How to Do On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is every adjustable element on a single page that tells Google what it's about and tells a person in the search results whether to click. None of it requires code, just knowing which fields matter and what to put in them.

Step 1: Write a proper title tag

1. Find the Title or SEO Title field in your website or CMS's page settings. This is different from the big headline on the page itself.
2. Keep it under roughly 60 characters so it doesn't get cut off in search results.
3. Put your target keyword near the beginning, then make it compelling enough to click, not just accurate.

Step 2: Write a real meta description

1. Find the Meta Description field, usually right next to the title field.
2. Keep it around 150-160 characters.
3. Include your target keyword once, and end with a reason to click. What they'll get, or a clear next step. This doesn't directly boost ranking, but it's the sentence that decides whether someone clicks your result over the one above or below it.

Step 3: Use one H1, then organize with H2/H3

Every page should have exactly one H1 (usually your main headline), then H2s for major sections and H3s for subsections within them. Skipping straight from H1 to H3, or using multiple H1s on one page, confuses the structure for both readers and Google.

Step 4: Clean up your URL

Keep the URL slug short and readable, with your target keyword included and unnecessary words removed. /learn/blog-post-that-ranks beats /learn/how-i-think-you-should-maybe-try-to-write-a-blog-post-that-could-possibly-rank-someday.

Step 5: Write real alt text on every image

Click into each image's settings and add a short, honest description of what the image actually shows. This helps visually impaired visitors using screen readers, and gives Google another signal about the page's content, but only if it's genuinely descriptive, not a keyword dump.

Step 6: Link internally on purpose

On every page, link to at least one or two other relevant pages on your own site, using descriptive link text (not "click here"). This spreads authority across your site and helps Google discover and understand how your pages relate to each other.

Common mistakes

• Leaving the title tag as the CMS's default instead of writing one on purpose.
• Skipping the meta description and letting Google auto-generate one, which is often an awkward, random sentence pulled from the page.
• Using multiple H1s on one page, or skipping header levels entirely.
• Writing alt text as a keyword list instead of an honest description of the image.
• Never linking to your own other pages, leaving each one isolated.

Your first step

• Check whether your most important page has a written title tag and meta description, not defaults.
• Confirm the page uses one H1 and organized H2/H3 headers.
• Clean up the URL slug if it's long or messy.
• Add real alt text to every image on the page.
• Add at least one internal link to another relevant page on your site.

Continue learning

• How to Get Backlinks as a Beginner