What is on-page optimisation? (Checklist for download)

What is on-page optimisation?

On-page optimisation is a process in which various elements on a website are optimised in order to achieve a better ranking in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

What is the difference to on-site optimisation?

On-site optimisation refers to the SEO adjustments of a specific URL, i.e. a single website.

What are the measures of on-page optimisation?

OnPage optimisation refers to all SEO measures that can be carried out directly on the website. It includes aspects such as:

• Content quality: provision of high-quality, relevant content.
• Keywords: Use of relevant keywords.
• Meta tags: Optimisation of the title tag, meta descriptor and other meta tags.
• Images: Optimisation of images and ALT attributes.
• URL structure: Clear and concise URLs.

Some technical aspects that also need to be considered as part of on-page optimisation:

• Loading time
• Mobile optimisation
• SSL encryption
• XML sitemap
• Robots.txt file

I will now go through all these points and their subtopics in detail before you can download the checklist for on-page optimisation.

The on-page SEO checklist to download and tick off

The next time you create new content, optimise existing content or want to revise your entire website, you should use this up-to-date on-page SEO checklist.

It will help you optimise your site for Google and other search engines and achieve top rankings.

You can download it for free (no email required), work through it point by point and tick it off.

Read through the individual points once to understand them. You will find that on-page optimisation is more than just optimising for keywords.

Of course keywords are important. But focussing solely on keywords often leads to keyword stuffing. And that is counterproductive.

Search engine optimisation is a complex and multi-layered topic where it is difficult to maintain an overview. Just when you think: "Now I've got it", Google releases a new update.

That's why I'll start by explaining the most important points.

There are basically two categories in SEO. Off-page optimisation and on-page optimisation.

OffPage vs. OnPage

Off-page SEO is the external optimisation of your website to achieve better rankings. It deals with all SEO measures that you carry out outside of your website.

Basically, it is about link building, the creation of backlinks. Backlinks are still an important ranking factor for Google, which is why special attention should be paid to building backlinks. However, trust-building measures and social media marketing should not be neglected either.

As this is an on-page SEO checklist, I will not go into off-page SEO here. Check out the ultimate guide to off-page SEO.

Infographic: The most up-to-date and complete on-page SEO checklist

Feel free to share the infographic on your social media channels or include it in your articles.

Let's go through each point in detail:

Use an SEO-friendly URL

An SEO-friendly URL shows Google what your website is about and makes it easier for users to share your information on social media or via email. For this reason, URLsmust bemeaningful, descriptive and - ifpossible - short.

Descriptive and meaningful means that it must be immediately recognisable what the topic of the page is. It follows from this: The keyword must always be included in the URL.

WordPress, for example, has an inherently unsuitable, SEO-hostile URL structure. Therefore, one of the first steps after setting up WordPress should be to adapt the default permalink structure.

WordPress offers the option of creating custom URL structures for permalinks and archives. Custom URL structures improve the appearance, user-friendliness and future-proofing of links.

The URL can also be defined when creating a page or blog article. Shown here using Joomla as an example:

Research and use the right keywords

For your website to be SEO-ready, it must be optimised for the correct and relevant keywords. Therefore, think in advance - before you create your content - about which search terms and topics you want to be found with in the search engines.

Once you know the topic and the main keywords, research suitable keywords and phrases.

Depending on what you want to achieve with your content, look for keywords with a high or low search volume.

Short, generic keywords have a higher search volume, are more difficult to rank for, but bring in more traffic.

Long-tail keywords, on the other hand, have fewer search queries but are easier to rank for and bring a higher conversion rate (lead, purchase, newsletter entry, etc.).

The best way to find the right keywords and their search volume is to use the Google Keyword Planner.

Here is a good guide:

Video: Google Keyword Planner Tutorial German

Consider the search intent of Google users

You now know your topic and you know your keyword focus. You have researched the search volume and therefore know that people are searching for it. Now the question is, what information are they looking for exactly?

Only if you know what the user is looking for can you provide the right information on your website.

I will show you 3 very simple and quick methods to find out the search intention.

First and foremost, of course, you need to know your target group exactly. If this is not yet the case, take a look at our article Creating and using the perfect buyer persona [guide]. Only then can you find out the true search intent of your target group.

Here's how.

You can only guess or hypothesise, but Google knows exactly what's going on through continuous tracking of search inputs, search results and clicks, as well as user behaviour on the websites visited - and is willing to share its findings with you.

