What is on-page SEO and how do you do it?
On-page SEO has the function of ensuring that a page and search engines - usually Google - communicate in the same language. When you publish content, it's true to say that you expect people to be able to access it. Precisely in order to be localised, companies disseminate content on social networks, invest in advertising and carry out on-page SEO
If you create content, it's reasonable to think that what you want most is for it to be ranked as the top search result on Google, right? On-page SEO is the method for achieving the much sought-after top spots on the world's most famous search engine.
To understand definitively what SEO on page means and how to implement it in your content, read on!
To understand definitively what SEO on page means and how to implement it in your content, read on!
1
What is on-page SEO?
On-page SEO is one of the components of SEO, along with off-page SEO and technical SEO.
On-page SEO refers to the strategies and improvements for search engines, particularly Google, that are implemented on your website. It includes the elements that affect a page's ranking in search engine results that you can manage directly, whether it's the structure of the page or the content.
On-page SEO refers to the strategies and improvements for search engines, particularly Google, that are implemented on your website. It includes the elements that affect a page's ranking in search engine results that you can manage directly, whether it's the structure of the page or the content.
2
Why should you invest in an on-page SEO strategy in 2025?
In digital marketing, there's a saying that you can hide anything you want on the second page of Google's search results. The claim is justified: 75% of users don't click on the second page of the search engine results. This means that 3 out of 4 users don't look beyond the 10 results displayed on the home page. Since an effective statistic says a lot, here are a few others:
As the saying goes: he who is not seen is forgotten - and this is the main reason for investing resources in an on-page SEO plan. When carried out correctly, it is the most effective method of ensuring that your content is discovered online without having to pay directly for it.
- The first result of a Google search has a conversion rate of 34%;
- Organic searches generate 10 times more conversions than social networks;
- 70% to 80% of users ignore non-organic results when searching;
- 60% of the traffic generated by searches is concentrated in the first 3 results.
As the saying goes: he who is not seen is forgotten - and this is the main reason for investing resources in an on-page SEO plan. When carried out correctly, it is the most effective method of ensuring that your content is discovered online without having to pay directly for it.
3
How to do on-page SEO?
How to do on-page SEO?
- Create relevant content;
- Concentrate on developing an effective keyword strategy;
- Concentrate on the Title Tag;
- Add a good meta description;
- Pay attention to the use of heading tags;
- Work on link building;
- Improve URLs;
- Pay attention to responsive design;
- Include alternative text for images;
- Improve the user experience (UX) on the page;
- Check the Core Web Vitals.
You may have noticed that there are various types of optimisation. They can involve content optimisations (such as incorporating keywords into a blog post, for example), HTML optimisations (including header tags, which are displayed in the page code) or optimisations relating to aspects of the page layout (whether it is responsive or not).
Consider for a moment the point of view of the search engine and the service it provides. When someone asks Google a question, the entire algorithm is structured in such a way as to ensure that the top result provides an answer to that question.
When a user clicks on a result and returns to the search engine after a few moments, it's an unfavourable indication - they probably didn't find the information they were looking for. When this happens repeatedly, the search engine realises that the page doesn't provide the answer to that keyword.
Apart from technical aspects such as HTML or structure, the most effective SEO approach is the most apparent but difficult one: producing high-quality content.
Now think about this article you're reading. The title says ‘What is on-page SEO and how to implement it’. It's clear, therefore, that we want this content to appear when people query Google with ‘what is SEO’. If the content is not sufficiently engaging, informative and captivating, users will spend less time on the page, interact less and click on fewer links. If this happens, we won't be able to achieve the desired ranking for this article in Google's search results.
When your goal is to answer a question posed in the title of a blog post, provide all the information necessary to answer that question - home page content usually contains around 1890 words. If you promise to provide the X best strategies, then actually provide the best strategies.
An oft-repeated saying in marketing is that ‘content is king’, and it is. You can fool a few people over a long period of time or a lot of people over a short period of time, but not a lot of people over a long period of time. Poor quality content will eventually fall out of favour.
There was a time when on-page SEO essentially consisted of endlessly repeating the keywords you wanted to rank for throughout the page. If the aim was for a page on your website to appear for ‘iphone’, all you had to do was use the word iphone over and over again - which included putting the keywords in white on the white background of the page, a blatant trick.
Over time, search engine algorithms have advanced in complexity, and tactics like this are now not only ineffective but also recognised as dishonest efforts to circumvent the search engine. However, this doesn't mean that you should ignore a keyword and incorporate it into your writing. Several effective practices include:
The title tag represents the title that the page will display on the search engine results page. This title doesn't have to correspond exactly to the article. As well as putting the keyword in the title tag, it is advisable to limit yourself to 55-60 characters - if you exceed this length, the text will be truncated. An effective and optimised title tag helps search engines and users locate your content.
