On Page SEO : The complete guide in 2024

✍️ Last modified on April 10, 2023

Here is the complete guide to on-page SEO. With him, you will soon be able to :

• To optimize your content for easier referencing on Google;
• Write captivating texts for your visitors while respecting the rules of SEO ;
• Set up a solid foundation for your website so that it will be stabilized in the first results of search engines;

And that’s just a small sample of what you’re about to discover in this full(and free!) article. So give yourself a few minutes to read it right now.

NB: Don’t be afraid if you’re new to SEO, this article explains everything you need to know from A to Z(that’s how we are at Les Makers 😎).

What is on page SEO?

We can define On Page SEO as the fact ofoptimizing all the content present on your site according to the needs of Internet users and search engines. This includes the optimization of URLs, the structure of your site or the way you write your texts for example.

It should not be confused with off-page SEO, which concerns the entire external part of your website. In a few words, it represents the image that your site sends to Google.

These two strategies are different, but both are complementary. Kind of like vanilla and chocolate flavors in an ice cream. 🍨

The 3 differences between on page SEO and off page SEO

• On-page SEO can be fully controlled on your end. At no time do you depend on others since everything is on your website.
• On page SEO is totally free where as off page SEO can sometimes be expensive if you have to buy backlinks for example. Every editorial or technical aspect can be easily managed without having to delegate it.
• On-page SEO is easier to optimize and is timeless. Once you’ve written a good article that follows all the right rules, you don’t have to go back to it. On the contrary, off page SEO requires much more investment on your part(especially if the competition is fierce).

The importance of on-page SEO in natural referencing

On-page SEO is important because it allows you tooptimize your content for better search engine rankings. And that’s the goal of site editors: to be first in the search results on Google. 🏆

By being well placed, you will be able to attract visitors to your site and monetize the content of your blog. This can be through affiliation as well as through the sale of your own products for example.

So you can imagine that SEO professionals take onsite SEO very seriously. But we reassure you right away, you can do well(even if you are a beginner!).

Very often, site editors focus on the “mechanical” aspect of On page SEO:

• they were told to put the keyword at the beginning of the text, they do;
• we told them to make short URLs, they do it;
• they were told to optimize the semantics of the text even if it is incomprehensible to humans, they do it;

But by respecting a whole list of criteria “stupidly“, they forget that it is real humans like you and me who read the articles. And whether we like it or not, no robot is replacing us to take out the CB for us(maybe one day, who knows?).

So if your content is uninteresting, incomprehensible or uninteresting, your visitor will leave. Without buying anything. A bit like a phone store that only sells broken phones.

In this article, you will learn two essential aspects of on-page SEO:

• the “mechanical” aspect which is a list of criteria to be respected to be referenced on the web;
• the “emotional” aspect which will bring spice, curiosity or interest to your visitor so that he continues to discover your site while creating a relationship of trust with him;

It’s a bit like dating. You don’t go to your crush and list all the criteria he/she is looking for that you have. It may work in an engineering school(and still!).

On the contrary, you will subtly show that all the criteria are met on your side. But at no time will you say “I do”. All your attention is on the other. About their interests, problems, desires, etc.

It makes you likeable, and likeability is one of the pillars of the SONCAS method. This sales technique was invented in 1993 by Jean-Denis LARRADET.

In other words, don’t sell your product or service: fill your visitor’s need. The difference is subtle, but this is how you will boost your profitability. A la Armstrong, if you will allow us. 🤷🏻‍♂️

You will show that you are THE person. And when you get that status with someone, you’ve earned it. Because he won’t hesitate to take out his credit card if what you offer him meets his needs.

Not bad, eh?

Then discover now our…

5 tips for optimizing your on-page SEO

We have chosen to separate the issue of on-page SEO into 5 distinct parts. This way, you can come back to this article to make sure that you respect each criterion in the creation of your site.

Remember to bookmark it 😉

Let’s start right away with…

1) Optimize the URL

Before we tell you how to optimize the URL, it is vital to understand what it is. It is the address of a specific site or page.

Here is an example with the generic address of a site that brings you to its home page:

And here is the example of the address on a hypertext page that takes you directly to the “Armateam” page of the Twitch site:

Let’s start with the basics, namely…

Choosing the right domain name (DND)

The domain name (DND) is simply the main address of your website. And it is of utmost importance since it will be present on ALL the URLs of your site.

If you take the example above, you can see that “twitch.tv” is the prefix of all the URLs of the Twitch site. This allows you to send a strong signal to Google to show what your site is about.

As a result, some people use keywords as their domain name. For example, if you want to make a site about raclette machines, you may be tempted to choose: https://appareil-a-raclette.fr for example.

SPOILER: It already exists:

But this can be dangerous.

The keyword will be repeated on ALL pages of the site. As a result, Google may interpret it as spam. Plus, you might be “blocked” if you want to expand your niche.

