6 On Page SEO Techniques That Still Work in 2024

Summary

This video script from Jack of Rank Math discusses the ongoing relevance of on-page SEO techniques for higher search rankings. It highlights the importance of optimizing internal links, anchor text diversity, and proper heading tag usage for content structure. The script also emphasizes the significance of meta titles and descriptions, strategic keyword placement, and the role of image alt text in SEO. Additionally, it advises against changing URL structures for established websites and suggests best practices for new sites, all aimed at improving search engine understanding and user experience.

Takeaways

• 🔍 On-page SEO is still relevant for helping search engines understand content quicker and for improving page ranking.
• 🛠️ The Rank Math tool simplifies SEO and AI tasks for growing search traffic, including on-page optimization for WordPress sites.
• 🔗 Internal linking is crucial for SEO, as it adds depth to topics and helps search engines assess site quality through interconnected content.
• 🔑 Anchor text optimization is important; avoid using the same anchor text for different articles to prevent search engine confusion.
• 📝 The structure of content is similar to a book or a report, with titles and headings acting as a tree's trunk and branches, organizing the content hierarchy.
• 🏷️ Proper use of heading tags (H1 to H6) helps search engines and users understand the content's main points and subpoints.
• 🔗 URLs should be future-proofed with a structure that includes the postname or a custom structure with category and postname for SEO benefits.
• 🚫 Established websites should avoid changing URL structures to prevent negative impacts on search rankings.
• 📜 Meta titles and descriptions are vital for attracting clicks from search results, and should be optimized with the focus keyword and a clear call to action.
• 📸 Image optimization includes using alt text for all images, with the focus keyword in the alt text of the first or featured image to avoid keyword stuffing.
• ✍️ Keyword placement should be strategic yet natural within the content, including in the meta title, description, URL, headings, and image alt text.

Q & A

Are on-page SEO techniques still relevant in the era of advanced search engines like Google?

Yes, certain on-page SEO techniques remain relevant as they help search engines understand content more quickly and can contribute to higher page rankings.

What is the role of Rank Math in on-page SEO optimization for a WordPress site?

Rank Math automates much of the on-page optimization process, providing SEO checks and guidance to ensure content is optimized for search engines and user intent.

Why is optimizing internal links an important on-page SEO technique?

Optimizing internal links is crucial as it helps search engines assess the quality of a site by providing depth to a topic and connecting related content, enhancing the site's overall quality in search engine rankings.

How does the Content AI tool assist in writing an article about the benefits of exercising?

Content AI analyzes articles ranking for a given keyword and provides smart suggestions for optimizing the page, including the recommended number of internal links and other content improvements.

What is the significance of anchor text in internal linking for SEO purposes?

Anchor text is significant because it describes what users can expect from the linked content. Using varied and descriptive anchor texts helps search engines understand the relevance and importance of linked pages.

How does the structure of an article relate to the content of a book or a project report?

The structure of an article, like a book or a project report, should have a clear hierarchy starting with a main topic (H1), followed by primary sections (H2), subsections (H3), and further breakdowns (H4, H5, H6), making the content easy to navigate and understand.

Why is it recommended to use only one H1 tag per page in WordPress?

Using only one H1 tag per page helps clearly define the page's main topic for both visitors and search engines, enhancing the understanding of the content's main focus.

What is the recommended approach to URL structure for new and established websites?

For new websites, it's recommended to use a structure that includes the postname or a custom structure with category and postname to future-proof URLs. For established websites, avoid changing the URL structure to prevent negative impacts on search rankings.

Why is optimizing meta titles and descriptions important for on-page SEO?

Optimizing meta titles and descriptions is important because they are prominent elements in search engine results. They need to be enticing and relevant to capture the searcher's attention and encourage clicks to the content.

What is the recommended character limit for meta titles and descriptions in terms of pixel width?

For meta titles, it's recommended not to exceed 580 pixels in width, and for meta descriptions, it should be below 920 pixels to ensure they are displayed properly in search results.

How does keyword placement in content affect SEO?

Strategic keyword placement in content helps search engines quickly understand the page's topic. It should be included in the meta title, URL, description, and at the beginning of the content, but it must flow naturally to avoid penalties for keyword stuffing.

