On-Page SEO in 2023
It’s no secret that SEO is constantly evolving. What worked yesterday may not work today, and what works today may not work tomorrow. So, what can we expect from on-page SEO in 2023?
Here are a few predictions:
- User experience will be even more critical than it is today. Google has already stated that they are prioritizing user experience, which will only become more acute in the future.
- Keywords will continue to be necessary, but there will be a shift toward semantically related keywords. This means that instead of targeting exact-match keywords, you should focus on keywords related to your topic.
- Social signals will become more important.
The Basics of On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is one of the most important aspects of search engine optimization. It refers to optimizing individual web pages to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). To optimize your web pages for on-page SEO, you need to understand the basics of how search engines work and what they are looking for.
The Three Pillars of On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is critical to the success of any website. There are three key factors to consider when optimizing your website for search engines: content, structure, and design.
- Content is still king when it comes to on-page SEO. Your content must be well-written, keyword-rich, and informative. It should also be updated regularly to stay fresh and relevant.
- The structure is essential for both users and search engines. Your website should be easy to navigate and have a logical structure. This will help users find the information they need quickly and easily and help search engines index your site more effectively.
- Design also plays a role in on-page SEO. Your website should be designed in a way that makes it easy for users to read and navigate.
On-Page SEO Checklist
It’s no secret that SEO is constantly evolving.
What worked five years ago doesn’t work today, and what works today won’t work five years from now.
The only way to keep up with the changes is to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and best practices.
To help you do that, we’ve put together an On-Page SEO Checklist for 2023.
This checklist will help ensure your website is optimized for the current state of search engine algorithms.
Following these best practices can increase your chances of ranking higher in search results and driving more traffic to your site.
Title Tags
The title tag is one of the most crucial on-page SEO elements. It tells search engines what the page is about and helps them determine whether it’s relevant to a user’s query.
A reasonable title tag should be:
- Relevant to the page content
- Between 50-60 characters long
- Unique (not duplicated on other pages)
- keyword rich
While the exact role of title tags in search algorithms has changed over time, they remain an important ranking factor. So take the time to craft good ones for your pages!
Meta Descriptions
As we move into 2023, on-page SEO will become increasingly crucial for businesses that want to rank higher in search engine results pages. One of the most important elements of on-page SEO is the meta description.
A meta description is a summary of a webpage that appears beneath the page title in search engine results. Meta descriptions are not a ranking factor but are essential for click-through rate (CTR). A well-written meta description can entice users to click on your result, even if it’s not the first result.
Meta descriptions should be between 150 and 160 characters long. This may seem like a small amount of space, but you can use it to your advantage by being concise and to the point.
H1 Tags
An accurate and well-written H1 tag is still one of the most important on-page SEO elements in 2023.
While the importance of other tags like meta descriptions and title tags has diminished in recent years, your H1 tag remains a crucial part of your on-page SEO.
Your H1 tag tells both search engines and visitors what your page is about, so it’s important to use relevant keywords and make sure your tag is well-written.
Here are some tips for optimizing your H1 tag in 2023:
Use relevant keywords: Include 1-2 relevant keywords in your H1 tag to help search engines understand what your page is about. But don’t stuff your keywords—this will hurt your SEO.
Image ALT Tags
As Google continues to update and refine its algorithms, on-page SEO tactics must also evolve to keep up. One important aspect of on-page SEO is the use of image ALT tags.
Image ALT tags are text descriptions of an image that search engines can read. They help improve the accessibility of a website and can also help boost your website’s ranking in image search results.
When creating image ALT tags, use keywords that accurately describe the image. However, don’t stuff keywords – this will only hurt your ranking. Keep the text simple and natural-sounding for best results.
Anchor Text
As the world of SEO changes, so does how we approach on-page optimization. In the past, optimizing your website for search engines was all about cramming keywords into your content. But today, things are different.
Now, Google’s algorithm is much more sophisticated, and it takes into account several factors when determining where to rank your website in the search results.
One of the most important factors is anchor text. Anchor text is the text you use when linking to other websites or pages on your site. It’s important to use relevant and descriptive anchor text so that Google can understand what your page is about and how it’s appropriate to the searcher’s query.
Internal Linking
As the world of SEO changes, so does on-page optimization. What worked a decade ago won’t necessarily work today, and what works today won’t work a decade from now. So, what can we expect from on-page SEO in 2023?
