On-Page SEO Checklist 2021- 28 SEO Onpage Factors To Rank
On-Page SEO Checklist for Bloggers & Marketers in 2021-A Step by Step Guide:
In this on-page SEO checklist, I will teach you all the aspects of on-site optimization to get better ranking and drive tons of traffic. You will also learn; what is on-page SEO optimization, what are on-page SEO factors, what is on-page SEO techniques, and how to improve on-page SEO step by step in WordPress or for any site.
So, let’s dive into the complete on-page SEO checklist and the best SEO strategy and Tips.
On-Page SEO is an On-Site performance that improves User Experience, Bounce Rate, Dwell Time, Search Intent, Page loading speed, and Click-through Rate. In-toto, On-Page SEO is responsible for your website’s overall SEO efficiency.
Some people do spend a huge marketing budget and efforts on building links and off-page SEO. But if you are ignoring On-Page SEO, your site will be ZOMBIE-LAND where users will land in the marshland.
Here, The Blue Oceans Group created a complete On-Page SEO Checklist with 28 ranking factors for you, that will help your site to improve ranking with targeted traffic and better conversions.
On-Page SEO Checklist 2021 with Readability and User Analysis:
#1 On-Page SEO Checklist- Content-Length:
The length of your blog post or web pages has a direct correlation with the search engine ranking. The content length also defines the engagement rate, bounce rate, session time along with other critical factors. Hence, content on your page is a crucial on-page SEO cheklist.
Of course, the length of the blog post varies from industry to industry. The marketing and advertising industry like The Blue Oceans Group needs a comprehensive post of at least 2000+ words on their web pages.
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Whereas industries like news, technology, healthcare, fashion, and food need 1200+ words.
Similarly manufacturing, sales, retail and real industries require 1500+ words to get better ranking and engagement.
The studies of HubSpot, Statista and others show that the blog length of more than 2000-3000 words gets maximum engagement, backlinks, social shares and higher ranking on search engines.
Click to know, how to write best SEO Content for your Site
#2 On-Page SEO Checklist- Flesch Reading and Text Visibility:
If the text copy on your page is difficult and you are using very sophisticated words to make your content embellish, then it can not be reader-friendly. There are higher chances of getting less session time, high bounce rate and least retention rate.
Choose Fonts that are easy to read
#3 On-Page SEO Checklist- Do not use Passive Voice:
Always keep your sentences in Active voice. If you are using passive voice sentences and it is more than 10%, then it is not a good sign of your content.
The reason is quite simple. If the sentences in your blog posts are in the active voice, it conveys a clear, strong, and sounds more articulate.
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The passive voice is subtler and weaker. People find it a bit fancy to use passive voice sentences. But do not replicate your verbal communication in your blog posts. It can heart your user’s experience.
#4 On-Page SEO Checklist- Sentence Length:
To make your text easier, use short sentences. The sentences that contain more than 20 words are hard to read, connect and understand. So, keep the length of your sentence in 1 or 2 lines.
Google only recommends the maximum 25% of your sentences, that can go beyond 20 words.
#5 On-Page SEO Checklist- Consecutive Sentences:
Use a variety of sentences while writing content by which readers should not feel bored. In many blog posts, you must come across the sentences like- “It was a nice place. It consists of trees and mountains. It is like a paradise where anyone can spend their whole life.”
Here, the word IT is appearing again and again, which makes your readers frustrated.
#6 On-Page SEO Checklist- Subheading Distribution:
Your blog posts can have great visibility and user experience if you are using subheading after 100-150 words.
If you will keep writing without using subheading, your content will clutter at one place with no breathing space.
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#7 On-Page SEO Checklist- Paragraph Length:
The length of your one paragraph must not exceed more than 300 words. Try to use H2, H3 heading tags after every 200-250 words.
