00:00:00.000Search engines like Googleare growing more sophisticated every day,
00:00:03.310and you may be wondering, areon-page SEO techniques still relevant?
00:00:07.600The answer is yes, but not all.
00:00:10.640Some techniques still work,and they help search engines
00:00:13.200understand your content quicker.
00:00:14.680So if you want your pagesto rank higher, let’s discover
00:00:17.710the SEO techniques that still work.
00:00:20.120Let’s go.
00:00:22.960Hey, it’s Jack from Rank Math, the OneTool, that provides easy to use SEO and
00:00:27.560AI tools, and this channel provides youwith tips, tricks, and tutorials
00:00:30.920to help you grow your search traffic.
00:00:32.270So if you’re new to us, subscribe.
00:00:34.630Now, there are on-page and off-page SEO.
00:00:37.200On-page is all about optimizing the pagefor search intent, and it helps search
00:00:41.190engines understand the content better.
00:00:43.120While off-page is meant to helpthe popularity of that page.
00:00:46.920If you have Rank Math installedon your WordPress site, you don’t
00:00:49.750have to worry about on-page optimizationbecause most of it has been taken care
00:00:54.470of automatically and behind the scenes.
00:00:56.640And for things you need to optimize, wehave many SEO checks that will guide you
00:01:01.230towards the right direction.
00:01:02.850If you want to learn about eachof the SEO checks in detail,
00:01:05.800you can check out this video right here.
00:01:07.590The link is in the description.
00:01:09.360But this video highlightsthe important techniques that are not
00:01:12.920covered in the other video.
00:01:14.120So let’s check out the first.
00:01:17.160Optimizing for internal linksis one of the most important
00:01:20.480on-page SEO techniques you should employ.
00:01:22.360The way search engines assess the qualityof a site is if you’re writing one piece
00:01:26.510of article, are there any othersupporting pieces of content on the same
00:01:30.710site that can help support and add depthto that one piece of article.
00:01:34.640It is the same way search enginerobots crawl your sites.
00:01:37.680They crawl from one page and theyvisit the pages linked to that page
00:01:41.600and crawl them, and it goes on and on.
00:01:44.110The more depth you provide to a topic,the higher the quality of your entire
00:01:48.270site in the eyes of the search engine.
00:01:50.310In one of our SEO checks,we check if you have added at least
00:01:53.790one internal link in your article.
00:01:55.760Take note that this SEO checkis synced with our Content AI analysis.
00:02:00.000For example, this is our Content AIresearch tool, and we are writing
00:02:03.630a piece of article aboutthe benefits of exercising.
00:02:06.840Hit research, and Content AIwill scrape and analyze all the articles
00:02:11.400that are ranking for this keywordand will provide you with
00:02:14.520smart suggestions to optimize your page.
00:02:16.920Over here, it is suggestingthat we should have eight internal links.
00:02:20.960Now, if Content AI does notrecommend any internal links here, which
00:02:24.750is rarely the case, but if that happens,then this SEO check here will be hidden.
00:02:29.680Another thing I wantto talk about is the optimization
00:02:31.950of the anchor text of the internal links.
00:02:34.680Do not overuse the same anchor textfor several articles.
00:02:38.240If you’re not familiar withanchor text, it is just the text
00:02:41.430that describes what peoplecan expect when they click on the link.
00:02:44.750For example, this article about on-pageSEO has a link to a page about SEO tips
00:02:50.400and uses the anchor text as SEO.
00:02:52.880Then in the next articleabout technical SEO, you are adding
00:02:56.630a link to a page about SEO mistakes.
00:02:59.040Using the same anchor text, SEO.
00:03:01.680Then when you write another articleabout SEO ranking factors, you link to
00:03:06.230another page about SEO checklistwith the same anchor text, SEO.
00:03:10.840If you are the search engineand you visited this site,
00:03:13.720you’ll be confused as well, right?
00:03:15.520It is using SEO as an anchor text,and it describes these three pages.
00:03:20.160There could be more.
00:03:21.440So as a search engine, how do Igive weight and importance
00:03:24.870when talking about SEO?
00:03:26.560So if you do this, you are losingthe opportunity to help search engines
00:03:30.110understand what keywordsare important to what pages.
