OnPage optimization tutorial for beginners

In the field of SEO consulting, you always come across new questions - even if you've been working in the field for many years. Just recently, someone asked me whether successful SEO also reduces the click prices in Adwords. Which is not the case. Other questions are simpler and come up again and again: What is a Title or a Meta Description? Why are they important or unimportant? What is an h1 heading? How do I optimize these elements? The following article is dedicated to these topics, both as a reference for our customers and with the objective of providing beginners and non-specialists with an easy introduction to the topic of OnPage optimization.

1st Tutorial: What is OnPage Optimization?

Have you ever wondered what pattern search engines use to sort the hit lists on the Internet? Why some websites are at the top and others only appear pages later in the search results? Does this problem affect your own website? Can your customers possibly not find you at all? This is where OnPage optimization comes into play. This refers to methods of optimizing a website so that it appears high up in the search engine results lists. To understand how exactly this can be done, let's first take a brief look at how search engines work. Search engines scan websites for various factors such as text content, user-friendliness, loading speed, keywords and also the length of time users spend on a page. So, in order to improve one's ranking in the results, the structures of the website must be changed in such a way that they are evaluated as positively as possible by the search engines - and this is exactly what OnPage optimization is all about. What needs to be considered and optimized? Let's take a closer look at some important factors.

2. what are h1 and h2 headings?

Anyone who publishes a text online must pay attention to structure and clarity. We know how it is: We scan the headlines during the first skim and then ultimately read the article sections that seem relevant or interesting. If a headline is poorly designed or a text is unclear, this tends to put us off as readers. It is the same with the creation of web pages. Structure and clarity play a major role not only for users, but also for search engine optimization. This is where the h1 to h6 headings come into play. These are six different heading formats, which differ in rank and size. In general, h1 is the largest and h6 the smallest format. The headings are - invisible for the website visitor - marked accordingly in the HTML code of a website, so that Google and Bing know which heading has which meaning. Although there are six formats, in fact only the headings h1 to h3 are really relevant. Too many different headings make a text confusing and therefore the formats h4 to h6 are used rather rarely and thus have little influence on OnPage optimization.

The best way to illustrate the heading structure is to use a book as an example: Have you ever held a book in your hand where each chapter had a different heading format? Probably not. Usually there is one format for the book title - this would correspond to h1. A slightly smaller format is then chosen for the chapters, in our case h2. If there are also subchapters, these are marked in another, smaller format: the h3 heading. Only very rarely do we use the formats h4 to h6, e.g. for individual sections or letters/documents that are presented within the book.

2.1 Onpage optimization for beginners: How do I optimize the headlines?

First, let's talk about the H1 headline: it presents the main message of the website and should be used only once per subpage of a website (just like a book title). Why? For one thing, it sets itself apart from the rest of the text and thus stands out. It should also be meaningful in any case. For optimization purposes, keywords for which you want to rank on Google are also included if possible. It is important to make sure that the headline still makes sense and is not plastered with search words - we write primarily for the reader, not the search engine. In addition, it is generally good if the headline is rather short. Thus, the keyword for which you want to rank has more weight in the overall headline:

h1 Headline: Delicious tree cake recipe

If a nutrition blog wants good Google rankings for the topic Baumkuchen, this H1 headline is not bad. After all, the keyword "Baumkuchen" makes up 1/3 of the H1 headline.

h1 Headline: Baumkuchen recipe from grandma: The best in Germany

This headline is less good - at least at 1st glance. After all, the keyword "Baumkuchen" makes up only 1/8 of the H1 headline. On the other hand, this headline could rather animate people to read, and thus would have advantages again. It applies: Optimize, yes, but do not think only of Google! You want to convince the readers, not the search engine. A clever solution here might be:

h1 Headline: Grandma's best tree cake recipe

"Baumkuchen" makes up 1/4 of the H1 headline, and yet it still reads well. Now for the h2 heading. This is suitable for subtopics or individual sections. It can be used several times, as long as there is enough text between the headings. The same applies to the h3 heading, although this is used less frequently and for more subheadings. Also, similar to the h1 heading, these two formats can be optimized via keyword placement. Please note that this is a very rudimentary optimization and we will not go into details here.

