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Our on-page SEO strategies are backed by proven results and trusted by businesses across multiple industries. We optimise your pages using Google-recommended best practices, ensuring stronger rankings, higher trust signals, and a better user experience.
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Your Complete On-Page & On-Site SEO Checklist for Higher Rankings
Technical SEO breaks down into two main areas: off-page SEO (mostly link building) and on-page SEO (optimising everything on your website).
Although Google relies on hundreds of ranking signals, we’ve already highlighted the top 200 factors in a previous guide.
Our SEO Audit Service gives you a customised, in-depth on-page SEO checklist for your target keyword—plus clear insights into why your pages aren’t ranking and how your competitors are outperforming you.
Below is a practical, do-it-yourself guide to improving rankings with proven on-page SEO techniques. These focus on the most impactful issues that usually hold webpages back from reaching the top of the search results.
Introduction to
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO includes all the elements you can control directly on your website—your content, structure, internal links, metadata, and the overall optimization of each landing page. In contrast, off-page SEO focuses on external signals like backlinks, brand mentions, guest posts, and social engagement.
This guide focuses entirely on on-page SEO, helping you improve the areas where you have the most influence. We cover off-page SEO separately, but before diving in, it’s important to understand why on-page optimization matters and how implementing these techniques can significantly strengthen your search visibility.
Everything you adjust on your site—big or small—contributes to your overall ranking performance. On-page SEO isn’t a single action or quick fix. It’s a collection of strategic practices that work together to increase your chances of appearing at the top of search results. Our SEO services are designed to help you apply these tactics effectively and turn your website into a fully optimized, search-friendly asset.
On-Page SEO is a Continuous Process
Some on-page SEO tasks are “set it and forget it”—you make the change once and it stays effective unless something breaks. Others require regular updates and monitoring. Certain improvements are structural, affecting your site’s layout or architecture, while others are content-driven and subjective.
To help you understand why these actions matter (not just how to do them), this guide breaks on-page SEO into three core areas:
Page Indexation
Your first priority is ensuring search engines can access and index your pages. If Google can’t crawl or index your site correctly, the page won’t appear—or will appear incorrectly—in search results.
Page Categorization
Once crawled, Google needs to understand your page’s purpose. Clear titles, meta descriptions, headers, and high-quality content help search engines match your page to the right keyword searches.
Page Functionality
Google prioritises websites that offer a smooth user experience. Factors like speed, layout, mobile responsiveness, and usability all play a major role in how high your page ranks.
In the following sections, we’ll dive deeper into each of these areas and show you how to optimise them effectively.
Proper Indexation:
Making Your Site
Discoverable
Imagine Google as a massive digital library. To get your content found, your “book” must be added to the library’s shelves. Indexation is simply the process of getting your web pages into Google’s system.
Being indexed, however, is not the same as ranking. Ranking depends on relevance, content quality, search intent, and hundreds of other signals.
Ensure Your Site Is Crawlable
Google uses automated bots—called crawlers—to find and understand your website. If these bots can’t access your pages, Google cannot add them to its index.
Common issues that block crawling include:
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Server errors that prevent bots from loading your site
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Website downtime or hosting issues
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Incorrect rules in your robots.txt file
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Firewall or CDN restrictions blocking user agents
Google uses multiple crawlers, including Googlebot Desktop, Googlebot Mobile, and others for images, news, and products. Other search engines like Bing also have their own.
In most cases, if your site is live and functioning, it will naturally be crawled. New websites may take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to appear in search results—so patience is normal.
ROBOTS.TXT
our robots.txt file acts as a simple rulebook placed in your website’s root directory. It tells search engine crawlers which parts of your site they’re allowed to access and which areas they should skip. By default, most bots will try to crawl everything, but there may be pages—such as duplicates, test pages, or private URLs—that you don’t want appearing in search results.
Before a crawler begins scanning your website, it will first look at:
www.yoursite.com/robots.txt
Inside this file, you can specify:
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User-agent: which bot the rule applies to (a specific crawler or all crawlers)
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Disallow: which pages or folders should not be crawled
For most websites, robots.txt only needs attention if you’re dealing with duplicate content, canonical issues, or pages that shouldn’t appear in Google. Otherwise, an empty file is perfectly fine.
Always double-check the file to ensure you haven’t accidentally blocked all crawlers from your entire site—this is a common mistake. And remember, robots.txt is publicly visible to anyone, so it’s not a secure way to hide sensitive content.
If you want to verify that your robots.txt file is written correctly, Google offers a free tool that can test the file and highlight any issues.