00:03:33.840So it will be prudent tohave a clear description,
00:03:36.680hopefully a rankable keyword,when describing the link to a page.
00:03:40.360So when talking about SEO mistakes,you will use that anchor text
00:03:44.080on all other pages and itlinks to the SEO Mistakes page.
00:03:47.880Search engines will know this pageis important when we are
00:03:50.870talking about SEO mistakes.
00:03:52.520And when we talk about SEOtips, then this page is important.
00:03:56.560Hope you find the SEO technique useful,and how about a thumbs up for the video.
00:04:00.240Anyway, if you want to understand moreabout how each page of your website
00:04:03.680helps each other on your overallSEO, you should check out this video that
00:04:07.640talks about silo structure, as well asthis video that talks about content hubs.
00:04:11.600We have left links to these videosin the description.
00:04:15.800Writing a piece of an articlefor your website is very similar to the
00:04:18.750contents of a book, or if you have everwritten a project report in high school,
00:04:22.950college, or university, the structureof the content is very similar.
00:04:26.710Think of your content as follows.
00:04:28.680The title of your articleis like the tree trunk.
00:04:31.240It is the main part that holds everythingtogether and sets the foundation
00:04:35.280for the rest of the content.
00:04:36.640The H1 heading tagrepresents the tree trunk.
00:04:39.880It is important to use only oneH1 tag per page to clearly
00:04:44.070define what the page is about.
00:04:45.880This helps both the page visitorsand search engines understand
00:04:49.390the main focus of your content.
00:04:51.320For example, the main topiccould be the benefits of exercising.
00:04:55.320Then the H2 tags are likethe main branches of the tree.
00:04:58.520These tags represent primary sectionsthat grow out of the main topic.
00:05:02.840For example, since the main topicis about the benefits of exercising,
00:05:06.720you could have H2 tags withphysical health benefits, mental health
00:05:10.910benefits, and how to start exercising.
00:05:13.600These main sections break down yourcontent into more specific areas, making
00:05:18.150it easier to navigate and understand.
00:05:20.160They not only help organize your articleand provide a clear structure,
00:05:23.920but they make it easier foryour page visitors to scan your page.
00:05:27.480And then the H3 heading tagsare like the smaller branches.
00:05:31.000These subsections provide more detailedinformation under each main section.
00:05:35.520In this example, H3 tagsunder the physical health benefits can be
00:05:39.910improve heart health, boost immunity,enhance muscle strength, and others.
00:05:44.720And then the hierarchy goes on.
00:05:46.720The H4, H5, and H6 heading tagsacts as the leaves and tweaks
00:05:51.310of your content tree.
00:05:52.520If you can break down furtheron the benefits of improving heart
00:05:55.510health, you would use H4.
00:05:57.480Breaking it down further, you would useH5, and then up to the H6 heading tag.
00:06:02.440If you are writing a blog poston a WordPress editor, by default,
00:06:06.270the title of the page willbe embedded with the H1 heading tag.
00:06:09.440And throughout the page, there should notbe another H1 heading tag.
00:06:13.320So following the previous example,the title of the H1 heading tag
00:06:17.080will be benefits of exercising.
00:06:19.160You could include a number in frontof the title when you decide on
00:06:22.350the exact number of benefits.
00:06:23.960Then you can have a short introductionhere and then break it
00:06:27.350up with H2 heading tag.
00:06:28.880You will add a new text blog,type out the text such as physical health
00:06:32.510benefits, mental health benefits,and how to start exercising, and make
00:06:37.110each of the text here a H2 heading.
00:06:39.240We click on this, and then this,transform it to a heading,
00:06:43.440and by default, this is a H2 heading.
00:06:45.560The same goes for this, and here we go.
00:06:48.560Now we have three H2 headings.
00:06:50.760And then you could describeeach of the H2 headings.
00:06:53.680And then if you want to break down a H2heading further, like for physical health
00:06:57.590benefits, we could have improveheart health, boost immunity,
00:07:01.840and enhances muscle strength.
00:07:04.040We’ll make this into a H3 heading.
00:07:06.390The same goes for this as well as this.
00:07:13.480Normally, when you write an article, youwould try to create the structure of the
00:07:16.990content before focusing on the details.
