What on-page SEO covers
The points below come from Google's SEO Starter Guide, which we read on 9 October 2026.
- Title: Google says a good title is unique to the page, clear and concise, and describes what is on the page. See meta title.
- Meta description: Google says a good one is short, unique to the page and holds its most relevant points. Search snippets mostly come from the page text, and only sometimes from the meta description. See meta description.
- Headings: they help readers move through the page. Google says it does not matter if you use them out of order, and there is no ideal number of headings.
- Page text: Google advises writing content that readers find helpful and reliable. It says there is no magic word count, minimum or maximum.
- Images: alt text is a short, descriptive line that explains how the image relates to your content. See alt text.
- Internal links: links connect people and search engines to other pages of your site. Google says most of the new pages it finds each day come through links. See internal linking.
What it cannot promise
Google says there are no secrets that automatically rank a site first, and that there is no guarantee any site will be added to its index. Good on-page work makes a page ready to be found. It does not buy a position.
A made-up example
An electrician in Pune has a services page with the title "Home" and a heading "Welcome". Nobody searching for help would know what the page is about.
- The title becomes "Electrician in Pune for homes and shops".
- The main heading says what the page offers and where.
- Each service gets a short heading and a few plain lines.
- Photos of real work get alt text that says what they show.
- The page links to the contact page and to the page for each service.
Nothing here is a trick. Each change helps a real person understand the page faster.
Common mistakes
- Repeating a keyword again and again. Google counts keyword stuffing as spam, and it is tiring to read.
- Giving many pages the same title.
- Chasing a length. We do not quote a character count for titles or descriptions or a word count for pages, because we found no number from Google to name.
- Writing for a keyword tool, not for the person who will read it.
- Forgetting to link the page to the rest of your site.
Related terms
- Meta title: the page title that search engines can show in results.
- Meta description: the short summary under the title in results.
- Internal linking: links from one page of your site to another.
- Off-page SEO (search engine optimisation): work done outside your site, such as earning links.
- Technical SEO: the setup work that lets search engines read your site.
- Keyword research: finding the words people really type into search.
Read on-page SEO that works beyond the checklist. For help with your pages, see our SEO work.
Sources
- Google Search Central, "SEO Starter Guide" (developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide), read 9 October 2026.
