If you are planning to build a website for your business, you need to understand a few basics- whether you are doing it yourself or hiring a team of website designers, developers, and content writers for the job- it does not matter. One of these basics is indeed SEO.
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a set of practices used to make your website more eye-catching and accessible to as many people as possible through a search engine like Google. It has two components- on-page SEO and off-page SEO. Each of these components includes different elements that are critical to the success of your website.
To begin with, your website, which on-page SEO element should you be more concerned about?
Different SEO practitioners will have different answers to this question. This is because they might have applied a certain strategy and found it to be working. So, there cannot be a fixed “top SEO element” with the highest weightage. Let us find out the most important on-page elements and why they matter in SEO.
Keyword Search Intent
Keyword intent is undoubtedly the most important concept in keyword research. It helps you better meet users’ needs and tailor your content and landing pages to their intent. Keyword analysis by intent is the first step in diagnosing conversion issues related to search referrals.
Why does it matter?
The more specific your content is, to different search intents, the more users you can reach during different stages of the funnel. From those who are yet to discover your brand online to those who you want to convert- you can increase your chances of reaching them all by focusing your efforts on the appropriate search intent.
Improves Your Ranking: Since Google’s primary ranking factors are relevance, authority, and user satisfaction, it’s easy to connect the dots and see how improving your keyword targeting to reflect search intent can improve your overall rankings.
Relevance: This has to do with the behaviour of your users. If they find the information they’re looking for on your website, they’re less likely to return to Google within seconds and search for another result (pogo-sticking). You’ll notice a difference in KPIs like click-through rate and bounce rate if your content is relevant to search intent.
Authority: even though a website’s authority is largely related to backlinks, it’s also important to develop a strong internal linking strategy that signals to Google, “I’ve lots of content that cover all angles and intent on this topic” to rank well. In addition, you can increase your brand’s authority and visibility by creating valuable content on topics your brand is well versed in and covering different aspects.
User satisfaction: Does the content you provide value, and is it relevant to your audience? End of story.
Types of keyword search intent:
Informational intent: as you may have guessed, search queries with informational intent come from users looking for information!
This can be in the form of a how-to guide, a recipe, or a definition. This is one of the most common search intentions, as users can be looking for answers to an infinite number of questions.
“How to shine shoes.”
Navigational intent: these searchers want to navigate to a specific website, and it’s often easier to do a quick search in Google than to type in the URL. The user might also not know the exact URL or be looking for a specific page, such as a login page. Therefore, these searches are usually brand or website names and may include additional details to help users find a specific page. For example
“vans shoes”
Commercial intent: before users are ready to make a purchase, they start their commercial research. This is when they use search to further investigate products, brands, or services. They have moved past the information phase of their research and narrowed their focus to a few options. Users often compare products and brands here to find the best fit for them.
Searchers who want to learn about products, services, or brands. They usually intend to take action or make a purchase at some point in the future. For example
“Best shoes for running”
Transactional intent: transactional searchers have the intent to make a purchase. This could be a product, a service, or a subscription. In either case, they have a good idea of what they’re looking for. Since the user is already in purchase mode, these terms are usually branded. Users are no longer researching the product; they’re looking for a place to buy it. For example
“Buy shoes online.”
How to determine search intent
- Consider keyword modifiers
As we briefly mentioned earlier, keyword modifiers can be helpful indicators of search intent. But it’s not enough to just know the terms. When doing keyword research, you may also wonder how to find these terms.
Fortunately, there are several reliable keyword research tools you can use. Their filtering features are especially useful here, as you can filter terms that contain certain modifiers or phrases.
Also, you can filter keywords by the SERP function. For example, you can filter for keywords that rank in knowledge forums, related questions, and featured snippets.
- Read the SERPs
Another way to determine search intent is to research the SERPs. Type the search term you’re targeting into the search bar and see what Google shows you. Based on the type of results, you can probably tell what Google considers the most relevant search intent for each term.
Other important on-page SEO elements
Meta descriptions
A meta description is the HTML element of a web page that explains and summarises the content of your web page. It makes it easy for internet users and search engines to understand what the page is about.
Placement of Keywords
A keyword is an idea or theme that defines what your content is about. In the context of SEO, a keyword is a word or phrase that an internet user types into a search engine. These words are important because they act as a link between what someone is looking for and the content you provide to satisfy that need.
Title tag
On-page SEO has several ranking factors that you need to optimise to get the results you want. However, it has been shown that the title tag is the most effective element for on-page SEO. That is, if you want to improve your website’s ranking in search results and make it competitive, you need to know how to optimise your title tags.
What is a title tag?
A title tag is an HTML element used to specify the title of any web page. It’s the clickable heading that is displayed on the search engine results page (SERP) when you search for information on the web. A title tag is very important for a website’s search engine optimization, usability, and social media sharing. Therefore, it must contain an accurate and brief description of the content of the particular web page.
Basically, a title tag helps search engines understand what a web page is about. It’s also the first impression visitors have of your website. Here are three important reasons why a title tag is most important for on-page SEO:
Shows up on the Search Engine Result Page
A title tag determines the title that appears on the search engine results page (SERP) and is the first thing visitors to your website see. This means that if the title tag isn’t impressive or relevant, visitors won’t click on it to visit your website. This will hurt your website’s ranking. So, when you create a title tag, make sure that it grabs the attention of your target audience and makes them open the page.
Visible on the web browser
A title tag acts as a placeholder as it appears at the top of the web browser. This helps your target audience understand the content of your website, especially those who open many browser tabs at once. Therefore, you need to make sure that your target audience doesn’t lose track of your website and its content by making your title tag unique and identifiable with the relevant keywords at the top.
The first thing to be visible during social sharing
When someone shares your website on social media, the title tag will show up. So if you want social media users to be enticed to click on the link to your website, you need to make the title tag interesting. When it comes to writing a good title tag, there are some important guidelines you need to follow. For example, you need to make it unique, put important keywords at the beginning, and make sure it’s no longer than 60 characters.
A word of advice
Creating SEO-optimised content for specific search intents is simple but not easy. Follow these guidelines, and you’ll be well on your way to giving users the content they need in the format that they want.