It might be better to start with https://univers-raclette.fr which is more generic while having the general theme of your site present in the URL.

You also have to be careful with brands. You can’t start with an existing brand and risk losing your entire site. To verify this information, you can use this site: https: //data.inpi.fr/

If your choice is a trademark, go with another idea. This will save you any problems in the future! To give you an idea, the brand owner can take your entire site without compensation.

You’d only have your eyes left to cry(unless your eyes are trademarked, you’re starting to understand).

Which extension to choose for your domain name?

When you want to buy a domain name, you have access to many extensions such as .COM and .FR. This is the suffix at the end of the domain name.

For the anecdote, there is a site jeuxvideo.com and a site jeuxvideo.fr which are completely different.

Today, .com domain names are the most numerous in the world. According to Dynamique Mag, there are about 130 million of them.

There are no specific rules for better referencing at this level. Generally speaking, a .com extension gives an international side to your site unlike the .fr which is more for the French.

Should I take an expired domain name or a new one?

A new domain name has never existed and has no seniority on the web. When you choose this option, you start from scratch. It’s up to you to do what’s necessary to make it known. You will create content and then promote it on the Internet.

And very often, you go through what is called “the sandbox”. For a few months, your site will have no or few visitors. Google will test it little by little before moving it up in the search results when it has more confidence.

It can be discouraging so it’s vital to not give anything up during this time. 💪

To avoid this, some site editors use expired domain names. This is a domain name that has already been owned by someone and already has metrics. Sometimes the site has been abandoned in the meantime, or it may be that we have forgotten to renew.

With this type of NDD, you won’t have that sandbox period. And you will benefit from its power since it already has backlinks from other sites(usually).

You should therefore try to start with an NDD that is specialized in the same theme as you want to do. And if possible powerful. To find some, you can go on sites like Kifdom or Serimp for example.

But it can also backfire if it has been penalized in the past or used to spam.

To avoid this, you can use online tools like Majestic to analyze its metrics and the waybackmachine to see the old content.

This will be the subject of a full guide in the future, so keep our site aside if you’re interested in the topic 😉

How to make a good URL?

Once you have the right domain name, you need to optimize the URL of each page you publish.

And for that, I advise you to connect to your WordPress:

➡️ To click on “Setting”.

➡️ Then “Permaliens”

➡️ And finally click on “Title of the publication”:

This allows you to have the article name automatically in the URL.

Then, you will have to optimize each URL by hand.

And for that, you need to:

• that the keyword targeted by the page appears;
• remove transition words and pronouns such as “from”, “the”, “a”, etc. ;
• separate each word with a hyphen;
• do not use anything other than unaccented letters or numbers;
• limit the size of the URL to avoid it being too long;

For example:

Here, we can see that the jeuxvideo.fr website wants to gather all its video games tests.

2) Optimize HTML tags

Very simply, the HTML tags correspond to the titles of each article as well as the headings.

Let’s start with…

The case of the Title tag

This is clearly the most important tag compared to the others. This is the one that will appear in the Google search results. In other words, it must make the user want to click to come to your site.

From the point of view of natural referencing, the keyword targeted by the page must appear at the beginning.

Here is the example of the newspaper Le Point which wants to talk about Bitcoin to its readers:

Don’t hesitate to use whatever you can to attract attention. Of course, your article must be of good quality so as not to overpromise the Internet user.

People like “Tops” with numbers:

You can also use strong words like “danger”, “mischief”, “alert”, or “scandal”. It works very well:

Finally, you can use curiosity or emojis to engage the user:

Write a good meta description

The meta description is the small paragraph that appears below the title tag in search results. This is an opportunity to clarify the content of your article while giving the user the desire to click:

To do this, you can:

• Playing on urgency: “this article will soon be deleted“.
• Ask questions: “Looking for a way to not have your crypto-currencies stolen? Then click now on this article.”
• List the benefits that the Internet user will obtain: “Click now on this article to discover all the benefits of essential oils for your body and mind“.
• Play the curiosity: “Click now on this article to discover this unusual object which changed Bernard’s life“.
• Use the numbers: “These 7 methods are simple and free to implement to generate your first euros online”.

As you have seen in our example, the size of the meta description is limited to 155 characters. And the keyword targeted by the article must also appear in it.

3) Optimize the structure of its content

When you write an article, it is vital to offer a clear and coherent structure to your reader. In other words, you must adopt a logical hierarchy so that your visitor can easily find his way around.

To do this, you must first choose an H1 tag. This is the main title that appears on the page of your site. Since it is a title, there should be only one. And this one can be different from the Title tag for info.

For example, take the Lost Ark article from jeuxvideo.com:

This H1 title is different from the Title tag which is entitled: “Lost Ark PC test by jeuxvideo.com”. But whatever happens, the keyword must always be present. And from the beginning if possible.

