SECTOR INSIGHT
Understanding the basics of on page SEO by Search Engine Wizard
Search engine optimisation ( SEO ) is by far the most important aspect of advertising for locksmiths . We all know that Google is the first place a customer is probably going to look to find our services . I ’ m Ben Gatenby and I started my journey as a locksmith 20 years ago . Back then the Yellow Pages book was probably the best form of advertising . After being in the Yellow Pages for a few years I realised that no matter what I did with my adverts , Yellow Pages would always favour the national companies for the number one spot .
» I QUICKLY FIGURED OUT GOOGLE was the new place to be . The problem was I didn ’ t have the money to spend on SEO , so I decided to teach myself . For over 15 years I ’ ve kept up with the ever evolving world of SEO and eventually decided to turn this into a proper business doing SEO for other locksmiths .
SEO changes constantly due to Google algorithm updates , the on-page tips I ’ m sharing with you are the best practices at the time of writing .
What is On-Page SEO ?
On-page SEO is the practice of optimising the content within your web pages . SEO consists of two main categories ; on page and off page . On page SEO is the first place to start for beginners . If you can edit your own website and its pages , then you can implement on page SEO yourself . The main on page SEO factors are , page content , title tags , media , header tags and meta descriptions .
The Importance of On-Page SEO Good on page SEO helps search engines figure out what your content is about . This allows them to rank your site accordingly in response to a relevant search query . It also improves the user experience ; this is one of the most important ranking factors Google is looking for . Although Google doesn ’ t disclose many of the 200 plus ranking factors , it does however tell you that user experience ( UX ) is a very important signal . If Google discloses any ranking factors it means they are very important ! If you think about it logically , Google wants to remain the number one search engine . In order to do this it has to return quality results to users queries . If they were to show low quality pages at the top of the results this would drastically impact the user experience .
Key Elements of On-Page SEO
High-Quality Content
Content is the number one factor of on-page SEO . Content must be high quality , topic relevant , and engaging . High quality content can significantly boost your search engine rankings . Here are some tips for creating excellent content …
Content Relevance The content of the page should reflect the target keyword . Usually , it ’ s not possible to target all the desired key words with a single page , ie . the homepage . You should consider building separate pages to match the desired keywords . Ideally these pages should be named after the keyword you are targeting . Let ’ s say your target keyword is “ upvc door repairs ”. The page you create should be something like www . example . com / upvc-doorrepairs
Originality
All of your websites content should be original and human written . As tempting as it may be to copy text from somebody else ’ s website , this is easily spotted by Google . It can detect duplicate content very easily and it can work out which site uploaded that content first . Creating duplicate content will almost certainly get you a Google penalty . Some penalties will stop your site showing in the results for the rest of time ! Trust me it ’ s not worth it . The same goes for AI content . With the recent influx of AI large language models ( LLMs ), content creators thought this was the answer to all our prayers . No more need to spend hours creating content . This was quickly stamped out by Google . It now has the ability to detect AI content and demote it in the search results .
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JUNE 2024
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