On-Page SEO

The Pillar You Fully Control.

On-page SEO is everything you do on a page itself - content, titles, headings, links, images and structured data - to make it the best available answer to a search query, for readers and machines alike. Unlike links or proximity, it's entirely within your control, which makes it the highest-leverage place to start.

~70%of meta descriptions get rewritten by Google when they don't earn their place

What we optimise on every page

01

Search Intent

Match the page type Google already rewards for that query - guide, comparison, product or service page - before touching anything else.

02

Title & Meta

Front-loaded, accurate titles (50–60 characters) and benefit-led descriptions (140–160 characters) that Google has no reason to rewrite.

03

Structure & Headings

One H1, a logical H2–H6 outline, and question-formatted headings that double as an AI-extractable summary.

04

Content Depth

Answer-first paragraphs, genuine coverage of the sub-questions readers have next, and at least one original fact or example.

05

Internal Linking

Free ranking value: connecting your highest-traffic pages to your highest-value pages with descriptive anchor text.

06

Structured Data

JSON-LD schema - Article, FAQPage, Product - so machines don't have to guess what a page contains.

The on-page cheat sheet

ElementRule of thumb
Title tag50–60 characters, main topic first
Meta description140–160 characters, key message in the first 120
H1Exactly one per page
URLShort, lowercase, hyphenated, descriptive

The 10-minute audit

  • Unique title and meta description - no duplicates
  • One H1, no skipped heading levels
  • A direct answer within the first 100 words
  • At least two internal links in, two out
  • Descriptive alt text on every meaningful image
  • Valid structured data for the page type

Mistakes that waste a good page

  • Optimising for the wrong search intent
  • Keyword stuffing titles, alt text or headings
  • Multiple H1s, or headings used purely for visual styling
  • No internal links into or out of the page
  • Two pages quietly competing for the same query

Frequently Asked Questions

On-page is what you control on your own pages - content, titles, headings, links. Off-page is what other people say about you elsewhere, which you can only influence.

Yes. Google uses it as a primary signal for understanding what a page is about. The meta description isn't a ranking factor, though it influences clicks.

No. It was a crude proxy for relevance twenty years ago. Modern search evaluates meaning and topic coverage - aim for natural language and complete coverage instead.

Lead sections with self-contained 40–60 word answers, use question-formatted headings, include tables, state definitions explicitly, and keep entity data consistent.

For most pages: matching the search intent correctly. For most sites: adding internal links from high-traffic pages to commercial pages. Both are free and usually neglected.

Want a page-level scorecard?

Get a free on-page audit of your top 20 URLs with prioritised, ready-to-action fixes.