WordPress is super convenient and SEO friendly. No wonder so many website builders choose it for business and sales:
Understanding the importance of proper optimization to get higher rankings, traffic, and conversions, they want to organize the content in the best possible way.
Two problems:
Most WordPress SEO guides are too technical to master quickly.
Google changes algorithms so frequently (500-600 times a year phone number list , with a record 4,500 times in 2020!) that we can't keep up with all the updates to optimize everything according to the new rules.
Anything you can do here?
Stick to the proven and consistent on-page factors that Google uses to “read” your content and rank it accordingly.
In this article, you will learn the basics behind on-page SEO in 2023 and the seven hidden SEO tactics to optimize your WordPress content and rank higher.
First things first:
What is On-Page SEO?
On-Page SEO is a series of practices to optimize the content of your web page for search engines and users. With technical and off-page SEO, you influence your website's visibility, ranking, and traffic.
While technical and off-page SEO involves optimizing the entire website and the signals that occur outside of it (backlinks or brand mentions), on-page SEO tactics focus on individual pages, not the entire website.
You know the common on-page SEO practice, right? It involves optimizing title tags, URLs, internal links, and content for a particular keyword. They all work, but:
Everyone optimizes their pages this way, while only a few appear in the SERPs.
You can go beyond those standard practices to make a page rank higher . You need some advanced (hidden) on-page SEO tricks that will help you take your content to the next level. In 2023, content optimization is not just about keywords, but also about user experience, search intent, bounce rate/dwell time, and CTR.
Below are practices that will help you optimize your page content accordingly.
7 On-Page SEO Tricks to Boost Your Content
Increase your website's visibility, ranking, and organic traffic with the following on-page SEO practices:
1: Choose a suitable target keyword
How do you choose a target keyword for a particular page?
Most go for free or paid keyword tools and check a keyword's search volume, potential traffic, and keyword difficulty - all of which are critical factors that influence the decision. But there's another factor to consider if you want your page to engage and deliver better results:
Search intent.
Search intent is the reason behind a user's query, i.e. what they expect to see in your content after typing a search term.
Did you search for research on the topic or did you want to compare products and buy something?
When your content satisfies users’ search intent, they will stay on the page longer and engage with it. It will influence behavioral factors (dwell time and bounce rate) and tell Google whether your page is relevant to the given search term, is valuable enough, and deserves a higher ranking.
What are the types of search intent?
Informative. A user comes to search for and read information about something: Words like “what”, “how”, “ways”, “tips” etc. in keywords and content titles are indicators of such intent.
Navigational. A user searches for a specific page by typing brand or author names into Google Search.
Commercial. A user turns to search engines to research before making a purchase. Words like "Top" or "best" are indicators of commercial intent.
Transactional. A user comes to buy something. Words like "buy", "sign up", "download" etc. reveal such intent.
Depending on the search intent behind your target keyword, it is critical to write and optimize your content accordingly. The easiest way to understand intent is to type your target keyword into Google and look at the SERP results:
Check word indicators
See what types of content are prevalent and structure your page accordingly – is it a “what” type of content asset, a list, a how-to article, or something else?
Consider the “People Also Ask” section: What types of content do you see there?
2 - Target your target keyword like a boss
Keyword frequency and proper placement are endless debates among SEO specialists. Some insist on placing a target keyword in titles and once throughout the text to avoid overuse, while others aren't afraid to use it as often as possible.
Here's the truth:
It's okay to place your keyword a few times throughout your content so that Google understands that your page is actually about that topic .
What are those few moments? Where to place a target keyword to satisfy Google, avoid keyword stuffing, and leverage your SEO to grow ?
URL (also, make it short to rank higher and get more clicks).
SEO Title and Description
H1
Within the first 100 words of your text (Google gives more importance to terms located at the top of the page).
Once in H2 or H3
In the last paragraph of your text.
