Get the the Latest Checklist for On-page SEO in 2021 for best results

Hello folks !! On-page SEO that is On-page Search Engine Optimization is a very crucial element of digital marketing and a very essential factor for the ranking of web pages in Search Engine. But with time, the key factors and updates of On-page SEO has been changing.

Over the years , there has been a lots of changes in the people’s approach of using the Google platform and also Google’s approach to minimize all the wrong practices of web masters and promoting quality over quantity which is the main reason why Google creates hundreds of changes in it’s algorithm which simultaneously affects a lots of factors of SEO and more specifically On-page SEO.

But being a digital enthusiast, we always should practice hard work and smart work simultaneously. So we should always be up-to-date according to the latest rules and updates of On-page SEO.

But before that,

Let’s understand what is On-page SEO

On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing individual web pages through certain number of factors so that it may help the pages to earn more traffic and rank higher in the search engines. Unlike Off-page SEO, here, all the practices are done within the website. Under on-page SEO, both the content and the HTML source code of a page is optimized.

Let’s understand it in very basic terms. You may have heard the line, “Content is the king” for your web page to run in all the digital platforms which is 100% true. But hand-in-hand your content also needs to be in a presentable and systematic order so that it will reach your target audience. The more your page is optimized, the more views it will get and the more views it will get, the higher it’s rank will be. As simple as that. So On-page SEO basically provides you all the factors required to do so.

So, in this particular article, you will get the clear checklist of On-page SEO that is latest updated in 2021. The main purpose of this article is to save a lot of your time and bring the best outcome for your web page.

So, let’s go !!

Latest Checklist of On-page SEO

1. Keyword Research
2. Title
3. Meta Description
4. URL
5. Headings
6. Alternative text
7. Keyword Density
8. Breadcrumbs
9. Featured Image
10. Internal links

Let’s Understand each of them properly !!

1. Keyword Research

First, what is a Keyword ?

Simply, Keyword is the idea or the topics on which your content is all about. Those are the terms that the people use while searching something in the search engines to get their relevant answer. For example, if the search would be “how to travel the Charm dham yatra in 2021”, then your keyword should be “Char dham yatra in 2021”.

So basically, the purpose of the keyword is to make the people who are searching for content related to your topic, reach to your web page.

There are 2 types of Keyword – Short tail and Long tail

Now, what is Keyword Research ?

Keyword Research is the process of searching for the right keyword you need to have in your content(most importantly in your title), which your target audience mostly use while conducting searches. It is a very important step for understanding the search volume and the rank difficulty, ultimately for having a proper audience analysis.

• Search Volume – The number of searches getting conducted by the people for a keyword. So, the higher the search volume for a keyword, the more preference you should give to that keyword.
• Rank Difficulty/SEO Competition – The measure of competition for a keyword with other competitors for getting rank. So, the lower the rank difficulty or the competition, the more preference you should give to that keyword.

Tips to choose the correct keyword by analyzing Search volume and Rank Difficulty

• When the ratio of Search volume and Rank Difficulty is high : low, it is highly preferred
• When the ratio of Search volume and Rank Difficulty is high : medium, it is moderately preferred
• When the ratio of Search volume and Rank Difficulty is medium : low, it is moderately preferred
• When the ratio of Search volume and Rank Difficulty is high : high, it is less preferred

Tools and platforms on the Internet for performing Keyword Research

• Ubbersuggest – Free + Pro
• Google trends – Free
• Quora – Q/A
• Google Keyword Planner – Free
• SEMRush – Free+Pro
• MOZ.com

2. Title

Title, also known as the Title tag or Meta Title is simply an one line description of your whole content that appears at the top of a browsing window and SERPs(Search Engine Result Page). It is a very important element of On-page SEO.

Tips for creating a good Title

• Your primary keyword must be present in the keyword.
• It should always be in H1 tag.
• Your title should be unique, attractive and readable for the users.
• 40-60 characters are preferred (space, commas and other characters are also included).
• Don’t use any greeting or welcoming words like “hey, hello, welcome”. You can keep these words for the introduction.
• Using native language for the local traffic is accepted.

3. Meta Description

Meta Description is a meta tag, that is like a summary of your whole content described in one or two line. It also comes along with the title in the SERP in the search engine. Basically it is like a advert of your web page. It is always recommended to have a good meta description to compel the users to go through your page ultimately increasing your CTR (Click-through Rate). Thus, a good meta description is much required for ranking your web page higher.

Where can I add Meta Description ? (For WordPress)

• Go to Post
• Scroll down to the bottom
• You will get the option for adding Meta Description

Tips to make a good Meta Description

• Keeping it between 140-160 words is recommended.
• It should have the summary of your content.
• Use active voice and make it actionable.
• Your primary keyword should be there.
• Mention proper information about your products and services
• Mention your discounts/highlights/offers in it.

4. URL

URL or Uniform Resource Locator is nothing but the address or location of a specific website, page, or file on the Internet. Multiple URLs have multiple parts and the way yours is build has a lot of impact on SEO.

Optimizing your URL is also required to have a good impression on the users as URL acts as a way for the users and the search engine to predict the content of your page.

Where can I optimize my URL ? (For WordPress)

1. Go to your post back-end.
2. Click on settings present in the right hand side upper corner.
3. You will get 2 options. Post and Click. Click on Post
4. Under Post, click on Permalink.
5. You will get the option for URL Slug. You can optimize it right there.

