On Page SEO
On-page SEO is the work you do on each individual page to help Google understand what it is about and to make it as useful as possible for the person reading it. Unlike link building, which depends on other websites, or technical SEO, which depends on your server and site structure, on-page SEO is entirely within your control. You can improve it on any page, today, without waiting for anything external.
It is also the area where small, specific changes produce the most predictable outcomes. Getting your title tag right, structuring your content clearly, and adding the correct schema markup are not complex tasks - but they directly affect whether Google understands your page and whether searchers choose to click it.
What on-page SEO covers
On-page SEO spans everything visible on the page itself - the title, headings, body content, images, links - and a set of HTML elements that are not visible to the reader but are read by Google when it indexes the page. Both matter.
The visible elements tell Google what the page is about and tell the searcher whether it is worth clicking. The non-visible elements - structured data, alt text, canonical tags - give Google additional context it uses when deciding how to display and rank the page.
Why it matters as much as it does
Moving up a single position in Google results can increase click-through rate by 2.8%, according to Backlinko's SERP CTR research. Moving from position two to position one may result in as much as 74.5% more clicks. On-page SEO is often what determines whether your page holds its position or slowly drops below a competitor who has done the work more carefully.
Google also rewrites page titles in search results frequently - according to Search Engine Land analysis of Google's own data, this happens for 76% of pages. When Google rewrites your title, it is usually because the original did not match the searcher's intent or was not descriptive enough. A well-written title tag that Google chooses to keep, rather than replace, is a direct signal that your on-page work is aligned with how the page actually ranks.
What this chapter covers
The six pages in this chapter each focus on a distinct on-page element. They can be read in order or used as reference for specific elements you are optimising.
- Title tags and meta descriptions - how to write titles and descriptions that match intent, earn clicks, and reduce the chance of Google rewriting them.
- Header tags and content structure - how H1, H2, and H3 tags help both Google and readers navigate your content, and how to use them correctly.
- Content optimisation - how to write and structure content that satisfies search intent, demonstrates topical depth, and avoids the keyword stuffing patterns that Google penalises.
- Internal linking - how links between your own pages distribute authority, help Google discover your content, and guide readers deeper into your site.
- Schema markup - how structured data helps Google display your content as rich results. Research cited by SEO Sherpa found 72% of first-page results use schema markup - making it standard practice among pages that rank well.
- Image optimisation - how to name, compress, and tag images so they load fast and contribute to rankings rather than slowing pages down.