What Is On-Page SEO? How To Optimize A Page

Optimizing on-page SEO is entirely different from off-page SEO, which is optimizing for external signals that take place off of your website (for example, backlinks). The free Seobility plan already includes a comprehensive SEO SEO Anomaly site audit for up to 1,000 subpages! To sum up, on-page SEO uses factors that can be controlled, while off-page SEO uses factors that can’t be controlled.

And parts of your URL can appear in search results, meaning optimized URLs can help users understand what your page is about too. Plus, the search engine often chooses its own description to display in search results based on the specific search query. If you search for any competitive keyword, you’ll notice that the top-ranking pages almost all use that exact keyword in their title tag.

Use Your Keyword within the First 150 Words

We’ve consolidated all the resources you need to learn SEO fundamentals alongside unique learning methods, task lessons and quizzes to test your knowledge. You can also display your knowledge with your Linkedin Moz SEO Essentials certification badge. Image alt text, which stands for “alternative text,” is the text used to describe a non-decorative image used within the body of a landing page. Experience focuses on showcasing first-hand or in-depth knowledge about a topic. Adding personal insights, case studies, or examples can highlight your practical understanding of the subject.

Though not a direct ranking factor, meta descriptions provide a summary of the page content. A well-crafted meta description can improve the click-through rate from the search results to your website. Help search engines discover and understand the relationships between different pages on your website by adding internal links to your content.

The Definitive On-Page SEO Checklist For 2025

That said, it’s an on-page SEO basic practice to include your target keyword in your URLs. Get a complete list of SEO best practices to boost your website’s ranking in the organic search results. Rich snippets are enhanced search results that provide additional information beyond the typical meta description. I recommend doing an SEO audit on your site to find pages that don’t have a meta description. External links to related pages can help Google figure out your page’s topic. It also shows Google that your page is a hub of high quality content.

• The best practice for adding image alt tags is to create alt text that describes the image and that includes your target keyword or phrase.
• One of the easiest ways to improve your title tags is simply by confirming you have a unique one on every page.
• For example, if you had an online store that sold pet products, you may add a link from a blog post about Dog Grooming Tips to another post about Dog Shampoo.

Google uses them to understand what your page is about to better match the intent behind a given search query. Search intent is arguably the most important factor for on-page SEO. After all, providing searchers with relevant and useful information is what search engines need to do every second. Off-page SEO embodies any efforts implemented outside of a website to improve its search engine rankings. It’s currently in beta, but the new AI Content Grader in Ahrefs finds “missing” subtopics. It does this by comparing the content of the three top-ranking pages for your target keyword to your content.

This strategy is less about links… and more about getting your content in front of the right people. I saw that most of the content ranking for “SEO Audit” listed out non-technical steps. Most of the content ranking for “increase website traffic” listed bite-sized traffic tips. When it comes to search engine optimization, short URLs generally outperform long URLs. Once you have 10 keywords jotted down, you’re ready for step #2.