Tips for optimizing your URL

• Keeping your keywords may increase your site’s search visibility.
• In Internet 1038 characters are limited for URL, but is recommended to include up to 115 characters.
• You can use characters like _ , / , & to distinguish between the keywords.

5. Headings

Heading is a short phrase describing what the succeeding section is all about. It is very important in your content as it makes the user to get an idea, what the succeeding section is all about. Often people get more attracted to the content through the heading.

For Example

Just like here, before reading this section, you read the heading “5. Headings” for which you got to know that it’s going to have some content on it. So it was easy for you to understand what this section is gonna be. So optimizing the headings is very necessary.

In HTML, there are 6 types of Headings – H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6

How to optimize Headings ? (For WordPress)

• Click or Select the text you want to make an Heading.
• You will get some options in horizontal order.
• The 1st option would be for heading.
• You can put it in H1, H2, H3 accordingly.

Tips for optimizing Headings

• Provide headers for a proper structure to your content.
• Title should always be in H1 tag as discussed earlier.
• The heading tag of every topic should be greater than that of it’s sub topic. For example, in this article the heading “5. Headings” is in H3 format and the heading “Tips for optimizing Headings” is in H4 format.
• Use headings to break up your text for better understanding
• You can use your primary keyword in H1 and H2 tags.
• No need to use all the 6 Heading tags in one page.

6. Alternative Text

Alt Text or Alternative Text is basically an HTML code used to describe the appearance and function of all the media files, mostly images present in your content. The search engine needs to read the alternative text for every image to crawl through the image, understand the image and ultimately rank your website. It is also helpful for the blind people who are unable to identify images.

For Example

For the given image which you came across,

The alternative text would be like “Latest checklist for On-page SEO”. Simple !!

How can I assign the alternative text for an image ? (For WordPress)

• Just select the picture.
• You will get a box for Alt text under Block, under Settings, at the right hand side of your page.
• Type the Alt text in the box

Tips for optimizing a proper Image Alt Text

• Describe the image as specifically as possible.
• Keep it relatively short.
• Here you are getting another opportunity to mention your keywords so do so.
• Using your keywords does not mean Keyword stuffing. So keep that in mind.
• You should not use images as text. Search engine expects it to be in a text form so that it can read it.
• Don’t include words like “image of” , “picture of” etc.

7. Keyword Density

Keyword Density or the keyword frequency refers to the number of times your keyword is being used throughout your web page. You ca also consider it as a ratio or percentage of your keyword with the total keyword count of your whole content in your web page.

How is it calculated ?

Simply, [(number of times your keyword being used/total word count of your content) * 100 ] %

What is Keyword Stuffing ?

In the early years of SEO, the webmasters would stuff their web pages with multiple number of keywords in order to rank their pages higher. They would hide their keywords in invisible text or website code. This practice is known as keyword stuffing. Soon, Google caught all these practices and eventually adjusted their algorithm.

So, it is highly recommended to have an ideal and proper keyword density in your content.

So what is the ideal keyword density ?

Simply, the keyword density should be 1-2 % of the total word count of your page. This means you can use your keyword 1-2 times for every 100 words. At this rate, the keyword appears enough times to the search engine to understand what your page is all about without getting engaged in keyword stuffing.

8. Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumb is a navigation system through which the user understands its location in a website. It is an important element of On-page SEO as it makes the people view through more and more web pages before they exit. It makes the navigation through out the website’s pages more easier for which it is loved by the users.

For Example

As you can see in the above picture, dizital square > courses > digital marketing > advanced digital marketing

Tips for creating a good breadcrumb

• It should be more enable and and visible to the users.
• Don’t create much confusion as it’s going to be the path for the users to go through your website.

9. Featured Image

Featured Image is the representative image for the content or theme of your post or page. It is very important to add a featured image to your post as the users very quickly get attracted towards an image than that of text.

How to add Featured image ? (For WordPress)

• Click on Setting on the right side of the page.
• Under Post you will get the option for Featured image.
• Add it.

Tips for a good Featured Image

• It should give a clear representation of your content.
• The dimension is recommended to be 1020 * 630.
• It should be attractive and connecting to the user.

10. Internal Links

Internal Link is an hyperlink from one page to another page from the same website. Both the users and the search engine use Internal links for finding content throughout your website. It gives you a better opportunity increase the number of views on the web pages of your website because the users navigate through the links and keep finding the content they are looking for.

For Example

There are two pages www.abc.com/one and www.abc.com/two.

• www.abc.com/one would be getting 500 views.
• www.abc.com/two would be getting 600 views.
• Now, I put a link of www.abc.com/two in www.abc.com/one.
• Out of the 600 viewers if at least 200 also navigated through the link and reached to www.abc.com/two, then its obviously better. That is the simple and straight idea.

What is Anchor Text ?

It is simply a clickable text with a hyperlink.

It’s format – <a href=”URL”>Anchor text</a>

Tips for optimizing your Internal Link with an Anchor text

• Select a good anchor text to make a clickable action towards the other page.
• The page of which you are mentioning the Internal link should be relevant with the current page content.

You can explore the Internal link at the end of this page for better understanding.

So this was all about the latest checklist for On-page SEO you need to understand. The measures for SEO keeps changing with time but to be in the top we should always be up-to-date with the latest key factors and that’s exactly was the main purpose of the particular article. I hope you may have understood each and every point discussed. So now, it’s the time to use all these steps to optimize your web page and gradually you can see your web page getting higher rank with time.

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