Why is adding alt text to all images on a webpage important, even if they don't contain the focus keyword?

Alt text is important for accessibility, as it's read by screen readers for visually impaired users, and for users with poor internet connections where images may not load. It provides a description of the image content.

What is the recommended practice for using the focus keyword in image alt texts?

It's recommended to include the focus keyword in the alt text of at least one image, preferably the first or featured image, to avoid keyword stuffing and maintain SEO best practices.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 On-Page SEO Techniques Relevance and Tools

This paragraph introduces the ongoing relevance of on-page SEO techniques and emphasizes the need for search engines to quickly understand content. It highlights the distinction between on-page and off-page SEO, with the former focusing on optimizing for search intent and the latter on the page's popularity. The speaker, Jack from Rank Math, introduces his tool that simplifies SEO and AI functionalities, offering guidance through automated on-page optimization and SEO checks. The paragraph also mentions the importance of internal linking, which helps search engines assess site quality and content depth.

05:03

📚 Structured Content and Heading Tags for SEO

The paragraph discusses the significance of content structure in SEO, likening it to chapters in a book. It explains the hierarchical use of heading tags (H1 to H6) to organize content, making it navigable and understandable. The H1 tag is compared to a tree trunk, setting the foundation, while H2 and H3 tags represent branching topics. The paragraph also advises against skipping heading levels for proper SEO structure. WordPress's default settings and tools, like the outline tool, are mentioned to help visualize content hierarchy.

10:03

🔗 URL Structure and On-Page SEO Best Practices

This section delves into the importance of URL structure for SEO, advocating for the use of post titles as URL slugs or a custom structure that includes categories and post names. It advises against using numbers, dates, or unnecessary parameters in URLs for manageability and future growth. The paragraph also touches on the SEO benefits of including the focus keyword in the URL and recommends a URL length limit, including the domain name, to avoid confusion and enhance context for search engines.

15:06

🎯 Crafting Meta Titles and Descriptions for SEO

The paragraph emphasizes the role of meta titles and descriptions in attracting search engine users to click through to the content. It details how to optimize these elements by including the main focus keyword and ensuring they are enticing and match the search intent. The recommended character and pixel limits for meta titles and descriptions are provided, along with the suggestion to use Content AI for generating compelling meta titles and descriptions.

20:07

📝 Keyword Placement and Image Optimization

This section covers the strategic placement of the main focus keyword throughout the content, including the meta title, URL, description, and initial content. It stresses the importance of natural keyword integration to avoid penalties for keyword stuffing. The paragraph also addresses the optimization of image alt texts, recommending the inclusion of the main focus keyword in at least one image's alt text and providing alt texts for all images to aid accessibility and user experience.

🚫 Avoiding Keyword Stuffing and Final SEO Tips

The final paragraph warns against over-optimizing images with the focus keyword in all alt texts to prevent keyword stuffing penalties. It summarizes the basic on-page SEO techniques discussed in the script and hints at covering more technical aspects like mobile responsiveness, site maps, and schema in future content. The speaker invites viewers to subscribe for more SEO and search traffic growth tips.

Keywords

💡On-page SEO

On-page SEO refers to the practice of optimizing elements on a webpage to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic in search engines. It is a key concept in the video as it discusses techniques that are still relevant for search engine optimization. The script mentions that on-page SEO helps search engines understand the content better and is crucial for higher rankings.

💡Rank Math

Rank Math is a tool mentioned in the script that provides SEO and AI functionalities to assist in optimizing websites for search engines. The video is from Jack, who represents Rank Math, and discusses how the tool can automate certain on-page SEO tasks and guide users towards proper optimization.

💡Internal Links

Internal links are hyperlinks that point to other pages within the same website. The script emphasizes their importance in on-page SEO as they help search engines assess the quality of a site by providing depth and supporting content. An example from the script is the recommendation to have at least one internal link in an article to enhance the site's quality perception.

💡Anchor Text

Anchor text is the clickable text in a hyperlink that describes the linked content. The script advises against overusing the same anchor text across different articles as it can confuse search engines about the relevance of linked pages. The video uses the term 'SEO' as an example of anchor text that should be varied to maintain clarity.

