On-Page SEO Checklist For 2021 (The Complete Guideline)

When comes ranking of a page you know it needs to optimize with the right on-page SEO. In the On-page SEO checklist, adding Meta Description and enriching the focus keyword describes all of us for optimization. Furthermore, you need to follow some additional tasks which are essential when desiring to rank on Google.

In general, there have some other points you should not skip in 2020 to make the content search engine friendly. Notably, you have the necessity of adding Meta Description or keeping the right keyword density. Henceforth, you need to do some other’s works to complete the SEO for the ranking of the page.

With this in mind, in this post, you will know the complete guideline of on-page SEO and which one is more necessary in 2020 to keep the balance. On the other hand, you need traffic from the searcher to increase the CTR and bringing sales. In this case, you have the necessity of some other factors according to the future o

f SEO, especially on Artificial Intelligence with the Rankbrain on Google.

What is On-Page SEO and why it is the biggest factor for ranking

In general, On-Page SEO is the optimization of your content, post, or page. The writing styles or content optimization of this content is also the perfect example of on-page SEO. That means adding a heading tag, formatting the content, increasing keyword density is part of on-page SEO. Similarly, it needs to follow some other essential checklist to optimize the content. With this in mind, I will show all the matters in this post.

To point out, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is divided into two types including On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO. In the previous days, after publishing content if you can bring the backlinks, it gets the rank. In recent days, Google is very smart. For this reason, you need to optimize the content first and enriching it with resources; then a little off-page SEO can rank the content. For this reason, optimizing on the on-page is very necessary for ranking the page or post.

On-Page SEO Checklist

I have tried to collect all the on-page SEO checklists which will affect for ranking of your content after 2020. For this reason, if you follow the below checklist, you do not need to manage anything for on-page SEO. Are you ready to implement on-page SEO on your post, page, or blog? Let’s start to learn.

1. Generate SEO Friendly URLs:

URLs of the post are not the most significant factor for ranking, but Google gives priority to this if it gets the keyword or similar types of the word in the URL. For this reason, you should not skip this area.

On the other hand, a keyword-friendly URL helps the users to think this is the page that they are searching for. It is the best practice to keep the URL short and without unnecessary words or numbers.

Better to keep the page like https://mahbubosmane.com/on-page-seo/. Avoid date or other formats of the URLs. It helps to understand the readers about professionalism and Google takes it as neat and clean and ranking juice.

2. Keep Keyword in the Titles:

When searchers look for the answer, they enter on any content 70% of the cases only by getting the keyword on the titles. At the same time, they think it is the most reliable page when it stays the keyword in the titles. For this reason, it is your duty to keep the exact keyword on the titles. On the other hand, you should try to keep it on the first of the titles. It helps to increase the organic CTR. So do not forget to optimize the title with the keyword.

3. Add modifiers to the titles:

Modifiers on the titles help to increase the CTR of 300% of the cases. If you can add modifiers that are attractive and goes into the mind of the searchers, they will open your page with satisfaction. That means adding modifiers increase the Click Through Rate and according to the Google Rankbrain updates, organic CTR helps to rank a page quickly. With this in mind, you need to use the creativity of you. Important to realize, the modifiers can vary from niche to niche. Most use modifiers are Best, Review, Complete Guideline, Ultimate Guideline, Best Tips/Review, Adding the Year or number.

4. Keep the titles on the H1 tag

In the total content, you should use the H1 tag one time, and it will be the titles. Google counts H1 as the titles. So, you should use the titles one time per post. It indicates the heading tag as titles. In the CMS you will get the post titles as H1. Though I will suggest the code if the theme is using the H1 as the heading. At the same time, if you are using an HTML template you should follow the H1 tag as titles.

5. Enrich Visual Content

Using visual content including images, videos or Infographic increases the boost in the search ranking. The more attractive visual content you will use the more engagement you will get.

For this reason, it will reduce the bounce rate and increase the Dwell Time. Not to mention, the bounce rate and Dwell Time are one of the significant factors for ranking the content on the search engine. With this in mind, if you use visual content according to the page size, it will surely help the ranking of your post.

6. Use subheading (H2….H6)

Formatting the content accurately is very important to make it user-friendly. If you can make the content user interactive, it will surely get targetted leads, and automatically it will rank in the search engine. For formatting the content you need to use the H2….H6 tag among the content.

At the same time, you need to use the Bold or Italic word on the content which is very important to rank a page. With this in mind, the sixth option for on-page SEO is using the subheading and formatting the content accurately.

7. Keep Focus Keyword in the First Paragraph

If Google does not count the Meta Descriptions, it takes the first some words (320 Characters) into consideration to show on the search engine. At the same time, it indicates the content is telling something about the things on the keyword.

On the other hand, you need to use keywords to satisfy the readers. They will understand why they should read the content. So, it is the best practice to keep the keywords in the first paragraph or between the first 100 to 300 words on the content.

