What on-page work covers
On-page SEO means the things you control directly on your own pages: the words, the structure, the links and the technical setup that lets search engines read them. It is the practical side of the wider strategy for search, and it is mostly about clarity. A page that is clear to a person is usually easier for a search engine to understand as well.
No checklist can promise a ranking. Results depend on competition, content quality and many factors that change. What a checklist can do is remove avoidable problems.
Start with keyword research
Before you write or edit a page, find out how people describe what you offer. The words you use internally may differ from the words customers type.
- List your products, services and the questions customers ask you.
- Check how searchers phrase these. Search suggestions, the “related searches” shown on results pages and your own customer emails are free sources. Keyword tools can add estimates, but treat their volume figures as rough guides.
- Group phrases by intent. Someone looking for an explanation wants something different from someone ready to buy.
- Assign one main topic to each page, with a few related phrases. Two pages competing for the same topic can confuse both visitors and search engines.
The same research can help with choosing paid search keywords, since it shows what people really type.
Write clear page titles and descriptions
The title tag is the headline shown in search results and in the browser tab. Good titles:
- describe the page honestly, with the main topic near the start
- are unique on every page
- stay short enough to avoid being cut off (the display length varies, so check how your pages appear)
The meta description is the short summary that may appear under the title. It does not directly decide rankings, but a clear one can help people decide to click. Search engines sometimes rewrite it, so do not worry if yours is not always shown. Write it for people, not as a list of keywords.
Use headings to organise the page
Headings are for readers first. Use one main heading for the page topic and subheadings for the sections beneath it, in a logical order. Headings that describe the content, such as “How the process works”, help both skimming readers and tools that interpret structure. Avoid stuffing them with repeated phrases. Skill in headline writing for people carries over directly to page headings.
Write content that answers the question
Search engines aim to show pages that satisfy the searcher. Cover the topic properly, in plain language, and answer the likely follow-up questions. A few habits:
- Put the most important information early.
- Use the words people use, naturally, without repeating a phrase unnaturally.
- Keep content accurate and up to date; remove or improve thin, outdated pages.
- Do not copy text from other sites or from other pages of your own.
- Describe images with useful alt text, which also helps accessibility.
Consistent, helpful content is a core part of content marketing, so it helps to plan pages around your audience rather than around phrases alone.
Link your pages together
Internal links connect your own pages. They help visitors find related material and help search engines discover pages and understand how they relate.
- Link from relevant text to relevant pages, using descriptive wording rather than “click here”. Clear link text also helps people using screen readers.
- Make sure important pages are reachable within a few clicks from the homepage.
- Avoid pages with no links pointing to them at all, sometimes called orphan pages.
- Fix broken links when you find them.
Make sure the site can be crawled
If search engines cannot reach a page, it cannot appear in results. Check that:
- important pages are not accidentally blocked, for example by a robots.txt rule or a “noindex” setting left over from development
- your site has an XML sitemap, which many platforms generate for you, and that it lists the pages you want found
- each page has a single main address, with duplicate versions pointing to it using a canonical tag where needed
- the site works over HTTPS
- pages load reasonably quickly and display properly on phones, as covered in the guides on page speed and mobile design
Learn the basics of Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free tool from Google that shows how your site appears in Google Search. Typical first steps:
- Verify that you own the site, following Google’s current instructions.
- Submit your sitemap.
- Use the performance report to see which queries bring impressions and clicks to your pages.
- Use the page indexing report to see which pages are included and why others are not.
- Check for messages about problems, such as mobile or security issues.
Features and report names change, so rely on the tool’s own help pages. If you also use a website analytics tool, comparing the two can show which pages attract visitors and what they do next. Many other search engines offer similar free tools.
Review and keep improving
After making changes, give search engines time to process them, and avoid judging results after a few days. Record what you changed and when. Revisit key pages every few months to update facts, improve weak sections and fix technical errors. Avoid shortcuts such as paid links, hidden text or mass-produced pages, which go against search engine guidelines and can cause lasting problems. Outcomes vary, and steady, honest improvement is the more dependable route.