💡Heading Tags

Heading tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) are used to structure content hierarchically on a webpage. The script explains how they help organize content, making it easier to navigate and understand. The H1 tag is particularly important as it defines the main topic of the page, with subsequent tags breaking down the content into subtopics.

💡Content Hierarchy

Content hierarchy is the organization of content on a webpage in a logical order, from the most to least important. The script uses the analogy of a tree to describe the hierarchy, with the main topic as the trunk and subtopics as branches, making it clear how information is structured for both users and search engines.

💡Meta Title and Description

The meta title and description are elements that appear in search engine results and are crucial for attracting clicks. The script discusses the importance of optimizing these elements with the focus keyword to improve click-through rates and ensure they match the search intent.

💡Keyword Placement

Keyword placement involves strategically positioning the focus keyword within the content to signal to search engines what the page is about. The script mentions that the keyword should be included in the meta title, description, URL, and at the beginning of the content for effective SEO.

💡Image Alt Text

Alt text is an HTML attribute that provides a description of an image for search engines and users with visual impairments. The script advises adding alt text to all images, with the focus keyword included in at least one image's alt text to avoid keyword stuffing penalties.

💡URL Structure

URL structure refers to the format and composition of a webpage's address. The script recommends using a structure that includes the post name or a custom structure with category and post name to future-proof URLs and make them search engine friendly.

💡SEO Checks

SEO checks are tools or processes used to ensure that on-page SEO best practices are followed. The script mentions various SEO checks provided by Rank Math, such as verifying internal links, proper use of heading tags, and the inclusion of the focus keyword in key areas of the content.

Highlights

On-page SEO techniques remain relevant for search engine optimization and higher page rankings.

Some traditional SEO techniques are still effective in helping search engines understand content more quickly.

Rank Math provides SEO and AI tools for optimizing WordPress sites with automated on-page optimization.

On-page SEO focuses on search intent and content understanding, while off-page SEO enhances page popularity.

Optimizing internal links is crucial for on-page SEO, adding depth and improving site quality in search engine assessments.

Content AI analysis suggests optimal numbers of internal links and helps avoid overuse of identical anchor texts.

Anchor text should be clear and descriptive to aid search engines in understanding the link's relevance to the page.

Proper heading hierarchy (H1 to H6) is essential for SEO, reflecting the content structure and aiding search engine interpretation.

The WordPress outline tool helps visualize the content structure and ensure adherence to heading hierarchy.

AI can assist in generating an SEO-optimized content structure, streamlining the creation process.

Maintaining a consistent URL structure is advised for established websites to avoid negative SEO impacts.

For new sites, using the postname in URLs or a custom structure with category and postname is recommended for SEO.

Meta titles and descriptions are vital for attracting clicks and should be optimized with the focus keyword and engaging content.

Content AI can generate meta titles and descriptions, leveraging AI capabilities for better click-through rates.

Keyword placement should be strategic and natural, avoiding keyword stuffing to prevent search engine penalties.

Alt text for images is important for SEO, accessibility, and providing context when images fail to load.

Rank Math can automatically add alt text to images and filter those without alt text for manual review.

Overuse of the focus keyword in all image alt texts may lead to keyword stuffing penalties; one instance is sufficient.

Basic on-page SEO techniques continue to be effective, while more technical aspects like mobile responsiveness and site speed will be covered in future videos.

Transcripts

Search engines like Google are growing more sophisticated every day,

and you may be wondering, are on-page SEO techniques still relevant?

The answer is yes, but not all.

Some techniques still work, and they help search engines

understand your content quicker.

So if you want your pages to rank higher, let's discover

the SEO techniques that still work.

Let's go.

Hey, it's Jack from Rank Math, the One Tool, that provides easy to use SEO and

AI tools, and this channel provides you with tips, tricks, and tutorials

to help you grow your search traffic.

So if you're new to us, subscribe.

Now, there are on-page and off-page SEO.

On-page is all about optimizing the page for search intent, and it helps search

engines understand the content better.

While off-page is meant to help the popularity of that page.

If you have Rank Math installed on your WordPress site, you don't

have to worry about on-page optimization because most of it has been taken care

of automatically and behind the scenes.

