On-page SEO is the lowest-hanging fruit for new blogs. Most beginners skip it and wonder why their backlinks aren't moving the needle.
The 12-point checklist
- Unique title tag under 60 characters
- Meta description with primary keyword
- One H1 per page
- Image alt text and compressed files
- Internal links to 2-3 related posts
- Structured data (Schema.org)
- Mobile-friendly responsive design
- Page speed under 3s
- HTTPS
- Clean URL slug
- Open Graph & Twitter meta tags
- XML sitemap submitted to Search Console
Fix these first, then start exchanging backlinks. You'll rank faster.