The SEO measures are essentially divided into two groups: Onpage and Offpage SEO. Which of the two is more important? Or does only the mix of both promise increasing click-through rates? The experts of the online marketing agency, ONELINE, explain the difference and reveal which steps should be implemented first and which later.
Why SEO is important for every website
The Internet is growing daily – and exponentially. While there were 65 million pages in 2005, by 2021 there will already be 1.88 billion pages vying for users’ attention. Even though the number of users is also rising – the range of products and services on the Web is increasing rapidly. The best pages do not always attract the most visitors. The secret lies in search engine optimization. Because only those who appear on the first pages of Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ecosia generate noteworthy hits. In order for the ranking to be correct, a series of SEO optimizations must take place, both onpage and offpage. While onpage measures are implemented directly on the own site, offpage optimizations take place on external sites. Both have their justification!
Onpage SEO – this is how it really works!
The search engine algorithm is a difficult to understand cosmos of different requirements, which poses challenges even for successful online marketing agencies. One thing is indispensable: high-quality content. Only those who offer relevant content on their page can rank effectively at all. In addition to the content and important search terms, the title tags, meta description and a stringent structure are also important factors that ensure more traffic on the page. Onpage SEO aims to make a website as readable as possible for search engines and users.
The most important Onpage SEO factors:
- Content & Keywords
- Page structure & headlines
- Title Tag
- Meta Description
- Alt-Text
- Responsive Design
- Loading speed
These are explained in more detail below.
High quality content and relevant keywords
High-quality content is considered the number one success factor in search engine optimization. Keywords play an important role – only if the term searched for by the user appears frequently or in the right places, Google & Co can assign the page. Not only the number of keywords – in no case too few, but also not senselessly many – should be optimal, also the distribution is an important factor. Google can not only find the keyword, but also check and evaluate the context. So if you make it easy for yourself and include nonsensical or incoherent sentences just to accommodate the keyword in the text, you underestimate the Google algorithm and risk a weak playout in the search results. Relevance is the magic word – investing in high-quality texts is therefore worthwhile. Another aspect related to content is internal linking. Basically, internal links should always be used if they offer the user added value at this point.
Page structure and headings
A good structure makes it easier for search engines to understand the page. Talking headlines and sublines are effective measures, as are tables and bigpoints. One thing is certain: every page should have an H1 headline. But also subheadings (H2-H6) should not be forgotten. The targeted use of subheadings loosens up the text and improves the reading experience for users. The headings should be provided with the appropriate HTML tags – <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, <h5> and <h6>.
The more important the keyword, the more recommended it is to be mentioned in the H1 heading. The main keyword belongs in the main heading. Secondary keywords, on the other hand, may appear in the subheadings H2 to H6.
Title Tag
A title tag, also called “meta title” or “page title”, is an HTML tag that specifies the title of a web page and is usually displayed at the top of the browser window and on the search engine results page (SERP). It is an important factor for onpage SEO, as it helps search engines understand the content of the page and deliver relevant search results.
For example, the title of this article is “Onpage vs. Offpage SEO – Differences and Decisive Factors”, so the title tag for this page is “Onpage vs. Offpage SEO – Differences and Decisive Factors”.
A well-written title tag should contain a concise description of the page content and include relevant keywords. A clear and concise description of the content can encourage users to click on the page and help the page rank better in search results.
Meta Description
Meta descriptions, like title tags, are HTML tags that describe what the page is about. They are usually slightly longer than title tags and are located below the title tag on a SERP. Like the title tag, a meta description provides users and search engines with information about the content of the page in question. The Meta Description should therefore be concise and contain relevant keywords.
Alt text
An Alt Text is an attribute in HTML that contains descriptive text for an image or graphic on a web page. It is displayed when the image cannot be displayed for various reasons or when users with visual impairments access the page using a screen reader.
Alt text is an important factor for onpage SEO. Search engines cannot “see” images and therefore rely on the alt text to understand what the image is showing. A well-written alt text should include a brief and accurate description of the image or graphic and integrate relevant keywords to more accurately describe the content of the page.
Responsive Design
Search queries via mobile devices have long overtaken those via desktop computers, prompting Google to favor websites with a mobile-friendly design in the mobile search rankings. With the shift to mobile-first indexing, responsive design has become even more important.
If a website is not mobile-friendly, it can lead to a poor user experience. Which in turn can lead to higher bounce rates, lower engagement, and lower rankings in search engine results.
Mobile-friendliness evaluates how well a website works when visited from a mobile device. A mobile-optimized website has a responsive design that fits the screen of any device without cutting off content, ensuring that users can navigate without difficulty. Moreover, mobile-friendliness also takes into account the page loading speed.
To achieve a high ranking position and ensure a better user experience, it is essential to optimize a website for mobile devices.
Loading speed
Fast, faster, fastest: the higher the loading speed, the better! According to a study by Google, the likelihood of a page abandonment increases by 32% when the page load time increases from 1 to 3 seconds. Page owners can measure the time it takes their page to load. A number of tools exist on the web to assist with speed measurement.
If the website loads too slowly, valuable seconds can be gained via various technical onpage adjustments. Images, graphics and tables should be as small as possible. The file format plays a not insignificant role. With “webp” Google has developed a format that allows high-quality images at low loading time. Also the compression of CSS and Javascript files are conceivable optimizations.
Offpage SEO – use valuable recommendations and link
In offpage optimization, as many and relevant links as possible lead from external pages to one’s own website and thus provide more visibility and awareness. The placement of these links is in the hands of other site owners, so the art is in networking. If you actively approach related sites and ask for mutual support, you will reach your goal faster. The more subtle and therefore less promising method is to quietly go ahead and hope for imitation. In this case, links to external pages are included on one’s own website without proactively requesting a link in return. Both serve to attract new visitors to one’s own website. Also not insignificant: Google & Co evaluate recommendations and links positively.
The most important offpage SEO factors:
- Backlinks
- Google Company Profiles
- Social Media
- Rating portals
Backlinks
Quality before quantity! When it comes to backlinks, the professionals at ONELINE pay attention to strong links from strong sites. In fact, too many links coming from weak pages could even have a negative impact on the ranking of your own page. In contrast to this are the so-called authority pages, which have an extraordinary PageRank due to high-quality content. Links from these pages push your own page particularly effectively. The more related the thematic focus, the more valuable the backlinks are. It also depends on the target page: If external pages link to relevant subpages instead of the homepage, this brings advantages.
Google Business Profiles
The Google business profile, formerly Google MyBusiness, is a popular source of information for visitors and thus one of the most important offpage SEO factors. Opening announcements, contact details, geo-information via Google Maps – the Google business profile links directly to the website and transmits data to Google.
Social Media
Social media are great boosters for your own brand awareness. It is irrelevant whether it is the account of the site operator himself, blogs or influencers who link to the site. It is the click that counts. The higher the reach, the more effective the linking of the onpage optimization; here, more actually means more.
Rating platforms
Rating portals are gaining in popularity, after all they help users to orient themselves in the oversupply. Whoever succeeds in standing out positively through good content and quality of the contributions can generate more link kinks.
Onpage before offpage SEO – but best both!
A combination of onpage and offpage SEO is most effective in improving a website’s search engine ranking and performance. However, as an online marketing agency, we recommend prioritizing onpage SEO. These optimizations can be done directly on the website and are therefore faster to implement. Offpage measures, however, should in no way be neglected, as they can also make an important contribution to improving the ranking.
With our non-binding and free SEO analysis, you will receive a comprehensive insight into the current status of your website with regard to onpage and offpage SEO.
