On-page SEO checklist: 20 things to check on every page

On-page SEO means making each page clear to both people and Google: a good title, one main heading, useful text that answers the search, descriptive images and sensible links. It is the part of SEO you fully control, and it costs mostly time. Use the 20 checks below on your most important pages first.

Decide what one question this page answers. If you cannot say it in one line, Google will struggle too.

Before you start

Choose one main topic for each page. Search it on Google and look at what ranks: if the results are guides, a sales page will struggle, and if they are shops, a long article may struggle. Match what people clearly want.

Title and description

• The title describes the page in plain words
• The main topic appears near the start of the title
• Every page has its own title, with no copies
• The title is short enough to show in full (about 50 to 60 characters is a useful guide)
• The description is a short, honest summary unique to the page

Google's guidance on title links asks for descriptive, concise titles and warns against keyword stuffing and boilerplate.

Headings and text

• The page has one main heading (H1) that says what it is about
• Section headings (H2, H3) follow a logical order
• The answer appears near the top of the page
• Text is written for people, with no forced keyword repeats
• It says something the other results do not: your prices, experience, photos or examples

Images

• File names describe the picture (root-canal-steps.jpg, not IMG_0231.jpg)
• Alt text describes each meaningful image
• Images are compressed, in AVIF or WebP

Links and address

• The page address is short and readable
• The page links to related pages, using descriptive words
• Important pages can be reached within a few clicks from the home page
• There are no broken links

Technical details

• The page is not blocked by a noindex tag
• Structured data matches the page (article, product, local business, FAQ)
• The page passes a phone speed test

What to fix first

1. Anything that blocks Google: if a page is not indexed, nothing else matters. See why a website does not show on Google.
2. Titles on your money pages: quick to change, and they affect whether people click.
3. Thin service pages: add real details, prices, process and common questions.
4. Internal links: point your articles to your service pages.
5. Images and speed: see our website speed guide.

What not to worry about

• Exact word counts. Use as many words as the answer needs. Google's advice on helpful content warns against writing to a particular word count.
• Keyword density. Say the topic naturally. Repeating it does not help.
• The keywords meta tag. Google does not use it for ranking, so do not spend time on it.

Common questions

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

On-page work is what you change on your own pages. Off-page work is about what happens elsewhere, such as links and mentions from other sites.

How many keywords should one page target?

One main topic plus the natural variations of it. If two topics need different answers, give each its own page.

How soon will changes show on Google?

It varies. Google must first crawl the page again, which it says can take from a few days to a few weeks, and rankings may not change even then.

Next step

Prefer to have this done for you? Our SEO service covers on-page work, technical fixes and content. See the plans on our pricing page or contact us.