On-Page SEO Checklist: 15 Things to Check on Every Page You Publish

On this page

1. Plan the page
2. Titles and descriptions
3. Content
4. Links and media
5. Technical
6. After publishing
7. The most common on-page mistakes

Every new page is a chance to rank for something. On-page SEO means making each page as clear and useful as possible for both visitors and search engines. Run through this checklist before publishing any service page, product page or article.

Before you optimise, choose the right target: see keyword research and search intent.

Plan the page

1. One main topic and search intent. Decide what the searcher wants: information, a comparison, a service, a product. Match the page to that intent.
2. No overlap. Don't create a new page for a keyword another page on your site already targets. Improve the existing one instead.

Titles and descriptions

3. Title tag: includes the main topic, reads naturally, and is roughly 50–60 characters so it isn't cut off in results.
4. Meta description: about 140–160 characters summarising the page and why to click. It doesn't directly affect rankings, but it affects clicks.
5. Clean URL: short and descriptive, like /wordpress-maintenance/.

More detail: how to write meta titles and descriptions.

Content

6. One H1 that states what the page is about.
7. Logical H2/H3 structure that makes the page easy to scan.
8. Answer the question fully. Cover what the searcher needs to know, in plain language, with examples.
9. Show experience. Real examples, case studies, photos and specifics build trust with visitors and search engines alike.
10. A clear call to action for the next step.

Links and media

11. Internal links: link to 2–3 related pages with descriptive anchor text, and link to the new page from relevant existing pages so it's easy to discover.
12. Images: compressed, sized properly, with descriptive alt text and file names. See image optimization for WordPress.

Why links between your own pages matter so much: internal linking explained.

Technical

13. Schema markup where relevant: Service, Product, Article, FAQ, Breadcrumb. See schema markup explained.
14. Mobile and speed: check the page on a phone and on PageSpeed Insights.
15. Indexable: no noindex tag by mistake, correct canonical, and included in the sitemap.

After publishing

• Request indexing in Google Search Console for important pages
• Share it where your audience is (LinkedIn, newsletter, WhatsApp)
• After a few weeks, check Search Console for the queries it appears for, and improve the content to match

The most common on-page mistakes

• Duplicate titles across many pages
• Thin pages with a few lines of text
• Keyword stuffing that reads unnaturally
• Orphan pages with no internal links pointing to them

Want this done across your whole site? It's the core of a WordPress SEO setup.