#8 On-Page SEO Checklist- Transition Words:
The examples of transition words are ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘so’, ‘because’, furthermore, and the like. When you use these transition words in your content, it connects phrases, sentences, or even paragraphs. Readers can easily understand the whole content by establishing a relationship with their thoughts and ideas.
On-Page SEO Checklist 2021 on Search Engine Optimization Analysis:
#9 On-Page SEO Checklist- Keyphrase or Keyword Length:
A keyword is the central pillar of SEO. If you target the keyword around your niche, it can make your site huge and you can generate huge money.
On the other hand, if you select the keyword without research and analysis, your site can drive very less traffic or even ZERO traffic.
So, while doing research on the keyword related to your blog post or niche, must analyze the search volume, competition, ranking difficulty, paid difficulty, and cost per click(CPC).
To get the best keyword research and analysis, you can use SEO tools like SEMrush, Serpstat, Ahrefs, Moz, Uber Suggest, and the like.
If you are industry leaders and an established market player in marketing and advertising, you can use a short tail keyword that consists of 1 word such as SEO, Marketing, Social Media kind of keywords. If you are dealing in the travel industry, you can select Europe, India tourism, USA travel and likes. Similarly, you can choose keywords for other industries, depending on your niche.
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But if you are new or growing into space, then ranking in these highly competitive keywords can take at least 1-2 years.
In this case, the best thing for you is- go with the long-tail keywords. It is low competitive, easy to rank, and has decent and well-targeted traffic. The example of long-tail keywords is SEO Strategies, Best SEO Tips, Best SEO Tools, Social Media Strategy, and the likes. If you are dealing in the travel industry, choose keywords like visiting places in Europe, places in the USA, Visiting places in India. You can choose the same strategies in other industries as well.
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The length of the keyword can be from 1 word to 5 words. Do not exceed with more than 5 words else you will have the large URL.
#10 On-Page SEO Checklist- Keyphrase Density (Keyword Optimization):
The key phrase density is- how many times you embedded your focus keyword in your blog post. The number of focus keywords varies as per the length of the blog.
Generally, if your blog post is about 1000 words, include your focus keyword at least 5-6 times for the optimization of your blog. If the length of the blog is more than 2000 words, try to include your focus keywords at least 8 times.
By doing so, you optimize your web page with that particular keyword for what you want to rank. Also, it sends the clear signal to Google, what your page is all about. This is the core part of On-Page SEO.
#11 On-Page SEO Checklist- Sprinkle Synonyms and Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) Keywords:
You should use the LSI keywords in your blog post. Using synonyms and LSI keywords are the part of advanced on-page SEO.
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To find the exact LSI keywords for your focus keyword, you can use tools like LSIGraph and Answer The Public. It helps you to find the most relevant synonym based on the search results.
#12 On-Page SEO Checklist- Optimize your Page with Keyword in The Title:
The most appropriate place of embedding your focus keywords in your blog title. Try to front-load the blog post title with the focus keywords.
Front Load your keyword in Title
If the keyword for your blog is Alaska Tourism, then the structure of the title will be;
Alaska Tourist: 10 Thrilling Places for Travellers
#13 On-Page SEO Checklist- The Length of the URL and The Blog Posts Title:
Most of the pages on search engines generally prefer less than 60 characters, as it is the visible length on search pages. Do not use more than 60 characters either in your title or in your URL. It hurts user experience and searches engine ranking as well.
#14 On-Page SEO Checklist- Include Keyword or Keyphrase in the Blog URL:
In my opinion, if you include your focus keywords in the URL, it is a positive signal to Google and an important aspect of on-page SEO.
So, optimize your URL with your main keywords for SEO.
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There are only 2 things to consider while creating an SEO friendly URL. First one is- make it short and second is include the keyword in your URL. That is it.
Most of the people did blunder while creating a URL. They include the date, year, and other unnecessary factors in their URL. It is a pathetic way and Google hates it.
