There are over 100 on-page SEO factors that influence ranking. Realistically, nobody can check each factor off their list and many top sites in Google cannot even check off half. So before embarking on your on-page SEO journey, take a deep breath and relax. You will not score 100% and you don't have to. While there are plenty of on-page SEO services, you can handle some of the big stuff easily.
We need to really focus on the main factors. Before you dwell over some obscure meta-data, or worry that your logo doesn't have an alt attribute, here are 5 on-page SEO factors you should really worry about. They are non-technical, ok I lied a bit, some are minimally technical (but you don't have to be computer whiz to apply them):
1) Find keywords that not only get traffic, but keywords that you can realistically rank for
If you're trying to rank for "life insurance," good luck. If you Google a term and see all big dinosaur companies on the home page and you think you can land among them, seriously, I wish you all the best.
High traffic keywords have all but dried out completely. Your best bet today is to rank for "long tail keywords." You can find them by adding little tails to major keywords, like "compare life insurance rates" or "senior life insurance quotes." Plenty of tools exist online to make this process easier, such as Moz's Keyword Explorer tool.
2) Publish valuable, interesting and unique content around your target keyword
Again, check out the pages of the top sites ranking for your keyword and try to top them. Increase your word count. Add more insight. Add more images and infographics. Increase keyword / synonym density (but in a careful, non-spammy way). If you want to earn that top spot, you need to literally do a better job than your competitors.
Ask yourself, does the web page I want to rank look better and offer more valuable content than the page that's already in the #1 spot?
3) Improve User Experience
Ok, this one can be kind of technical if your website is dated or has issues. But let's assume you're on an up-to-date Wordpress platform like most readers (if not, it may be time to get on board with Wordpress).
Site time is a huge rank factor now. Ensure that users want to stay when they land on your website. If they hit the "back" button fast, your ranking will drop. Create incentives and entice them to stay / explore. Again, great content is a huge part of that.
4) Turn your Title and Meta-Description into an AdWords Ad
AdWords Ads are all about maximizing the click through rate (CTR). Don't neglect to optimize your CTR with your organic results because CTRs in search results are now also a big rank factor!
It's simple to do: Pack your title tag and meta-description with keywords, but ensure the text stands out, grabs attention and includes an enticing call-to-action
5) Add Valuable Media and Remove Ads
Google and people love images and videos, hate ads. Tonnes of traffic comes from image search so ensure your images have descriptive filenames and alt tags. Ensure all media file sizes are small or compressed since we don't want to reduce page speed.
If you need to monetize off ads do so sparingly. Search engines dock some rank if you have ads on your site.
Some SEO trends for 2016 by Midasmedia.