Option 1: In-depth analysis of TOP rankings (admittedly not quite as fast, but thorough)

Enter your keyword in the search field and take a look at page 1 of the search results. What content do you see? Take a close look at each individual search result.

First the SERP snippets (title and meta description)

Then visit each individual page and analyse it. Pay attention to the headings, the content (thematic preparation, media content, structure, etc.), the text length, etc. Also look at the format in which the content is presented.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• What user questions are asked and answered by these search results?
• What is the UX (user experience) like? Is the site user-friendly?
  • Does the page load quickly?
  • Is it mobile friendly?
  • What is the quality of the design and layout?
  • Can I find all the information?
  • Etc.
• How detailed and comprehensive is the content?
• Are media used (images, graphics, infographics, charts, videos, audio, etc.)?
• What is the quality of the text (spelling, grammar, writing style, etc.)?
• Really analyse everything you can in order to be able to answer the important questions at the end:

What is missing? What can I do better? What do I need to do better/more/more detailed to better please the user and Google?

Option 2: Google Suggest

Enter your keyword in the search field and look at the Google Suggests.

Google will show you some suggestions below the search field as you type.

Option 3: Similar search queries to..

Scroll to the bottom of the search results. There you will find the following field:

In "Similar search queries to..." you will find further search intentions.

With these 3 options, Google already shows you quite well which questions and problems of the users you should answer and solve in your content.

If that's not enough for you, there are also the following free tools:

• Hypersuggest
• Ubersuggest
• KWfinder

Research the topic in detail or get an expert to do it for you

You have probably at least looked at page 1 of the search results. You will have noticed that the websites deal with the respective topic in great detail and thoroughly from all possible perspectives. Nowadays, good, informative content is no longer enough for a Google ranking on page 1.

To achieve a top Google ranking, your content must be many times better than everything else on page 1.

If you have gaps in your knowledge on your topic, then do all the research you can.

• Don't just look at the first 10 websites in the Google search results, but the first 100.
• Search YouTube for relevant videos.
• What information can you find on Wikipedia?
• Are there podcasts on the topic?
• PDFs, white papers, infographics..

And if that's too much work for you, get an expert on board. You can have your texts written by an expert or you can interview one and then write the text yourself. I'll come to the topic of content and SEO texts in a moment.

Title and meta description - create an outstanding SERP snippet

Title and meta description are important for your SEO for 2 reasons.

1. Google immediately recognises what your content is about
2. A good title and a perfect meta description increase the click-through rate on your SERP snippet.

This is how you create an excellent SERP snippet and increase the click-through rate:

Title:

You have around 65 characters available for the title. Usethem to attract attention. Make an irresistible promise that you then fulfil on your website.

• Place your keyword in the title - right at the beginning if possible.
• Add modifiers (determiners) (e.g.: 2019, checklist, guide, best, complete, etc.), which increases the chance of ranking for long-tail search queries.
• Add the benefit for the reader (bikini figure, PDF to download, never starve again, etc.)
• If appropriate, use numbers as quantifiers (10 tips, in just 2 weeks, etc.)
• Important for Google: The title must always be tagged H1.

Meta description:

Google provides you with about 156 characters to describe your website. You don't have to use it to the full, but usethisopportunity todescribeyour content as well as possible. My recommendation: Around 130-145 characters. This way you don't run the risk of the description being cut off. Precise details on the length of the meta description and how to write click-worthy SERP snippets:

• Use your focus keyword (near the beginning)
• Add one or two LSI keywords
• Describe your content as accurately and enticingly as you can
• Use special characters (➨ ✓ ✅ ✆ ✉)
• Formulate a call to action (view now, click here, etc.)

Here are two SERP snippets as an example:

Not good

In this snippet, you can see that the title and description are too long and are therefore cut off by Google.

Good

In this snippet, the length of the title and description is optimal.

Use the free SERP snippet generator from Sistrix to check or generate your snippet.

Content - the heart of your on-page SEO optimisation

This is where the wheat is separated from the chaff.

"Provide relevant, unique, high-quality content." You hear and read this everywhere - but, sorry - it's not enough.

You need to provide content that no one else is offering. Your information must be more detailed, more informative and answer the reader's questions better, in more detail and more comprehensibly than any other site on the web.

To do this, use natural, understandable language and include synonyms and related terms that fit the topic alongside your keyword. Cover your topic in both breadth and depth. In terms of breadth, you should divide a topic into several linked pages (blog articles).