If the title tag represents the name of a piece of content in the search engine, the meta description is the overview displayed underneath. According to Google, the meta description is not a direct element of on-page SEO, but it has a significant impact on the click-through rate, which makes it an important consideration.
The key is to stay within 155-160 characters and craft your message in an appealing way, using effective triggers - phrases like ‘the best (...)’ or ‘discover now (...)’ are very effective. AI can help you create fantastic meta descriptions.
Heading tags simply serve as the intertitles within a piece of content. The main title of a page is labelled H1, subheadings are H2, subheadings within subheadings are H3, and so on. As well as improving the scannability of the text, the algorithm likes to read them.
This involves on-page SEO optimisation that concerns the HTML of the page and the content found within the title tags - both the main keyword and related keywords should be incorporated into the heading tags
Another aspect that the algorithm favours is the links contained in the content. There are two categories: internal and external. If you have a blog full of content, create links to other posts on that blog - this is called internal linking.
External links are also beneficial, especially for new pages: the search engine recognises links to authoritative sites on specific topics - universities, news sites, large corporations - as a favourable factor.
Google also takes the URL into account, so don't forget to incorporate the keyword. Also, emphasise clarity: avoid illegible numbers and symbols (such as % and #) and minimise the number of words. For example, the article is called ‘The 10 best website builders’, but the URL appears as follows:
https://example.com/blog/melhores-criadores-sites
Notice that we've omitted words like ‘the’ and ‘of’ along with the ‘10’, keeping only the essential elements to increase the clarity of the address. This serves as an excellent example of optimising your URLs, and will ensure that the content remains evergreen, meaning that if and when your text needs updating, the URL won't have to change.
Last but certainly not least: your site needs to be responsive. In other words, the page has to adapt to web browsing and mobile devices.
Approximately 87 per cent of smartphone users carry out at least one search every day, but many sites still fail to accommodate mobile browsing. This serves as an illustration of structural on-page SEO.
Alternative texts are an attribute that contains the textual description of the image. They are not seen by the website user. Their main purpose is to provide descriptions for visually impaired users using screen readers.
However, search engines use alternative texts to assess the relevance of material. Since search engines scan the web for relevant content, incorporating appropriate keywords that clearly define an image will be beneficial. It also adheres to the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).
Here are the best strategies for creating alternative text:
A pleasant user experience is essential for improving search engine rankings. This is affected by safe browsing, mobile compatibility and HTTPS security. These factors improve accessibility in web browsers and improve site performance for mobile users.
Core Web Vitals is a practical measure that helps quantify the user experience on the Web. It is one of the latest on-page ranking elements introduced by Google.
Core Web Vitals evaluates key performance metrics (KPMs), including interactivity, visual stability and loading speed. Improving these elements sends a favourable message to search engines, suggesting that your website offers a solid user experience.
- Create relevant content
Consider for a moment the point of view of the search engine and the service it provides. When someone asks Google a question, the entire algorithm is structured in such a way as to ensure that the top result provides an answer to that question.
When a user clicks on a result and returns to the search engine after a few moments, it's an unfavourable indication - they probably didn't find the information they were looking for. When this happens repeatedly, the search engine realises that the page doesn't provide the answer to that keyword.
Apart from technical aspects such as HTML or structure, the most effective SEO approach is the most apparent but difficult one: producing high-quality content.
Now think about this article you're reading. The title says ‘What is on-page SEO and how to implement it’. It's clear, therefore, that we want this content to appear when people query Google with ‘what is SEO’. If the content is not sufficiently engaging, informative and captivating, users will spend less time on the page, interact less and click on fewer links. If this happens, we won't be able to achieve the desired ranking for this article in Google's search results.
When your goal is to answer a question posed in the title of a blog post, provide all the information necessary to answer that question - home page content usually contains around 1890 words. If you promise to provide the X best strategies, then actually provide the best strategies.
An oft-repeated saying in marketing is that ‘content is king’, and it is. You can fool a few people over a long period of time or a lot of people over a short period of time, but not a lot of people over a long period of time. Poor quality content will eventually fall out of favour.
- Concentrate on developing an effective keyword strategy
There was a time when on-page SEO essentially consisted of endlessly repeating the keywords you wanted to rank for throughout the page. If the aim was for a page on your website to appear for ‘iphone’, all you had to do was use the word iphone over and over again - which included putting the keywords in white on the white background of the page, a blatant trick.
