The Complete SEO Checklist For 2021: Optimize Every Page on Your Site

To help blog posts and pages gain search visibility, you need to use on-page SEO to attract search engines and help them understand, recognize, and rank your content. To help you through that process, we created an on-page SEO checklist. That way you never miss an opportunity to optimize your webpages or blog posts.

What is On-Page SEO?

On-page SEO is the process of optimizing individual pages of content to earn better ranks in search and drive relevant traffic. It includes tactics that help a single page rank for a primary target keyword.

While on-page SEO relates to optimizing a single page of content, it is also supported by other types of SEO. On-page SEO alone may not be enough to get a page to rank. You also need an off-page and technical SEO strategy to help your overall site look more attractive to search engines if you want to get a page of content to rank.

The rest of this post includes a 20-point on-page SEO checklist, plus important off-page and technical SEO tactics you need to support your on-page efforts.

20-Point On-Page SEO Checklist

Use this SEO task list before you publish any new posts or pages on your site. You can also use the on-page SEO checklist to go back and check your work on any previously published content.

1. Choose one primary keyword for your content.

Once you choose your keyword, assign it to one page of content on your site. Create an editorial calendar for new content and assign a target keyword to each page.

2. Make sure the primary keyword isn’t assigned to another piece of content.

A primary keyword should never be assigned to more than one page of content on your site. If you assign the same keyword to more than one page, it can cause keyword cannibalization issues, wherein search engines don’t know which page is more important and, therefore, rank neither page. You can use a duplicate content checker to find issues like this on your site.

3. Choose three to five related keywords for your content.

Related keywords are terms and phrases that are synonyms or semantically related to your primary keyword. They are sometimes referred to LSI keywords or latent semantic indexing keywords. Perform keyword research to find three to five keywords that are related to your primary keyword.

4. Write a title that includes the primary keyword.

Write a title that is appealing to both search engines and audiences. Serve search engines by including the primary keyword near the beginning of the headline, and serve audiences by writing a descriptive yet concise title that tells readers why the content is valuable.

5. Wrap the title in an H1 tag.

Add the title to your page, and wrap it in an H1 title tag. An H1 title tag is a piece of HTML code that tells search engines that the copy is the title of the page and an important description of the content.

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6. Add the primary keyword to create a 2-3% keyword density.

Help search engines recognize the main theme of your content by using the primary keyword throughout the copy. As a best practice, use the term two to three times per 100 words to create a 2-3% keyword density. Try to avoid going over this limit to avoid keyword stuffing issues.

7. Wrap subheadings in an H2 tag.

Help search engines identify the subheadings in your content (and the main points of your copy) by wrapping the phrases in an H2 tag. Like the H1 tag used on your headline, this HTML code tells search engines that the copy is important and related to the primary page topic.

8. Use the primary keyword in at least one subheading.

Tie your content back to the main keyword by using the primary keyword in at least one of your subheadings. Use it in more than one subheading if it is natural and makes sense.

9. Use the primary keyword in the first and last paragraph of the content.

Show search engines that the page is closely related to the topic by bookending your copy with a mention of the primary keyword. Try to use the target keyword near the beginning of your first paragraph and within your final paragraph to reinforce what your content is about. This will help make it clear to search engines why your content is relevant.

10. Add relevant internal links using targeted anchor text.

Links help search engines connect and understand online content. Add relevant internal links to other pages on your site, and when possible, use the linked page’s target keyword as the anchor text for the link.

11. Add at least one image.

Make the content more interesting to readers and show search engines that the content is valuable by adding at least one image to the page.

12. Add the primary keyword to the image file name.

Before you upload the image to your website, name the file with a phrase that includes the primary keyword for the page.

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13. Add the primary keyword to the image title.

When you upload the image, also add the primary keyword to the image title assigned to the graphic.

14. Add the primary keyword to the image alt tag.

In one final place, add the primary keyword to the image alt tag for the graphic.

15. Add relevant links to high-quality sites.

Links leading to other sites also add context that helps search crawlers understand your content. So also include relevant, valuable, and high-quality outbound links that lead to other pages when you mention a resource or cite a source within your content. Check the Alexa Rank of the sites you link to, and make sure they are high-quality backlinks with a strong Alexa Rank.

16. Assign relevant tags and categories (if it’s a blog post).

Blog post tags and categories organize on-site content and help search engines understand topics. If you publish a blog post, add categories and tags that are relevant to the theme of the content.

17. Add an optimized meta title.

A meta title is a line of code that tells search engines the title of a page. It is also the title that appears on search engine results pages (SERPs). Add a meta title for your page that has fewer than 60 characters, includes the primary keyword near the front of the title, and entices the user to click.

18. Add an optimized meta description.

A meta description is a blurb of information that supports the meta title. It also helps search engines understand the content and is displayed on SERPs. Add an optimized meta description that has fewer than 320 characters, includes the primary keyword near the front of the description, and includes a soft call to action encouraging readers to click.

19.Add social sharing links.

Content is more likely to be found when it is optimized for both search and social. Include sharing buttons, and add click-to-tweet and other social sharing call to actions on the page.

20. Proofread your content.

Before you publish a post or page, always proofread the content for spelling and grammatical errors.. This is an essential part of writing, as it makes sure your content is high-quality, authoritative, and worthy of being a top search result.