What’s Part of a Great On-Page SEO Checklist?

Behind every successful search engine optimization (SEO) campaign is a seasoned SEO strategist (or two or three) drawing from their comprehensive on-page SEO checklist to help achieve each client’s stated online goals. Selecting the right initiatives to incorporate in the correct sequence requires experience, skill, patience, diligence, and constant maintenance. Often the difference between a digital marketing campaign’s success and failure depends on the SEO’s ability to know when a website ranking anomaly is just that and when it is time to implement another tactic.

One on-page initiative is imperative: Quality page content is integral to achieving higher search engine results page (SERPs) rankings. Here we’ll review the elements that are essential to maximizing on-page optimization, such as ranking factors, as well as how they are employed to maximize results.

The Holy Grail for Successful On-Page SEO Checklist

Opt for a Well-Composed URL

A well-written URL provides both site visitors and search engine bots with an easy-to-understand indication of what the destination page will be about. This will provides ease of use, improve rankings, and the URL itself can act as anchor text, yet another on-page optimization element.

Fix title tags

Be on the lookout for missing, truncated, or duplicates and prune/remove/replace as necessary. Title tags assist search engines to determine a web page’s content. They also aid searchers to locate exactly what they are searching for.

Meta descriptions

A must for every site page. Locate all pages that are missing metas, draft, and upload. Scour the site for any duplications and adjust. Meta descriptions are a critical SEO factor. Such descriptions prime readers to understand your website’s content, and also helps search engines to scan and understand your website’s overall message.

In short, what it is about: A compelling meta description will increase the click-through rate of your organic search results. This means that there is a greater likelihood of searchers who view your SERPs will click through and enter your site. The bonus here is that your site traffic will increase even if your ranking remains static. 

Multiple H1 Refs: Locate any deficient refs and make adjustments

The ref describes the page content to search engine bots and spiders. Removing multiple refs avoids the confusion which can lead to a page being passed over and impacted rankings.

Review title tags, meta descriptions, and page content

Well-crafted title tags and meta descriptions message search engines to inform them which page keywords the page should rank for. Additionally, H1 tags and meta descriptions are shown to searchers on SERPs as search snippets. This empowers these tags and descriptions to influence increased click-through rates at the onset of a sales funnel initiative.

Getting Started With On-Page SEO Step-By-Step

Quality Content Audit

This cannot be overemphasized. Quality content is the leading factor in successful on-page SEO. The best content holds reader interest, answers their questions, informs, and invites them back. Quality content helps your website rank well, get more relevant traffic, engage website visitors, and drive conversions as part of the sales funnel. It is important to routinely run a content audit to determine stale content ripe for remediation.

Then update with fresh information! The bonus here is the opportunity high-quality content updates provide to include additional external links, incorporate long-tail keywords, drive more organic traffic, and in the case of paid search, increase the click-through rate. Be sure to perform keyword research routinely as an improved ranking factor.

According to Google, only 90.63% of content gets no Google traffic. A quality content audit targets site pages that have lost traction or never developed any. It enables SEO strategists to prime underperforming pages to attract and hold site visitors’ attention to further advance the sales funnel and other goal initiatives.

Optimize Pages

Judicious incorporation of internal links alongside backlinks, primary keywords, titles metas, and more. Make certain you have not overlooked optimization opportunities in the page title for your target keyword to ensure increased indexing. SEO’s true value is measured in ROI. Chiefly optimization will increase site traffic, and revenue via conversions, increase brand awareness/visibility/create positive experiences associated with a brand, repair/improve a brand’s online reputation, etc.

Incorporate Images

Site pages need to offer visitors/readers visual stimulation and SEO strategists the opportunity to optimize that site page. One caveat: use original images, or be sure to obtain permission if existing photos from another website are to be used.

Strategically placed and sized images can increase a positive user experience and help to present important information in a way that is easier for readers to understand. The addition of visual elements breaks up text so that visitors/readers will be more likely to stay on your website and eventually convert. Unbroken blocks of text turn any web page into a snooze fest increasing the likelihood that visitors will leave a site for a competitor’s.

Additionally, every website image offers SEO strategists the opportunity to further optimize that page with relevant content. The use of alt tags enables search engines to locate the page and improve that page’s rankings.

Topic Cluster Organization

This is a process to organize website content pages (product pages, blogs, reviews, etc.) cleanly to improve site navigation and provide structure. For example, one primary page will act as the main content hub and multiple related content pages can be linked to it and each other. This creates a network that signals to search engines that your content has depth. The result is that search engines award the primary page as an authority on a topic, thereby increasing the possibility that it will rank on SERPs. 

Content Refresh

Pages that have some SEO traction but require updates will greatly benefit from an injection of new information. An SEO goal is for visitors to bookmark sites and return often. Review your SEO tools arsenal, especially Google Analytics to gauge the quality of your content. Ensure that it ‘reads’ well across all mobile devices as page loading speed (aka ‘load time’) can impact the user experience and site rankings. Do not be concerned about the amount of new content you inject into a webpage. As long as it informs and is relevant, the page should attract more search traffic via search queries.

For eCommerce sites especially, make certain that there are no broken internal links to products that you no longer carry. This action alone will help to lower your site’s bounce rate. Refreshing content visits a more positive experience, and user experience remains an important consideration for many client goals including further awareness of their brand.

Improve Content Readability

Spark reader interest with a fresh page layout. Content that reads like a book without any illustrations, video, or visual stimulation will lose readers’ interest fast. In the worst case scenario, they could exit your site for a competitor. Fresh content will retain site visitors which is a known, successful strategy for increasing conversions. The longer a visitor remains on a site, the greater the chances they will convert to make a purchase, sign up for information using their email address, or call and become a prospect.