One of the most significant changes we can expect is an emphasis on internal linking. In the past, optimizing for on-page SEO meant focusing primarily on external factors like keywords and backlinks. However, as the algorithm has become more sophisticated, Google has started to give more weight to internal links.
This makes sense when you think about it from Google’s perspective. They want to provide their users with the best possible experience, giving them relevant and easy-to-navigate results.
What is technical SEO?
Technical SEO is one of the most important aspects of on-page SEO. It is the process of optimizing your website for search engines, so they can crawl and index your content more easily.
Technical SEO includes optimizing your website’s structure, code, and other backend elements. This helps search engines understand your content better and index it properly.
Many factors go into technical SEO, but some of the most important ones are site speed, mobile-friendliness, and security. If you want your website to rank well in search engines, you must ensure these factors are optimized.
Checklist for technical SEO:
Site Structure
As we all know, SEO is an ever-changing field. What worked five years ago may not work today, and what works today may not work five years from now. That’s why staying up-to-date on the latest trends and best practices are essential.
One of the most important aspects of on-page SEO is site structure. A well-structured website will be easy for search engines to crawl and index and easy for users to navigate.
Here are some tips for optimizing your website’s structure:
- Use a simple, flat structure.
- Use descriptive URLs.
- Use keyword-rich titles and metatags.
- Organize your content into logical categories and subcategories.
- Use appropriate anchor text when linking to internal pages.
Robots.txt File
If you’re serious about on-page SEO, you must learn about the robots.txt file. This tiny text file can help get your pages indexed and ranked by search engines.
Here’s what you need to know about the robots.txt file: what it is, how to create one, and how to use it to your advantage.
The robots.txt file is a text file that tells search engine bots which pages on your website they can and can’t crawl. You can use the robots.txt file to control which pages bots crawl and index, which can be helpful if you have pages that are not ready for public consumption or want to avoid duplicate content issues.
To create a robots.txt file, all you need is a plain text editor and some basic knowledge of HTML.
XML Sitemap
An XML sitemap is a great way to help search engines find and index your content. By providing a sitemap, you can help ensure that all your pages are found and indexed by search engines.
XML sitemaps are easy to create and submit to search engines. Create a text file with a list of all the URLs on your site, and then submit the file to the search engine. You can also add additional information to your sitemap, such as when each page was last updated, how often it changes, and the importance of each page.
If you have a large website or if your website frequently changes, an XML sitemap can be a valuable tool for helping search engines index your content.
301 redirects
One change that has taken place in recent years is the use of 301 redirects.
A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect from one URL to another. If someone visits the old URL, they will be automatically redirected to the new URL. 301 redirects are often used when a website undergoes a significant change, such as a rebranding or a domain name change.
Using a 301 redirect ensures that visitors always end up on the correct page, even if they bookmarked the old URL or typed it in the wrong one.
404 Error Pages
It can be frustrating when you click on a link and see a 404 error page. The article you were trying to find is nowhere to be found, and you’re left with a blank page.
But what exactly is a 404 error page? And why do they exist? A 404 error page is an error message that appears when you try to access a website that doesn’t exist. There are many reasons a website might not exist, but the most common reason is that the website has been deleted or moved.
So why do they exist? Well, they help to keep the internet organized and tidy. When you type in a URL, the server looks for the corresponding website. It will return a 404 error page if it can’t find it. This helps to prevent people from accidentally going to websites that don’t exist anymore.
Canonical Tags
What are canonical tags?
A canonical tag is an HTML element that tells search engines which version of a webpage to index. It is used to prevent duplicate content from being indexed and ensure that the correct page is served to users.
Canonical tags are essential for SEO because they help search engines understand which version of a page should be ranked for a given query. They also help to avoid penalties for duplicate content.
When should you use canonical tags?
There are a few instances when you might want to use a canonical tag:
-If you have multiple pages with identical or similar content, you can use a canonical tag on the pages you want search engines to ignore. This will help prevent those pages from competing with each other in the SERPs.
Conclusion: how to use this checklist
Use this checklist to ensure your on-page SEO is up to date and keeps you ahead of the competition.
On-page SEO is one of the most important aspects of running a successful website. It helps you rank higher in search engines, driving more traffic to your site.
This checklist will help you ensure your on-page SEO is on point, so you can keep getting those high rankings and drive even more traffic to your site.
