What Is On-Page SEO?
On-page SEO is also called on-site SEO (search engine optimization). It covers everything you do directly on your website to help search engines like Google understand the meaning and context of each page and the entire website. But because the end users of search engines are actual people, SEO is also about helping people achieve their goals in your website. When both search engines and website visitors understand and find your pages useful, your pages are well optimized.
On-page SEO covers everything you do to improve your page content, headings, internal links, URLs, images, and overall user experience in the target page. The goal of on-site SEO is to rank your pages so that when people search for your product or service on Google, they’ll find your page among the top results.
What Does On-Page SEO Include?
On-page SEO includes keyword research to identify relevant search terms, content optimization with natural keyword placement and image optimization. It also includes URL and meta data optimization, content design for better user experience, strategic internal and external linking, and schema markup implementation. More on this below.
1. Keyword Research
Keyword research is the process of identifying what words your audience uses to look for your product, service, or a solution to a problem they have. This analysis helps you determine what phrases to include in a page and what questions to answer.
After keyword research, you should have both exact-match primary keywords and related long-tail keywords that you’ll incorporate in the content. When implemented correctly, keyword optimization helps your audience find your pages on search engines, because you used the words they search for on Google or Bing.
After a visitor finds your page, the next important step is keeping them on the page and getting them to take the next desired action (like signing up for a newsletter). That’s where content quality matters.
2. Content Writing and Optimization
Mindful content writing is about creating high quality content that’s written for your audience first, and for search engines second. Every word serves a purpose. Optimization is about organizing the content in a way that search engines will understand it best.
High-quality content means the page answers the question in the title in detail and shares actionable steps. By actionable, I mean the steps someone can take immediately as they read the content.
Most importantly, the content of each page should clearly match what users are searching for (known as the search intent). This means keeping the content within the scope of the topic and putting yourself in the reader’s shoes to find out what they want to achieve when searching for a phrase. Then make sure they get what they need from the content.
After creating great content, you’ll need to incorporate any missed keywords naturally in the content. Historically, on-page SEO emphasized placing keywords in key areas like the title, headers, and first 100 words. While we still do this today, we’ve moved more towards natural keyword inclusion and using variations and synonyms of the keyword. SEO is no longer about repeating a keyword 30 times.
3. Content (UX) Design
Content design is about how you lay out the information on a page. It includes using visual elements (images, videos), adding CTAs strategically, and positioning important information “above the fold” to capture user attention quickly.
Beyond that, you need to chunk the content into short sections (instead of long walls of text). It may include presenting one idea per paragraph, using bullet lists for unordered lists, and using numbered lists for step-by-step processes. All these make the content easy to read and skim.
4. Image Optimization
Image optimization includes using descriptive file names, alt texts, captions, and image descriptions. It also includes compressing images to reduce the time it takes to load your page. Beyond that, you’ll get better results with original images and screenshots (as opposed to stock photos).
The alt title (alternative title) is useful for screen readers (used by our blind brothers and sisters). Without the alt text, the screen reader can’t describe the image. Similarly, it helps search engines to understand the content of the image. While it’s great to have your primary keyword in the alt text, it doesn’t make sense if the image is not illustrating something about the primary keyword. Be wise.
For the file name (e.g., your-image.jpeg), use descriptive words that illustrate what the image is about. If there’s a way to add the primary keyword, go for it.
5. URL, Meta Title and H1 Optimization
For URL optimization, keep them short and informative – often only using the primary keyword as the URL. Beyond the page URL, also consider how far the page is from the root (i.e. yourdomain.com). Ideally, all pages should be next to the root ( i.e., yourdomain.com/your-page/) or one level deep at most ( i.e., yourdomain.com/parent-page/your-page/).
For the meta title (also called SEO title) optimization, incorporate the primary keyword and conversion elements. Conversion elements could be your phone number, an offer (e.g., 50% discount) or a unique selling point (e.g., GAF-Certified Roofer). Your page’s SEO title is what people see in Google’s (or Bing’s) result page after searching for a keyword.
For the H1 (i.e., Heading 1 or the page title) optimization, incorporate the primary keyword. You could also add extra details about what the page covers (e.g., Your Primary Keyword: Definition, Examples, and Best Practices).
The meta description is not a ranking factor per se. But you can use it to influence someone to click on your page. Hence, you’ll hear SEOs say an enticing meta description could improve the click-through rate (CTR). CTR is an average comparing the number of people who see your page on Google versus how many click on the page to open it.
6. Internal and External Linking
Both internal and external links are useful for your readers and search engines.
Internal links are links going to other relevant pages inside your website. Linking to another page helps search engines understand the structure of your website while also guiding users to related content. When adding internal links, use anchor texts that describe the destination page clearly and avoid using the same anchor text for different pages.
External links are links going to other websites. You may link to another page to help someone find information that would be out of scope if you wrote it in your page. Most people add external links to provide additional resources for the readers. You can also add external links to cite the source of factual data.
7. Structured Data (Schema Markup)
Structured data provides more information that search engines can use to understand the content of a page. For example, if your page contains a recipe, you could use the Recipe Schema Markup so that search engines can show the cooking time, ingredients, and ratings on the result page. There are different types of schema for other pages.
Key Metrics To Track With On-Page SEO
- Keyword rankings – Track position changes for target keywords over time. Measure with tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, or Moz.
- Organic traffic & CTR – Monitor impressions, clicks, and click-through rates from search results. Track these in Google Search Console and Google Analytics.
- Page load speed – Use PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse Metrics, or GTmetrix to measure the loading speed in mobile and desktop devices. These tools also help you measure Core Web Vitals metrics like the LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift), and FID (First Input Delay).
- Bounce rate & dwell time – Track in Google Analytics. Look at the Average engagement time per session and the Average engagement time per active user
- Content quality and optimization – Use Hemingway Editor (for readability), Clearscope (for keyword optimization), Grammarly (for grammar issues) and Yoast SEO (for optimization inside WordPress).
- Link quality – Use Screaming Frog SEO Spider (to check all links in all pages and anchor texts used) and Ahrefs (to identify broken links, orphaned pages, and linking opportunities).
- Featured snippets – Track which pages are getting Featured Snippets in the search result page using Ahrefs, Semrush or manually google the target keyword and observe.
- Crawl errors – Monitor page indexing issues in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- User engagement – Track social shares (BuzzSumo), comments, and Google Analytics events.
- Structured data – Test with Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool or Rich Results Test.
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