On-page SEO: what to change on the page itself
Last reviewed and updated
On-page SEO is the part of optimisation you fully control, and the part that shows results fastest. This page walks the elements in the order they matter: title and description, heading structure, URLs and images, canonical and social tags, then internal links.
Each section links to the free ToolForge tool that performs the check, so you can fix a real page as you read.
1Write the title and meta description first
The title tag is the strongest on-page signal you control and the line people actually click. Keep it under 60 characters, lead with the primary query, and end with the brand. The meta description does not rank, but it decides click-through rate — write it as a promise the page keeps.
Every page needs a unique pair. Duplicated titles across a site are the fastest way to have Google rewrite them for you.
Tools for this element
Tools marked Live open a working workspace that runs entirely in your browser — start with Meta Tag Generator and Word Counter.
Go deeper
- Score the page live — The audit flags missing, duplicated or overlong titles instantly.
- Meta tag tools compared — Which generator to use for which platform.
2Structure headings around the question
One H1 that restates the page's promise, then H2s that match the sub-questions searchers actually ask. Headings are the outline a reader skims and the structure a crawler uses to understand scope.
Never skip levels for styling, and never hide the H1 in an image. If your H2s read like a table of contents for the query, the structure is right.
Tools for this element
Tools marked Live open a working workspace that runs entirely in your browser — start with HTML Viewer & Sanitizer and Keyword Density Checker.
3Clean URLs, compressed images, real alt text
URLs should be short, lowercase, hyphenated and stable. Changing them later costs redirects and lost signals, so get them right at publish time.
Images are usually the heaviest thing on the page. Compress before upload, size them to their rendered dimensions, and write alt text that describes the image rather than repeating the keyword.
Tools for this element
Tools marked Live open a working workspace that runs entirely in your browser — start with URL Slug Generator and Image Compressor.
Go deeper
- Image optimisation for page speed — Format choice, sizing and lazy loading in order of impact.
5Link internally with descriptive anchors
Internal links distribute authority and tell search engines which of your pages matter. Every new page should be linked from at least two existing, already-indexed pages — otherwise it is an orphan.
Use descriptive anchor text. "Click here" wastes the strongest relevance hint you can give.
Tools for this element
These checks need a data provider connected. For a live measurement right now, run the SEO dashboard audit against the same URL.
Go deeper
- Internal linking tips for small sites — A simple hub-and-spoke pattern that works under 100 pages.
- How to use SEO tools effectively — Turn each report into a short, prioritised fix list.
6Verify, then re-check after every deploy
On-page work is easy to regress: a template change drops a canonical, a CMS update rewrites titles. Re-run the markup analyser and the page score after each release, not only at launch.
Record the score before and after so you can tell an improvement from a coincidence.
Tools for this element
These checks need a data provider connected. For a live measurement right now, run the SEO dashboard audit against the same URL.
Go deeper
- SEO dashboard — Live page score, rank checks and backlink verification in one place.
Related tools
The on-page toolkit: generate the markup, then analyse what actually shipped.
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