00:07:19.400If you want to see the overall structureand hierarchy of your page, you can
00:07:23.000leverage on the WordPress outline toolby clicking on this.
00:07:25.880Click on the outline, and nowyou will see the hierarchy of the page.
00:07:29.560Never skip the hierarchy.
00:07:31.360You shouldn’t have a H4heading tag without a H3.
00:07:34.720For example, you shouldn’tadd a H4 heading tag within the H2
00:07:38.760if there is no presence of a H3.Like this.
00:07:42.480You see, WordPress also prompts youthat this is an incorrect heading level.
00:07:46.920So following the heading hierarchyis a good SEO practice because that’s how
00:07:51.430search engines will interpret your page.
00:07:53.560Now, if you have troubles coming up witha content structure of your own, or if
00:07:57.140you want to quickly have an SEO-optimizedcontent structure, You can always
00:08:00.870leverage on our AI to do that for you.
00:08:03.000You can either hit double slashes,search for blog, and you will see the
00:08:07.350blog post outline tool here.
00:08:08.800Or you can click on the content AI moduleright at the top, click on the third
00:08:13.430icon, and the tool is right here.
00:08:15.880Add your topic, benefits of exercising.
00:08:18.560This is a required field.
00:08:20.120Mark with this asterisk.
00:08:21.600The rest are not.
00:08:22.720Then you want to includeany main points and ideas you have.
00:08:25.720If not, leave it empty.
00:08:27.320Decide on the audience.
00:08:28.840Add a focus keyword.
00:08:30.070Select your tone if you have a preference.
00:08:32.559Choose a style.
00:08:33.640This will be a listicle.
00:08:35.240Then choose a language.
00:08:36.679There are many languagesyou can choose from.
00:08:38.309Select the number of outputsto generate and hit Generate.
00:08:42.679In just seconds, you willhave a content structure
00:08:45.150you can insert to your content area.
00:08:47.040As you can see, it adds more depthto what we have discussed earlier.
00:08:50.520Click Insert and it willbe added to the content area.
00:08:53.920Remove the H1 heading, and here you go.
00:08:57.520You will have a content structurethat is optimized with heading tags.
00:09:00.920So proper use of heading tagtells search engines what
00:09:04.500each section of your page is about.
00:09:06.280It helps page visitorsfind the information faster,
00:09:09.080and as a result, better user experience,and in return, higher chance of ranking.
00:09:15.640All right.
00:09:16.120If you already have an establishedwebsite, we do not recommend changing
00:09:20.030the URL or its structure, evenif it doesn’t follow our recommendations.
00:09:23.960Let me repeat, becausethis is so important.
00:09:26.320If your website is alreadyestablished and your content
00:09:29.110is ranking on the search engines,do not change the URL structure because
00:09:34.070restructuring URLs, if not done properly,might have a severe impact on your site.
00:09:39.160However, if your site is relatively newand it is not getting much or any
00:09:42.630search engine traffic, then by all means,you should future proof your URLs.
00:09:46.590On your WordPress site, to change the URLstructure, you would hover over settings
00:09:51.600and select permalinks.
00:09:53.280By default for most WordPressinstallations, for some reason,
00:09:56.760the day and name option will be selected.
00:09:58.680But our recommendation to future proofyour URLs to accommodate growth without
00:10:03.350needing significant overhaul is to useeither the postname option that uses
00:10:07.710the page title as your URL slug,or in other words, the back of your URL,
00:10:11.670or use a custom structure that includesthe category and the postname.
00:10:15.960Having the postname in the URL is favoredby the search engines because it gives
00:10:20.510context as to what the page is about.
00:10:22.760This on-page technique isin one of our SEO checks.
00:10:26.280If we click on the Rank Math tab,scroll down, you will see that we check for
00:10:30.190the focus keyword in the URL.
00:10:31.920And if you click on Edit Snippet,we recommend that the URL length
00:10:35.600that includes your domain nameshould not be longer than 75 characters.
00:10:39.840But anyway, between the custom structureand the postname structure, I personally
00:10:44.710prefer the postname option because it isshort and sweet and easily manageable.
00:10:49.280So let’s save changes.
00:10:51.040Earlier on the post,the URL is with numbers.
00:10:54.360So let’s save draftand then refresh the page.
