Optimise Your Website Now With Our On-Page SEO Checklist

Your On-Page SEO Checklist

Use this blog as an in-depth on-page SEO checklist to help you optimise your website and improve your search engine rankings:

1. Conduct Keyword Research

The first step in optimising your website for search engines is to conduct keyword research. Keyword research involves identifying the keywords and phrases that your target audience is searching for and incorporating those keywords into your website’s content. There are plenty of research tools available, such as Google Keyword Planner, Semrush and Ahrefs. By conducting this investigative work, you can identify relevant and valuable keywords for your site and target those keywords in your on-page SEO efforts.

2. Use Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Title tags and meta descriptions are HTML elements that provide a brief description of the content on a page. These are important because they appear in search engine results pages (SERPs) and influence whether or not users click on your website. Make sure to include your target keywords in your title tags and meta descriptions to improve your site’s ranking, but keep them concise as Google tends to display shorter titles; out of 645 titles displayed in SERPs that Search Engine Land analysed, only 12% were above 60 characters, with 68 characters being the maximum length.

3. Optimise Your URLs

URLs are another important on-page optimisation element. URLs should be descriptive, concise and include your target keywords. Avoid using complex URLs with long strings of numbers or characters, as they can be difficult for search engines to crawl and index. In support of this, a recent study by Backlinko found that shorter URLs do in fact rank better than longer ones.

4. Create Quality Content

One of the most important on-page optimisation elements is quality content. Your content should be original, engaging, and informative. It should also be optimised for your target keywords and provide value to your target audience. Make sure to use subheadings, bullet points and other formatting elements to make your content easy to read and scan.

5. Use Header Tags

Header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) are HTML elements that are used to structure the content on a web page. Header tags are important for on-page optimisation because they help search engines understand the hierarchical makeup of your content. Make sure to include your target keywords in your header tags too.

6. Optimise Your Images

Images are an important element of website design, but they can also impact your website’s search engine rankings. Make sure to use descriptive file names and alt text for your images to improve your on-page optimisation. Alt text is a text description that appears when an image cannot be displayed, and it helps search engines understand the content of the image.

In Google’s Advanced SEO documentation, they discuss the use of alt text, stating that: ‘Google uses alt text along with computer vision algorithms and the page contents to understand the subject matter of an image.’ This reinforces the value of alt text, whilst demonstrating one of its many SEO-facing applications.

7. Include Internal Links

Internal links are links that connect one page of your website to another. These links are important because they help search engines understand the structure of your site. Make sure to use descriptive anchor text for your internal links, and link to relevant pages accordingly.

8. Optimise Your Page Speed

Page speed is an important optimisation element because it can impact user experience, and thus SERP rankings. Make sure to optimise your images, minimise the use of plugins and use a content delivery network (CDN) to improve your site’s page speed.

9. Use Social Sharing Buttons

Social sharing buttons are buttons that allow users to share your website’s content on social platforms. These buttons are important for on-page optimisation because they can help increase the visibility and reach of your website’s content. Make sure to include these buttons in your website’s content to encourage widespread sharing.

10. Include a Call to Action

A call to action (CTA) is a button or link that encourages users to take a specific action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form. CTAs are important for on-page optimisation because they can improve the user experience and increase conversions by up to 121%. Make sure to include a clear and compelling CTA on each page of your website.

11. Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly

Mobile-friendliness is a highly important element because more than half of all website traffic comes from mobile devices. Make sure to use responsive design and optimise your website’s images and content for mobile devices to improve the overall UX.

12. Optimise for Local Search

If your business has a physical location, optimising your website for local search is important. Make sure to include your business’s address and phone number on your website and use local keywords in your content to improve your website’s local search rankings.

13. Monitor Your Analytics

Finally, it’s important to monitor your website’s analytics to track your efforts and identify areas for improvement. Use Google Analytics to track your website’s traffic, bounce rate and conversion rate, then make adjustments to your strategy based on the data.

A Quick Recap

In summary, using on-page optimisation for your website is essential for any successful online marketing strategy. By following this comprehensive on-page SEO checklist, you can improve your website’s search engine rankings and attract more targeted traffic to your website.

Saturate can help you through this process with our huge range of incredible digital marketing services. Start flooding your market today – get in touch.