ON-PAGE SEO CHECKLIST
On-page SEP Checklist, optimizing your own website and content to rank higher in search engines to get more relevant traffic to your page is referred to as on-page SEO. Text, images, and even the overall user experience of your site are some of the elements that are involved in on-page SEO.
Things like a relevant page title, proper internal and external links, and a description that contains all the necessary keywords are all part of optimizing your page content.
Why is an On-Page SEO checklist Important?
Search engine crawlers use a number of factors to assess and determine what content should appear at the top of the search results page, and on-page SEO is one of these factors.
According to How Search Works, the most basic signal that information is relevant is when a webpage contains the same keywords as your search query.
More than that, the on-page factors help the searchers find the most valuable content that will best answer their questions or concerns.
The Complete On-Page SEO Checklist for 2022
On Page SEO CHECKLIST
Today’s customer journeys are so unpredictable that you can’t even guess where the journey will start. But one thing is for sure, one way or another, the user will end up on Google searching for something to solve a problem.
It’s more important than ever to be found on the top search results of Google and other search engines. This is true for all types of businesses, from local service businesses to multi-million dollar enterprises.
As a trusted SEO agency in Malaga, we know how difficult it is to rank. That’s why our On-Page SEO Checklist will help you audit and optimize for all the important SEO factors you might be missing.
Use concise, descriptive page titles and H1 Tags.
The most significant factor in ranking high in the SERPs is the title of your page. Your title tags should be unique, descriptive, concise, and encapsulate what your page is all about. Make your titles relevant to the content of your page, and always use the primary keyword you’ve set for the page.
this is very important in our on page SEO checklist
Use descriptive and SEO-friendly URLs.
Every page on your website should have a unique and memorable URL. Think of it as your website’s online address. Keep it short (around a maximum of 5 words), use your main keyword on each page, and do not use any special characters. This will make it easy for both users and search engines to read and remember your URL.
Have a compelling meta description.
The meta description is the small snippet of text that best describes your web page’s content. It helps your result stand out on the SERP, and reading it should give an idea of what to expect from the article. To make your meta descriptions effective. You should include your main keyword (the one people are most likely to search for) in the first part of your copy, and a strong and compelling call to action to encourage readers to click, read, or learn more about your content.
Use proper subheadings and Header Tags.
For a better user experience, it is ideal you include subheadings in your content. Subheadings are like roadmaps that will help your readers find what they need quickly. Since people these days don’t have the patience to read through your content, subheadings serve as a roadmap that will help your readers get an overview of your content and find the information they need easily.
This will inform search engines that the copies you wrote are important and related to the topic of your page. One final tip for today: Make your pages easy-to-read and easy to scan. Search engines love these things.
Be careful of keyword placements
It is best practice to put your keywords in all of the places that make sense on your page. Your title, URL, meta descriptions, subheadings, and in the first 100 words of your content.
You should also use your keywords in your image alt tags. The most important type of on-page SEO is making sure your content is properly keyword optimized, which means you will have a better chance of ranking for your particular keyword.
Page titles and image alt tags are also important for both your overall SEO and for your ability to get clicks from a Google Image search.
on page SEO checklist tip - do not overstuff your article with your keyword
Use proper subheadings and Header Tags.
To give users a seamless experience when visiting your site, a lot of factors play a part. For example, they include:
- Making your content easy to understand;
- Ensuring that all your links are working;
- Improving your site’s loading speed;
- Having a responsive design.
If a user is using mobile for browsing, it will be pleasing if the font type, size, and color are readable. Make sure that the buttons on your site are not too big or too small. One of the biggest reasons for increased bounce rates for your website is when it’s not easy to navigate.
Place Internal Links in Your Content.
Internal links are links in your content that are connected to other pages or articles within your website. They can be used to help users get around your website and improve their overall experience, therefore improving your site’s SEO. Moreover, they help increase the overall dwell time of users on your website and allow them to discover new information.
That is why it is ideal to include internal links on your pages. When adding internal links to your page, make sure that you use clear, relevant, and descriptive anchor texts. This will help the reader understand what the link is about and how it relates to your page.
Provide External or Outbound Links.
External links are links from other websites that are not found on your website or domain. They help web crawlers to better understand your content and where it came from, which is important for SEO. If you practice linking to other sites that are related to your topic and have high domain authority. You increase the credibility of your page and help your rankings climb.
When someone clicks on a link you created, make sure that it will open in a new window or tab so that your website remains open even though they’re visiting your link. This will improve the average time a user spends on your website.
Spread secondary/LSI keywords in Your Content
LSI or latent semantic indexing keywords are related keywords or phrases that are synonymous or semantically related to your primary keyword. Years ago, Google launched its Hummingbird algorithm, an update that allows Google to understand a page’s theme by not only looking through the keywords. By using LSI keywords, you add more context to your content, making it relevant to broad topics. Google then will see that your content is of high quality and should be ranked higher on SERPs. Put LSI keywords throughout your content so that Googlebot can understand it better, thus resulting in higher page rankings.
Do the necessary image optimizations.
LSI or latent semantic You need to use images in your content to make the information you present easier to understand and make your page interesting. It also contributes to your page’s overall ranking in SERPs. It is ideal to add the keyword in your image file name, title, and alt text. Use Alt tags. These are the words that appear when an image fails to upload properly on your page. It is used to describe the image and how it is connected to your content.