In this case, the keyword “Test Lost Ark” is present in the H1 tag and the Title tag.

For the rest of your content, you will have to organize a hierarchy with the other H2, H3 tags and even deeper if needed. The idea is to offer the reader a clear and organized structure.

To see the structure of other sites, you can use the free HeadingsMap extension. For our famous test, it gives this:

As you can see, the structure is coherent and well ordered. Your visitor won’t necessarily read everything, but at least he will find the information he came for. And that’s the main thing.

For example, if he is only looking for the list of strengths and weaknesses, he can go directly to the end to get them.

The best is to use keywords synonymous with the main keyword to support it from a SEO point of view.

If you have trouble organizing some of the questions the reader might have, you can create a FAQ section to easily integrate them. This is a good idea and many successful ecommerce sites have adopted this strategy:

4) Optimize the content of the page

Optimizing the content of your page is probably the most complex part of on-page SEO. You must succeed in combining the purely SEO criteria with copywriting to make the visitor appreciate your site.

Let’s start with the…

Choice of a keyword

Each page should target a single keyword primarily. This is the first rule to respect.

This should be mentioned in the introduction, and if possible at the beginning. Attention, we are no longer in 2010 where it was enough to spam everywhere in the text to get referenced. Today, we must not abuse it.

We advise you to put it in the H2 or H3 type headings by using it or its synonyms.

For example, if your article targets the keyword“crypto currency“, you can use the expressions “digital currency“, “bitcoin“, “decentralized finance“, etc.

Don’t abuse it, it’s really important. Instead, focus on the semantics of your text. But that’s for the end of this game!

Research intention

Each keyword is attached to a search intent. And to have the chance to appear in the first results of Google, your content must meet this intention.

When you Google the best bar in your city to go pick up women, you want an address, opening hours and possibly a map. You don’t care about the history of the bar, the history of the drinks served in the establishment or anything else.

And to know what is the search intention of the keyword you are targeting, nothing better than to look on Google the sites already placed. They can help you understand what the search engine wants from your page.

Punctuation and content form

This brings us to a more emotional criterion, namely the form of your text. Each sentence you write must push the reader to read the next one. This is your mission dear apprentice makers. ✍️

And for that, the content must be interesting(we’ll come to that later), but the form must be even more interesting. Your sentences must be short and impactful. You have to air your text, we should not choke while reading it.

Keep your paragraphs relatively short. Try to limit them to one main idea. Then once processed, move on to the next one in another paragraph. Like this… hop!

You can also use bold to highlight certain words or phrases. Most of the internet users quickly scan your text. If they understand this one at a glance with its structure and bolded words, you have a better chance of getting them to linger on one part.

You bother writing texts to reference them well. Make sure we really read them! This is the basis.

Unique and captivating content

Writing rich and unique content requires you to learn about the topic. Do some research and save any interesting information you find for future use.

Then organize them in your own way. Do not recover the structure of others. The idea is not to be a pale copy of the competition. We’re not sheep at Makers 🐑(but we hope to be as gentle).

Then, once you have all these elements, use copywriting to get your visitor’s attention:

• Give him some numbers;
• Give rhythm to the reading by using short sentences;
• Put some beautiful free images ;
• Speak directly to him(you / you);
• Make bulleted lists(people love bulleted lists);
• Tease him the following parts;
• Remind him what he gets when he reads your article;
• Tells some juicy stories about the subject;
• Picture your point with examples;

If you manage this part, you can be profitable even with few visitors. Because the people who read your texts will trust you and see you as an expert.

They will feel that you understand their pain, their doubts and their problems. And in their heads, if you understand all this then you must have the solution. This is not me saying it, but most studies in psychology.

If you are interested in the subject, get the book “Influence and Manipulation” by Robert Cialdini.

This is how you can make money online. Perhaps even more easily than other site editors.

The case of images

The images(like the videos) are there to offer an alternative to your reader. All of this is complementary to your written content and it is vital to offer it if it is part of the keyword’s search intent.

For example, if you want to rank on the query “best tattoos”, you will only ever rank with text. You’ll need pictures. Lots of images. The proof:

And from an SEO point of view, it is necessary to pay attention to several criteria:

• first, you have to rename the image you are going to import by putting a keyword or a synonym of it ;
• Then, you have to fill in the alt tag(also called alternative text) by describing it
• Finally, you must give it a title when you import it by putting the keyword or a synonym ;

This is what it looks like on your WordPress dashboard:

Don’t hesitate to create infographics. It brings a lot of values to your readers and they are often shared. It is a good way to get known without spending a cent.

External links

Don’t hesitate to include links to other authority sites. This allows you to prove to Google that your content is based on serious elements and that you mention your sources.

This is not the most important criterion of on-page SEO, but it is clearly the easiest to do.

