Onpage Optimisation efforts are part of the larger Onsite Optimisation process and serve as a bridge between the insights gathered from keyword research applied to the website content strategy along with Technical Optimisation aspects at large, applied on a per-landing-page basis. In other words, Onpage Optimisation uses insights from Keyword Research on one or a limited group of users, their search queries and the intent behind them, to match them with the single most relevant Landing Page on the website, by adapting the content and technical elements of the page to the unique context of those users.
The practice of Onpage optimisation is fuelled by Keyword Mapping, which must be considered in the wider context of Keyword Research. The mapping surfaces hypotheses for Onpage Optimisation which are then applied on a per-landing-page basis. Once established, the Onpage Optimisation practice evolves to incorporate Keyword Rank Tracking and Web Analytics to understand users’ onsite behaviour and conversion as a means of proving or disproving the established hypotheses and diving deeper into understanding customer satisfaction over time.
The Onpage Optimisation Elements
To optimise a Landing Page for a particular string of keywords, intents and users, one must consider the website’s Internal Ranking Factors, which are determined by the elements found on the website Landing Pages and are under the full control of the publisher. The Internal Ranking Factors do not directly affect the organic seats (ranking positions) the website occupies in SERPs when competing with other websites but instead determine which of the website Landing Pages will show up for what string of keywords and how they will display within SERPs.
By ensuring that all users are presented with the most relevant Landing Page on the website for each of their search queries, over time the internal ranking factors can and do favour the website in question over its competition, as a direct result of it being able to show superior onsite user behaviour and conversion rates.
On a per Landing Page basis, Internal Ranking Factors are determined in full by the onpage elements, each having a relative propensity to influence organic rankings at large, but also an individual purpose that may provide opportunities to resonate across a wider range of similar SERPs. These onpage elements are the Page title, Meta Description, URL, headers, body content, links with particular reference given to anchor text, images, and rich content such as interactive experiences and videos. It can also extend to the use of structured data and Rich Snippets, as well as calls-to-action and advertisements.
Page Title Optimisation
Being the first element both users and search engines see in search results, the Page Title is the single most important element in determining what the Landing Page is about. Thus, how Page Titles are written and structured has a great effect on organic rankings. More specifically, a good Page Title strategy begins with a thorough Keyword Research, that can help answer such questions as what keywords to use and in what order. But it goes much further than that, incorporating such aspects as the recommended Page Title lengths, the use of Keyword Modifiers and consistent use of Branding.
It also considers the implications of using Keyword Modifiers as well as such potential negative practices as Keyword Stuffing, and missing or duplicated Page Titles. In select cases, it can also expand on the use of synonyms, capitalisation, and nontraditional characters as well as the benefits of using supplementary Title Tags for Social Media.
Editing Page Titles in WordPress
There are a number of ways of editing Page Titles in WordPress. Let’s begin by exploring how to edit the Page Titles without actually opening the Page or Post you want to edit the Page Title for. Chances are you’re working on a big website so in certain situations editing the Page Titles directly from your “All Pages” or “All Posts” menu can come in quite handy. Just open your “All Pages” or “All Posts” page in WordPress, search or navigate to the Page or Post you want to edit and Press “Quick Edit”, then “Edit the Page Title within the “Title” field.
If you’re writing a new Page or Post, you may want to edit the Page Title straight away. From the “All Pages” or “All Posts” tab within your WordPress backend navigate to the Page you’d like to edit the Page Title for and click “Edit”. On the page, you’ll be able to edit the title at the very top of your content editing area.
Optimising Page Titles for Search Engines
Using RankMath WordPress Plugin
There are, of course, various WordPress plugins that support title editing, but featuring additional benefits. One such tool is RankMath that also allows a preview of the title in the Google SERPs, which is useful in writing the titles of just the right length and testing them right in the editing window.
Important Remark on Page Title Overwrite using Rankmath
Please note that if you’re using RankMath, the first method of editing the Page Title from within the “All Pages” or “All Posts” page in WordPress won’t work. This happens because RankMath has priority over the normal way of writing the Page Titles, Meta Descriptions and URL slugs. This means that if you’ve installed RankMath, you must adhere to the standard of always writing your Page Titles, Meta Descriptions and URL slugs, directly using this last method.
If you’ve already went through the installation of the Rankmath plugin, click on the “RankMath” icon in the top right corner of your screen (you may need to drag it to the top-right corner of your screen from below the content editing area).
Once you’ve clicked on the “RankMath” icon in the top right corner, you will see the following screen, just displays your current Page Title, Page URL and Page Meta Description, the way they’re visible in Google Search. Just click “Edit Snippet” to be presented with the editing controls.
