SEO or Search Engine Optimization involves a process of using targeted keywords to optimize a website in popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing. If done right, it will boost your website’s traffic and ranking in Search Engine Results Pages.
There are two categories in effective and progressive advertising approach:
1. On-page SEO
2. Off-page SEO
These two methods are tremendously vital to achieve success. However you need to take note that these two are dissimilar.
Their Definition, Elements & Its Attributes
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO optimizes the code elements that are being ‘seen’ by the search engines so that your page can be understood. Below are its essential elements:
CONTENT – It’s not just any content; it has to have the following attributes:
- High or good-quality content is produced that is relevant.
- It is well-researched and does not contain non-sense details.
- The total number of words is not too short; it’s well-written, uses correct grammar and spelling.
- People or site visitors are engaged and interested to read on because the content is helpful and appropriate to what they are looking for.
- It’s always fresh and not duplicated or scrapped.
HTML – these are its important attributes:
- The Meta Title can be seen in a title bar of a browser or the tab of a page, and it defines the title of the site.
- The Meta Description contains about 155 characters maximum; it summarizes the content of a page. This is crucial in optimization since search engines show this part in search results.
- Header tag or also known as htag is generally the title of the post or other text on the page that’s emphasized. H1 typically the largest and most obvious text. Other header tags include H2 – H6.
- Alt tag means an alt attribute on image to provide a text alternative for search engines.
SYSTEM – the known attributes are the following:
- Crawling is the method wherein the crawler/spiders/bots of search engines scans a site and then collects information on every image, titles, keywords and pages that are linked, etc.
- The recommended page load time is under 3 seconds. However, there is a standard loading time on the industry that you belong to as well as the location.
- A short URL with keywords can enhance a website’s search visibility.
- Indexing is a method wherein web pages are submitted to the search engine such as Google. Your pages will be crawled and indexed by Google.
CSS – it is Cascading Style Sheets, it’s the website’s skin. Its attributes are:
- When a search engine has understood the layout of the web page and can identify its most important part, the search engine could focus more on that certain part of the page whenever they index the content from that page.
- Bold or strong tags have positive impact on the rankings of a web page.
- Em tags: <em> is SEO version of <i> tag or italic text.
BLACK HAT (not recommended) – its characteristics are the following:
- Cloaking is used to deceive search engines, displaying a page when it would not otherwise be shown.
- Paid links consists if anything that has been paid for, it can be an image, a link, an ad or a text.
- Spam comments are unwanted and unsolicited comments on the pages just to be able to create backlinks for free.
- Keyword stuffing overfilling the Meta description and content of a website with all the keywords or phrase they can think of.
Off-Page SEO
The ranking is boosted in search engines through the perceived value it has in the community. This value is being passed on to other websites by way of linking, sharing or having your page being referred to. Let’s get to know its essential elements below:
LINKS – link building is known to be the most effective and popular element, here are its attributes:
- If a certain page has high-quality backlinks, it will be able to rank better than those that have fewer backlinks.
- Anchor text refers to clickable words that are being used to link a certain web page to another.
- A high inbound links that point to a specific page on your website will signal Google the importance of that page as long as it’s naturally done and not in a “spammy” way.
TRUST – below are the characteristics:
- A high authority page has more value than a page with only low authority.
- History and Age of the Domain.
- SSL or Secure Sockets Layer, this security technology helps in enhancing a site’s visibility, security and trustworthiness.
PERSONAL – it contains information about you and your business. Here are its attributes:
- Country is the place of your origin.
- Locality is one of your main target markets and the information you provide is consistent, especially in the different directories.
- History of your business, how you started and other important events.
- Social is your profile in different social media platforms. Having an account is good for your exposure, and you can gain new clients at the same time. This is also another way for you to advertise.
SOCIAL – below are also its important attributes:
- You need to have a well-established reputation. Positive comment from others is good for your reputation.
- Shares and likes in your social media platforms and content from your web pages can have a positive impact on your rankings.
- Links may be built in different ways through guest blogging, images, videos, etc. Interaction online is a great way to boost your social element in off-page SEO.
BLOCKING (negative outcome) – here are its aspects:
- Blocked by visitors, this happens whenever an unsolicited or unwanted commenting is done.
- Being blacklisted in different social media sites, groups, forum, etc. is the worst thing that could happen and this can affect your off-page SEO status.
What Is The Difference Between These Two?
On-page SEO is targeting the search term through keyword research, creation of pages and tweaking your contents positively for good results. Here, you can fully control all your optimization efforts but off-page SEO is very different. This is focused more on promotion through social media, blogging, link building and other off-page techniques to boost visibility and build awareness at the same time. The community has more control in this method. Let’s differentiate their process.
With on-page optimization, the webmaster should be aware on what they need to do to generate more traffic before making a new post or optimizing the website. It has to undergo evaluation and must constantly be reviewed to maintain or improve the ranking position in Search Engine Results Pages. The role of keywords is vital since these are terms that will be used by a searcher online. There are different factors that can affect the user-experience of a website. Here are the main factors that you need to know under on-page SEO:
- Page Title
- Headings
- Images and Videos
- Meta tag and Meta description
- Internal and external links are optimized
- Structure of URL
- Information of domain
- Page speed
- Navigation is user-friendly
- Content is fresh and of high quality
Off-page optimization, on the other hand, is all the processes that can be taken outside of your actual site to improve your rankings in search engines. And these measures contribute in creating lots of high quality backlinks as much as possible. These are the following strategies that you can do in off-page SEO:
- Link building
- Syndication network
- Submission of business and classified listings
- PR submission
- Submission of articles
- Social bookmarking
Which One Should You Choose? On-Page Or Off-Page SEO?
As you can see, both methods actually work together perfectly in improving your site’s ranking. It is highly recommended to focus first on applying on-page SEO techniques before directly putting your hands on the measures that can be done outside your website (off-page SEO).
You need to establish a good foundation and ensure that it is regularly maintained before stepping out of your website.
