What Is On-Page SEO and What It Includes

On-page SEO is optimizing everything on the page itself: titles, text, subheadings, images and links. It is the part of SEO you fully control, so it is usually the first step.

What on-page SEO is

Google reads a page to understand what it is about and who it can help. On-page SEO arranges the page so this is clear to both Google and people. Unlike technical SEO, which deals with how the whole site works, on-page deals with the content of each page.

What on-page SEO includes

1. Title tag. The headline in search results, with the main keyword.
2. Meta description. The short description under the title that encourages a click.
3. H1 and subheadings. One main heading per page and subheadings that follow the logic of the text.
4. Text. An answer to the question someone asked, with examples and concrete details.
5. Page address. Short and readable, for example /services/web-design/.
6. Images. Compressed, with descriptive file names and alt text.
7. Internal links. Links to related services and articles, so Google and visitors find their way.
8. Structured data. Schema that tells Google what is on the page, such as a service, FAQs or an article.

How to check on-page SEO on your site

• Type site:yourdomain.com into Google and see whether titles and descriptions are clear.
• Open a page and check it has exactly one H1 that matches what people search for.
• In Google Search Console look at pages with many impressions and few clicks. Those usually need a better title and description.
• Check that every page leads to contact or a next step.

Common mistakes

• the same title on several pages
• one page for all services instead of a separate page for each
• text that does not answer the question but just lists words
• images of several megabytes that slow the page down

On-page SEO is part of the website SEO service, and for businesses working locally also of local SEO.