Once you click “Edit Snippet” you will reach “Preview Snippet Editor” which will look something like this and which will allow you to fully edit your Page Title, Page Meta Description and URL slug.
Although you may edit the individual page page using this box as you see fit, it may be worth noting that by deafult the SERP title will be composed of the default page title (edited from the top of your main WordPress content area) followed by a separator (i.e. a vertical slash or dash) and then by the website name.
The default SERP page title structure can be edited within the main settings of the Rankmath plugin, but anything you add within the “Preview Snippet Editor” for the page will overwritte it.
Meta Description Optimisation
The Meta Description is a short fragment of text that can only be found right underneath the Landing Page URL in SERPs. A good Meta Description supports the Page Title in attracting users to the website by offering a slightly more in-depth picture of what the Landing Page is about. Although the Meta Description is a pseudo Internal Ranking Factor, meaning that it does not directly influence Organic Rankings, it can and does influence the click-through rate to the landing page.
Like in the case of Page Titles, a good Meta Description strategy must be grounded in thorough Keyword Research, while incorporating a similar list of factors. These include the appropriate use of keywords, recommended Meta Description lengths, and supplementary tags for social media. Given the higher lengths of meta-descriptions, they also allow more scope for the use of synonyms and keyword modifiers where appropriate.
Editing Meta Descriptions in WordPress
If you’re writing a new Page or Post, you’ll most definitely want to edit the Meta Description straight away. From the “All Pages” or “All Posts” page within your WordPress search or navigate to the Page you’d like to edit the Meta Description for and click “Edit”. Click on the “RankMath” icon in the top right corner of your screen.
Once you’ve clicked on the “RankMath” icon in the top right corner, you will see the following screen, which just displays your current Page Title, Page URL and Page Meta Description, the way they’re visible in Google Search. Just click “Edit Snippet” to be presented with the editing controls.
Once you click “Edit Snippet” you will reach “Preview Snippet Editor” which will allow you to fully edit your Meta Description, along with the Page Title and URL slug. As you make edits, RankMath Preview section will display in real-time how your Page Title and Meta Description will look like in Google SERPs. This presents a great opportunity to ensure your meta descriptions are of the right length.
If you have certain target keywords set up within the “Focus Keyword” section of Rankmath (below the Preview Snippet Editor), these will be highlighted in bold for Meta Descriptions as well as Page Titles and URLs, exactly the way you should expect for them to be highlighted in Google Search when users search for those keywords in particular.
Page URL Optimisation
The Page URLs are the links displayed in the search results alongside the Page Title and meta-description and are also visible in the browser once on the web page. Unlike other onpage elements, Page Titles can shed more light on the context of the Landing Page it represents, directly from SERPs. Like other onpage elements, Page URLs rely on keywords to give clues about the content on the page, but a more important role is played by its structure which defines the relationship of the landing page to other pages on the website.
Page URL optimisation is by far the most complicated aspect of Onpage Optimisation, as the decisions on one page may reflect on existing and new pages as well as the URL structure as a whole. It also requires significantly more technical expertise, especially in the case of eCommerce websites. The process of writing search-optimised URLs should take place hand in hand with the optimisation of other onpage elements and consider the same research processes but has significantly more ground rules and limitations.
Apart from such aspects as URL lengths, one must also consider the timeliness of the page, the appropriate use of characters with reference to case sensitivity, non-English and extraneous characters as well as the reserved use of some characters. The structuring of URLs is the most difficult aspect of the URL optimisation process and starts with creating an understanding of the relationship between its parts and their appearance in SERPs, at large and on a per landing page basis.
URL structure considerations should be extended to the appropriate use of protocols, the preferred domain and subdomains. One must also understand the importance of domain names and how different types of top-level domains may affect SEO. Lastly, most of the day-to-day optimisation will reflect over the URL paths with particular reference to the use of subdirectories, file extensions and URL parameters.
Building and optimising a URL structure encompasses decisions on the hierarchy and categorisation of URLs, with sometimes alternative options such as the use of subdomains versus subdirectories or the use of static versus dynamic URLs, ground rules like avoiding dates as means of categorising content, as well as the issues and solutions to handling URL parameters in dynamically-generated URLs. Lastly, it also touches on the various uses and types of breadcrumbs to benefit the search experience.
Optimising the Landing Page URL in WordPress
There are still a number of things to consider when optimising the URLs of any given Landing Page. But as you will find the setting of URL structure and other things are mostly set up once and then reused across your publishing. There is one single thing that you will have to optimise every time you publish a new page or post and that is the URL slug or the last portion of the URL in the URL path.