00:10:58.240Back to the Rank Math taband edit snippets.
00:11:01.040Now the URL slug is followingthe title of the page.
00:11:04.560Now we want to avoid having numbers, date,or other unnecessary parameters like
00:11:09.870the time, minute, seconds, post ID, etc.
00:11:13.840It’s because it is hard for people toremember and the URLs can get very long.
00:11:18.200And if you have date and time in the URL,the question is, what if you have updated
00:11:22.510your page content, yet the dateand time in the URL stays outdated?
00:11:27.120It would confuse the users as well, right?
00:11:29.160So having numbers, dates,and any other unnecessary parameters
00:11:33.160makes it hard to manage the URLin the future when your site grows.
00:11:37.080There is no right or wrong answer,but it will be prudent to think ahead.
00:11:40.640It is like building a house with thepotential for future extensions in mind.
00:11:44.320Your URL structure is the SEO foundationfor all your posts and pages,
00:11:48.880and it needs room to grow.
00:11:51.960Okay, I’ve spent some time completingthis article with AI, and now let’s talk
00:11:56.790about optimizing your meta titleand description for on-page SEO.
00:12:00.360If you are interested in learning how towrite high-quality articles that search
00:12:03.800engines love with the help of AI, feelfree to check out this video right here.
00:12:07.400The link is in the description.
00:12:08.880All right, first things first.
00:12:10.200If we want our article to rank forthe keyword, benefits of exercising,
00:12:14.160that will be our main focuskeyword, and we should add it here.
00:12:17.560If you want to rank for other relatedkeywords, such as benefit for exercise,
00:12:21.720or can exercising improve physicalhealth, you can add that to this field.
00:12:26.280For Rank Math free users,you can add up to five keywords.
00:12:29.640But if you are a Rank Math prouser, you can add unlimited keywords
00:12:33.110by default.
00:12:34.000The main focus keyword will be markedwith the Star, or in other words,
00:12:37.320the first keyword in the group.
00:12:39.040If you want to change the main focuskeyword, you can just drag whatever
00:12:42.430keyword you want and bring it forward.
00:12:44.400Now this will be the main focus keyword.
00:12:46.480But that’s not what we want.
00:12:48.440All right, when it comes to meta titlesand descriptions, it is still an important
00:12:52.430on-page SEO technique because when youvisit the search engine,
00:12:55.640check out one of the search results,the most prominent element
00:12:58.630of it is the SEO meta title.
00:13:01.040As a searcher, if this titlecatches your eye, the next thing
00:13:04.760you will see is the meta description toget a glimpse of what the page is talking
00:13:08.520about and if it is what I’m looking for.
00:13:10.800And if it is, I will click throughto read the content.
00:13:13.520So optimizing your SEO meta titleand description is incredibly important
00:13:18.320because if it does not catchthe searcher’s eyes, if it is not enticing
00:13:21.560enough, and if it doesn’t seem like it iswhat the searcher is looking for,
00:13:25.000then no one will click through to readyour content no matter how great it is.
00:13:29.270To optimize for the meta titleand description of a page, on Rank Maths
00:13:33.110tab, click on Edit Snippet.
00:13:34.960This is where you can editthe meta title and description.
00:13:38.040By default, if you did notmatter with any of Rank Maths settings,
00:13:41.320these three variables will be addedto the meta title of all your posts.
00:13:45.120This title variable is taking informationfrom the page title,
00:13:48.880but feel free to make changes to it.
00:13:50.960As you can see, any changes to this fieldwill be reflected in the preview.
00:13:54.880Now, the best practice for meta titleis if you have the main focus keyword
00:13:58.910in it, which it does.
00:14:00.440And this is part of the SEOcheck right here.
00:14:03.440And if you discover the title readabilitychecks, on top of the main focus keyword
00:14:07.400at the beginning, it checks ifyou have a positive or negative
00:14:10.190sentiment, as well as a power word.
00:14:12.360There are certain words we look forfor each check, and if you click on
00:14:15.360this question mark beside each check,you will know what they are.
00:14:18.400And also it checks if you have a numberin your title because studies
00:14:21.910shows that meta titles with numberswill get a higher click-through rate.
00:14:25.800This checks for the SEO title,by the way, not the page title.
