February 18, 2025

Complete On-Page SEO Checklist For 2025

on-page seo

Full On-Page SEO Checklist for 2025

On-page SEO aids in getting your website higher in search result rankings. It’s an activity that enhances content relatability and boosts user experience (UX), which ultimately tells search engines that your page can offer answers and value.

This article shows how nine simple on-page actions can benefit your business and help you succeed through digital marketing.

1. Zone In on Keywords Used by Your Audience

The search words or terms potential customers use to find your brand or products are called target keywords.

Finding and using the right keywords will influence your success, which is a vital part of on-page SEO and a way to raise brand awareness.

While looking for search terms (keywords), consider these:

  • Keyword difficulty: the ease of ranking for that particular keyword on a search engine.
  • Search volume: number of users searching for the keyword monthly.  
  • Search intent: the reason for the search or the task they wish to accomplish.

As for search intent, there are four main reasons for searching:

  • Informational – searching to learn
  • Commercial – searching for a website or brand
  • Navigational – searching for a product or a place
  • Transactional – searching to make a purchase

2. Optimise Meta Content

Meta content consists of title tags and descriptions to inform search engines and users about your page content.

Although you can set them, Google can sometimes choose titles to show.

If you are writing your title, you must:

  • Make it clear and use the primary keyword near the beginning
  • Write clear titles and descriptions
  • Include a relevant secondary keyword naturally
  • Keep it under 60 characters so the full title will show in search results.

Going through all your pages to ensure the optimisation of titles and descriptions will be crucial in on-page optimisation in 2025!

3. Use H1s, H2s (Header Tags) For Clarity & Indexing

You’ve seen the H2 and H3 tags before titles or in the contents section. These are called Header Tags and help to make sections distinct while organising content for search engines and users.

They range from H1 to H6 and help to clarify structuring.

The main title bears an H1 tag, and there can only be one per page. H2s will mark the core titles on the page, and H3s are for subtitles.

This structuring is necessary for long-form content. Some tips from on-page SEO service providers for using header tags are:

  • Create clear, distinct, and descriptive headers to preview the content
  • Use them in a logical flow
  • You must use keywords in a natural way
  • Create several portions of long-form content using headers
  • Content should reflect on the heading

4. Make URL Slugs SEO-Friendly

A URL slug is part of your website’s digital identity, and each page has its own. Making URL slugs as SEO-friendly as possible is vital.

To help your users understand URLs before clicking on them, you can:

  • Incorporate your primary keyword in them.
  • Make it highly descriptive
  • use hyphens to separate words
  • Keep it short and simple
  • Try not to use any special characters
  • Remove words that are not needed
  • Avoid using dates that could change.

Also, note that changing a URL slug requires a redirection from the old URL is necessary.

5. Make Body Content Engaging & Keyword Rich

Search engines use keywords or keyphrases to determine if a page is relevant to a specific keyword. When your body content lacks the keyword, Google thinks your page isn’t relevant to the keyword.

That’s why content needs a balance of three things: primary keywords, secondary keywords, and supporting content.

All these keywords need to be used naturally without keyword stuffing (forcing words when they don’t sound natural).

When carrying out on-page optimisation:

  • Ensure your primary keyword appears naturally in the first paragraph.
  • Add words that are related to your primary keywords.
  • Include supporting topics that highlight your niche expertise.
  • To make your keyword fit and sound natural, use variations of it.

Looking at competitors can also show how your website content is lacking.

If you cannot write or optimise content, you can partner with an award-winning SEO company for help.

6. Review, Edit, and Perfect Content Quality

High-quality content takes time to create, and it’s only high quality if it converts and suits the user intent.

Reviewing and editing ensures your content will be free of errors and better readability. Read the content from the reader’s perspective and ask yourself if it answers questions or provides solutions because it won’t convert or provide a lead.

Also, content may need updating to ensure it remains relevant to readers year after year.  

7. Better User Navigation Through Linking

You can help your website and blogs connect better through internal links. They aid users in reading related blogs, gaining more information, and discovering your products through product page linking.

Apart from this, internal linking will:

  • Help search engines gain a complete understanding of your site and its structure.
  • Show users more information and products that align with their needs.
  • Maintain engagement and enthusiasm to continue exploring your website.

Internal linking doesn’t just mean doing it for the sale of it, as your anchor text (clickable text) matters! It should be clear and highlight what the user will get from the linked blog or article.

Some linking tips you should make an effort to enforce are:

  • Place internal links naturally instead of forcing them.
  • Only link to helpful pages that offer some value.
  • Make sure the page you have linked to opens and works.
  • Use internal linking reasonably, and don’t use too many.

Blogs, in particular, offer an enormous opportunity to link to various resources, like supporting blogs, products, and more.

8. Add Visual and Audio Content

The most visited blogs aren’t just about pages and pages of text. There are breaks between them for visual content and audio.

These could be in the form of infographics, images, videos, or audio snippets. Such resources add value to the blog and help readers take a break from reading without losing engagement.

Images can be helpful to support text, particularly complicated concepts that need explaining. Note that when adding images to a post, compressing it can increase loading speed without compromising quality.  

9. Utilise Scheme Markup

A structured data type called scheme markup is code that informs Google about the data types on your page. It is helpful because the better Google understands your page, the greater the chances it will rank your content for related search terms.

Google may even use it to create rich results, which often get extra details like:

  • Ratings
  • Prices
  • Event dates

This schema markup supports articles, products, events, local business listings, and recipes.

Given its importance, all SEO service providers urge their clients to use them.

Conclusion

On-page seo optimisation is vital for success in search engine optimisation as a whole. To manage these activities, you must identify which areas need the most work and stick to a strategy for an extended time. 

Luckily, companies struggling can opt to hire an award-winning SEO company for assured help.