8) Ensure Responsive Design

Google is giving more priority to ranking with mobile-friendly pages. Now 50% of the searches are coming from the mobile phone. For this reason, making the page mobile-friendly is very necessary for you to rank quickly on Google.

On the other hand, you will get a lot of visitors outside of desktop users. With this in mind, it is your duty to make the pages mobile-friendly.

9) Place Sufficient Outbound Links

Outbound links are something that tells Google about your page as like the links pointing you. It makes the page more informative, and so you have to place outbound links to make the content informative and to increase the engagement of the readers.

If you use outbound links to the authority, the search engine takes it as an important signal. Though you can lose some juice surely Google will take your page as more priority. Important to realize, Google takes care of content types of the outbound links. So do it with similar topics of you which will add value to the content.

10) Interlink Properly

It is more important (Must Need) to make internal Linking among the similar pages on your website. It distributes the juice among the whole website. At the same time, it helps to reduce the bounce rate.

On the other hand, it helps to increase page view which takes Google as a ranking factor and increases trust factor as well. With this in mind, it is very important to increase the internal linking of the content.

11) Boost The Site Speed

Loading speed is very important to keep valuable visitors. Researchers show that if your website takes 1 or 2 seconds more time to load the website, it can reduce 50% of your visitors. For this reason, it is the duty to increase site speed.

On the other hand, it needs to keep under 5 seconds to load a web page. It will surely increase the visitors and Google will rank your content.

12) Keep LSI Keywords

LSI refers to Latent Semantic Indexing. It indicates the terms similar to the keywords. That means the related words of any keywords. For increasing the focus keywords on the content, LSI plays an important role. You can use it as many similar words as you get. Surely, it will increase the density of the keywords. At the same time, Google will take it as ranking factors. Important to realize, Google can understand the similar terms of the word now for implementing AI on the algorithm.

13) Optimize the image

I have told you before enriching the visual content makes the content more user-friendly, and it helps to rank the page. Here if you do not optimize the image, it will add less value. For this reason, it is your duty to optimize the image with the keywords. Use similar titles of the keywords in the image. At the same time, use the ALT Text and Descriptions to make it authentically in the eyes of Google. It will add more value to rank the content and the image as well. You can get a lot of visitors with an image search engine also.

14) Use Social Sharing Buttons

Social sharing impacts the search ranking, and it increases social engagement. You can get some loyal leads from here also. For this reason, you have to share the content on social media. At the same time, you have to keep the social media buttons on the page or post. It will help others to share easily on their social channel. It makes the process easier. For this reason, it increases social share.

15) Post Lengthy Content with Resource

The time of short descriptions or content has gone. This is the time of writing lengthy content. On the other hand, it is not the duty only to write the long post; you need to add value here. You have to increase the resource and information which will add extra attention to the users and the search engine as well. For this reason, it is your duty to make the content lengthy with reliable and similar information. It will surely increase the rank on Google.

16) Optimize for Increasing Dwell Time

Dwell Time defines the time spending the searchers on your content and going back to find another. Google determines it as content quality. Google counts it as the ranking signals. When anyone comes and goes back to see another page, then it indicates low quality and unoptimized page. On the other hand, if Google gets visitors who are spending more time on the page, it provides an excellent signal. Surely, you can increase the Dwell time by optimizing the content and writing the lengthy content regularly.

17) Optimize for reducing Bounce Rate

Sometimes, you may make a fault with the Dwell time and Bounce Rate. Bounce Rate indicates the signal of coming back without going into another page. That means the readers are not getting any similar or necessary topics on your website. It is helpful to rank a page. When you have a low bounce rate, then Google thinks it is beneficial and if it happens the opposite you need to optimize the page and increase similar types of quality content to catch the eyes of the readers.

18) Encourage Commenting

Most of the so-called bloggers keep the comment options disabled, and they think they are the bloggers. In general, bloggers will make a community, and the readers will get the solution from the comment also. So, I appreciate keeping the comment section enabled. On the other hand, Google takes the comment into consideration. It increases the engagement as well as gets some similar types of content here also. For this reason, I will inspire to keep commenting and making a good community.

19) Always Generate Quality Content

Maybe I should say it needs to stay at the beginning of the content. Anyway, content is the life of your blog. When you write quality content, then you can do the on-page SEO here. For this reason, you have to give importance here. Without generating quality content, you have no way to do the rest of the work. Even you can’t do off-page SEO in the right way. With this in mind, it is the only and most efficient tips to generate quality content always and then do it SEO-friendly.

20) Redirect the page with 302

If you get any important page as a 302 error, you need to redirect it to a similar page. In some cases, you can also redirect it to the homepage. It passes juice to the new pages. At the same time, Google takes it as valuable. Otherwise, the visitors will go back if they do not get any content on the page. For this reason, redirecting the 302 pages is good for the SEO of your page.

