On-Page SEO (Que) Checklist 2026 | To-Do List to Boost Your Rankings

With millions of blogs added to the world-wide-web daily, we simply cannot ignore the importance of SEO for getting to the first page of Google. Even a brilliant content would not get you traffic if you do not optimize your blog. On page SEO is your first step towards optimizing your blog for search engines.

SEO optimize your pages —
However, with the ever-changing Google algorithm of search engines, especially Google, we need to update ourselves to the latest SEO techniques to make sure we stay ahead of the competition. In this article I'm going to provide you with an On-page SEO checklist which you can use any time at least till Google rolls out any major update to improve your search rankings. As the title suggests, this article just provides you with a checklist for optimizing your blog. If you are looking out for details about On Page SEO, you may rather want to check out my tips for On Page SEO Optimization for better search rankings.

On-Page SEO Checklist For Achieving Better Ranking in 2023

Checklist For On-Page SEO:

1. SEO Content Writing:

1. Is your content is original?
2. Is your content well researched with authentic references?
3. Did you well prepared the introduction, text, and conclusion?
4. Are you targeting your short as well as long tail keywords?
5. Did you check readability score? It should be more than 80%, check with Grammarly.
6. Is your keyword density between 0.5-2%? If not, get it. Increasing the keyword relevancy score is must.
7. Do you have your keyword in first and last paragraph of your blog post?
8. Did you added content outline (like Table of Contents)?
9. Have you added primary keywords and synonyms of seed keywords?
10. Have you used images and videos wherever necessary, with proper formatting?
11. Does the article is readable and understandable?
12. Have you added an effective Call-to-Action (CTA)?
13. Make sure the content and user requirements must always be met.

You may also like to read; 20 Professional SEO Copywriting Tips for Writing influential Web Pages [Content Writing]

2. Page Title and Meta tags:

1. Have you added appropriate meta tags?
2. Does your page title contains keywords?
3. Did you added a compelling meta description?
4. Make sured to have optimized search engine friendly meta title, meta description, and URL?
5. Can you rephrase page title to use the keyword at the beginning?
6. Are you using meta description? If yes, does it contain your long tail keyword?
7. Did you checked meta description length?

You may also like to know;

• Stop Using Dynamic Meta Tags in HTML | Advanced SEO Practice
• All Open Graph Tags For All Websites To Boost Your Social Media Shares [Blogger/WordPress]

3. Header tags:

1. Did you follow a hierarchy, from <h1> to <h6>?
2. Are you using H1 for page/post title?
3. Make sure to have titles having maximum length of 60 characters?
4. Are you using H1 tag apart from post title? if yes, consider changing it to H2.
5. Do you have your Keywords in H2 and H3?

You may read; SEO HTML Meta Tags: Use Meta Keywords To Improves Search Ranking

4. Image Optimization:

1. Make sure to have visual content like images, video, and infographics?
2. Make sure adding high-quality and clear images in the content?
3. Are you using alt tag with all images?
4. Is your image file name SEO friendly?
5. Are you using image titles?
6. Is your image size optimum? If not, consider reducing it. WordPress users may use WP Smush
7. Did your images are responsive?

You must check;

• Top 15 SEO Image Optimization Tips for Search Engine Traffic
• 18 Best Free Image Optimizer Sites To Compress Images Without Losing Quality

5. Improving Readability:

1. Is the font size easily readable?
2. Are you using short paragraphs?
3. Are you using bullets and numbering?
4. Checked your article for proper punctuation?
5. Did you optimize your content writeup for user experience and engagement?
6. Checked your article with Grammarly?
7. Make sure the content easier to read and digest?
8. Is Your Flesch Score above 60? (WordPress users can measure Flesch score using SEO By Yoast Plugin)

You must check; 15 Ways How To Write An Effective Blog Post | Content Writing Tips

6. Mobile Responsiveness:

1. Is your blog mobile responsive?
2. Have you kept your viewport simple?
3. Make sure your content fits the viewport?
4. Did you tested your design on actual devices?
5. Are there any pop-up ads covering mobile screen? If yes remove them as Google started penalizing websites using such pop-ups.
6. Are your web-fonts big enough to be read on mobile screen?
7. Have you used CSS media queries for responsiveness?
8. Have you checked your post with Google mobile-friendly test tool?
9. Avoid simply hiding content, Google bot don't like it.
10. Keep your page accessible by not disabling user scaling

Check; Making Responsive Mobile-friendly Template Design | Responsive Web Development

7. SEO Friendly Permalinks:

1. Make sure SEO friendly URL structure?
2. Are your using keyword in permalink?
3. Make sure to have 50 – 60 characters in your permalink?
4. Does your permalink describe content?
5. Have you followed .htaccess rules for all permalinks?

8. Internal Linking:

1. Inclusion of relevant internal links is must.
2. Have you linked to other internal articles?
3. Are you using proper anchor text for internal links?
4. Are you using related post widgets? (For WordPress Users, contextual related posts is Recommended)

Check out; Internal Linking For SEO: 21 Actionable Tips, Strategies, and Comprehension

9. External Linking:

1. Does you have scalable navigation?
2. Are you linking to external websites? If not, consider adding it.
3. Consider adding no-follow attribute to external links with low domain authority
4. Check if you are linking to external websites using anchor text containing your keyword. If so, change it to remove your keyword.

You must know How Outbound Linking Improves SEO, Search Ranking And Domain Authority?

10. Site Load Time:

1. Is your Google pagespeed insight score more than 80?
2. Have you prioritize content over speed?
3. Does your website load in less than 3 seconds?
4. For photograph rich pages, consider using lazy load plugin to make sure images are loaded only after readers scroll down.
5. Did you used DevTools to measure your site performance? If not, do it now.

You may also like to know;

• 7 Methods To Speed Up WordPress Site Fast | WordPress Speed Optimization
• 3 Advanced Ways Making Your Blogger Blog Load Faster | Blogging Tips
• Use Instant.Page on Blogger/WordPress to Instantly PreLoad Pages/Links
• Top 20 Website Speed Optimization Techniques | Improve Page Loading Fast

Video: On Page SEO Checklist: Optimize Every Page on Your Site (Ultimate Guide)

This checklist covers all your On Page SEO Factors that are considered Important as of now. Following it may feel a bit tedious, but it is definitely worth it. By correctly using this checklist, you will definitely be a step ahead of your competitors.