On-Page and Off-Page #SEO Checklists

Generally speaking, search engine optimization falls into two broad categories: on-page SEO and off-page SEO.?

There are a lot of factors that go into both. And ignoring either one is a big mistake. Of course, you wouldn’t be the first one to make it. Over the course of my career, I’ve seen a lot of novice SEO pros (and some experienced ones) overlook one or the other, or fail to understand how to use them together for maximum results.

That’s why I’ve created this piece. I’m going to give you checklists for both on-page and off-page SEO and give you some tips to help your site rank higher and get more traffic.

The Difference Between On-Page and Off-Page SEO

You’ve probably already inferred that on-page SEO refers to all the things you can do to your website that affect your search engine ranking. This includes things like:

• Keyword usage and density
• Content quality
• Meta tags and descriptions
• Navigation
• Responsiveness
• Core web vitals

A simple way to think of it is like this: if it happens in your domain, then it’s on-page. If it occurs externally, it’s off-page.

That means the key to off-page SEO is maximizing the results of all the ranking signals that Google gathers outside of your website. In other words, you’re looking to generate high-quality links that will increase your domain authority.

Both are important, and both can play a major role in determining if your page shows up on the first page of search results or disappears into the netherworld of page two and beyond.

On-Page SEO Checklist

Here are some of the most important on-site SEO factors you need to consider:

• Content – Content is still king. Make sure yours is relevant to search intent, clearly organized, unique and contributes to E-E-A-T.
• Headings – Headings not only make your copy easier to read, but they are also factored in by web crawlers when deciding your ranking. Use your keywords to accurately reflect page content.
• Title Tags – Your page titles help search engines understand what your page is about. Be sure to use your keyword in yours and stay within the 60-character limit.
• Meta Description – While not a direct SEO ranking factor, a good meta description will generate more traffic and help your click-through rate.
• Schema Markup – Google uses structured data, also known as schema markup, to display rich results, which appear at the top of search results and get much higher-than-average clicks.
• Core Web Vitals – Search engines penalize websites that are difficult to use. Make sure your site loads quickly and is easy for visitors to navigate by monitoring your core web vitals.?

Off-Page SEO Checklist

Don’t think that just because it doesn’t happen on your website that you don’t have control over it. While you can’t make CNN link to your site from its homepage, there are a number of things you can do to improve your overall exposure, including:

• Monitoring Your Backlinks – Incoming links play a big role in helping Google decide where your site should be ranked. But not all links are created equal – and some are downright bad. Check your link profile with Google Search Console or another tool and disavow bad ones. Then look at good ones and figure out what you’re doing that leads to these links. Repeat that. (Hint: it’s probably quality content, it’s always quality content).
• Analyze the Competition – Figure out what your competitors are doing by googling your target keywords. Take note of the top sites for each word or phrase. Now look at how they’re promoting their sites and what links they have created. Use this as a benchmark for your own site.
• Improve Your Internal Linking – Wait, what? How can internal links on your website affect off-site SEO? The simple answer is discoverability. Search engine spiders crawl the web, following link to link to create an index or map of what’s out there. Fixing broken internal links and following best practices for site architecture will make your pages more discoverable.
• Build Strategic Links – Do you have a partner company you often work with? Or someone in a related field who uses your offering? Have you done research others will find valuable? These are all great opportunities for building external links. Send an outreach email to websites in your niche asking for links. Provided you contact the right people (always a bit of a challenge), this is a great way to generate inbound traffic. Likewise, if you have eBooks, infographics or whitepapers that others can benefit from, you’re going to organically generate backlinks.?
• Claim Lost and Broken Links – Here’s your chance to outmaneuver the competition. Look for links pointing to another business on external sites that no longer work. Then create content to fill the void and offer it to the linking site. For example, if you’re a pillow manufacturer and a major retailer has a broken link for your competition titled “7 Reasons You’re Losing Sleep,” you can write your own version of that piece and submit it to the retailer as a replacement.

The On-Site and Off-Site SEO Hack

Let’s face it – search engine optimization is a lot of work. Depending on the size of your website, you could spend weeks just working on on-site ranking factors without even touching the off-site stuff. If only there were an easier way…

Which there is. Evisio makes SEO easy ( evisio seo software ). Perfect for complete beginners and established professionals looking for a way to streamline their processes, it takes all the guesswork out of SEO.

It scans your website to see where you’re missing the mark on SEO, then gives you the results in automated reports and step-by-step instructions for fixing the issue. It will save you a lot of time and untold headaches.

You should see it for yourself. Contact me for a free trial.