/on-page-seo-checklist

Step-by-step On-page Search Engine Optimisation Checklist

On-page Search Engine Optimisation Checklist

Schema

  • Identify what information can be included in the schema
  • Build the JSON-LD schema

Keywords

  • Identify the keywords to rank for.
  • Include the target keyword in the first 100 words of the article/content.
  • Include keyword at the beginning of the article/content.
  • Wrap target keyword ( or a synonym ) in an h1 tag.
  • The keyword or synonym is in an H1 tag.
  • H2 and H3 tags.
    • Include the keyword once in an H2 or H3 subheading.

Title

  • Google puts more weight on words found at the beginning of the title tag.
  • Length 50 - 60 characters
  • Modifiers to the title tag
    • Add modifiers like “2018″, “best”, “guide”, and “review” to help rank for long tail versions of the target keyword.
  • Power words like Today, Right now, Fast, Works quickly, Step-by-step, Easy, Quick, Simple

Description

  • Length 120 - 158 characters.

Image optimization

  • Tag the images with keyword-rich alt text.

SEO Friendly - URLs

  • Short URLs that include the target keyword.

Outbound links

  • Include at least 2 outbound links to related authority sites (popular blogs, news sites and .edu and .gov resources) in every piece of published content.

Loading speed

  • Google PageSpeed Insights tool to figure out the site’s loading speed.

Social sharing buttons

  • Social sharing buttons are front and center on blog posts and articles.

Long content

  • At least 1500 words for content that we’re trying to rank for competitive keywords

Bounce

  • Include internal links at the top of the article/page.

Use LSI keywords

  • LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords are words that are commonly found alongside your target keyword. e.g. archive inspire = archives unlocked, the national archives about, archives strategy, the national archives about us, national archive at Kew, national archives exhibition, how to use the national archives, national archives discovery

Dwell time

  • Write long, engaging content that keeps people reading. Put a lot of effort into making the first paragraph interesting and compelling.

Internal Linking

  • Add 2-3 internal links to older articles when publishing a new one.

Optimize click to content

  • Make sure high-priority pages are no more than 3 clicks away from the homepage.

Maximize CTR

  • If the users rarely click on the page in Google’s search results, it sends a VERY strong signal to Google that we’re not a good fit for that keyword. And the opposite is also true: if users' cursors are attracted to your site like a magnet, Google will give the page a rankings boost.

Useful links