On-Page SEO Checklist

On-Page SEO Checklist

Feel like you have unique content on your website and it is just not getting the traffic is deserves? Our on-page SEO checklist will help you to rank better on Google.

You may find yourself asking the question ‘What does Google want from a webpage?’ We’re here to help you in your quest for success and hope to get you on that desired page one on Google!

Before you get started with this checklist, make sure your content is UNIQUE. Don’t copy content from another webpage or duplicate content on your own site as this can seriously damage your overall page/ sites ranking.

  1. Keyword Research

Have you researched the topic that your content is based around? If you want to rank highly on Google there is no point creating content based around highly competitive keywords.

Use Google’s Keyword Planner to find the best long or short-tail keywords for your article. See image below for example of suggestions for the term ‘triple offset butterfly valve’

Google Keyword Planner

Try to find Keyword’s with ‘Low Competition’ & high amounts of traffic.

  1. On-Page Optimisation

  • Write yourself a unique ‘Meta Title’ including the keywords that you have chosen for the article. This title should be no longer than 60 characters. This is the title that appears in the Google search results, see image below.
  • Create a unique ‘Meta Description’ that catches the eye of your audience whilst including one or more of the target keywords that you have chosen. This is the description that appears in the Google search results.

Meta Title, Meta Description

  • Ensure that your target keyword is included in the page URL.

Good URL Structure: https://www.processindustryforum.com/energy/windpowerinfographic/

Bad URL Structure: http://www.imdb/title/tt0468569

  • Make use of H1 – H6 tags, when Google is crawling a page, these could be considered the stand out text attributes on a web page. Ensure that you use only one H1 tag and that it includes your target keyword.
  • If linking out to another website within your page, try and link out only on your keywords (don’t overdo it as it may look spammy).
  • If you are including images in your webpage then be sure to add ALT tags in order to let search engines understand what it is you are displaying to your audience.
  1. Content

  • Google tends to have a bias towards websites who refer to Google products in their webpages. For example, statistics have shown that pages with relevant YouTube videos within them tend to rank better than those without.
  • Ensure that the content you write is longer than 600 words.
  • Is your content different and more interesting to read than similar content already out there on the web? If not, then how can you set it apart? Don’t just ramble on about your new product or service, talk about other related topics. This technique will hopefully keep your audience returning to your site.

Moz (formerly known as SEO Moz) is a great site for keeping up to date with your SEO. They have created the following image in order to show you what Google want a webpage to look like in an ideal world.

Perfect On Page SEO Factors

 

As you can see, they are constantly referring back to keywords throughout the post as well as using H1 & ALT tags wherever needed. Use this as a reference if you need some visual aid for when writing your content.

  1. Link Building

Link building is one of the most important SEO best practices. If people are linking back to your content using similar keywords to those in your articles, Google assumes that it must be relevant and interesting content, thus moving it up the Google rankings.

There is no sure fire way to achieve guaranteed ‘backlinks’ however, presuming that you’ve followed steps 1-3, your content should be much easier to find when readers are looking to link back to other relevant content in their own articles.

NOTE: Don’t be tempted and fall into the trap of ‘buying’ backlinks. This used to be a technique that marketing agencies would use but due to recent Google algorithm updates, websites are now penalised for having backlinks from irrelevant websites.

Apart from people naturally finding your content, there are a few methods you might want to use in order to speed up the process:

  • Identify key industry experts/ influencers who may have established followings on their blogs or social profiles. If you keep on top of what their talking about, an opportunity may arise in which you can pitch your content to them in the hope that they will repost it.
  • Ensure that all of your online press mentions include backlinks to your website. Try to aim for branded ‘Anchor text’ in the link.
  • Find out who is linking back to your main competitors by using Open Site Explorer. Analyse their ‘inbound links’ from ‘only external’ sources. Reach out to the websites who are mentioning them and make your company known.
  • If you are listed on affiliate websites who may be selling your products or services, ensure that you are linked back to on their webpages.
  1. Social Media

If you’re new to Social Media then why not have a look at our previous post which explains how to get started on social networks.

  • It is important to have a social media strategy in place - otherwise countless hours can be spent in on social media activities, without any clear direction or way of measuring success.
  • Seed out your content into all your social media channels to ensure that your already established following can see the content before anyone else.
  • Tailor your content and ask questions within it, if you’re in a position where you can create controversial content without tarnishing your image, then go ahead and take advantage. Controversial content gets shared whether the user agrees with the views of the article or not.
  • Analysts have found that social shares and +1’s on this network have an impact on Google’s rankings.
  1. Finally, Authorship

Google Authorship

  • Have you noticed that search results are now appearing with an image of someone’s face next to them? This is ‘Google Authorship’, a recent addition to the ranking algorithm which allows Google+ users to improve their credibility as author’s. It also allows authors to write content on other people websites whilst still being credited for it.

Once you’ve followed above steps in our on-page SEO checklist and your content is unique and engaging, you should be well on your way to that top spot on Google you’ve been craving. If you have any more questions then please don’t hesitate to get in touch, if you feel we’ve missed any important factors then why not let us know in the comments section below, we’d love to hear your thoughts.

This article was written by Alex

 

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