On-page SEO is the work you do on a page so Google can understand it and people find it useful. This checklist is the one we use on client sites. It starts with the step most guides skip, making sure the page is indexed at all, because nothing else matters until it is.
The checklist at a glance
Indexing
- Page returns 200 and is indexed (URL Inspection in Search Console)
- Self-referencing canonical tag
- Listed in the XML sitemap at its exact final URL
- Not blocked by robots.txt or a noindex tag
Search snippet
- Unique title, main topic first, about 55 to 60 characters
- Meta description that summarises the page in about 150 characters
- Short, readable URL with hyphens
Content
- One H1 that matches the search intent
- Logical H2 and H3 structure
- Direct answer near the top of the page
- Covers the questions people actually ask
- First-hand detail, examples or data competitors lack
- Author, date and sources where accuracy matters
Links and media
- 3 to 5 contextual internal links to related pages
- Descriptive anchor text, not "click here"
- Images compressed, sized and with useful alt text
Experience
- Works on mobile with no horizontal scrolling
- LCP under 2.5 s, INP under 200 ms, CLS under 0.1
- Valid structured data for the page type
- Clear next step (call, form or WhatsApp)
1. Make sure the page is indexed
Open Google Search Console, paste the URL into URL Inspection and check that it says the page is on Google. If it is not, the report explains why. Common causes are a sitemap listing a different URL from the one the page actually loads at (for example with or without a trailing slash), a missing or wrong canonical tag, or content Google considers too thin to index. We have seen sites where most pages were stuck in “Discovered – currently not indexed” purely because of a sitemap mismatch.
2. Match the page to one search intent
Search the phrase you want to rank for and look at what ranks. If the results are guides, a sales page will struggle; if they are service pages or Google Maps results, a long article will too. Give each page one clear job, and avoid two pages on your site targeting the same search, which splits their chances.
3. Title tag
The title is the clickable headline in search results. Put the main topic first, keep it to about 55 to 60 characters so it is not cut off, and make every title on your site unique. Google rewrites titles that are stuffed with keywords, too long, or do not match the page, so describe the page honestly rather than cramming in phrases.
4. Meta description and the opening paragraph
The meta description does not affect rankings, but it can win the click. Summarise what the page offers in about 150 characters. Google often builds the snippet from your page text instead, so make the first paragraph a clear, direct answer as well.
5. Headings and structure
Use one H1 that says what the page is about, H2s for the main sections and H3s inside them. Headings should read like a table of contents: someone skimming them should understand the page. Phrase some headings as the questions people ask, then answer each one directly in the first sentence underneath. That format is easy for readers to scan and for Google, including its AI Overviews, to quote.
6. Content that is genuinely better
Google has said word count is not a ranking factor. What matters is whether the page answers the search more completely and more usefully than the alternatives. Compare the top results, list the questions they answer, and then add what they miss: first-hand experience, real examples, local detail, prices, comparisons or clear steps. Use the words a complete answer would naturally include, but do not repeat phrases for the sake of it. See our SEO content writing tips for how we write these pages.
7. Trust signals
Show who wrote the page and when it was last updated, link to sources for facts and figures, and remove statistics you cannot trace to a source. For topics that affect health, money or safety, these signals matter even more.
8. Internal links
Link to related pages where a reader would genuinely want to go next, using anchor text that describes the destination. Important pages should be linked from your main navigation or from several relevant pages, never left as orphans. Three to five contextual links in a typical article is a sensible range.
9. Images
Compress images, serve modern formats such as WebP or AVIF, set width and height to avoid layout shift, and lazy-load images below the fold. Write alt text that describes the image for someone who cannot see it. Never load a full-resolution stock photo when a 1,200-pixel version will do; we have seen single images weighing over 8 MB.
10. Structured data
Add structured data that matches the page: Article or BlogPosting for guides, Product for products, LocalBusiness for a business location, BreadcrumbList for breadcrumbs. Test it with Google's Rich Results Test. FAQ markup remains valid, but since 2023 Google shows FAQ rich results mainly for government and health sites, so do not add FAQs only for that reason.
11. Page experience and mobile
Google indexes the mobile version of your site, so check every page on a phone. The Core Web Vitals targets are LCP under 2.5 seconds, INP (which replaced FID in 2024) under 200 milliseconds, and CLS under 0.1. Check them with PageSpeed Insights and the Core Web Vitals report in Search Console. Speed is rarely what decides a ranking, but a slow page loses visitors before they read anything.
12. A clear next step
Every page should make the next action obvious: call, WhatsApp, a form, or a related guide. Rankings only matter if they lead somewhere. Running an online store? Our ecommerce SEO guide covers category and product pages, and our local SEO guide covers Google Maps.