3. onpage optimization basics: what is the "title tag"?

So if h1 is the most important heading on a web page, what is actually the Title? Often the main heading is considered the title, but as just explained, this is not the case. In fact, the Title is the text that appears at the top of the tabs (tabs) in the browser. It is also an important ranking factor in search engine optimization - not least, it finally appears prominently in Google search results and thus influences how often people click on your website via Google:

3.1 How to optimize the title tag?

The title tag is an extremely important OnPage factor, and should therefore contain the targeted topics or keywords for which you are optimizing. However, this alone is not enough. In order to arouse the interest of users, it should also contain a short and concise statement about the content of the web page in addition to the keywords. Therefore, h1 headline and title are often similar. Brevity is the key - not only because the statement is easier to remember, but also because the number of characters available for the title is limited. For Google, for example, a title with a maximum of 59 characters is ideal. An informative title not only has a positive effect on the search hit list, but also increases the click rate of the page by users.

Tutorial: What is the Meta Description?

The Meta Description goes hand in hand with the Title. This is a short description of the web page, which is displayed in search results below the title (black font in Google results). Since the meta description, just like the title, refers to the content of the page, it makes sense to make sure that they complement each other, but do not overlap. Unlike the h1 heading and the title, the meta description has no direct influence on the ranking.

4.1 How to optimize the meta description?

The SEO consultant you trust knows: While it has no direct influence on your Google ranking, the meta description is of even greater importance for improving the click-through rate, since a good description arouses the interest of users and leads to a visit to the page. Since the click-through rate can also influence the ranking, it therefore has an (indirect) effect on the ranking. Therefore: Use clever marketing wording to attract potential customers with only a few meaningful lines. Keep it short! The number of characters is limited and texts that are too long will be cut off. A good meta description should contain no more than 156 characters. If you leave the meta description blank, Google will make up its own from the content on your website.

5. what is a permanent / 301 redirect?

Permanent links (also called 301 redirect) are another important component of OnPage optimization. It may become necessary for websites to move to another domain for various reasons. But how do users find their way to the new address? This is where the 301 redirect comes into play. By setting up such a permanent redirect, search engines are informed that the page content can now be found at a different Internet address. In the index of the search engine, the data of the website is then updated. By the way, the redirect can be created for the entire website or only for certain subpages.

5.1 How do I use permanents / 301 redirects optimally?

But that's not all. If a website moves to a new domain, it loses its search engine ranking. This is because Google only ranks the old combination of domain and website content and external links to your website. If you switch the old content to a new domain, Google will miss the old domain and the external links that led to your website as indicators for a good ranking. However, if a 301 redirect is set up, (almost) all ranking attributes of the previous domain will also be transferred to the new domain. Thus, the optimization level already achieved is not affected and the website maintains its ranking (at 90-100%).

301 redirects are also useful in another respect: they can be used to avoid duplicate content on the Internet. Avoidable duplicate content has a negative impact on the ranking. It occurs quickly and sometimes unconsciously, for example during a domain transfer. In such a case, a 301 redirect ensures that the content of the old domain is permanently added to the new one and thus not classified as duplicate. Similarly, a subpage could be created twice in a content management system by mistake, or a product could be created several times in a store system. Such problems can also be solved quickly with 301 redirects, by simply redirecting one product to the identical one. Thus, your two exactly identical products do not compete in Google, and Google knows exactly which subpage of your store it should rank.

H Headings, Title, Meta Description, 301 Redirect - the list of methods used in OnPage optimization in the context of SEO Consulting is far from complete - from sitemaps to content and technical optimization, many core topics have not even been addressed here. However, the procedures presented here form a good basis for all those who want to learn more about OnPage optimization and improve their search engine ranking. Try it out - and become more visible!