URL Structure
The way your URLs are organized plays an important role in on-page SEO. Clear, simple, and descriptive URLs help both search engines and users understand your website’s structure and the purpose of each page.
Here are the best practices to follow:
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Use clean, static URLs. Avoid long, dynamic URLs with parameters, as they can confuse search engines and may appear suspicious.
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Remove special characters or long strings of numbers (such as &$%^* or random ID sequences). These add no value and can reduce clarity.
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Use a logical folder hierarchy that reflects where a page sits within your website. Example: domain.com/category/subcategory/page
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Separate words with hyphens (-) rather than underscores (_). Hyphens are easier for Google to interpret as word breaks.
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Keep URLs short and readable. Shorter URLs are easier to understand, share, and rank.
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Add descriptive keywords at the end of the URL so Google instantly knows what the page covers.
A well-structured URL is short, easy to interpret, reflects the page’s location, and includes terms aligned with user search intent.
For example, instead of using a long or unclear URL like:
A cleaner, more intuitive version would look like:
Sitemap
Creation & Management
There are two primary types of sitemaps you can generate for your website, and both play a useful role in SEO. While some debate their overall impact, creating and maintaining them is almost always worth the effort.
HTML Sitemap
An HTML sitemap is built for both users and search engine crawlers. It’s typically placed in the website footer so every page can easily link back to it. This helps visitors find information quickly and gives crawlers a simple path to understand your site’s structure.
XML Sitemap
An XML sitemap is more technical and created specifically for search engines. You can submit it directly to Google through Google Search Console — just open the “Sitemaps” tab and use the “Add/Test Sitemap” option.
If Google detects issues with your sitemap, it will highlight them for you. Sitemaps.org provides excellent examples and explanations if you want to dive deeper into proper XML formatting.
Keep Your Sitemaps Updated
Websites evolve—pages are added, removed, or modified regularly—so your sitemaps should be kept current to reflect those changes.
If you need assistance auditing or generating your sitemap, tools like Screaming Frog are extremely helpful and even offer a free version for up to 500 URLs.
Page Content
Loading & Site Speed
If any part of your webpage shows blank areas, missing elements, or incomplete loading, that’s a major issue. Every piece of content should load correctly across all devices, browsers, and internet speeds.
The majority of your visible content should be delivered directly through HTML, not heavily dependent on iFrames or AJAX. While these technologies are acceptable for certain functions, your core content must load cleanly and without errors.
The logic is simple:
Google prioritizes pages that display real, accessible content—not empty containers or broken sections.
Even if site speed weren’t a ranking factor, it still plays a huge role in user experience and search intent. A slow or broken page drives visitors away instantly, so keeping your site fast and fully functional is essential.
Micro-Formatting, Structured Data & Schema Markup
When you search online, you’ll often see special result boxes that display quick answers pulled from trusted websites. These featured snippets—part of Google’s Knowledge Graph—appear only when Google clearly understands the information on a page. To help search engines interpret your content, you need structured data (also called microformatting or schema markup).
Structured data is a code format added to your pages that tells Google exactly what type of information you’re providing—whether it’s a product, an event, a person, a recipe, or something else. While it doesn’t directly boost domain authority, it greatly increases your chances of appearing in rich results that sit above standard search listings.
Schema.org provides detailed guidance on how to implement structured data correctly, and using it can significantly improve your visibility in search, especially for featured snippets and “position zero” placements.
Google Analytics & Google Search Console
These tools won’t directly boost your rankings, but they’re essential for monitoring your website’s performance and spotting issues before they affect SEO. If you already have a Google account, setting them up is quick.
Google Analytics gives you detailed data about user behaviour, traffic sources, and how people interact with your site. Google Search Console helps you verify site ownership, track indexing, monitor search performance, and identify technical SEO problems. You simply add their tracking or verification snippets to your site to get started.
Both tools are invaluable for diagnosing duplicate content, checking metadata, monitoring crawl activity, submitting sitemaps, and understanding how well your on-page SEO improvements are working.
OPTIMIZING INDIVIDUAL PAGES
Once your website is correctly indexed, the next step is fine-tuning each individual page. These optimizations must be applied page-by-page, and you should follow the same process whenever you publish new content to ensure consistent on-page performance.
On-Page SEO Titles & Meta Descriptions
Your page titles and meta descriptions are two of the most influential elements in on-page SEO. They appear directly in search results and give both Google and users a quick understanding of what your page is about. For example, the clickable headline you see on Google is the title tag, and the short summary underneath it is the meta description.
