On-page SEO is the part of search optimisation you have total control over. No algorithm mystery, no waiting for other sites to link to you — just a set of decisions about how a page is written and structured. It is also, for most small websites, where the largest and fastest gains are hiding.
Here is a checklist you can run against every article before it goes live.
1. Start with intent, not the keyword
Before writing a word, search your target keyword and look hard at the top results. What format are they? How long? What do they all cover?
You are not copying them — you are identifying what searchers expect. If every top result is a step-by-step tutorial with screenshots and you publish a discursive opinion piece, no amount of on-page optimisation will save it.
2. Write a title tag worth clicking
The title tag is the headline in the search results, and it does two jobs: telling the search engine what the page is about, and persuading a human to click.
- Put the main phrase near the beginning.
- Keep it roughly under 60 characters so it is not cut off.
- Add a reason to click — a number, a year, a specific promise, a clear benefit.
- Never write the same title twice across your site.
“SEO Tips” is a wasted title. “On-Page SEO Checklist: 14 Things to Fix Before You Publish” gives both a machine and a person something to work with.
3. Write the meta description as ad copy
It is not a direct ranking factor. It is a click-through factor, and click-through affects everything downstream.
Around 150–160 characters. Describe what the reader will get. Include the keyword naturally, because matched terms get bolded in results and catch the eye.
4. Use a clean, readable URL
Short, lowercase, hyphenated, descriptive. /on-page-seo-checklist/ is perfect. Strip out filler words. And once a URL is published and earning traffic, do not change it casually — if you must, redirect it properly.
5. One H1, then a logical heading structure
Your H1 is the page’s title. There should be exactly one, and it should make the topic unmistakable.
Beneath it, H2s divide the page into major sections and H3s sit inside those. Do not skip levels for styling reasons, and do not use a heading simply because you want bigger text. Headings are structure, not decoration — they are how both readers and crawlers understand the shape of your argument.
6. Front-load the answer
Someone landing on your page has a question. Answer it in the first hundred words.
The instinct to build up slowly to a grand reveal is a hangover from essay writing, and online it simply causes people to leave. Give the answer early, then earn the rest of their attention by explaining it properly.
7. Cover the topic completely
Depth beats length. Do not pad to hit a word count — but do make sure you have genuinely answered the question, including the obvious follow-up questions a reader will have.
A good test: could a reader finish your article and still need to open another tab to complete the task? If so, you left something out.
8. Use your keyword naturally — and its relatives
Include the main phrase in the title, the H1, somewhere early in the body, and in at least one subheading where it fits honestly.
Then stop counting. Use related terms, synonyms and the natural vocabulary of the subject. Modern search engines understand topics, not just strings. Writing naturally about a subject you understand produces the right language automatically.
9. Make it scannable
Most readers scan before they commit. Give them handholds:
- Short paragraphs — two to four sentences.
- Descriptive subheadings that make sense on their own.
- Bulleted lists for parallel items.
- Bold for genuinely key points, used sparingly enough to mean something.
- A table when you are comparing things.
10. Optimise images properly
- Descriptive filenames —
on-page-seo-checklist.jpg, notIMG_9042.jpg. - Honest alt text describing the image. This is an accessibility requirement first and an SEO benefit second.
- Compress before uploading. Oversized images are the most common cause of a slow page.
- Set width and height so the layout does not jump as images load.
- Lazy-load anything below the fold.
11. Add internal links — both directions
Link out to two or three relevant articles of your own, using anchor text that describes the destination.
Then — and this is the step everyone forgets — go back to a few older, relevant articles and link to the new page. A new article with no incoming internal links is an orphan, and orphans get crawled late and rank poorly.
12. Link out to credible sources
Linking to authoritative external sources does not leak value. It signals that your content is researched and situated in a real conversation. Do it where it genuinely helps the reader.
13. Add structured data where relevant
Schema markup helps search engines understand what a page is — an article, a recipe, an FAQ, a product. It will not levitate a bad page up the rankings, but it can earn richer, more eye-catching search results.
14. Check it on a phone
Before publishing, load the page on an actual phone. Is the text readable without zooming? Are the tap targets big enough? Does anything overflow? Is the first thing you see the content, or a pop-up?
Most of your readers are on mobile. If it is unpleasant there, it is unpleasant — full stop.
The 60-second pre-publish pass
- Unique, compelling title with the keyword near the front.
- Meta description written as a promise, not a summary.
- Clean URL.
- One H1; logical H2/H3 structure.
- Question answered in the opening paragraph.
- Images compressed, named, and given alt text.
- Two or three internal links out, and at least one in from an older post.
- Read it once on a phone.
None of this is glamorous. All of it compounds.
Frequently asked questions about on-page SEO
How long should an article be?
Long enough to answer the question completely, and no longer. Length is not a ranking factor — completeness is, and completeness usually correlates with length, which is why the myth persists. Padding an article to hit a word count makes it worse, and readers notice. Look at what currently ranks to gauge the expected depth, then be more useful rather than merely longer.
Where exactly should I put my keyword?
The title tag, the H1, somewhere in the first hundred words, and at least one subheading where it fits honestly. After that, stop counting and write naturally. Modern search engines understand topics and synonyms; they are not tallying occurrences. Forced repetition reads badly to humans and buys you nothing.
Do meta descriptions affect rankings?
Not directly. They affect whether anyone clicks, which affects everything downstream. Treat the meta description as advertising copy rather than a summary — its job is to make your result the one worth choosing among ten alternatives. Google will sometimes rewrite it anyway, but a good one is frequently kept.
How often should I update old articles?
Review them roughly annually, and prioritise the ones ranking between positions five and twenty. Those are pages Google already considers relevant but not quite good enough, and closing that gap is usually a faster route to traffic than publishing something new from scratch.