An On-Page SEO Checklist: 13 Things You Can Fix Today

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is often associated with long-term strategies, technical audits and content marketing campaigns. However, some of the most impactful SEO improvements can be made directly on your website within just a matter of hours. On-page SEO focuses on optimising individual pages in order to help search engines to understand your content and improve the user experience (UX) overall. 

Whether you’re managing a blog, e-commerce store or a business website, this on-page SEO checklist will help you to identify quick and easy wins that can improve rankings, enhance user engagement and increase organic traffic. With this in mind, here are thirteen things you can fix today when it comes to SEO, from eta descriptions to keyword placement, and everything in between:

1. Title tags

Title tags remain one of the most important on-page SEO elements. This is because they’ll tell both users and search engines what your page is about, whether you offer a service or sell products. Some of the best practices when it comes to title tags and SEO include:

• Keeping titles between 50-60 characters
• Including your primary keyword near the beginning
• Making titles compelling to increase click-through rates (CTRs)
• Ensuring every website page has a unique title tag

2. Meta descriptions

Meta descriptions aren’t a direct ranking factor, but they do have the power to influence CTRs from search results. Some of the best things you can do when it comes to meta descriptions and SEO improvement include keeping descriptions between 150-160 characters, including your target keyword naturally, adding a clear value proposition and including a call to action (CTA) when appropriate. 

3. Heading strucutre

Headings will help to organise content and make it easier for search engines to understand page hierarchy. In addition, a clear heading structure will help to improve both SEO and readability. Here’s a short checklist to help you out when it comes to using the proper heading structure:

• Using only one H1 tag per page
• Including your primary keyword in the H1
• Using H2s and H3s for logical content sections
• Avoiding skipping hedging levels unnecessarily

4. URL structures

Clean URLs are easier for users and search engines to understand. For instance, a good URL would be: yourwebsite.com/on-page-seo-checklist. Whereas a poor URL would be: yourwebsite.com/page?id=12345. Some best practices to avoid this would be to keep the URLs short and descriptive, include relevant keywords, avoid unnecessary numbers and symbols and use hyphens instead of underscores. 

5. Keyword placement

Keyword placement that is strategic will help search engines to understand the topic of your content. However, you should avoid keyword stuffing as a general rule of thumb here. Instead, focus on natural language and user intent. Once you’ve found the keyword you want to focus on, otherwise called your primary keyword, then you should make sure to include it in:

• Title tags
• H1 headings
• The first 100 words
• At least one H2 heading 
• The meta description
• The image alt text, where relevant

6. Content quality

Content quality will need to be improved if you want to perform well in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Google prioritises content that provides value and answers user questions thoroughly. What you should do with content is to update outdated statistics, examples and references in order to keep content fresh and relevant. With this in mind, you should ask yourself the following questions:

• Does this content solve a specific problem?
• Is the information current and accurate?
• Does it offer unique insights?
• Is it more useful than competing pages?

7. Internal links

Adding internal links is something else you should do to boost your SEO game. This is because internal linking helps search engines to discover pages and distributes authority throughout your website more effectively. For instance, a blog post about SEO can link to articles covering keyword research, link building and technical SEO. The best practices here include:

• Linking to relevant pages naturally
• Using descriptive anchor text
• Connecting related content clusters
• Fixing orphan pages with no internal links

8. Broken links

Broken links will help to create a poor user experience (UX), therefore negatively affecting SEO. Something that will help here is regular maintenance. It helps to keep your site healthy and trustworthy at the same time. When you carry out an audit to identify those broken links, you should:

• Check internal links
• Review external references
• Update redirected URLS
• Remove links that no longer serve a purpose

9. Images

Images need to be optimised. This is because an optimised image will significantly contribute to page load speed and overall user experience (UX). In order to optimise an image, you should: compress large image files, use modern formats (such as WebP), add descriptive file names, include meaningful alt text and specific image dimensions. 

10. Page loading speed

We’ve just touched on the fact that optimised images can improve page loading speed, but what else can you do to improve this? You can minify CSS and JavaScript, enable browser caching, rescue unnecessary plugins and use a content delivery network (CDN). Even small speed improvements can positively impact SEO performance, making it a simple and easy SEO fix. 

11. Mobile-friendly site

A mobile-friendly site is important in this modern age. With mobile-first indexing, Google primarily evaluates the mobile version of your website. A poor mobile experience can significantly limit organic visibility. With this in mind, you should verify that: responsive design works correctly, text remains readable on small screens, buttons are easy to tap, navigation is intuitive, and pages load quickly on mobile devices.

12. Calls to action (CTAs)

SEO brings visitors to your website, but conversions determine business results. Place CTAs strategically throughout your content without disrupting the reading experience. Some effective CTAs include:

• “Download a guide”
• “Request a quote”
• “Start a free trial”
• “Contact your team”
• “Subscribe to a newsletter”

13. Search intent

Ranking well requires matching the reason behind a user’s search. Ensure that your content format aligns perfectly with user expectations and intent. Some common content types include: informational, navigational, commercial and transactional. Learn more about search intent.

With more than 20 years of experience in the digital marketing industry, Kumo helps businesses build a stronger online presence and achieve lasting growth. Our experts in SEO, PPC, content marketing and web design develop customised strategies that boost search visibility, drive targeted traffic, and turn website visitors into valuable leads and customers. Get in touch with our team today to find out how we can help your business achieve its online marketing goals.