Intelligently placed keywords, LSI keywords and secondary keywords must be well distributed in the text. But be careful. Don't overdo it with the keyword density. Your text must not contain too many keywords. This will very quickly lead to Google classifying it as keyword stuffing and you will be penalised by losing your ranking or being kicked out of the index. I have already described how to write good copy in the article TOP SEO copywriting.

Content length - as long as necessary, as short as possible

You don't need to worry aboutthelength of your content if you cover the search intent of your readers well. Some texts are longer, some shorter.

A quick guide might only need 500 words. A text explaining complicated topics may need 5,000 words or more.

No matter how long your content is:

Satisfy the search intention from the reader's point of view and from Google's perspective 100 per cent!

Place your main keyword

• in the title (H1)
• in the first 100 words
• in at least one H2
• several times in the text
• at the end of the content
• and use LSI keywords

Don't worry about word count, just writefor your readers. That's it.

Follow the headline hierarchy exactly

Aside from making your headlines interesting and meaningful, you also need to make sure you follow the hierarchy exactly.

Headlines and subheadlines help your reader to scan your page and find their way around it. On the other hand, Google attaches particular importance to clean HTML.

Here you can see the difference between a clean headline hierarchy and an incorrect one:

With online tools, such as Seorch, you can carry out an SEO analysis of your site and identify any weak points, such as a faulty heading hierarchy.

If you discover errors in the structure of the headlines, correct them. It's another small piece of the puzzle of your on-page SEO optimisation.

Ensure thematically appropriate internal link building with hard anchor texts

You don't have to write the same explanations on every page that fits the topic. That would even be counterproductive. It would lead to duplicate content and prevent a good ranking.

You also don't have to pack everything there is to write about a topic into a single text. This would lead to endlessly long articles and websites that nobody reads to the end.

Instead, set internal links to the relevant content.

Take a look at the explanation of OnPage on Wikipedia as an example. You don't have to read it if you don't want to. Pay attention to the link structure.

You don't have to set as many internal links as Wikipedia, but link to at least 2-5 relevant articles/pages on your own website. If you take a look at this OnPage SEO checklist, you'll see that this is exactly what I do.

The advantage: You provide further and additional information. This is added value for your readers. And you increase the time they spend on your website. That's good for your ranking.

Use so-called hard anchor texts for the internal linking of your content. This means that the keyword of the linked page is present in the link text. This will usually be the title of the page to be linked, as this ideally contains the keyword.

Anchor texts can be individual words, word passages or entire sentences. If you are linking to a page that is optimised for "OnPage SEO Checklist", your link text should contain the keyword.

Examples:

Find out what role the internal linking of your content plays in search engine optimisation in this OnPage SEO checklist.

Find out inthis on-page SEO checklist what role the internal linking of your content plays in search engine optimisation.

Find out in this on-page SEO checklist what role the internal linking of your content plays in search engine optimisation.

It shows Google and your readers what they can expect on the linked page. It is also a navigation aid for the user.

Don't be afraid of outbound links to external information

Outbound links to pages with relevant (supporting, supplementary, substantiating, proving) information add value to your website.

Many SEOs and website operators see it differently. They fear that readers will bounce from their own site. That may well be the case. But: The added value that you create through external links brings you a better ranking and therefore a lot more traffic. This far outweighs the few readers who bounce.

Set your external links to target="_blank", then the external page will open in a new tab or window and your page will remain open. If your content is good, your readers will come back to you.

Avoid duplicate content

You can read what duplicate content is all about in our duplicate content article.

As a general rule, you should avoid publishing duplicate content. In some cases, however, this cannot be avoided. For example, an online shop that offers the same T-shirt in different colours. In such a case, you need to set a canonical tag.

Use media content

Use suitable media content to enhance your content and provide the reader with added value.

This can be:

• Images, graphics, infographics
• Videos and other moving images (gifs)
• Podcasts and audios

But be careful: don't just place images or videos in your content. The elements must make sense. That could be:

1. Explaining and supplementing content topics visually
2. To substantiate statistics

Like the infographic from Moz

The infographic from Moz shows the elements of an OnPage-optimised page.

Or the graphical representation of a statistic:

Graph of the thematic weighting of various Google ranking factors from seo-summary

And also this video, which fits thematically to this article:

Video: 46 simple SEO OnPage tips you should consider

Remember to optimise your graphics and images.