These elements serve two purposes. First, they help search engines understand the topic and intent of your page, improving your chances of appearing for relevant searches. Second, they shape a user’s first impression and play a major role in whether someone clicks on your listing or scrolls past it.
Every page on your site should have a unique, clear, and accurate title and description. They should explain the content naturally, use keywords in a way that feels organic, and include your brand name toward the end for better visibility. Avoid keyword stuffing—Google can easily recognize it, and it harms both usability and search ranking. Keep your titles short enough to avoid being cut off, ideally under 75 characters, and keep descriptions under 160 characters so users can read the entire snippet.
Titles generally carry more weight than descriptions, so make sure they deliver a strong message and match the search intent of your audience. Meta descriptions provide additional context and help improve click-through rates even if they don’t directly influence rankings.
While refining your titles and descriptions, pay attention to your header tags as well. Headers like H1, H2, and H3 outline the structure of your content and signal the importance of each section. When used properly, they help search engines understand your topic more clearly and improve your page’s overall readability.
Keyword Density (Primary, Supporting & Semantic Keywords)
Keywords still play a major role in on-page SEO. When optimizing a page, focus on a natural mix of:
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Exact-match keywords
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Partial-match variations
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Entity-based terms
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Semantic/LSI keywords
Use them throughout your content—not just in paragraphs, but also in headings, bold text, italics, and H1–H6 tags. The goal is to send clear topical signals without stuffing your copy.
To keep your keyword usage balanced:
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Aim for 7–12% exact-match usage, depending on what top competitors are doing. Exceeding this may appear spammy.
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Keep entity, partial-match, and LSI keywords in the 3–7% range for a natural flow.
If you want precise density targets based on your competitors, I can run a full on-page SEO audit to show exactly where your page needs improvement.
URL STRUCTURES
We’ve already discussed what an effective URL should look like, but it’s worth repeating one thing: every page needs a clean, well-structured URL. Keep each URL simple, descriptive, and ideally under 90 characters. Make this a standard practice whenever you publish a new page.
On-Page
SEO Content
Your on-page content plays a major role in helping Google understand what your page is about. While titles, descriptions, and headers carry more weight, every page still needs meaningful, well-written content. Aim for at least 100 words of clear, useful copy—if you can’t justify that amount, the page may not need to exist.
Good content helps you in three ways:
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Improves user experience: Google prefers pages that genuinely help users, not thin or empty sections.
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Expands keyword coverage: Blog posts and long-form pages allow you to naturally include related terms, synonyms, and contextual keywords that support semantic search.
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Attracts backlinks: High-quality, informative content is more likely to be referenced and linked to by other sites, boosting your authority.
There are many elements that define “quality,” but focusing on clarity, depth, and usefulness will put you ahead of most competitors.
A Note on
Duplicate Content
Make sure every piece of content on your site is unique and not duplicated elsewhere—either on your domain or across the web. Duplicate versions of the same page can occur when multiple URL variations exist (such as http:// vs. https://), causing Google to index both and treat them as duplicate content.
You can easily identify these issues in Google Search Console under Search Appearance → HTML Improvements, where any duplicates will be flagged. Once found, fix them by blocking unnecessary versions in your robots.txt file or by setting up 301 redirects to ensure each page has a single, canonical URL.
Images
Using images throughout your site can strengthen your SEO, especially when paired with strong written content. Images help Google understand your page better and give you a chance to appear in Google Image search — but only when they’re optimized correctly.
Images improve SEO in two ways:
They add context and relevance to your page, and they can rank independently in image searches when properly labeled.
To optimize your images:
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Use clear, relevant titles that match the topic of your page.
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Write accurate alt tags that describe what’s in the image without keyword stuffing.
For example, a photo of the Washington Monument could have:
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Title: “Photo of the Washington Monument for SEO image optimization”
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Alt text: “Washington Monument against sky”
Make sure your titles and alt tags follow the same best practices as page titles — unique, concise, descriptive, and helpful for users. Also, use standard file formats (like .jpg or .gif) and compress images to keep your site fast.
Internal
& External Linking
Your on-page SEO should naturally include links that point to useful pages—both on your site and across the web.
Internal links create a strong site structure and help users (and search engines) move easily between related pages. Aim to keep every page within four clicks of any other page. A well-linked site improves crawlability, user experience, and overall ranking strength.
External links reference credible sources and signal that your content is backed by real information. They also help Google understand the context and relevance of your page.
For both link types, use clear, descriptive anchor text. Avoid keyword stuffing and avoid using vague phrases like “click here.”