And for things you need to optimize, we have many SEO checks that will guide you

towards the right direction.

If you want to learn about each of the SEO checks in detail,

you can check out this video right here.

The link is in the description.

But this video highlights the important techniques that are not

covered in the other video.

So let's check out the first.

Optimizing for internal links is one of the most important

on-page SEO techniques you should employ.

The way search engines assess the quality of a site is if you're writing one piece

of article, are there any other supporting pieces of content on the same

site that can help support and add depth to that one piece of article.

It is the same way search engine robots crawl your sites.

They crawl from one page and they visit the pages linked to that page

and crawl them, and it goes on and on.

The more depth you provide to a topic, the higher the quality of your entire

site in the eyes of the search engine.

In one of our SEO checks, we check if you have added at least

one internal link in your article.

Take note that this SEO check is synced with our Content AI analysis.

For example, this is our Content AI research tool, and we are writing

a piece of article about the benefits of exercising.

Hit research, and Content AI will scrape and analyze all the articles

that are ranking for this keyword and will provide you with

smart suggestions to optimize your page.

Over here, it is suggesting that we should have eight internal links.

Now, if Content AI does not recommend any internal links here, which

is rarely the case, but if that happens, then this SEO check here will be hidden.

Another thing I want to talk about is the optimization

of the anchor text of the internal links.

Do not overuse the same anchor text for several articles.

If you're not familiar with anchor text, it is just the text

that describes what people can expect when they click on the link.

For example, this article about on-page SEO has a link to a page about SEO tips

and uses the anchor text as SEO.

Then in the next article about technical SEO, you are adding

a link to a page about SEO mistakes.

Using the same anchor text, SEO.

Then when you write another article about SEO ranking factors, you link to

another page about SEO checklist with the same anchor text, SEO.

If you are the search engine and you visited this site,

you'll be confused as well, right?

It is using SEO as an anchor text, and it describes these three pages.

There could be more.

So as a search engine, how do I give weight and importance

when talking about SEO?

So if you do this, you are losing the opportunity to help search engines

understand what keywords are important to what pages.

So it will be prudent to have a clear description,

hopefully a rankable keyword, when describing the link to a page.

So when talking about SEO mistakes, you will use that anchor text

on all other pages and it links to the SEO Mistakes page.

Search engines will know this page is important when we are

talking about SEO mistakes.

And when we talk about SEO tips, then this page is important.

Hope you find the SEO technique useful, and how about a thumbs up for the video.

Anyway, if you want to understand more about how each page of your website

helps each other on your overall SEO, you should check out this video that

talks about silo structure, as well as this video that talks about content hubs.

We have left links to these videos in the description.

Writing a piece of an article for your website is very similar to the

contents of a book, or if you have ever written a project report in high school,

college, or university, the structure of the content is very similar.

Think of your content as follows.

The title of your article is like the tree trunk.

It is the main part that holds everything together and sets the foundation

for the rest of the content.

The H1 heading tag represents the tree trunk.

It is important to use only one H1 tag per page to clearly

define what the page is about.

This helps both the page visitors and search engines understand

the main focus of your content.

For example, the main topic could be the benefits of exercising.

Then the H2 tags are like the main branches of the tree.

These tags represent primary sections that grow out of the main topic.

For example, since the main topic is about the benefits of exercising,

you could have H2 tags with physical health benefits, mental health

benefits, and how to start exercising.

These main sections break down your content into more specific areas, making

it easier to navigate and understand.

They not only help organize your article and provide a clear structure,

but they make it easier for your page visitors to scan your page.

And then the H3 heading tags are like the smaller branches.

These subsections provide more detailed information under each main section.

In this example, H3 tags under the physical health benefits can be

improve heart health, boost immunity, enhance muscle strength, and others.

And then the hierarchy goes on.

The H4, H5, and H6 heading tags acts as the leaves and tweaks

of your content tree.

If you can break down further on the benefits of improving heart

health, you would use H4.

Breaking it down further, you would use H5, and then up to the H6 heading tag.

If you are writing a blog post on a WordPress editor, by default,

the title of the page will be embedded with the H1 heading tag.

And throughout the page, there should not be another H1 heading tag.