00:14:29.920And then, as you can see here,we recommend that your SEO title
00:14:33.360be not more than 60 characters.
00:14:35.640Currently, it exceeds, butthat’s fine because search engines
00:14:39.310care more about the pixel width.
00:14:40.960As long as your meta title does notgo beyond 580 pixels, it is good enough.
00:14:45.960Then for the meta description,if you did not matter with any settings,
00:14:49.680Rank Math will automaticallyadd a meta description for you.
00:14:53.000So at any one point in time, yourmeta description will not be left empty.
00:14:57.400Now, to best optimize the metadescription, you should think about
00:15:00.520what will get people to click.
00:15:02.040If your meta title is good enoughto capture the attention of searches,
00:15:05.560then it is the meta descriptionthat will get people to click through.
00:15:08.960Think about the main focus keywordyour page is trying to rank for.
00:15:12.200What is the search intent?
00:15:13.600If your meta description matchesthe search intent, it is highly likely
00:15:17.410that someone will click through.
00:15:19.040As you can see in our SEO checks,we check if your focus keyword
00:15:22.550is found in the meta description.
00:15:24.360And since the second paragraphcontain the main focus keyword, we will
00:15:28.160amend the meta description accordingly.
00:15:30.040Now, the best practice is to haveyour meta description below 920 pixels.
00:15:34.840So maybe we can amend this a little.
00:15:36.720Maybe remove this, remove thisas well, change this to a comma,
00:15:41.760and change this to and many more.
00:15:44.080So the intent hasn’t changed,and now the meta description
00:15:47.150fits nicely in the range.
00:15:48.720Now, in case you have troublescoming up with interesting meta titles
00:15:51.310and descriptions, fear not.
00:15:53.600You can ask Content AIto write it for you.
00:15:56.080You have 750 free creditsevery month anyway.
00:15:59.240If you want to learn to learn moreabout that, we have left
00:16:01.560a link in the description.
00:16:02.800But anyway, to generate meta titleand description, simply click
00:16:06.670on this Generate with AI buttonand Content AI will be put to work.
00:16:10.400If you like the generated output, clickon Insert and they will be added here.
00:16:14.760Now, meta titles and descriptionsare two of the meta text that run in
00:16:18.150the background of a page.
00:16:19.600If you want to learn more aboutthe things that are working
00:16:22.030behind the scenes that help your sitesbe visible on search engines,
00:16:25.440you can check out this video righthere, the link is in the description.
00:16:30.030Keyword placement is part ofthe foundation for SEO, even today.
00:16:34.200Those search engines today arequite advanced and they claim to be able
00:16:37.240to pick up the contacts and the keywordsyou are trying to rank for,
00:16:40.440we shouldn’t leave it to chance.
00:16:42.040We should do our part and optimizethe content so that we can clearly
00:16:45.490communicate the important thingswe want search engines to know.
00:16:48.640We have talked about havingyour focus keyword in the meta title
00:16:51.550and description as well as in the URL,but where else should we strategically
00:16:56.070place the main focus keyword?
00:16:57.790Other than adding the focus keywordin the SEO meta title in the URL
00:17:01.870and in the description, we should alsoadd the main focus keyword
00:17:05.359at the beginning of the content.
00:17:07.359With it, it reinforces tothe search engine what your post is about
00:17:11.440and also reassures the page visitorsthat they have visited the correct page.
00:17:15.560As you can see, this checkchecks the first 10% of the content
00:17:19.560to find the focus keyword.
00:17:21.319If they found it,then you will pass this test.
00:17:23.880For example, this content is 1,600 words long.
00:17:26.83910% of it means in the first 164the words, they should
00:17:31.150find the main focus keyword.
00:17:32.600It is as simple as that.
00:17:34.200Your content shouldn’t be below 300words, but if that is the case, then
00:17:38.550this SEO check will look forthe main focus keyword in all the words.
00:17:42.160Now, if you pass this SEOcheck, then naturally it will pass
00:17:45.360the next check as well, because as longas you are using the main focus keyword
00:17:49.070once in the article,you would have passed this check.
00:17:51.920Now, if we expand the additional SEOchecks, we will see that you
00:17:55.350should add the focus keywordin one of the H2, H3, or H4 heading tags.