The Recommended URL Structures are;
https://www.example.com/topic, or
https://www.example.com/keyword
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Example of Good URLs are;
https://www.theblueoceansgroup.com/seo-checklist/
https://www.theblueoceansgroup.com/best-wordpress-hosting/
https://www.theblueoceansgroup.com/email-marketing/
Example of Pathetic URLs are;
https://thebluecircle.co/2019/09/04/industry-experts-perspective-on-how-will-healthcare-players-maintain-viability-and-attract-investments-amidst-turbulent-reforms/
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#15. On-Page SEO Checklist- Keyword in Meta Description:
The meta description shows on Google search and it is a short summary of your web page that increases Click Through Rate (CTR).
Including the keyword in the meta description can increase the visibility of your content in the eyes of Google. Google fetches it easily and ranks better if the focus keyword is in your meta description.
#16 On-Page SEO Checklist- Meta Description Length:
Most of the search pages on Google write meta description in less than 160 characters. Google also recommends the ideal length of 160 characters only.
#17. On-Page SEO Checklist- Keyphrase/Keyword in H-1:
H-1 Heading is the 2nd preference and mini title tag that helps Google to understand the structure and content on your web page.
If you have done the proper coding and setting then most of the platforms like WordPress automatically add H-1 heading to your blog post title.
#18 On-Page SEO Checklist- Keyphrase in Introduction:
Optimize your web page by including your focus keyword in the first 100-150 words. It is the most suitable place to put the keyword and tell Google about your keyword. As Google crawlers move from top to bottom and from left to right.
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So, try to draw the attention of Google and help to understand its crawler about your whole content structure. It is one of the best on-page SEO strategies you should go with.
#19 On-Page SEO Checklist- Keyphrase in Subheadings:
Using H-2, H-3 subheading is one of the most crucial ranking factors in an on-page SEO checklist.
Distribute your content with proper breathing space. Do not clutter the content in one place. It can hurt the user experience badly and will increase your bounce rate.
Using subheading in every 250-300 words is the ideal and recommended by the subject matter experts marketers and even by Google.
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#20 On-Page SEO Checklist- Keyphrase in Conclusion:
Load the closing part of your blog post with the focus keywords of your blog post. It will establish the connection and tell your readers and search engine, what your content was all about. Including the main keyword in the blog post can grab the psychological attention of readers.
#21- On-Page SEO Checklist- Keyword Cannibalization (Do not use the same key phrase or keyword that you used before):
I hope you are aware of the term keyword cannibalization. If you are trying to rank multiple web pages with the same keyword, then you are the victim of keyword cannibalization.
It can severely affect your website where you will lose traffic on your site, drastic fall in organic traffic, lose keyword ranking, and can not rank on search engine’s page #1.
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Therefore, do not use the same key phrase or keyword that you used before, as it confuses search engines.
To avoid keyword and content cannibalization, do an audit for your website. Keep the topics and keyword selection in a well-structured manner. Hence, map and cluster your keywords or keyphrases and prevent your website.
#22 On-Page SEO Checklist- Image SEO Marketing (Alt and other Attribute):
Google has a dedicated section of “IMAGE” in its search bar. Therefore Images has a lot of relevancy and weightage in SEO Marketing.
When you upload an image on your blog post or any form of content, it is completely unknown for Google. As it does not read images.
To tell Google about your image content, write an introduction about what your image is all about in Alt attribute. To do proper SEO of that image you should also include Title, Captions, and a short description of fewer than 160 characters.
Use Visuals in your content properly like Image, Video, GIFs, Polls, Charts, Screenshots, Infographics. This help users engage with your content, gives better insights and understanding of your content and thus, reduces bounce rate and increase your session time.
Image Alt texts not only help the search engines understand what your webpage is about, but it also tells that you might have better, richer content than just a plain text webpage.
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#23 On-Page SEO Checklist- Inbound Link or Internal Link:
An inbound link is a technique to connect your pages with each other. Inbound links are those internal links that refer to the pages of having the same domain.