So following the previous example, the title of the H1 heading tag

will be benefits of exercising.

You could include a number in front of the title when you decide on

the exact number of benefits.

Then you can have a short introduction here and then break it

up with H2 heading tag.

You will add a new text blog, type out the text such as physical health

benefits, mental health benefits, and how to start exercising, and make

each of the text here a H2 heading.

We click on this, and then this, transform it to a heading,

and by default, this is a H2 heading.

The same goes for this, and here we go.

Now we have three H2 headings.

And then you could describe each of the H2 headings.

And then if you want to break down a H2 heading further, like for physical health

benefits, we could have improve heart health, boost immunity,

and enhances muscle strength.

We'll make this into a H3 heading.

The same goes for this as well as this.

Normally, when you write an article, you would try to create the structure of the

content before focusing on the details.

If you want to see the overall structure and hierarchy of your page, you can

leverage on the WordPress outline tool by clicking on this.

Click on the outline, and now you will see the hierarchy of the page.

Never skip the hierarchy.

You shouldn't have a H4 heading tag without a H3.

For example, you shouldn't add a H4 heading tag within the H2

if there is no presence of a H3. Like this.

You see, WordPress also prompts you that this is an incorrect heading level.

So following the heading hierarchy is a good SEO practice because that's how

search engines will interpret your page.

Now, if you have troubles coming up with a content structure of your own, or if

you want to quickly have an SEO-optimized content structure, You can always

leverage on our AI to do that for you.

You can either hit double slashes, search for blog, and you will see the

blog post outline tool here.

Or you can click on the content AI module right at the top, click on the third

icon, and the tool is right here.

Add your topic, benefits of exercising.

This is a required field.

Mark with this asterisk.

The rest are not.

Then you want to include any main points and ideas you have.

If not, leave it empty.

Decide on the audience.

Add a focus keyword.

Select your tone if you have a preference.

Choose a style.

This will be a listicle.

Then choose a language.

There are many languages you can choose from.

Select the number of outputs to generate and hit Generate.

In just seconds, you will have a content structure

you can insert to your content area.

As you can see, it adds more depth to what we have discussed earlier.

Click Insert and it will be added to the content area.

Remove the H1 heading, and here you go.

You will have a content structure that is optimized with heading tags.

So proper use of heading tag tells search engines what

each section of your page is about.

It helps page visitors find the information faster,

and as a result, better user experience, and in return, higher chance of ranking.

All right.

If you already have an established website, we do not recommend changing

the URL or its structure, even if it doesn't follow our recommendations.

Let me repeat, because this is so important.

If your website is already established and your content

is ranking on the search engines, do not change the URL structure because

restructuring URLs, if not done properly, might have a severe impact on your site.

However, if your site is relatively new and it is not getting much or any

search engine traffic, then by all means, you should future proof your URLs.

On your WordPress site, to change the URL structure, you would hover over settings

and select permalinks.

By default for most WordPress installations, for some reason,

the day and name option will be selected.

But our recommendation to future proof your URLs to accommodate growth without

needing significant overhaul is to use either the postname option that uses

the page title as your URL slug, or in other words, the back of your URL,

or use a custom structure that includes the category and the postname.

Having the postname in the URL is favored by the search engines because it gives

context as to what the page is about.

This on-page technique is in one of our SEO checks.

If we click on the Rank Math tab, scroll down, you will see that we check for

the focus keyword in the URL.

And if you click on Edit Snippet, we recommend that the URL length

that includes your domain name should not be longer than 75 characters.

But anyway, between the custom structure and the postname structure, I personally

prefer the postname option because it is short and sweet and easily manageable.

So let's save changes.

Earlier on the post, the URL is with numbers.

So let's save draft and then refresh the page.

Back to the Rank Math tab and edit snippets.

Now the URL slug is following the title of the page.

Now we want to avoid having numbers, date, or other unnecessary parameters like

the time, minute, seconds, post ID, etc.

It's because it is hard for people to remember and the URLs can get very long.

And if you have date and time in the URL, the question is, what if you have updated

your page content, yet the date and time in the URL stays outdated?

It would confuse the users as well, right?