00:17:59.760Well, the key is, if there is no reasonfor you to add the focus keyword in one
00:18:03.630of the heading tags,you should not force it.
00:18:06.040Google and other search enginesnowadays are sophisticated enough
00:18:09.310to understand your content.
00:18:10.960Then as for this, in oneof your images, you should have
00:18:14.470the focus keyword in your alt text.
00:18:16.320What we recommend is to add thefirst image with the main focus keyword
00:18:20.750in the alt text, like this.
00:18:23.000Once you have done that,you would have passed this test.
00:18:26.000We will talk more aboutimage alt text in a while.
00:18:28.440Adding the focus keyword strategic areaswill help search engines
00:18:32.030understand your page quicker.
00:18:33.920One thing for sure, the placementof the keywords in the content
00:18:37.800should flow naturally.
00:18:39.120They shouldn’t be forced.
00:18:40.400Don’t squeeze or staffkeywords in the content.
00:18:43.350We are not in the ’90s anymore.
00:18:45.040Search engines today are waysophisticated, and they will penalize you
00:18:48.880for trying to manipulate them.
00:18:50.040So beware of that.
00:18:53.040As you already know, havingthe main focus keyword in the alt text
00:18:56.270of an image is a good SEO practice,but you should also add alt text
00:19:00.200to all your images, even if they do notcontain any focus keywords.
00:19:04.110So every time you add an imageto your page, you should open up
00:19:07.430the image settings and add an alt texthere to describe what the image is about.
00:19:11.720There are two reasons for doing so.
00:19:13.590First, for visibly diversityimpaired individuals, they may use
00:19:17.080screen readers to consume your content,and the alt text will be read
00:19:20.510as the description of the image.
00:19:22.320Secondly, for page visitors who have poorinternet connection, sometimes the image
00:19:27.150may not load, and having an alt textfor the image helps the visitors
00:19:30.750understand what the image is about.
00:19:32.670Having an alt text forall your images is beneficial.
00:19:36.120If you have trouble coming up witha description for your images, feel free
00:19:39.830to click on this button hereand Content AI will analyze the image
00:19:43.280and write a description for you.
00:19:45.080Now, Rank Math do automaticallyhelp you add an alt text
00:19:47.750to your images using the file name.
00:19:49.750Now, if you want to writeit manually, don’t do it.
00:19:52.720Rank Math can help you filter outthose images without an image alt text,
00:19:56.080and it can generate the text inboundso you don’t need to open up
00:19:58.990every image and add it manually.
00:20:00.760If you want to learn how to do that, feelfree to check out this video right here.
00:20:03.640The link is in the description.
00:20:05.040Now, here’s one thingyou should avoid when optimizing
00:20:07.070your image alt text with focus keyword.
00:20:09.360Having the main focus keyword in one ofthe image alt text is practically enough.
00:20:13.720You don’t have to add the mainfocus keyword in all your images.
00:20:17.480For example, if this isthe featured image of the post,
00:20:19.960it contains the main focus keyword.
00:20:21.960Then if you check out the next image,it contains the focus keyword as well.
00:20:25.680Then the next image includes the focuskeyword, and every image on a page
00:20:30.400includes the focus keyword.
00:20:32.080Now, if you have only four imagesin one article, that is fine.
00:20:35.840You can have the focuskeyword in all the images.
00:20:38.520But what if you have 20 or 50 imagesin one page, adding the focus keyword
00:20:43.310in the alt text for all the images mayget you penalized for keyword stuffing.
00:20:47.680We recommend just having the focus keywordin one of the image alt text.
00:20:51.680Possibly the first image orthe featured image will be good enough.
00:20:55.280These are the basic on-pageSEO techniques that still work.
00:20:59.120If you are familiar With SEO, you mightbe wondering why we did not cover topics
00:21:02.870like mobile responsiveness, sitemaps, schema, page speed, and others.
00:21:07.400It is because we think they are rathertechnical, so we might cover them
00:21:10.950in another video, so hang tight.
00:21:12.880Anyway, we hope this videois helpful for you, and do help us
00:21:15.750out by smashing a thumbs up.
00:21:17.400And if you haven’t subscribed to us,we are all about helping you
00:21:20.430grow your search traffic.