Crawlers also use this to index your image accurately. Use high-quality images and do not forget to compress them before uploading them on your site. Use the image size tool to properly resize your image to its intended display for faster page load time.
Make sure your website is crawlable and indexable
In order for search engines to understand the content on your website, they have to crawl it. A search engine sends out a spider or a bot to crawl a website. The crawler/bot follows the links on the pages it finds to the next pages. Once the crawler gets to the bottom of the page, it follows the links on the bottom of the page to the next set of pages. This continues until it reaches the end of the site. It then goes back to the top and begins the process all over again. Search engines take note of the content on your website when they crawl it. You can also use Google Search Console and/or Screaming Frog to know if you have pages that have a “no index” tag and have it indexed.
Track and target the right keywords.
One of the key steps in ranking in SERPs is conducting comprehensive keyword research and mapping. It’s important to consider your target audience. What are they searching for? What keywords are they using when searching for that query? Long Tail Pro, Keyword Tool, and SEMrush can help you with your keyword research and mapping. An ideal keyword is something that’s relevant to the main topic of your content and is used by your target audience when looking for your information.
Avoid keyword cannibalization
Keyword cannibalization occurs when two or more web pages from your website target the same primary keyword or phrase. When this happens, you confuse search engines in pointing which page is more important. Therefore, neither page from your website will be ranked. Remember, one primary keyword for one page. A keyword map can help assign relevant keywords to your content. This will allow search engines to read your website’s relevancy on a user’s search. keyword research and mapping. An ideal keyword is something that’s relevant to the main topic of your content and is used by your target audience when looking for your information.
Satisfy search intent
There are four primary categories of search intent:
- INFORMATIONAL – how-to, tutorials, and guides.
- TRANSACTIONAL – making a purchase, or already decided buyer.
- COMPARISON – comparing different products and still weighing in options.
- NAVIGATIONAL – finding a particular website, or still looking for a specific service.
Your content should be optimized to give visitors the right experience on your website. If your user’s intent is to find out the similarities and differences between two products, your content should not be geared towards promoting sales.
Write a great introduction
A good intro is critical to your success as an author. An introduction that hooks the reader early and keeps them on the page is necessary to ensure user engagement. Don’t let the readers “pogo-stick” through your article by writing an introduction that won’t hold their attention. Be sure to hook them with an introductory paragraph or sentence that will make them want to read the rest of the post.
Write relevant, ingaging, high quality, long-form content.
A SEMrush study shows that long-form content that has more than 3000 words has more traffic, more social shares, and more backlinks. If you want to increase your page’s authority and ranking in the internet search engines, you should post 1,000 to 2,000 words.
It’s important that your content is high-quality, original, and relevant. The information that you give out should be related to the goal of the search. Content that will remain useful and relevant over a long period of time is something that is practical. It is important that the information you give in your content is up to date.
It is important that the quality content is easily understood. Bullet points and number lists can be used in your content to make your page look organized. It’s a good idea to write in short paragraphs to make your content easy to digest. Content is not limited to text, of course. It is possible to include media in your content to make it easier to comprehend and read.
on page SEO checklist tip - content is king - work on it until its perfect!
Have a strong call to action
People should be able to know what to do after consuming your page’s content. You can help them by having a clear call to action.
The call-to-action should be related to your content. If your page is informational, your CTA may be “sign up now”
Add Social Sharing Buttons
Good content is more likely to be shared than bad. In this day and age, where social media is widely used by almost everyone, information is shared instantaneously.
If you’re sharing your information online, it’s important that you include share buttons on your pages so your content can be shared across multiple platforms. It will also send signals to search engines that your content is valuable.
Adding social sharing buttons to your blog posts will help improve your customer experience. When your readers want to share your blog post, they’ll more likely do so if you include this feature.
Improve your page loading speed to 3 Seconds or less
Admit it or not, no one likes a slow-loading website. This is not just the users but also search engines dislike slow loading websites. Your website will be penalised by search engines if it is found to be too slow.
Make sure your visitors are happy when they’re on your website. Google is also using loading speed as a ranking factor, so make sure to optimize your page speed. The faster your page loads, the higher your page will rank.
You can use Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to check your site’s loading speed. You should also check for other factors that can affect your website’s loading speed.
Mobile Responsive
In today’s world more and more people are using their mobile devices to implement search queries. As mobile phones get bigger and better this will only make phones ever more popular to use for finding out things. That is why your website should be mobile-friendly.
In fact, this is so important now that many web developers have a mobile design first philosophy when starting.
Some websites experience a visitation rate of up to 80% from mobile users.
Key Takeaways
If you tick all the boxes, your website will be in better shape in 2022. Here are a few things to keep in mind.
- You can have cost-effective marketing that will help you have a greater return on your investment.
- Getting an optimized website will help you generate buzz in your business by targeting specific and relevant keywords.
- You'll improve your site’s page speed and user experience when you follow good SEO practices. Users will be encouraged to visit your site more often if your site is clean, fast, and easy to navigate.
Although On-page SEO can seem overwhelming at the start, the more often you do it little by little it will become second nature. If your website is on WordPress there are some great plugins that will help you greatly with On-page SEO. Plugins like Yoast and RankMath are very popular and very very helpful – use them.
Of course, if you have no time to concentrate on SEO our agency will be more than happy to help you out.
