On Page Search Engine Optimization

Source: http://www.websitepublisher.net/article/on-page-seo/

On-page SEO is anything that you do to your site files themselves in order to rank better in the search engines. This differs from off-page SEO, which is primarily concerned with gaining links to your site from other sites.

You need both on-page and off-page SEO to rank well, the best on-page SEO isn't going to get you anywhere without good incoming links. And the best incoming links in the world can't help you if your site is crawler poison.

On-Page Optimization Checklist

1. Descriptive literal title tag that includes your keywords.
2. Descriptive literal meta description tag that includes your keywords and entices clicks from readers
3. Meta keywords tag that includes your main keywords, minor keywords, misspellings, and words you may wish to target but that are not commonly found in your content. Don't stress out too much when making it.
4. Clean, coherent, HTML or CSS markup with as little markup coding as possible, externally included files for CSS definitions. Fast loading, accessible, and compatible.
5. Source code formatted so your most important menu items are read first.
6. Descriptive literal ALT & TITLE attributes for images & anchor tags (links) that include your keywords.
7. No use of frames for public content you want search engines to see.
8. Conservative use of javascript, do not use it to display important content.
9. Conservative use of Flash as an option for viewing your site, never a requirement.
10. Normal HTML based navigation alternatives if form based navigation must be used.
11. Descriptive literal heading tags (h1, etc) that include your keywords with good density and are used properly to sectionalize content.
12. Effectively keyword rich content that is descriptive, literal, and goes into great detail.
13. A fully optimized and accessible menu.