Many people believe SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is so advanced and specialist they would not be able to understand or implement it. In reality, there are plenty of things most people can easily do themselves, with very little technical knowledge. In particular, there are lots of easy to implement on-page SEO tricks that will give your website a huge boost in Search Rankings.
Did you know that Google changes its search algorithms between 500 and 600 times each year, and it experiments with over 10,000 changes during the same period?
Below you'll find our helpful on-page SEO checklist. Whilst this list is current and effective, search ranking factors can change quickly and frequently. This means you may need to occasionally adapt your technique to new trends and algorithm changes. However, there is one thing that you can always be sure of: Google wants to see good-quality, relevant content and a website that is regularly updated.
Clients often ask us for tips when it comes to writing their website content. This on-page SEO checklist should provide you with a great starting point, helping you carry out good research and leaving you with a solid plan for your content.
On Page SEO Checklist
1. Have you completed keyword research? The best thing to do is to make a list of the keywords you'd like to be found for. You can use Google's keyword planner. If you want to be found for a search term that is generic for example: Website Design, the competition will be a lot harder. However if you're looking for more specific keywords such as Bespoke web design for Small Businesses, the keyword/phrase will be less difficult to rank for.
2. Do you understand the search intent behind your chosen keyword/phrase? The user intent of a keyword is the goal of the user typing the search query. Do the people that search your term have intent to do something, know something or go somewhere?
3. Is the primary keyword being used in the title tag, H1, body content and an image file name on your website? Your keyword needs to be present in the structure of your written content.
4. Make sure your title tag is less than 60 characters long. A title tag is an HTML element that specifies the title of a web page. Google typically displays the first 50-60 characters of a title tag.
5. Make sure your meta description is 150 characters or less. Similarly to a title tag, Google will only display a certain amount of characters (Different search engines vary.) This includes spacing and punctuation.
6. Headers need to be structured logically. One H1 tag, followed by H2, H3, H4 and so on.
7. Make sure you include variations of the primary keyword included in the body content and H2/H3 tags. For example: Web Design. Website Design. Design Services. Bespoke Design.
8. Make sure images are optimised with a keyword in the file name, an appropriate alt tag, small file size and high quality resolution.
9. Add internal links to other pages on your website. This is to create extra navigation and ease of use as well as accessibility.
10. Add external links to reputable sources. For example, if you have affiliations or partners you can link to, this will help with your SEO. But only if they are reputable and genuine sources.
11. Add no-follow tags to affiliate links that are not relevant to the keyword term or that are not relevant to the services you provide. This means that the search engine will be told not to index or 'follow' that link.
12. Make sure synonyms of the primary keyword are included in your copy. For example, if your keyword is 'bespoke design' you might want to use the terms 'unique' 'exclusive,' and so on.
13. Make sure your content is unique. This means you should avoid using the same copy on each of the pages of your website.
14. Make sure you have Google Analytics set up and that your tracking tools are configured properly. This will help you learn about the types of keywords typed in to find your website among other useful information and statistics.
15. Make sure your site is mobile friendly! This one is a no-brainer.
There you have it! There are lots of things you can do to help your website rank well. It's important to be found for the right search terms and have good-quality, relevant information that your target audience is searching for.
If you have any questions, please do get in touch and let us know!
