On-Page SEO Checklist for 2019 - Optimize Your Website for the New Year!

It is a new year and it is time to ask that question again: Is my website optimized properly? Is it ready to take on 2019?

To help you answer that question in terms of on-page optimization, here is an SEO checklist for you. Take your website and online business to more search engine success in 2019!

Capitalize on low-competition keywords

We’ve all heard the wisdom of choosing the right keywords when it comes to search engine optimization and converting traffic to profitable results. As such, if you are looking to optimize multiple pages on your website to help with its overall rankings on the search engines, low-competition keywords are key.

Open your favourite keyword search tool (Google’s Keyword Planner, Semrush, etc.) and look for search terms with a high monthly search volume and low competition. If you can optimize your current and future pages using these keywords, then that will definitely help propel your website to the top search engine result pages.

On-page SEO checklist for content

Content is one of the most essential components of any website. To ensure that each page’s content is optimized, here are important questions you should be asking yourself before hitting that Publish button:

• Is the page’s metadata on point?

  • The page title should be around 5 to 6 words or 70 characters including spaces.

  • The focus keyword should be at the beginning part of the page title and meta description.

  • The meta description should be around 155 characters in length, including spaces.

  • Meta descriptions should contain action verbs or call to action.

• Does the chosen keyword appear on the title?

• Is your keyword included at the top 100-150 words of the article?

• Do you have a list of LSI words (synonyms) for your keyphrase and are they appropriately distributed on the page?

• Is the keyword used on one of the subheadings?

• Is the article word count within the average or longer than the top 10 ranking articles?

• Is the page visually stunning? Does it have images, tables, text boxes, bullet points, etc? Does the page look well-organized and easy on the eyes as a whole?

• Is your content up-to-date?

• Is it formatted in an easy to read manner? Does it have a proper H1, H2, H3, and so on structure?

• Does it use small sentences and shorter paragraphs?

• Does it use simple words that readers can understand easily?

• Is the article actionable? Does it have a call to action?

• Does it satisfy user intent? 

• Is it better and different enough to grab attention?

• Is there an internal link and an outbound link to a reliable source?

• Is multi-media sufficiently employed within the content? There should be at least one image or video.

By asking these questions, you’ll be able to create content that makes search engines and your site visitors happy.

Optimize your site’s images

Most website owners neglect to optimize the images on their pages. This is such a shame because well-optimized images can be a great source for more traffic. This 2019, make it a point to make them more search engine friendly!

One of the main factors to consider is the image file type and size. You want to find that sweet spot between image quality and loading speed. Images that are saved as .jpg or .png and are not too large will load faster, which means they are more ideal for your visitors who are most likely distracted or in a hurry. Aside from that, select images that are clear and complements the rest of the content on the page.

Don’t forget to add ALT attributes to the images you upload on your website. Spend a bit of time improving the ALT tag of any picture or screenshot you include on a page. Just in case the image won’t load on a visitor’s browser, at least they’d see the ALT text and will still know what you’re trying to show at that part of the content.

You can go further by including your primary or secondary keywords or LSI phrases on the ALT tags. Also, carefully select images - they should be able to make your site’s visitors feel the emotions relevant to your page’s content.

Create descriptive but short URLs

URL strings may be something that is easily overlooked by the people who visit your site. But that is not the case with Google and other search engines. To increase your chances of making it to the coveted higher ranks of the SERPs, optimize your pages’ URLs. Whether you are managing a single business website or taking care of a host of PBNs, this is something that merits attention.

Here’s how URLs should be looking this 2019:

• Short

• Clean (none of those random numbers or characters)

• Descriptive - with one look, it should be able to convey what a page is all about 

• Keyword optimized - if possible, include your focus keyword on the URL. If you’re using a long-tail keyphrase, however, you don’t have to include everything. Just the most necessary bits.

Always remember that Google has to know easily and quickly what your page is all about through its URL in order to serve up that page to more searchers.

Check on your site’s navigations and page loading speeds

The speed at which users can get to the information they need on your website becomes even more crucial in 2019. This applies whether they are using their laptops or smartphones. In fact, mobile page speed is already a ranking factor for Google, so constant improvements on navigation and site speed is a must.

There are tools you can use to analyze website speed, such as Google’s PageSpeed Insights tools and GTMetrix. These will show you the issues that are slowing down your site. Fix them as quickly as possible.

Revisit your website’s menu and overall navigation structure. If there are tweaks you can make to provide users what they need quicker, then go ahead and do that. If needed, work with a professional to solve any navigation and page speed problems.

Make your pages highly shareable

We are in the heyday of social media. People are sharing content in places like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest more than ever. It then makes sense that any page you publish on your website should be easily shareable.

One good way of doing this is to make those social media sharing buttons more prominent on any given page. There should also be a call to action near them to encourage more social shares. Be sure to track these engagements as well since the data will be able to help you tighten your on-page SEO efforts.

Follow this on-page SEO checklist for 2019 

Ready to optimize your website and achieve more success on the SERPs this 2019? Simply go over this checklist each time you publish a new page. Check your older web pages as well and update them.

Start the new year right with the help of this on-page SEO checklist!