Content Optimisation

On-page SEO optimisation is the process of optimising a website's content, structure, and associated coding to improve a site's visibility and organic search results.

On-page optimization is used to improve a site's ranking in the search engine results pages (SERPs), and it is a key component of an effective SEO strategy. It’s one of the most important aspects of SEO, and it’s something that every website owner should be focusing on.

The goal of on-page SEO is to make it as easy as possible for search engines to understand what a given page is about. By optimising your page content, title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and other elements, you can make it easier for search engines to determine what your page is about and rank it accordingly.

There are a range of different types of on-page optimisation, and each type is used for a specific purpose. Some of the most common types of on-page optimisation include title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, image optimisation, and canonicalisation. On-page SEO is a process that requires ongoing attention and optimisation. important to satisfy your website's users, not just the search engines.

This is a good 15-point SEO checklist to check you have your on-page optimisation nailed.

1. Check the SERP for your keywords – what type of pages is Google ranking well? E.g. Articles, listings or category pages, product pages or videos.

2. Check competing pages to see what they are doing well and the type of content they have.

3. Set a content plan for your page(s) to ensure you deliver a better experience and value for users than your competition.

4. Select target keywords and relevant frequently asked questions to answer.

5. Use target keywords in logically structured URLs.

6. Optimise your page’s title tags.

7. Optimise your page’s meta descriptions.

8. Create a logical structure for headings and subheadings
and use them in order.

9. Image optimisation.

10. Page loading speed – Core Web Vitals testing.

11. Mobile friendliness testing.

12. SEO copywriting.

13. Internal linking – check the anchor text.

14. Check other SEO tags, e.g. Href lang and canonical tags.

15. Test your pages with real users.  Do they prefer your page to your competitors?

1. Page titles.

2. Headings and subheadings.

3. Keyword placement and density.

4. Anchor text and link building.

5. Images and alt text.

6. Internal links.

7. Page speed.

8. Mobile optimization.

9. Schema markup.

10. User experience (page layout, design, speed).

These techniques have been proven to help users and search engines for the past 20 years or so!
So, get these basic factors right and you've laid the foundations for a good user experience and solid platform for doing well in the search engines.

1. Choose the right keywords
The first step in any on-page SEO strategy is to identify the right keywords to target. These are the words and phrases that people are most likely to enter into a search engine when looking for information on a particular topic.

2. Use keyword-rich URLs
Your website’s URLs are another important on-page SEO element. Make sure your URLs are keyword-rich and include your target keywords.  But don't over-do it and over-optimise.

3. Optimise your title tags and meta descriptions
Your title tag and meta description are two of the most important on-page SEO elements. They’re the first thing searchers see when they conduct a search, so you want to make sure they’re optimised for your target keywords and enticing.

4. Optimize your images
Optimize your images by using keyword-rich file names and adding alt attributes.  Make sure they are sized correctly for the browser by using an image CDN or optimisation service that automatically re-sizes and optimises the file size.  Webp, AVIF and SVGs are smaller and faster to load than .pngs and .jpgs.

5. Use heading tags to suggest a logical hierarchy of the content on the page.

6. Add video content - users love videos!

7. Check mobile friendliness.

8. Check your pages' Core Web Vitals.

9. Get user feedback - is your page delivering what your potential customers expect and need?

On-page SEO is the practice of optimising individual web pages in order to rank higher and earn more visits in search engines.

On-page SEO is one of the two pillars of effective SEO (the other being off-page SEO).

There are many on-page SEO techniques that you can use to improve your website's ranking, including:

1. Optimizing your title tags and meta descriptions.

2. Optimizing your images.

3. Using keyword-rich anchor text.

4. Optimizing your website's speed.

5. Creating compelling and informative content.

6. Optimizing your website's layout and design.

7. Optimizing your website's use of keywords.

8. Monitoring your website's backlinks.

9. Optimizing your website's social media presence.

10. Optimizing your website's navigation.

There is no such thing as a Google on-page SEO score.

Google’s Search Quality Raters’ Guidelines talk about E.A.T (Expertise, Authority and Trust) but there is no official score.  Google’s Lighthouse API gives you a Core Web Vitals (CWV) score for mobile and desktop; but ensuring the key CWV metrics are in the green is more important than whether you score 91 or 92 points.

Lots of different SEO tools have their own proprietary scores.  We believe that setting a goal to get your SEO team to adopt a systematic page-optimisation process is more effective than telling them to achieve an arbitrary on-page SEO score.