It works amazingly, especially when you make links from high authority pages on your site for your new pages that need a boost to rank on search engines.
Wikipedia is a great example of the power of inbound links. It ranks on the top, almost for every keyword.
#24 On-Page SEO Checklist- Outbound Link or External Links:
An outbound link is also known as external links that are linked to the pages having other domains.
Having an outbound link from high authority pages tells Google and other search engines that it is fully loaded with information.
But do not make 100% outbound or external links, as it may increase your bounce rate and decrease the session time of users on your site.
#25 On-Page SEO Checklist- Update Old or Outdated Content on your Site:
Keep updating and refreshing your content on your site, otherwise, you will lose traffic and organic searches.
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Google and other search engines prefer fresh content over old or outdated content. As search engines try to impress their users and the user always wants updated information with the bonafide source.
#26 On-Page SEO Checklist- Delete Zombie Pages:
Zombie pages are those dead pages on your website, that doesn’t drive any traffic or revenue for you. Many of the times, these pages neither have internal links nor external links. It results in creating a dead end. And if any users visit these pages, either they bounce back from that Zombie page or will leave your site completely.
Always remember, Google prefers 1 comprehensive high-quality blog post over 100 thin contents!!
Therefore, do not increase the size of your site and web pages unnecessarily.
The best way to deal with such severe issues is-to delete all the dead or zombie pages. This will boost the overall efficiency of your website.
There was an increase of 88.3% in organic search traffic of Proven.com when they deleted 40 thousand Zombie Pages from their site.
#27 On-Page SEO Checklist- Find and Fix Orphan Pages:
Orphan pages are those web pages on your site that are not reachable to your readers and search engines. These pages do not have any links.
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Orphan pages are not indexed by search engines. They do not even present on your sitemap. That’s why you need to find and fix these pages fast, as they can create other severe issues.
If you have indexed the URL in your XML sitemap then Google crawler can find your web page. Also, if you internally link your pages, then also Google crawler can find those pages. In both the ways you can accomplish Orphan Pages.
SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Moz link explorer are some of the best tools, which can help you in finding and fixing Orphan Pages.
#28 On-Page SEO Checklist- Featured Snippet SEO:
You can use the featured snippets as the best weapon to maximize your Click Through Rate. In the Google Search Results in appears at position #0.
It can be in the form of a table, list, steps, and the likes to answer the user’s questions.
Why is On-Page SEO Important?
Let’s understand the essentials of On-Page SEO:
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People spend huge money on getting or building links. But On-Page SEO is in your hand and once you do it at its best, you will never spend a single penny.
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You need not go back again and again to optimize your site. It is more targeted that drives high-quality traffic.
- On-Page SEO Strategy is completely Safe and White Hat.
If you are nor spamming keywords, On-page SEO is the best search engine optimization strategy among all other SEO strategies.
Google or any other search engines such as Yahoo, Bing can not penalize you for any reasons. These search engines ban most of the websites and hit them very hard with the penalties, just because they are involved in buying and selling links along with other blackhat strategies.
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If you want to be 100% safe and grow in an effective and efficient manner, focus on 100% On-Page SEO and high-quality content creation.
Author’s Closing Keynote About On-Page SEO Checklist:
You want to share this infographic on your upcoming or existing blog?
Email me at sugandha@theblueoceansgroup.com, and I will give you the setup.️
Pillars of On-Page SEO and the Best On-Page SEO Practices:
- Keyword
- Title Tag
- URL
- Content of the Page
- Image alt Text
- Internal Links
Other strong ranking factors of Search Engine based on this On-Page SEO checklist are:
- Check for Duplicate content
- Check for Keyword Cannibalization
- Check for Anchor Text and Hyperlinks
- Using proper sun-headings
- Other Supporting Factors of On-Page SEO are;
- Paragraph length
- Sentence length
- Using active voice in place of passive voice
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