Easy to share - the social buttons

Make it easy for your readers to share your content. This creates reach and visibility and also sends a positive social signal to Google.

Social buttonsallow your readers to share your content on the various social media networks with just one click.

Call to action for longer dwell time

If the visitor leaves your website straight away or only visits one page and then returns to Google, Google will recognise this as irrelevant content or website and will rank your page poorly or not at all.

To avoid this, you should do the following:

• Write excellent, helpful copy.
• Link your pages internally in a meaningful way.
• Includeat least one "call to action" in your content.

A "call to action" is a request for action. It can be an invitation to buy, to sign up for the newsletter list, to contact us, to click on a link or banner, but also just to read on.

"If you want to find out more, read on now."

The "call to action" can be a button, banner or text.

Content updates as a signal of quality

Google and, of course, your readers attach particular importance to topicality. To send a signal to Google in this regard and satisfy your readers, you need to regularly update, supplement and revise your content.

To do this, proceed as follows:

• Publish new content regularly.
• Add to or revise old articles.

Note: The web is not static. It is constantly changing and growing. The following answer can be found on "Mill for Business" to the question: "How many websites are created every day?"

"We found out that every minute the total number of the websites grew approximately by 380. This means that every 24 hours we get 547200 increase in the total number of websites worldwide!"

We found out that every minute the total number of the websites grew approximately by 380. This means that every 24 hours we get 547200 more websites worldwide!

With this enormous growth, it stands to reason that something is constantly changing in the index and in the search results of Google and Co. Sites disappear, others are added. The quality of information is becoming ever higher, the quantity more extensive.

In order to be able to compete against this multitude of high-quality competitors for Google rankings, you must constantly work on your online presence.

• New, high-quality content must be published.
• Old or low-quality content needs to be revised and updated.

Content "above the fold"

The Google Page Layout Algorithm Update penalises websites that provide little useful information "above the fold" - the area that is visible first after loading.

Make sure that you have something to offer the user right at the top of your page. At the very least, there should be enough information to make it immediately recognisable what the page is about.

OnPage SEO: technology and UX

So far, the OnPage SEO checklist has dealt with the content that you should optimise for SEO. Let's get a little technical now. Yes, it has to be. Search engine optimisation also deals with the technology of an online presence. And it's about the UX (user experience).

Use Structured Data Markup: Schema Markup

Schema.org (often called Schema) is a semantic vocabulary of tags (or microdata) that you can add to your HTML to improve the way search engines read and display your page in SERPs.

Help Google to read and display your web pages better. Neil Patel explains how to do this in his article How to add structured data to your site.

Among other things, he shows you how to do it with the WordPress plugin Schema App Structured Data and, if you don't have a WordPress site, with the Google Webmaster Tool Structured Data Markup Helper.

Ensure a high loading speed (low loading time/loading duration)

If you don't make your website available fast enough, others will. And then it's the others who get the ranking and the traffic from the search engines.

If you don't want that, you need to optimise your page speed. There's a lot to say about this, but I'll show you the simplest method.

1. Copy the URL of the page you want to optimise and go to the Google Developer Site PageSpeed Insights.
2. Enter the URL in the field provided and click on "ANALYSE"
3. View the result and the suggestions for optimisation
4. Implement the suggestions.
5. Implement the data (images, JavaScript and CSS resources, etc.) in your website

The improvement in loading speed through this measure is sometimes dramatic. I was able to increase the score on this page from 28 to 88 - just by optimising the graphics and images.

Mobile responsive - displayed well on all devices

Mobile internet usage overtook desktop back in 2013.

That can only mean one thing: Optimise your website for all devices. Smartphone, tablet and desktop. That way you reach all users.

Google announced back in 2016 at Pubcon in Las Vegas that the mobile index would replace the desktop index as the main index. In March 2018, the time had come.

Google announced: Introduction of mobile-first indexing

From now on, Google will no longer check whether there is a mobile version of the desktop version of a page, but whether there is a desktop version of the mobile version. The mobile index and mobile SEO will therefore be massively upgraded.

As a result, if your site is not mobile-friendly, it will not or hardly be displayed. Not to mention a good ranking.

What needs to be done from an on-page SEO perspective?

As Google favours the mobile index over the desktop index, you need to ensure the following points:

• Your website must be usable via smartphone
• All important content must also be included on the mobile version of the website
• The Google bot must be able to crawl the mobile website without any problems
• The content must be displayed in a mobile-friendly way
• Make sure that Google can recognise that content is offered for both smartphones and desktops and can link them together without any problems.