Just like in the case of Page Titles and Meta Descriptions in order to edit your URL slug, you will need to go to RankMath icon in the top right corner of your Screen and click it. Then navigate to the “Preview Snippet Editor” which will allow you to edit the URL permalink.
The RankMath Preview section will display in real-time how your URL will look like in Google SERPs, allowing you to ensure the URLs are of the right length.
If you have certain target keywords set up within the “Focus Keyword” section of Rankmath, these will be highlighted in bold for the URLs, exactly the way you should expect to see them in Google Search when users search for those keywords in particular.
Important Remarks on URL Optimisation using Rankmath
- It may be important to note that you will be editing only the permalink of the page, which could be placed under one or several subdirectories, which can not be edited from this view.
- Secondly, you should not attempt to create subdirectories using the permalink field by adding in forward slashes (/). If you do need a new subdirectory for the page you’re working on, document on how to properly set them up to prevent SEO issues in the future.
Body Content Optimisation
In the context of SEO, Content Marketing stands for the information itself which can take many forms, including text, images, audio recordings, and videos, as well as more sophisticated forms such as raw data or data-visualisation dashboards, including interactive elements. However, in most cases Onpage Optimisation focuses on the three main onpage elements, often being extended to the Page Headers as these are the internal ranking factors that play the most important roles in specifying what the page content is about.
As a general rule, this is where onpage optimisation ends, as the development and scaling of body content, is normally handled either by brand, content management or other functions outside SEO. In fact, once the body content is published, the prospect of its’ continuous optimisation is pushed to the lower end of the priority list, mainly due to it being so time-consuming and being perceived as offering limited opportunities for impacting organic search.
However, the key reason to develop an onpage optimisation process that gives continuous and timely consideration to the optimisation of body content is that it is the main factor in consumers’ assessment of the degree to which the landing page has satisfied their search query. In other words, if the primary onpage elements are responsible for bringing the right users at the right time, the body content with all of its parts must offer what was earlier described as the right content, in order for a user journey to conclude with a conversion. Therefore this involves, apart from the optimisation of headers, also the optimisation of content itself, including images and videos.
Page Headers Optimisation
Following in order of importance after the 3 main onpage elements, and namely the Page Titles, Meta-Descriptions and URLs, come the Page Headers. The main difference between the three main onpage elements and the Page Headers is that only the former show up directly in SERPs while only the headers are part of the body HTML element of the page.
This may often make the Page Headers seem of somewhat lower importance in the Onpage Optimisation context, however, their main value can be found in their numbers. Not only are Page Headers free of length limits (because there is no need for them to fit in with the organic search results limits) but they are also used in multiple numbers and have levels of importance assigned to them within HTML code, from 1 to 6.
It would be fair to admit, that except for this, the ground rules for optimising the three most important onpage elements and those of optimising Page Headers are very much alike. In fact, The Page Headers are the cornerstone elements in finding the right directions for content addressing long-tail search queries, afforded by the opportunity to use synonyms, Keyword Modifiers and explore subtopics of the core content in greater depth. It should also be noted that Header 1 often holds the same function as the Page Title, the two normally ending up being copies or highly similar in nature (except for branding, employed only in Page Titles).
Optimisation of Images
Firstly, Image Optimisation entails a number of code elements that help describe them to Search Engines, including the image’s File Name, Title and ALT tag. The image’s File Name and Title are placeholders for the image title, while the ALT text is meant to describe the image to Search Engines or visually impaired users. It is thus of paramount importance to write these according to their intended purposes, making them descriptive enough for Search Engines and users to understand what the image is about.
Secondly, if the website at hand has many images, chances are Image Optimisation is pretty high on the technical optimisation list. There are 2 types of images, illustrated and photographic, each type having its own dedicated format. Thus the first step would be ensuring the illustrated images are presented in the PNG format, also known as lossless format and the photographic images in JPEG, also known as lossy format. This ensures the images are displayed with all their properties and in all the richness they were envisioned.
Editing the Image Title And ALT Tag In WordPress
In order to edit the Image Title and ALT tag navigate to the “Media” section of WordPress and click “Library”, then select you want to edit the image metadata for and simply edit the Image Title and ALT tag from within the corresponding fields.
You will also be presented with options for “LONGDESC” if needed as well as caption, which can be edited either from here or from the Landing Page the Image is on, directly.
RankMath also provides the option to exclude any image from the sitemaps below. Another general recommendation is to write your titles in lowercase, as all images will create automatic URLs that should use lowercase letters as we describe in the URL Optimisation section.