Over time, search engine algorithms have advanced in complexity, and tactics like this are now not only ineffective but also recognised as dishonest efforts to circumvent the search engine. However, this doesn't mean that you should ignore a keyword and incorporate it into your writing. Several effective practices include:
- Putting the keywords in the title (H1) - the further to the left, the better;
- Use keywords in at least one intertitle (H2);
- Use keywords, whenever possible, in the first and last paragraphs of the text;
- Normally, there are three keywords in every 500 words of text;
- Use related keywords - if the keyword is ‘smartphone’, also work with ‘mobile phone’ throughout the content.
- Concentrate on the Title Tag
The title tag represents the title that the page will display on the search engine results page. This title doesn't have to correspond exactly to the article. As well as putting the keyword in the title tag, it is advisable to limit yourself to 55-60 characters - if you exceed this length, the text will be truncated. An effective and optimised title tag helps search engines and users locate your content.
- Add a good meta description
If the title tag represents the name of a piece of content in the search engine, the meta description is the overview displayed underneath. According to Google, the meta description is not a direct element of on-page SEO, but it has a significant impact on the click-through rate, which makes it an important consideration.
The key is to stay within 155-160 characters and craft your message in an appealing way, using effective triggers - phrases like ‘the best (...)’ or ‘discover now (...)’ are very effective. AI can help you create fantastic meta descriptions.
- Pay attention to the use of heading tags
Heading tags simply serve as the intertitles within a piece of content. The main title of a page is labelled H1, subheadings are H2, subheadings within subheadings are H3, and so on. As well as improving the scannability of the text, the algorithm likes to read them.
This involves on-page SEO optimisation that concerns the HTML of the page and the content found within the title tags - both the main keyword and related keywords should be incorporated into the heading tags
- Work on link building
Another aspect that the algorithm favours is the links contained in the content. There are two categories: internal and external. If you have a blog full of content, create links to other posts on that blog - this is called internal linking.
External links are also beneficial, especially for new pages: the search engine recognises links to authoritative sites on specific topics - universities, news sites, large corporations - as a favourable factor.
- Improving URLs
Google also takes the URL into account, so don't forget to incorporate the keyword. Also, emphasise clarity: avoid illegible numbers and symbols (such as % and #) and minimise the number of words. For example, the article is called ‘The 10 best website builders’, but the URL appears as follows:
https://example.com/blog/melhores-criadores-sites
Notice that we've omitted words like ‘the’ and ‘of’ along with the ‘10’, keeping only the essential elements to increase the clarity of the address. This serves as an excellent example of optimising your URLs, and will ensure that the content remains evergreen, meaning that if and when your text needs updating, the URL won't have to change.
- Pay attention to responsive design
Last but certainly not least: your site needs to be responsive. In other words, the page has to adapt to web browsing and mobile devices.
Approximately 87 per cent of smartphone users carry out at least one search every day, but many sites still fail to accommodate mobile browsing. This serves as an illustration of structural on-page SEO.
- Include alternative text for images
Alternative texts are an attribute that contains the textual description of the image. They are not seen by the website user. Their main purpose is to provide descriptions for visually impaired users using screen readers.
However, search engines use alternative texts to assess the relevance of material. Since search engines scan the web for relevant content, incorporating appropriate keywords that clearly define an image will be beneficial. It also adheres to the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).
Here are the best strategies for creating alternative text:
- Describe an image exhaustively in 8-10 words;
- Incorporate a geographical marker if necessary.
- Improve the on-page experience
A pleasant user experience is essential for improving search engine rankings. This is affected by safe browsing, mobile compatibility and HTTPS security. These factors improve accessibility in web browsers and improve site performance for mobile users.
- Check Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals is a practical measure that helps quantify the user experience on the Web. It is one of the latest on-page ranking elements introduced by Google.
Core Web Vitals evaluates key performance metrics (KPMs), including interactivity, visual stability and loading speed. Improving these elements sends a favourable message to search engines, suggesting that your website offers a solid user experience.
4
What distinguishes on-page SEO from off-page SEO?
If on-page SEO refers to all the elements that take place within your page - such as the content, HTML or structure - off-page SEO concerns the activities that take place beyond it. The centrepiece of off-page SEO is a link to your website.
In other words: if your company has a blog and other blogs, portals and websites refer to your articles, Google interprets this as something positive, indicating the quality and credibility of your site. This is why blogs use guest posts, which are articles published on other companies' blogs, facilitating the exchange of links and sharing credibility.
Both on-page and off-page SEO are vital parts of a complete SEO strategy, and neither is superior to the other.