This is where the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project comes into play

For optimisation for mobile devices, I recommend the AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)

Wikipedia explains this: Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP, literally accelerated mobile pages) is aderivative of HTML developed specificallyfor the creation of websitesfor mobile devices(e.g. smartphones). AMP was launched in autumn 2015 by the AMP Project under the leadership of Google.

Plug-ins or extensions are available for WordPress and Joomla.

Accelerated Mobile Pages for Joomla

Accelerated Mobile Pages for WordPress

Make the text easy to read

To keep your readers on your website - make sure it is easy to read. What good is the best information if nobody can read it?

• Use a clear font - preferably without serifs
• Choose an appropriate font size (14 - 16)
• Choose a slightly larger line spacing
• Make short paragraphs
• Provide white space
• Use headings and subheadings
• Create structure - make the page easy for readers to scan

Here is a comparison:

The comparison of a well-structured, readable text passage and a less than optimal solution.

The XML sitemap - the table of contents for Google and co.

Help Google index your pages and media files. You can do this by providing an XML sitemap in your root directory.

Don't worry, it sounds more complicated than it is. We'll show you how to create a sitemap for your website.

There are extensions for WordPress and Joomla that will do the work for you.

SEO plugin for WordPress with sitemap generator

Plugin for WordPress

Extension for Joomla

HTTPS/SSL - take care of data security

If you process personal data on your website, you have had to encrypt it anyway since 25 May 2018. From this date, the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) will apply in Europe. This applies to you, for example, if you use an email marketing tool to generate newsletter subscribers or an email list, have a member area or a contact form or only allow comments when the email address is entered.

HTTPS is already required by Google today. If you don't have SSL encryption, this can mean a loss of rankings. Take a look at why you should switch WordPress to HTTPS and how you can switch Joomla to HTTPS.

Before publishing

Think about where you will share your content before you publish. Who will help distribute the content? Although this is not part of on-page SEO, but of off-page optimisation, it can't hurt to think about it. For this reason, I have included it in the on-page SEO checklist. The same applies to the next point.

After publication

You have a sitemap - and that's a good thing. But so that you don't have to wait for the Google Bot to come by at some point, you should submit your new page to the Google Search Console.

You can find out how to do this here.

Testing with Seorch and Pagespeed Insights

Two steps that have proven very effective for me so far for checking on-page optimisation. After you have put your website or blog article online, you can use Seorch and PageSpeed Insights to check your SEO measures.

Seorch

You can use this online tool to carry out a free SEO analysis. To do this, go to https://seorch.de/

You will then see this input form.

After you click on CHECK, Seorch checks the following factors:

• The 4 most important OnPage SEO factors
• OffPage data
• Social networks
• Semantic analysis
• Technical factors
• Mobile SEO
• Website performance
• Google SERP Snippet
• Text and phrases

As you can see, a pretty decent SEO check.

In addition, carry out the loading speed check that I described earlier and optimise if necessary.

Why do I need this on-page SEO checklist?

In order for your website to be indexed and ranked in search engines, you need to pay attention to various points. These points are called on-page SEO criteria. The checklist - which you can download as a PDF - offers you the opportunity to check your website yourself for all important on-page criteria. All OnPage SEO basics are displayed.

If you have any questions or need support, please don't hesitate to contact us. +43 1 353 2 353 ✉ This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between on-page and off-page optimisation?

On-page optimisation refers to the improvement of elements within a website, such as content, metadata and code structure. Off-page optimisation, on the other hand, focuses on factors outside the website, such as backlinks and social signals. Together, these two techniques help to increase the visibility of a website in search engines.

What is on-page SEO?

On-page SEO refers to the practices and techniques that aim to optimise a website for search engines by improving internal factors. This includes optimising content, meta tags, alt attributes of images and internal linking. These optimisations help to increase the relevance of a page for certain keywords.

What is SEO optimisation?

SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimisation" and refers to the process of improving the visibility of a website in the organic search results of search engines. It encompasses a variety of techniques and strategies, including on-page and off-page optimisation, to improve the position of a website for relevant keywords and thus attract more visitors to the site.

What are the most important code elements of on-page optimisation?

The most important code elements of on-site optimisation include title tags, meta descriptions, heading structure (H1, H2, H3, etc.), alt attributes for images and optimisation of the URL structure. The correct implementation of these elements helps to increase the relevance of a website for search engines and improve the user experience.