Note: This on-page SEO video tutorial is shown using Drupal's Content Management System (CMS). While the elements are the same for WordPress' CMS, we opted to use Drupal's CMS for this tutorial because it's easier to show the process. The same on-page SEO steps apply to WordPress, it's just not as linear as Drupal's CMS.
Watch the on-page SEO video tutorial on YouTube here, or by clicking the screenshot below. Or, read through the instructions below the screenshot.
Contact us to learn how we can help with your SEO.
Here's the text for the on-page SEO video tutorial
We understand everyone wants their website to rank well on Google, but that doesn’t happen by chance. It takes time, effort and a working knowledge of Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. It happens when you have content on your website your audience wants to read, and good on-page SEO to match. We’ll walk you through that process using a blog on our website to show you how it works.
Every page of your site should focus on a product or service relevant to what you do or what you offer. Since one of the things we do is create websites for home builders, this blog is about what goes into a home builder website.
every page on your website should be built around it’s own keyword phrase. So not surprisingly, for this video we’re using the keyword phrase “home builder website.”
Incorporate the keyword into the Title of your blog.
Images help explain your content, help with SEO, and make your page more inviting to read, so we recommend adding them to your pages. You should always name images with the keyword phrase for that page, so this image we created is named “home_builder_website_illustration.”
The Alternate Text field is critical.
It helps sight-impaired people interpret images. There’s software that will speak this text when someone rolls their cursor over the image. While you might not have many sight-impaired folks visiting your site, if you want your website to play well with Google, this is important.
We also add WebP images because they’re über low resolution, which help webpages load more quickly. And load speed is a Google ranking factor. To learn how to create WebP images for your website, just Google that phrase.
Incorporate the keyword phrase into your text
Now when you write your copy, it’s important to incorporate the keyword phrase, in this case “home builder website,” into your text, but not more than 5 or 6 times in a 750 to 1,000-word blog. More than that, and Google might view it as “keyword stuffing,” and you can get pinged for that.
You also get bonus points for using the keyword phrase in a subhead, so be sure to use your keywords there as well.
Outbound links
Having outbound links that go to credible websites & links to other pages within your own website – if appropriate – are beneficial. So are additional images, to support your story, which should also be labeled with the same keywords. And don’t forget to end your blog to make it easy for your audience to get in touch with you.
Having a "focus keyword"
Another critical element of on-page SEO is the Real-time SEO section, which is a guide for your on-page SEO. The “Focus keyword” field is where you put. the keyword phrase being used for your blog, or any page in your website.
Page Titles and Meta Descriptions
The next area is the Snippet editor, where you customize the Page Titles and Meta Descriptions, because those are what show up in Google’s search result pages.
Every time you’re looking at a Google search results page, you’re looking at Page Titles and Meta Descriptions from websites. These results relate to people’s searches, explaining what your page is about. Well-written Page Titles and Meta Descriptions influence whether your prospects click them to go to your website, or someone else’s site, so you can see how important they are. Think about how you decide which links to click on Google’s search results.
So just how do you customize the Page Titles and Meta Descriptions on your website? Simple. Start by clicking the “Edit snippet” button. In the “SEO title” field, which is the Page Title, we can put in what the page is about using our keywords. You’re limited to 60 or so characters and spaces because that’s what Google shows on their search results page. Delete the default text and put in your own Page Title using the keyword phrase. The green bar lets you know when you’ve reached the character limit. Don’t let the bar turn red.
In the Meta description field, you’re allowed about 150 characters and spaces. Delete the default text and compose your Meta Description. This should be written as complete sentences, also using the keyword phrase. By using the keyword phrase in well-written Page Titles and Meta Descriptions, you increase the chances your prospects will click on them when they appear in their Google searches. Again, the green bar lets you know when you’re good, and if it turns red, you’ve reached the character limit.
The Content Analysis section tells you when you have good on-pag SEO
If you’ve followed all these steps, in the Content analysis section you should see most of the SEO dots are green. You don’t need all of them to be green, just enough to get a Good SEO rating for this page.
For extra bonus point, there’s one last thing you can do for one more green dot: modify the default page URL, which is the same as the “Slug” field we skipped over earlier. Scroll to the “URL Path Settings” area, click the link, then unclick the “Generate automatic URL alias” radio button.
By default, it’s the Title of your blog, but you can edit it to make it be the keyword phrase, like this. It is critical you follow the formatting that already exists in this field, with the slash and hyphens between words.
This gets you one more important green dot, and when the “Content analysis” section shows you have good SEO for your page, you’re done. Scroll down and be sure to click the “Save” button. If you forget to click Save, you’ll only forget it once, because having to re-do an entire page is not fun.
In conclusion
When you’re diligent about posting to your website regularly, and using the correct keywords that have been carefully researched, you increase the chances of your website showing up in Google.
As a final note, never guess at what keywords your audiences are using to find your services or products. That’s living dangerously, because if you guess wrong, you’ll be wasting your SEO efforts. Always have a reliable SEO person do your keyword research using the tools they have available to them.
