- Content
By and far, the most important on-page factor for SEO is content. And not just any content—great content. Search engines are designed to work for the user, not the business. For a webpage to be indexable for a given keyword, it must have content that fulfills the user’s search query.
- Keywords
Keywords have been the lifeblood of the SEO industry since the very beginning and are still one of the most critical factors for SEO success today, which is why any attempt to optimize a webpage for search should begin with keyword research.
- Page title
Once you’ve chosen your keyword, you’ll want to make sure you include it throughout your webpage, especially in the page title. The page title is not the header. It’s what you see in search results and at the top of your browser window (see below).
- Meta description
The meta description is what you see below your page title in search results. This is where you describe the content of the page for users. The goal is to get them to click on your listing. Search engines will often grab excerpts from your content and use them for the meta description if you don’t have one in place or if your description doesn’t seem relevant to the search.
- Keyword density
Back in the early days of SEO, keyword density was all that mattered for SEO success. You could simply fill the page with your keyword of choice and top search rankings would follow. Obviously, search engine results suffered. Nowadays, broad keyword usage on a webpage is what matters most.
