SEO TIP: OPTIMIZING ON-PAGE SEO (CONTENT CURATION)

On-page SEO refers to the process of optimizing a single page to rank higher and increase relevant traffic. Any on-page SEO effort will be a losing battle unless you're delivering quality content first. But, once it's all done, the only thing left is to move up (in your rankings).

Using keywords for humans

In the past, many tried to improve their search result rankings through a practice called keyword stuffing. They hid keywords somewhere on the page, were not visible to site visitors, and repeated hundreds of times to get a higher ranking. Not only do these practices no longer work, but they can also actually have serious negative effects on your SEO efforts.

Still, if you want to rank for a particular keyword, you must use the keyword and use it correctly. So where should you use the keyword to get the most out of your efforts?

• In the first 100-150 words of your page
• In an H1 (title tag) on the page 
• In the subtitle tags (H2, H3, etc.)
• In the page URL.
• In the meta description (this may or may not be used by search engines, but it is important to complete it).
• In the alt image and title tags
• And wherever it is logical and makes sense to use it in the middle of the content.

Google emphasizes that we write content for humans and not robots. Forcing the use of keywords where they don't make sense will backfire and can hurt your SEO.

Linking to other sites

While it may seem counterproductive to link to another website, or outbound links, when it comes to optimizing yours, the opposite is true. Linking to trusted sources in your article is a great way to show the accuracy of your content in a sea of misinformation. Several studies describe how outbound links increase relevance, improve reputation, increase value, and encourage backlinks.

If possible, reach out to anyone you have quoted in your article and who has been quoted with a thank you note and link to your article. If they decide to share your content, you could find yourself with a big SEO win!

Link to other pages on your site 

Internal links connect your page to other pages on your domain and are beneficial in two different ways.

First, they reduce a site visitor's potential bounce rate by offering more content for them to browse.

Second, linking from pages with a high SEO score to those with a lower score can rank them.

To successfully link to a page, create a keyword-rich link. Don't simply paste the URL on the other page, you'll be wasting a valuable SEO opportunity.

This is one of the reasons why you use the listings of "Latest blog posts", "Related articles", "Products in the same category", ... These listings allow you to generate links in an automated way within your website simply and effortlessly.

Encourage content sharing  

When someone shares a page on your website, it is as if they are giving it a positive vote. 

The more votes a page gets, the higher it will rank.

Adding social sharing buttons to your web pages can be very helpful in sharing your website. Also, make sure your metadata is set up correctly so that when people share your content, it appears attractively on social channels.