Module 3 – On Page SEO Optimization: A Checklist

✓ Title

• Keep the page title with an average of between 55 to 60 characters
• Include your primary keywords in the beginning of the page title
• Add business name, location, ask question – depending on the category of the page to entice users to click
• Ensure each page has a unique page title, avoid duplicates
• Example: Destination Management | Destination British Columbia

✓ Meta Description

• Keep the meta description with a maximum of 140-150 characters
• Include keywords (if possible) better for click through rates
• First sentence should catch the reader and spark interest, and end with a CTA to further entice users to click
• Ensure each page has a unique meta description, avoid duplicates
• Example: The team includes experts in destination and industry development, cooperative destination marketing, and visitor services. Learn more details.

✓ Heading | H1s & H2s

• Incorporate proper headings for each page on your website
• Keep it clear and concise (no more than 70 characters)
• Headings improves accessibility for users
• Easier for search engines to understand more about the page

✓ SEO URL’s

• Keep URL short and concise for search engines to easily understand
• Ensure that it reflects the content of the page
• Incorporate keyword within the URL
• Avoid unusual characters such as “?, #, =, _,”
• Good Example: www.destinationbc.ca/what-we-do/destination-management/
• Unfriendly SEO URL example: www.destinationbc.ca/what-we-do/!$876420-destination-management/page-456
• Double check URLs automatically generated for pages in different languages – should be acceptable. Mostly important for primary pages, blogs, and PDFs uploads

✓ Image & ALT tags

• Alt tags improve accessibility and should be concise so search engines can easily relate the image directly to the page
• Avoid image sizes that are over 500KB because large file images affects page speed
• Describe the purpose of the image with no more than 100 characters
• Incorporating alt tags increases the chances of appearing on the “image” results page

✓ Internal / External Links

• Include internal and external links in your blog posts to other relevant pages on your website
• This helps to keep visitors on your site and helps search engines understand the structure of your website

Last updated: August, 2024

Share