So having numbers, dates, and any other unnecessary parameters

makes it hard to manage the URL in the future when your site grows.

There is no right or wrong answer, but it will be prudent to think ahead.

It is like building a house with the potential for future extensions in mind.

Your URL structure is the SEO foundation for all your posts and pages,

and it needs room to grow.

Okay, I've spent some time completing this article with AI, and now let's talk

about optimizing your meta title and description for on-page SEO.

If you are interested in learning how to write high-quality articles that search

engines love with the help of AI, feel free to check out this video right here.

The link is in the description.

All right, first things first.

If we want our article to rank for the keyword, benefits of exercising,

that will be our main focus keyword, and we should add it here.

If you want to rank for other related keywords, such as benefit for exercise,

or can exercising improve physical health, you can add that to this field.

For Rank Math free users, you can add up to five keywords.

But if you are a Rank Math pro user, you can add unlimited keywords

by default.

The main focus keyword will be marked with the Star, or in other words,

the first keyword in the group.

If you want to change the main focus keyword, you can just drag whatever

keyword you want and bring it forward.

Now this will be the main focus keyword.

But that's not what we want.

All right, when it comes to meta titles and descriptions, it is still an important

on-page SEO technique because when you visit the search engine,

check out one of the search results, the most prominent element

of it is the SEO meta title.

As a searcher, if this title catches your eye, the next thing

you will see is the meta description to get a glimpse of what the page is talking

about and if it is what I'm looking for.

And if it is, I will click through to read the content.

So optimizing your SEO meta title and description is incredibly important

because if it does not catch the searcher's eyes, if it is not enticing

enough, and if it doesn't seem like it is what the searcher is looking for,

then no one will click through to read your content no matter how great it is.

To optimize for the meta title and description of a page, on Rank Maths

tab, click on Edit Snippet.

This is where you can edit the meta title and description.

By default, if you did not matter with any of Rank Maths settings,

these three variables will be added to the meta title of all your posts.

This title variable is taking information from the page title,

but feel free to make changes to it.

As you can see, any changes to this field will be reflected in the preview.

Now, the best practice for meta title is if you have the main focus keyword

in it, which it does.

And this is part of the SEO check right here.

And if you discover the title readability checks, on top of the main focus keyword

at the beginning, it checks if you have a positive or negative

sentiment, as well as a power word.

There are certain words we look for for each check, and if you click on

this question mark beside each check, you will know what they are.

And also it checks if you have a number in your title because studies

shows that meta titles with numbers will get a higher click-through rate.

This checks for the SEO title, by the way, not the page title.

And then, as you can see here, we recommend that your SEO title

be not more than 60 characters.

Currently, it exceeds, but that's fine because search engines

care more about the pixel width.

As long as your meta title does not go beyond 580 pixels, it is good enough.

Then for the meta description, if you did not matter with any settings,

Rank Math will automatically add a meta description for you.

So at any one point in time, your meta description will not be left empty.

Now, to best optimize the meta description, you should think about

what will get people to click.

If your meta title is good enough to capture the attention of searches,

then it is the meta description that will get people to click through.

Think about the main focus keyword your page is trying to rank for.

What is the search intent?

If your meta description matches the search intent, it is highly likely

that someone will click through.

As you can see in our SEO checks, we check if your focus keyword

is found in the meta description.

And since the second paragraph contain the main focus keyword, we will

amend the meta description accordingly.

Now, the best practice is to have your meta description below 920 pixels.

So maybe we can amend this a little.

Maybe remove this, remove this as well, change this to a comma,

and change this to and many more.

So the intent hasn't changed, and now the meta description

fits nicely in the range.

Now, in case you have troubles coming up with interesting meta titles

and descriptions, fear not.

You can ask Content AI to write it for you.

You have 750 free credits every month anyway.

If you want to learn to learn more about that, we have left

a link in the description.

But anyway, to generate meta title and description, simply click

on this Generate with AI button and Content AI will be put to work.

If you like the generated output, click on Insert and they will be added here.

Now, meta titles and descriptions are two of the meta text that run in

the background of a page.

If you want to learn more about the things that are working

behind the scenes that help your sites be visible on search engines,

you can check out this video right here, the link is in the description.

