On-Page SEO Checklist for Small Business Websites

1. Page structure

• Exactly one H1 per page that states the topic clearly.
• H2s for main sections, H3s for sub-points — never skip levels.
• The main keyword appears naturally in the H1 and at least one H2.

2. Meta tags

• Meta title under 60 characters, unique per page, keyword near the start.
• Meta description under 160 characters, benefit-led, with a reason to click.
• Self-referencing canonical URL on every page.
• Open Graph title, description and a 1200×630 share image.
• No meta keywords tag — Google ignores it.

3. Schema (structured data)

• LocalBusiness or ProfessionalService on contact and about pages.
• Article on blog posts, Service on service pages.
• BreadcrumbList on every page below the homepage.
• FAQPage only where real FAQs are shown on the page.

4. Content

• Answer the searcher's question in the first paragraph.
• Use real examples, prices and client work — not generic filler.
• Location pages: 400+ words that only make sense for that area.

5. Images

• Descriptive file names (e.g. seo-services-delhi.webp).
• Alt text that describes the image.
• Compressed to under 200–500 KB and served from permanent URLs.

6. Links

• Blog posts link to the relevant service page with descriptive anchor text.
• Every page is within three clicks of the homepage.
• External links open to trusted sources only.

7. Technical

• Page content present in the HTML without JavaScript.
• Mobile-friendly, loads in under 2.5 seconds.
• Listed in sitemap.xml; nothing important blocked in robots.txt.