how well you write the content of your pages and the amount of information that you do write can significantly propel your web pages above the competition.
Google and the like want to give one thing to their users - the most relevant and most intelligently written articles and web pages. Think about it for a moment. If you are based in Pattaya and sell imported Cuban cigars and you have one page with a short description that reads "Cuban cigars for sale" then how is such a short description going to convince Google that your site is resourceful when you can't even be bothered to elaborate further and explain in detail who you are, what you do and what you sell.
Firstly, how many people in the world are there who are selling Cuban cigars? Tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands. So for your page text that you just used to try and get people to find you by writing "Cuban cigars for sale" - well, you are competing with everyone of those sites and there is no way your website will be listed in the top 100 let alone top 5.
But this is what is beautiful and so simple about writing web page content because you have the power in your fingertips to explain so much but with so little by narrowing down and being specific to who and what you are, where you are and what you are selling. For example, you are in Pattaya, in Thailand, selling cigars. So that is your golden opportunity to target that market and get your site ranked at the very top. Take a look at the type of description that you should be writing on that page as written below:
"Imported Cuban cigars for sale in Pattaya, Thailand. Our Cuban cigars are made from the finest Cuban tobacco. Our Cuban cigars are genuine, premium, Cuban cigars all available at very cheap and competitive prices in Pattaya and throughout Thailand. Contact us for wholesale and retail prices if you would like to buy in bulk."
There you have it. Your description is short and sweet and has just covered so many words and search terms that people will type when searching for Cuban cigars in Pattaya. The keywords written in the description are of course "Imported, Cuban, Cigars, Pattaya, Thailand, Finest, Tobacco, Genuine, Cheap, Prices, Wholesale, Retail, Buy, Bulk".
So when writing any text for any page, be sure you take the lesson you have learned here. Use words and search terms that you yourself would search for when looking for a product or service. Don't keyword stuff on the page. Just write informative descriptions and you will soon see your website rise to the top of the search pages.
Page Keywords
Web page keywords are almost obsolete now as in search engines like Google ignore them entirely and instead focus on the actual keywords you use when writing your web page content. This has been clearly demonstrated above with the reference to Cuban cigars so please use that as an example of how one must use the appropriate specific keywords within both the body of their web page content and nestled within the page titles and descriptions.
Image names, image titles and image alt-tags
Go to Google and search for Thailand. When the results appear hit the images link and you will be taken to a selection of images in relation to Thailand. Almost all of those images that appear in the search results appear because of what the image has been named or the image alt title and alt tags.
The image title and alt tags are practically the same thing. Hover over the image at the top of this page and you will clearly see the words "On-site and on-page SEO" appear. This is because we are telling Google and you that this page is about "On-site and on-page SEO" and the images too.
The very same image is also called "On-site and on-page SEO.jpg". This is for obvious reasons and is self-explanatory. So don't forget to name your images that you use for every single page something similar to what that page is discussing or about. It will help your web page with on-site SEO.
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