21) Reduce Broken Link

When you are blogging for a long time, you will get the enormous broken link where you are pointing or on your website. You need to fix it. You can do it manually. On the other hand, you will get a free plugin if you use WordPress. It will check all the broken links on your website. That means you can disable it later after finishing or fixing the broken link.

Other On-Page SEO factors

I have separated the below points in the second heading does not mean it is not necessary or less important. I have just side some factors which you need not do all the time, but of course at least one time. For example, Domain Name. When you finish buying the domain name, you can skip it. Though it is an important ranking factor in the case of on-page SEO.

22) Domain Name

Choosing the right domain name can define your success. In general, the domain name is the business identity in most cases. For this reason, you need to choose the domain name carefully if it will be SEO friendly or you can fulfill the need for you. Do not catch anything which is not good to hear or complicated to pronounce. So, take care of the below things when choosing the domain name.

• Make it easy to type
• Keep it short
• Try to use the keywords or similar terms
• Avoid Numbers or Hyphens
• Choose something memorable
• Better to go with .com

23) Update the Site Regularly

In particular, Google loves the updated content, and if you update or add some new words, Google takes it as updated content. Even you will see the date on the search engine when the searcher is looking for the results. For this reason, it is good practice to update the content regularly. At the same time, keep your website updated with the latest CMS, Plugins, or security service. It will increase the trust among the readers and Google will take it as a good signal as well.

24) Keep the Skyscraper technique in mind

The first thing to remember, I may not describe the methods here on the on-page SEO checklist, but I have added it. Why? Because the ways of skyscraper technique tell to generate high-quality content and encourages the on-page optimization. For this reason, for bringing the backlinks or outreaching the blog, skyscraper does things in a 100% legal way which is good for the ranking of your content. With this in mind, it can surely inspire you to do very well on on-page SEO. So when doing On-Page SEO or generating the content keep the skyscraper technique in mind.

25) Keyword Density

Keeping a good ratio of the keyword on the content helps the search engine to crawl and show the page with certain keywords. On the other hand, Google can easily understand the content. For this reason, keep a good ratio of the focus keywords and try to keep it around 1%. At the same time, use the LSI keywords to increase the ratio but decreasing the possibility of keyword stuffing. Notably, if you do keyword stuffing, you can be infected with Panda updates.

26) Use Good Typography

When Google has implemented the Artifical Intelligence into the content, it has given more importance to the UX or UI. For this reason, using Good Typography is not directly a ranking factor, but it helps to increase user engagement. At the same time, it will surely help attract the readers if they can easily read the content. On the other hand, it increases the overall User Interface of the website.

27) Submit XML Sitemaps

Google can crawl the page of your website automatically. If you use the sitemap, it will help to control the search engine which page it will crawl and which one not. Surely, it will help you to control the page for indexing. At the same time, you can add the sitemap to the Google WebMaster Tools which ensures fast indexing of the page. So, using the XML sitemap is a must. You can easily generate the sitemap by using the Yoast SEO plugin. Surely, it is 100% trusted in case of handling on-page SEO.

28) Use Schema Markup

Google is giving more importance to Schema Markup or using the rich snippets. You will see some feature snippets on any question or listing quires. Google is trying to implement it in the search results to impact the engagement or getting a similar answer quickly. For this reason, you need to work with schema markup. If you generate quality content, then you can also go with rich snippets. So, I will recommend going with it quickly to lead the niche.

29) Ensure SSL/HTTPS

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) or HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure) provides the data with encryption. It gives the green signal on the left side of every browser. Google takes it as a useful signal. If you want to keep the website secured or want to provide valuable data, then you should implement an SSL certificate. It prevents the data from losing or stolen. At the same time, it helps to enable a secure layer on the webpage.

30) Prepare with AMP

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is an optimized format of the webpage which is ready for mobile pages. As mobile visitors are increasing day by day, so Google has discovered it to show the webpage on the mobile clearly. Even most of the popular websites are already implemented AMP on their website. It helps to rank the webpage on the mobile. If you are targetting mobile visitors, then you can use AMP by following this tutorial.

31) Use Short URL

It is not the direct ranking factor for Google. But using the clean URL and optimizing it by considering the domain-related URL can help you to make the brand as well as it can get more CTR which is actually the ranking factor for Google.

Wrapping it now…

Finally, I am at the finishing point of the On-page SEO checklist in 2020. Google is changing daily and implementing AI in the ranking algorithm. For this reason, following the above point when formatting the content and optimizing the post, surely can help to rank on Google quickly. For this reason, you need to check the above checklist carefully. If needs any further question ask me from the comment section. At the same time, if you get the article helpful share it on your favorite social media. Thanks in advance 🙂