As an SEO Consultant I have to acknowledge that I employ both on and off page SEO optimization techniques. But SEO, in my humble opinion, doesn’t fit well into the on and off page dichotomy.

5 Points of On-page SEO

First, I’ll give you my perspective on the question, starting with on-page SEO. This is still very important today and let me quickly list those elements which must be addressed:

1. Targeted keywords so the search engine knows what the point is of your page. Meaning that the page should have a main focus and you’ll carefully pick the keyword phrase for which you want to be found.

On the topic of keywords let’s include the placement of those keyword phrases in the first paragraph, in the middle at least once, and then again towards the end of the article. Also you’ll want them in some of your heading tags. Reproduce it exactly in each place.

2. Well thought out page and site structure. Let’s focus on the page, because your whole site is comprised of individual pages. You must organize your presentation into paragraphs that develop ideas, maybe a few paragraphs to hash out an idea. The article must be easy to follow and have a logical flow, with ideas addressed in well-constructed paragraphs that define the topic.

On this subject it is also imperative to use heading tags to introduce new ideas as you progress through the article. This allows both the online reader to quickly scan your article and the search engine robots as well to determine what you’re saying.

3. Use both internal and external links in the article. Surprise, surprise that search engine count internal links to your own website as a ranking factor for those pages. Also use links to other websites, which can serve as references to your main topic.

4. Use Metadata to suggest to the search engine what you want your search engine result snippet to look like, the heading and description. Also there are structural metadata that create those very cool rich snippets you often see in search results.

5. Last but not least, particularly in 2021, is load speed. With more and more searches coming from mobile devices they are looking at load time as a big ranking factor. You’ll want you site to load real fast; really this is very important.

Okay, we left some things out like responsive design, so that it formats well on every device. These are 2 imperatives in 2021.

5 Points of Off-page SEO

Off-page optimization.

1. Off-page optimization is all about links to your website so we will classified them for you, with the first being directory citation sources. You’ll want your essential business information to be the same on each citation. One obvious place is Google My Business or Maps. You’ll want 4 or 5 of these places that will list your business. Together they say you are a credible business. Your website address isn’t necessary.
2. There is some overlap in these first 2 groups. Other websites will give you a link to your website. Both groups are important and you’ll want to exercise both of them. We’ll put Yelp in this group.
3. Posting often is very important and this is a key point and one of the two mantras of doing well in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Every post, whether in Maps or Yelp or Facebook will have just a blurb about your knowledgeable article and you’ll include a link to that article on your website.
4. Q&A Forums are another opportunity to express your expertise, help others and build trust in your brand.
5. I’ll list for my final entry the most important factor of all, and it’s you. Yes, you. Who are you and how do you express your business and skills and where do you excel? This my friend is your brand. There is nothing more important than defining who you are. You are off-page and if you can’t define yourself how can a search engine tell when and where you are the best fit?

Please see my article for a more balance appraisal of this topic than was present here on why Google should return your site. Why Google returns sites in search results.

This was a summary of both on and off page SEO, which was given as an answer to a Quora question: What are 5 points for both on-page and off-page SEO for 2021.