SITE PERFORMANCE
Your website’s overall performance is an important on-page SEO factor that directly affects how well your pages rank. While it may be secondary to core elements like site structure and page content, a slow, unstable, or poorly optimized site can still lower your visibility in search results. Ensuring fast load times, smooth navigation, and error-free browsing helps improve both user experience and search performance.
Mobile
Optimization
Making your website mobile-friendly is no longer optional. Mobile browsing has surpassed desktop use, and Google rewards sites that offer a smooth mobile experience while penalizing those that don’t.
A mobile-optimized site should:
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Load fast on phones and tablets
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Adapt automatically to different screen sizes without forcing users to zoom
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Display readable text and accessible media
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Include buttons, menus, and forms that are easy to tap
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Maintain full functionality across all devices
The most effective way to achieve this is through responsive design, which adjusts your layout to fit any screen. The content remains the same, but elements stack or resize to ensure a seamless mobile experience.
If you want to verify your site’s mobile health, Google provides a free Mobile-Friendly Test that quickly evaluates how your pages perform on mobile devices.
Uptime
& 404 Errors
Your website should stay online consistently. If it goes down due to server problems or maintenance, you need to fix it quickly—downtime hurts user trust and overall performance.
404 errors happen when a page is removed, renamed, or moved. While they don’t directly damage your rankings, they create a poor user experience. A visitor landing on a missing page is more likely to leave immediately.
You can resolve 404s in two main ways:
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Restore the missing page by correcting its URL or bringing it back.
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Use a 301 redirect to send users to the updated or most relevant replacement page.
In some cases—like outdated or irrelevant content—leaving a 404 is fine. But for key pages, always fix or redirect to maintain a smooth user journey.
Site
Speed
Site speed has become a major on-page SEO ranking factor. Faster websites create better user experiences, reduce bounce rates, and give you an advantage in search results. Improving load time also strengthens your brand perception—slow pages lose visitors instantly.
You can boost your site’s speed by:
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Compressing and resizing images
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Removing unnecessary plugins or scripts
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Using caching effectively
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Enabling compression
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Clearing out unused drafts or outdated files
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Fixing server or hosting issues that slow down performance
Fast loading is even more critical for mobile users, who typically have slower connections and less patience. Every second saved helps your rankings and conversions.
SITE SECURITY
A secure website doesn’t dramatically boost rankings on its own, but it plays an important role in user trust and overall site quality. Switching to HTTPS ensures all data sent between your users and your website is encrypted and protected.
Google also considers HTTPS a ranking signal—small today, but increasing in importance over time. Most hosting providers allow you to purchase or activate an SSL certificate quickly, making it an easy win for both security and SEO.
A Note on CMSs
Before wrapping up, it’s important to understand how CMS platforms fit into on-page SEO. Modern systems like WordPress often include built-in SEO tools or plugins that claim to automate optimization tasks. Many of these features are helpful and can save time by simplifying things like editing titles, meta descriptions, and basic technical settings.
However, you shouldn’t rely solely on these tools or assume everything is handled for you. Always verify the output yourself, run checks, and review the code when needed. CMS features are great assistants—but they don’t replace a proper, manual SEO review.
YOUR COMPLETE
ON-PAGE SEO CHECKLIST
You’ve covered a lot, so here’s a simplified, easy-to-follow checklist to guide your on-page SEO improvements. Use this as a quick reference for both site-wide and page-level optimization.
Site-Wide On-Page SEO Checklist
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Verify and upload a proper robots.txt file to ensure search engines can access your site.
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Check for and fix any server-side issues that may block crawlers.
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Keep all URLs static, short, and clearly structured, ideally with breadcrumb-style organization.
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Maintain both HTML and XML sitemaps, updating them as your site grows.
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Ensure all content loads correctly from HTML across all devices and browsers.
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Implement structured data / schema markup to help search engines understand your content.
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Strengthen navigation with internal links using clear, relevant anchor text.
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Build authority with external links that point to trustworthy sources.
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Add images with unique titles and descriptive alt tags.
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Optimize for high site speed across all pages.
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Protect user data with SSL encryption (HTTPS).
Individual Page On-Page SEO Checklist
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Write unique, descriptive title tags (under 70 characters) including a target keyword.
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Create clear, concise meta descriptions (under 160 characters) that reference the keyword.
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Use proper header hierarchy (H1, H2, H3…) throughout your content.
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Keep URL slugs under 90 characters, clean, readable, and keyword-friendly.
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Include a few hundred words of unique, helpful content that matches search intent.
• FAQs
Read our Common
Question.
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