On-page SEO optimises the elements of your site, such as content, meta descriptions and HTML tags, to improve search engine rankings and user experience. Off-page SEO, on the other hand, involves external factors, such as backlinks and social proof, to improve your site's authority and credibility.
A balanced approach that incorporates both on-page and off-page SEO techniques is crucial to achieving optimal search engine rankings and overall online success.
In other words: if your company has a blog and other blogs, portals and websites refer to your articles, Google interprets this as something positive, indicating the quality and credibility of your site. This is why blogs use guest posts, which are articles published on other companies' blogs, facilitating the exchange of links and sharing credibility.
Both on-page and off-page SEO are vital parts of a complete SEO strategy, and neither is superior to the other.
On-page SEO optimises the elements of your site, such as content, meta descriptions and HTML tags, to improve search engine rankings and user experience. Off-page SEO, on the other hand, involves external factors, such as backlinks and social proof, to improve your site's authority and credibility.
A balanced approach that incorporates both on-page and off-page SEO techniques is crucial to achieving optimal search engine rankings and overall online success.
5
How can artificial intelligence help with on-page SEO?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to significantly improve on-page SEO, offering various tools and methods to increase the visibility and quality of a site's content. Here are several methods that AI can help with:
By taking advantage of these capabilities, AI can improve web pages for search engines more effectively and accurately, thus increasing visibility, raising rankings and attracting more visitors.
- Keyword evaluation: AI is able to analyse user requests for information, helping to identify the most relevant and highly competitive keywords. Through machine learning, AI can anticipate which keywords will have the most impact on a specific page;
- Content creation and improvement: AI can produce excellent content that aligns with audience requirements and keywords. This includes creating texts, titles, meta descriptions and also improving the style of the content to increase its attractiveness and readability;
- Improving metadata: AI is able to automatically create optimised meta descriptions and tags for pages by analysing the content, thus increasing the CTR (click-through rate) in search engines;
- Content structure assessment: AI is able to examine text structure and recommend improvements, such as the proper application of headings (H1, H2, H3), paragraphs, lists and other components, helping search engines to effectively index and understand page content;
- Image optimisation: AI can automatically improve a site's images, fine-tuning their size and format, and create alt attributes for images, helping search engines better understand the content;
- Examining and improving internal links: AI can help identify the pages of a site that can be linked to boost navigation and the distribution of link value. This helps search engines to index the site more effectively and increase its authority;
- Identifying and resolving SEO problems: AI can detect technical problems on a site, including duplicate content, code errors, slow-loading pages, mobile version issues and various other elements that can negatively affect SEO rankings;
- Evaluation of competitor pages: AI is able to analyse rival pages to identify the elements that influence their search engine rankings and propose strategies to improve your site's ranking;
- Simplifying analysis and reporting: AI is able to scrutinise SEO metrics and create reports, offering suggestions for further improvements. This allows SEO specialists to spend less time on repetitive activities and focus on strategy;
- Content personalisation: AI can help generate personalised pages or site components based on user habits and preferences, increasing engagement and reducing bounce rates;
By taking advantage of these capabilities, AI can improve web pages for search engines more effectively and accurately, thus increasing visibility, raising rankings and attracting more visitors.
6
FAQ
- What is On-Page SEO?
- What are the main factors of On-Page SEO?
- Titles and Meta Descriptions: optimise to attract both users and search engines.
- Use of keywords: include relevant keywords in content, titles and subheadings.
- Friendly URLs: create short, clear and descriptive URLs.
- Quality Content: offer useful, relevant and well-structured content.
- Optimised Images: include alt text for images and reduce file sizes to improve loading speed.
- How do I choose keywords for On-Page SEO?
- How important are meta descriptions in On-Page SEO?
- What is the Quality Score and how does it affect On-Page SEO?
- What is the relationship between On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO?
- How does URL structure affect On-Page SEO?
- What are heading tags (H1, H2, H3) and how do they affect on-page SEO?
- How does loading speed impact on-page SEO?
- Should I use keywords naturally in my content?
- How does image optimisation contribute to On-Page SEO?
- What is duplicate content and how does it affect On-Page SEO?
- Is it important to have a responsive website for On-Page SEO?
- How does On-Page SEO influence Google positioning?
- Is it possible to improve On-Page SEO without technical knowledge?
7
Summary
Now you know the importance of on-page SEO and how to implement strategies to rank your blog effectively in search engines. This way, a larger audience will be able to access your content, increasing your brand's visibility in the market.
Read our detailed guide to SEO!
If your company needs quality SEO services, contact the SEO experts at Studio.351.
Read our detailed guide to SEO!
If your company needs quality SEO services, contact the SEO experts at Studio.351.
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