Keyword placement is part of the foundation for SEO, even today.

Those search engines today are quite advanced and they claim to be able

to pick up the contacts and the keywords you are trying to rank for,

we shouldn't leave it to chance.

We should do our part and optimize the content so that we can clearly

communicate the important things we want search engines to know.

We have talked about having your focus keyword in the meta title

and description as well as in the URL, but where else should we strategically

place the main focus keyword?

Other than adding the focus keyword in the SEO meta title in the URL

and in the description, we should also add the main focus keyword

at the beginning of the content.

With it, it reinforces to the search engine what your post is about

and also reassures the page visitors that they have visited the correct page.

As you can see, this check checks the first 10% of the content

to find the focus keyword.

If they found it, then you will pass this test.

For example, this content is 1, 600 words long.

10% of it means in the first 164 the words, they should

find the main focus keyword.

It is as simple as that.

Your content shouldn't be below 300 words, but if that is the case, then

this SEO check will look for the main focus keyword in all the words.

Now, if you pass this SEO check, then naturally it will pass

the next check as well, because as long as you are using the main focus keyword

once in the article, you would have passed this check.

Now, if we expand the additional SEO checks, we will see that you

should add the focus keyword in one of the H2, H3, or H4 heading tags.

Well, the key is, if there is no reason for you to add the focus keyword in one

of the heading tags, you should not force it.

Google and other search engines nowadays are sophisticated enough

to understand your content.

Then as for this, in one of your images, you should have

the focus keyword in your alt text.

What we recommend is to add the first image with the main focus keyword

in the alt text, like this.

Once you have done that, you would have passed this test.

We will talk more about image alt text in a while.

Adding the focus keyword strategic areas will help search engines

understand your page quicker.

One thing for sure, the placement of the keywords in the content

should flow naturally.

They shouldn't be forced.

Don't squeeze or staff keywords in the content.

We are not in the '90s anymore.

Search engines today are way sophisticated, and they will penalize you

for trying to manipulate them.

So beware of that.

As you already know, having the main focus keyword in the alt text

of an image is a good SEO practice, but you should also add alt text

to all your images, even if they do not contain any focus keywords.

So every time you add an image to your page, you should open up

the image settings and add an alt text here to describe what the image is about.

There are two reasons for doing so.

First, for visibly diversity impaired individuals, they may use

screen readers to consume your content, and the alt text will be read

as the description of the image.

Secondly, for page visitors who have poor internet connection, sometimes the image

may not load, and having an alt text for the image helps the visitors

understand what the image is about.

Having an alt text for all your images is beneficial.

If you have trouble coming up with a description for your images, feel free

to click on this button here and Content AI will analyze the image

and write a description for you.

Now, Rank Math do automatically help you add an alt text

to your images using the file name.

Now, if you want to write it manually, don't do it.

Rank Math can help you filter out those images without an image alt text,

and it can generate the text inbound so you don't need to open up

every image and add it manually.

If you want to learn how to do that, feel free to check out this video right here.

The link is in the description.

Now, here's one thing you should avoid when optimizing

your image alt text with focus keyword.

Having the main focus keyword in one of the image alt text is practically enough.

You don't have to add the main focus keyword in all your images.

For example, if this is the featured image of the post,

it contains the main focus keyword.

Then if you check out the next image, it contains the focus keyword as well.

Then the next image includes the focus keyword, and every image on a page

includes the focus keyword.

Now, if you have only four images in one article, that is fine.

You can have the focus keyword in all the images.

But what if you have 20 or 50 images in one page, adding the focus keyword

in the alt text for all the images may get you penalized for keyword stuffing.

We recommend just having the focus keyword in one of the image alt text.

Possibly the first image or the featured image will be good enough.

These are the basic on-page SEO techniques that still work.

If you are familiar With SEO, you might be wondering why we did not cover topics

like mobile responsiveness, site maps, schema, page speed, and others.

It is because we think they are rather technical, so we might cover them

in another video, so hang tight.

Anyway, we hope this video is helpful for you, and do help us

out by smashing a thumbs up.

And if you haven't subscribed to us, we are all about helping you

grow your search traffic.

This is Jack from Rank Math.

I'll see you in the next video.