A new website with zero on-page SEO is invisible to Google, no matter how good the design looks. Before you spend on backlinks or ads, get the basics on the page itself right — that's what on-page SEO means, and it's the highest-leverage work you can do in the first 30 days after launch. Here's the checklist we run through on every project at AddOnn Tech.
1. One Clear Title Tag Per Page
Every page needs a unique title tag under 60 characters that includes your primary keyword near the front. Avoid stuffing five keywords into one title — Google rewrites titles it thinks are spammy, and you lose control of how you appear in search results.
2. Meta Descriptions That Earn the Click
Meta descriptions don't directly affect rankings, but they affect click-through rate, which does. Write one meta description per page (150–160 characters) that reads like an honest answer to what the searcher is looking for, not a keyword dump.
3. A Logical Heading Structure
One H1 per page, followed by H2s for main sections and H3s for sub-points. Search engines use this structure to understand what your page is actually about — skipping levels or using headings purely for font size confuses that signal.
4. Internal Linking Between Related Pages
This is the one most small business sites skip entirely. Every page on your site should link to at least two or three other relevant pages using descriptive anchor text. If you're publishing content regularly, this also applies to your blog — for example, a technical SEO piece like this one should link out to a companion guide on local SEO for small businesses and to something more foundational like Core Web Vitals and website speed, since page experience and content relevance work together in Google's ranking system.
5. Image Alt Text and File Names
Rename image files before uploading (product-photography-mumbai.jpg, not IMG_4821.jpg) and write descriptive alt text for every image. This helps with image search traffic and accessibility, and it's one of the easiest wins on this whole list.
6. Clean, Readable URLs
URLs like yoursite.com/services/ecommerce-website-development rank better and get clicked more than yoursite.com/?p=1029. If you're on WordPress, set your permalink structure to "post name" from day one — changing it later breaks every existing link pointing to your site.
7. Mobile-First Page Experience
Google indexes the mobile version of your site as the primary version, full stop. Core Web Vitals — LCP, CLS, and Interaction to Next Paint (INP) — are measured on real user data, and as of the May 2026 CrUX report, only 55.9% of websites pass all three metrics combined. We cover the technical side of this in our Core Web Vitals guide.
8. Schema Markup for Rich Results
Structured data (schema.org markup) helps Google display star ratings, FAQs, breadcrumbs, and business details directly in search results. It won't guarantee rich results, but pages without it are never eligible in the first place.
On-page SEO isn't a one-time task — it's the foundation every other growth channel sits on top of, from paid ads to backlinks to social.
9. A Sitemap and Robots.txt File
An XML sitemap submitted through Google Search Console tells search engines exactly which pages exist and how often they change. A clean robots.txt file makes sure you're not accidentally blocking pages you actually want indexed — we've audited sites that blocked their entire blog by mistake.
10. Content That Actually Answers the Query
All the technical checklist items above only matter if the content itself is genuinely useful. Google's helpful content systems are built to reward pages that answer a searcher's question directly, and demote pages written purely to rank rather than to help.
Conclusion
None of these ten items is complicated on its own, but most new websites skip at least half of them. If you want a second pair of eyes on your site's on-page SEO, get in touch — auditing this is part of every website project we deliver.