On-page SEO checklist
- March 16, 2023
- 16 checks
- Sam Underwood
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Keyword research
Keyword research is the foundation of any successful SEO strategy. It helps you understand your target audience’s search behavior, identify high-potential keywords, and create content that caters to their needs. By starting with keyword research, you can ensure your content is relevant, useful, and capable of ranking higher in search engine results.
Title tag optimization
Create an enticing and unique title tag that includes your primary keyword.
Meta description optimization
Craft a compelling meta description that summarizes your content and includes your primary keyword.
Header Tags (H1, H2, H3) optimization
Organize your content using header tags (H1, H2, H3) to improve readability and organize your article into a logical information hierarchy. It’s best practice to add your target keywords to your H1.
Image optimization
Optimize your images by compressing file size, adding descriptive alt text, and using descriptive file names.
Internal and external linking
Including relevant internal and external links in your content can improve user experience, increase your site’s credibility, and enhance your SEO performance.
Here are some top tips:
- Contextual relevance: Link to related content within your website to provide additional value and context to your users. This can help keep visitors engaged, reduce bounce rates, and increase the time they spend on your site.
- Anchor text: Use descriptive anchor text for your links. Rather than saying “here,” use words that describe the page you are linking to, like “men’s shoes.”
- Link hierarchy: Establish a logical link hierarchy by connecting your most important pages (e.g., pillar pages) to related subtopics or supporting content. This can help distribute link equity throughout your site and improve the visibility of your key pages.
- Link depth: Aim to keep your link depth (the number of clicks required to reach a page from the homepage) as low as possible. This can improve crawlability and help search engines index your content more effectively. Ideally, a user should be able to reach important pages on your site within three to four clicks.
- Link in moderation: Avoid excessive internal linking, which can dilute your link equity and make your content appear spammy. Focus on providing a reasonable number of relevant, high-quality links that add value to your users.
Mobile-Friendliness
Ensure your website is mobile-friendly and responsive on various devices and screen sizes. A good example is having a responsive design that adapts to different devices. A bad example would be a website that only looks good on desktop screens.
Improve core web vitals
Optimize your page load speed by compressing images, minifying CSS and JavaScript files, and using a caching plugin. Good examples include achieving a load time of under 3 seconds on both desktop and mobile devices. A bad example would be a slow-loading page that frustrates users.
Create helpful, unique content
Produce high-quality, engaging content that addresses the needs of your target audience and stands out from competitors.
Comprehensively cover the topic
Ensure your content covers all aspects of the topic and answers common user questions.
Target featured snippets
Optimize your content to appear in Google’s featured snippets by providing concise, clear answers to common questions.
Use original images
Incorporate original images, such as photographs, illustrations, or graphics, to make your content more engaging and unique.
✅ High-quality, relevant images that enhance the user experience.
❌ Generic stock images or low-quality visuals.
Content Above the Fold
Ensure important content is visible above the fold (the portion of the page visible without scrolling) to capture users’ attention and encourage them to continue reading.
Add Structured Data (Review, How-To, FAQs)
Implementing structured data markup using schema.org vocabulary can significantly improve your content’s visibility and help search engines understand it better. This can lead to richer results, increasing click-through rates and driving more traffic to your website. Consider adding the following types of structured data:
- Review
- How-To
- FAQs
- Recipe
- Video
- Article
- Product
Content freshness
Regularly review and update your content to ensure it remains accurate, relevant, and up-to-date. This can help maintain or improve your search engine rankings, as search engines tend to favor fresh content that provides the most current information.
Readability
Focus on improving the readability of your content by using short paragraphs, bullet points, numbered lists, and appropriate typography. Enhancing readability can help keep users engaged, reduce bounce rates, and increase the time spent on your site.