Part 1 covered the foundation of this checklist: getting your site into Google, learning what customers actually type, and writing pages that answer them. With Google able to find you and your pages worth finding, this part turns to how each page and the site behind it are built.
It covers three things: the on-page basics that tell Google what each page is about, speed and usability on a phone, and the technical checks that catch problems before they cost you visitors. Part 3 moves on to authority, AI search, and the long game.
Let’s get started.
Get the On-Page Basics Right on Every Page
Every page needs a few basics in place so Google can tell what it’s about. When they’re missing, Google has to guess, and a good page that’s hard to read competes at a disadvantage against a clearer one.
Each page should use its main phrase in a handful of key spots, worded the way you’d naturally say it. Start with your most important pages and check these.
- Put the main phrase in the page title. The page title is the clickable headline in search results, and it also appears on the browser tab. Lead with what the page is about, as in “Water Heater Repair in Pasadena | Your Business Name,” and keep it short enough to display in full, roughly 60 characters.
- Use headings to organize the page. Give each page one main heading that says what it covers, then subheadings for each part. Headings work like the titles and subtitles in a magazine article, helping visitors and search engines see how the page is laid out.
- Write a meta description for every page. This is the short summary that can appear under your title in search results. Google has said it doesn’t use it to rank pages, but a clear one gives searchers a reason to choose you, and Google may rewrite it to fit the search.
- Keep the page address short and readable. The ending of a web address is called the URL slug. Something like yourdomain.com/water-heater-repair is easier to understand than a string of numbers and symbols.
- Describe your images. Alt text is a short written description of an image, read aloud by screen readers and used by search engines to understand what the image shows. Give photos descriptive file names too, such as “tankless-water-heater-install.jpg” instead of “IMG_4471.jpg.”
- Link to your other pages. Links between pages on your own site are called internal links. Use wording that describes the destination, like “our water heater installation page,” instead of “click here,” and link from new pages to related older ones.
These details work like clear labels. They won’t rescue a weak page, but on a strong one they make sure both Google and visitors see what it offers at a glance.
Make the Site Fast and Easy to Use on a Phone
A slow or awkward site loses visitors before your content gets a chance. Google also uses the phone version of your site as its main way of judging your pages, so a site that works well on a desktop but poorly on a phone is graded on the weaker experience.
Many small business sites are slower than their owners realize, because the owner usually checks them on a fast computer and connection. Check yours the way a customer would.
- Test your speed. Paste your address into PageSpeed Insights, a free Google tool. It scores how fast your pages load and how stable they feel while loading (Google’s Core Web Vitals), then lists the specific things slowing you down.
- Shrink oversized images. Photos straight from a phone or camera are often far larger than a web page needs. Resize and compress them before uploading, and the page loads faster without looking any different.
- Cut the extras. Every plugin, widget, and add-on adds code the browser has to load. Remove the ones you don’t use, and be wary of heavy page builders that add weight to every page.
- Check your hosting. Inexpensive hosting can slow down even a well-built site, and your site should load over a secure connection (the https and padlock in the address bar).
- Use it on a real phone. Pull your site up on your own phone, then read the text without zooming, tap each button, and fill out your contact form. If anything is frustrating for you, it’s frustrating for a customer.
- Keep the menu clear. On a small screen, a cluttered menu is hard to use. Why Confusing Navigation Is Costing You Customers covers how to structure one around what visitors are trying to do.
Speed and mobile usability are part of how Google judges your pages, but the bigger cost is the visitor who gives up before the page finishes loading. Someone searching from a phone is often ready to call, book, or buy, and a site that makes them wait or squint sends them to the next result.
If your site is slow or hard to use on a phone, patching it one plugin at a time only goes so far. A professionally built site with lightweight code, optimized images, and a mobile-first layout fixes the cause instead of the symptoms, and gives every other step in this checklist something solid to build on.
Fix the Technical Basics Behind the Scenes
Technical problems rarely announce themselves. A page can look perfect to you and still be skipped by Google because of a broken link, a duplicate copy, or a setting someone forgot to switch off. None of it is glamorous, but a page Google can’t properly read can’t rank, however good it is.
A short check every few months is usually enough to catch these. Search Console does most of the work, so open it and go through the following.
- Look for pages Google isn’t indexing. The Pages report in Search Console lists which pages are in Google and which aren’t, with a reason for each one left out. If an important page is missing, the reason tells you what to fix.
- Make sure no page is blocked by accident. A “noindex” setting tells Google to skip a page, and it’s often switched on while a site is being built and never switched off. Check that your key pages aren’t carrying one.
- Fix broken links. A broken link sends visitors to a page that no longer exists, which frustrates them and leaves Google with dead ends to crawl. Update the link, or redirect the old address to the closest working page.
- Send every version of your address to one. Your site can often be reached with or without www, and with http or https. Each version should redirect to a single preferred address, so Google sees one site instead of several copies.
- Remove duplicate pages. When the same content lives at more than one address, Google has to pick one, and it may not pick the one you’d choose. Printer-friendly copies, test pages, and near-identical service pages are common causes.
- Add structured data where it fits. Structured data is a block of code that labels what a page contains, such as your business name, address, hours, or reviews, so search engines don’t have to guess. It isn’t required to appear in AI answers, but it can make a page eligible for rich results, like star ratings or business details displayed under your listing.
Most technical problems are small, and they pile up unseen. One broken link costs you almost nothing. A year of unchecked links, stray duplicates, and a page that was never meant to be hidden adds up to a site Google spends its time working around instead of showing.
A site that’s easy to read and quick to use still needs other people vouching for it. Part 3 covers building that trust, showing up in Google’s AI answers, and keeping the work going over the months it takes to pay off.