The full on-page SEO checklist

Focus keyword in the SEO title 7 pts

The title tag is the single strongest on-page relevance signal and the text most users see in the SERP.

Target: Focus keyword appears in the <title>

Rewrite the SEO title so the focus keyword appears verbatim, ideally within the first 30 characters, keeping the whole title under 60 characters.

Focus keyword in the meta description 5 pts

Google bolds the query inside the description, which lifts click-through rate even though it is not a ranking factor.

Target: Focus keyword appears in the meta description

Write a 150-character meta description that contains the focus keyword once and ends with a concrete benefit or call to action.

Focus keyword in the URL 5 pts

Keyword-bearing slugs are a mild ranking signal and improve how the URL reads in search results and shares.

Target: Focus keyword appears in the URL slug

Change the slug to a short hyphenated form of the focus keyword. If the page is already published, add a 301 redirect from the old URL.

Focus keyword at the start of the content 5 pts

Search engines weight the opening of a document more heavily when judging topical relevance.

Target: Focus keyword inside the first 10% of the body copy

Rewrite the opening paragraph so the focus keyword appears in the first sentence or two, naturally and in context.

Focus keyword in the content 3 pts

The keyword must appear in the body at all for the page to be considered relevant to it.

Target: Focus keyword appears in the body copy

Use the focus keyword in the body copy, plus close variants and related entities so the page reads naturally.

Content length 8 pts

Longer, thorough pages tend to cover more of the query space and earn more links and AI citations.

Target: 2,500+ words for full marks; below 600 words scores zero

Expand the page with sections that answer adjacent questions, add examples, data and a FAQ block. Depth beats padding.

Focus keyword in subheadings 3 pts

Subheadings structure the document and are used to build featured snippets and AI answer summaries.

Target: Focus keyword in at least one H2/H3/H4

Add the focus keyword or a close variant to at least one H2 or H3 subheading.

Focus keyword in image alt text 2 pts

Alt text is both an accessibility requirement and the main relevance signal for image search.

Target: At least one image alt attribute contains the focus keyword

Write descriptive alt text for each image, and let one of them contain the focus keyword where it genuinely describes the image.

Keyword density 3 pts

Too low reads as off-topic; too high reads as keyword stuffing and risks a spam classifier.

Target: 1% – 2.5% of total words

Adjust the number of keyword mentions to land between 1% and 2.5% of the word count, spreading them across the page rather than clustering.

Short URL 2 pts

Short URLs are easier to share, less likely to be truncated in the SERP, and correlate with higher rankings.

Target: Under 75 characters

Shorten the slug to 3-5 meaningful words and drop dates, stop words and tracking segments.

External links 2 pts

Outbound citations to authoritative sources establish trust and are heavily used by AI search engines.

Target: At least one external link

Cite at least one authoritative external source (a study, official documentation, a standards body) with descriptive anchor text.

Dofollow external link 2 pts

A page where every outbound link is nofollow looks manipulative and passes no trust signal.

Target: At least one external link without rel="nofollow"

Leave genuine editorial citations as dofollow; reserve nofollow/sponsored for paid or untrusted links.

Internal links 3 pts

Internal links distribute authority and let crawlers discover related pages on the site.

Target: At least one internal link

Link to 3-5 genuinely related pages on the same site using descriptive anchor text rather than "click here".

Unique focus keyword 2 pts

Two pages targeting the same keyword cannibalise each other and split the ranking signal.

Target: No other page on the site targets this keyword

Audit the site for pages targeting the same keyword; merge or re-target duplicates. This cannot be verified from a single URL — it needs a site-wide crawl.

Focus keyword near the start of the title 3 pts

Earlier keyword placement carries more weight and survives SERP truncation.

Target: Keyword within the first half of the title

Move the focus keyword to the beginning of the SEO title and push branding to the end.

Sentiment in the title 1 pts

Titles with clear positive or negative sentiment earn measurably more clicks than neutral ones.

Target: A positive or negative sentiment word in the title

Add a sentiment-carrying word such as "best", "proven", "worst" or "effortless" where it is truthful.

Power word in the title 1 pts

Power words trigger curiosity and raise click-through rate from the SERP.

Target: At least one power word

Work in a power word such as "ultimate", "complete", "step-by-step" or "actionable" without turning the title into clickbait.

Number in the title 1 pts

Numbers set an expectation of scope and consistently outperform number-free titles.

Target: A digit in the title

Add a number: a count of items, a year, or a measurable result.

Table of contents 2 pts

A jump-link TOC improves usability and can win sitelinks in the SERP.

Target: A table of contents with anchor links

Add a table of contents that links to each H2 with in-page anchors.

Short paragraphs 2 pts

Dense blocks of text hurt readability on mobile and are harder for models to extract answers from.

Target: No paragraph longer than 120 words

Split long paragraphs into 2-4 sentence blocks and convert lists of points into bullets.

Images and video 2 pts

Media raises dwell time and gives the page assets that can rank in image and video search.

Target: 4+ images or videos

Add supporting screenshots, diagrams or an embedded video, each with descriptive alt text or a caption.