Preferably a specialized site and not the big media. Yes, by dint of making links to them, they take advantage of it to start affiliate marketing:

Yes. BFM is getting into steamers. Finally the Mayans were right: the end of the world is coming soon(they were just wrong about the date). 🤷‍♂️

Semantics

The semantics of the content is very important for natural referencing . This is because Google does not understand what you write. Yes.

So he turns words into mathematical entities to understand what you are talking about. And then it will evaluate if it corresponds to what the user is looking for or not. You will be classified with the other pages dealing with the same subject.

And to do this, it takes into account the semantics. When you want to rank for a particular keyword, you shouldn’t just repeat it in your text. You need to mention other words or phrases related to it.

Let’s take an example: “president of the Republic“, “investment banker“, “young and dynamic“, and “get his teacher” (🤷‍♂️). You’ll soon understand that we want to talk to you about Macron. Google is the same.

Normally, by reading only these keywords you should be able to find the targeted keyword.

Fortunately, you don’t have to guess everything yourself. Some SEO tools tools like Yourtextguru can do it for you. For example, for the word Macron, it shows you the most used expressions by the best positioned sites in the SERPs:

And then, this tool can tell you the degree of optimization of your competitors who are on the first page so that you can adapt on your side:

We will come back to this concept in more detail in a future guide. To not miss it, keep our site in your favorites 👍

5) Optimize the internal network

Before understanding how to optimize your internal mesh, you must understand how the Internet works. In fact, every page that links to another page gives it SEO juice “.

Depending on the reputation of the site, this juice is more or less important. And each page has its own juice. Generally, the home page is the most powerful since it receives most of the links coming from the outside.

And in order not to lose this juice, each page must transmit it to the others. Thus, it is necessary to make internal links referring to other articles. Thus, this juice is equally distributed among all pages. And so on.

The more internal links a page will receive ( thus of juice ) and the more powerful it will be. You can therefore take advantage of this to strengthen your most profitable pages like this for example:

Of course, we must not do anything. Therefore, we advise you to make links to pages that deal with a similar theme to that of your page.

By the way, you can even optimize the link anchor. As a reminder, the link anchor is the text contained in a hyperlink. You often see it underlined and in a color that stands out from the text like this:

To boost the SEO of a page, you can have fun linking from other pages with a different anchor each time. You can use all the synonyms of the targeted keyword to show Google what the main page is about. This is a very good strategy 👍

Beware of duplicate content

It is important to mention here thatyou should not reproduce identical content between your pages. Of course, there may be some similarities, but there is a limit to how far you can go.

There are no exact figures on this, but avoid exceeding 25% of identical content between your articles. With this you should be safe.

If you have fun translating content produced in a foreign language, consider that someone else may have had the same idea as you before. So if you translate word for word and the other did the same, you will be sanctioned by Google.

Be very careful with this. At least try to rewrite some parts to be safe in this respect.

The new criteria impacting natural referencing

With the evolution of the different technologies as well as the habits of the Internet user, new criteria have appeared. They are becoming more and more important so it is vital not to miss out.

Page loading speed

Internet users hate waiting. The average attention span of a human is 7 seconds(for the record, that’s less than a goldfish). So if your site takes a long time to load, the user may leave your site before discovering its content.

It’s a bit like proposing to your Tinder partner a dirty nap… and taking 45 minutes to remove your pants. He or she will be gone before you even get there.

And that’s bad for your SEO. Because Google can interpret that the Internet user leaves your site quickly because it is of poor quality. And that’s how you’ll lose your good SEO.

Fortunately, there are ways to speed up your site. You have plug-ins like WP Rocket or themes already optimized for this.

Compatibility with the mobile

On average, people spend 3.7 hours a day on their phones. And to give you an idea, 50% of Google searches are done via mobile.

It is therefore necessary to respond to this evolution by proposing a site adapted for the mobile. See made especially for him. To give you an idea, one of our sites is 90% consulted by cell phones.

The easiest way is to start with a specialized theme. You can find plenty of them on the Internet like GeneratePress or even Astra .

The user experience (UX)

The navigation on your site must be fluid and practical. Your visitor must be able to navigate easily from one page to another. The pages must be optimized for reading and make you want to read the rest.

It is necessary to check that you do not have any problem of display and that your site is correct aesthetically.

If you don’t do this, visitors will run away. This is called the bounce rate. It is a score that indicates the percentage of people who left a site after discovering a page.

So the bigger it is, the more worrying it is for you.

To avoid this, optimize the internal linkage, propose interesting content and do your best to capture the attention of your reader. Simply put, apply all the tips you discovered in this article 😉

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That’s it, it’s already over! You are now an ace atonsite SEO, so you can get good SEO for your own website. Don’t forget the copywriting dimension which is too often neglected by website editors.

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