On-page SEO: tips to get it right

On-page SEO is everything you can optimize within your own website so that Google understands what each page is about and shows it to the people looking for it: the title, the text, the headings, the URL, the links between your pages and the images. It's the foundation of any ranking strategy, because it depends entirely on you.

Updated in 2026. We've reviewed the guide: we've added the title and headings, which carry more weight than the meta description, internal linking and images, and corrected a piece of advice about the meta description that no longer makes sense.

Why does it matter?

Google needs to understand each page to decide which searches to show it for. The clearer you make it, the less it has to guess. And because on-page SEO depends only on you (not on other websites linking to you), it's the first thing worth getting right.

What's more, almost everything that helps Google also helps people: a clear title, well-organized text and a URL that makes sense lead more people to click and keep reading.

1. The page title

The title (the title tag) is what appears as the blue link in Google's results, and it's one of the on-page elements with the most influence. To write it well:

• Put the main keyword near the start, naturally.
• Make it unique for each page: two pages with the same title compete with each other.
• Try to keep it under about 60 characters so Google doesn't cut it off.
• Write it to make people want to click, not as a list of keywords.

Google sometimes rewrites the title if it thinks it doesn't describe the page well. If you see this in your results, it's usually a sign that yours is too long, too generic or duplicated.

2. Keywords

Keywords tell Google what your page is about, but repeating them over and over doesn't work: the text becomes awkward to read and Google notices. This is what works:

• Choose one main keyword per page and think about what the person typing it is really looking for (we explain this in search intent).
• Use it in the title, in the H1, early in the text and in a subheading or two.
• For the rest, write naturally and use synonyms and related terms. Google understands meaning, not just exact words.
• There's no magic number of repetitions. If it sounds forced when you read it aloud, it's too much.

3. Headings (H1, H2, H3)

Headings structure the content, both for readers and for Google:

• One H1 per page, clearly stating what it's about (it's usually similar to the title).
• H2 for each main section and H3 for subsections, without skipping levels.
• Make each heading describe what comes beneath it. "Introduction" or "More information" tell nobody anything.

Well-structured text is easier to read on a phone, and Google often uses it to pull featured snippets into its results.

4. The meta description

The meta description is the short text that appears under the title in Google. It doesn't directly affect rankings, but it does affect how many people click, so it's worth looking after:

• Summarize honestly what the person will find on the page.
• Include the keyword: Google highlights it in bold when it matches the search.
• End with a clear invitation: "find out how", "get a quote", "compare prices".
• Around 150 characters so it isn't cut off.

Google often shows a different snippet from your page instead of your meta description, because it picks the text that best answers each search. That's normal and there's no way to force it. All you can do is write a good description and good content, so that whatever it picks is good too.

5. The page address (URL)

Many people look at the URL before clicking, and Google uses it as a clue too. A good URL is short and describes the content:

• Good: yourstore.com/kids-clothes/t-shirts
• Bad: yourstore.com/index.php?cat=12&id=4578

A few tips:

• Include the keyword or a variation, without making it long.
• Use hyphens to separate words and avoid accents and special characters, because when you share the link they turn into strange codes.
• Don't change URLs that already work just to improve them. If you have to, always redirect the old one to the new one with a 301 redirect, or you'll lose the rankings you had.

6. Internal links

Linking your own pages to each other is one of the simplest and most overlooked improvements. Internal links help Google discover your pages and understand which ones matter most, and they help your visitors keep browsing.

• From each article, link to related ones and to the service or product page that makes sense.
• Use link text that says where it leads ("how to improve Core Web Vitals"), not "click here".
• No important page should be left without links pointing to it.

7. Images

Images count too, and they can bring you visits from Google Images:

• Alt text that describes the image. It helps Google and people who use screen readers.
• Descriptive file names: blue-cotton-t-shirt.jpg, not IMG_4821.jpg.
• Lightweight images, in modern formats such as WebP or AVIF and at the size they're displayed. A slow website loses visits and rankings, as we explain in our article on Core Web Vitals.

Before you publish, check this

• A unique title with the keyword near the start.
• One H1 and subheadings that structure the text.
• A hand-written meta description.
• A short, descriptive URL.
• Two or three internal links to related pages.
• Images with alt text, kept lightweight.
• And most importantly: content that genuinely answers what the visitor is looking for.