On-Page SEO: How to Optimise Title, Description, H1, URL and Images So Your Page Gets Clicked

In short: on-page SEO is everything you do on the page itself to match the query and earn the click: title, description, H1, heading structure, text, URL, images, internal links and markup. The core rule: write for the person searching and use the query naturally. Google may change titles and descriptions, so they must honestly describe the page.

What on-page SEO includes

Title: the key element

The title shows as the clickable headline in results and in the browser tab.

Rules:

• The key query near the start, but naturally, not as a word list.
• Length: aim for roughly 50–60 characters so it isn't truncated; the exact limit depends on pixel width.
• Uniqueness: each page has its own title.
• A benefit or detail: what the user gets ("from" price, free audit, speed, region), with no deception.
• Brand at the end if it fits.

Examples:

Google may rewrite a title if it doesn't match the page, is too long or is stuffed. So write it as a short honest description, not a set of keywords.

Description: advertising the page in results

The description isn't a direct ranking factor, but it affects click-through.

• Aim for 140–160 characters; Google may show a different snippet if it finds it more relevant to the query.
• Answer the query and add a reason to click: a benefit, proof, a call to action.
• Unique for each page, without repeating the title.
• No promises the page doesn't deliver.

Example: "We'll find the technical reasons your site brings no leads: indexing, speed, markup. A free audit by a developer with 18 years' experience."

H1 and heading structure

• One H1 per page. It's close to the title but needn't be identical: the title is for results, the H1 for the reader.
• H2 and H3 break the content logically: each section answers a separate question.
• Don't skip levels or use headings only for styling.
• Question-style headings help both users and AI answers (see our article on content for AI search).

Page text

• Intent. The page must give what the person expects for this query (see our keyword research article).
• First screen: what it is, who it's for, what action to take. The answer to the main question comes first.
• Keywords: naturally, in headings and text, without stuffing or mechanical repetition.
• Uniqueness and usefulness: data, examples, answers to questions. Copying supplier or competitor descriptions hurts.
• Readability: short paragraphs, lists, tables.
• A call to action: a form, phone, messenger.

URL

• Short, readable, without needless parameters: /en/services/seo-audit/.
• Lowercase, hyphens between words.
• Reflects the site hierarchy.
• Stable: when you change a URL, set up a 301 (see our SEO migration article).
• On a multilingual site, separate URLs for each language.

Images

• Alt text: briefly describes the image, naturally, with no keyword stuffing. For decorative images the alt is empty.
• File names meaningful: seo-audit-report.webp, not IMG_0231.jpg.
• Format and size: WebP or AVIF, compression, sizes fitted to the container.
• width and height attributes prevent layout shift (CLS).
• Lazy-load for images below the first screen, but not for the main one (see our Core Web Vitals article).

Internal links and markup

• Add contextual links to adjacent pages with descriptive anchors (see our internal linking article).
• Breadcrumbs with structured data.
• Schema.org markup by page type: Organization, Article, Product, LocalBusiness (see our Schema.org article).
• A self-referencing canonical, and correct Open Graph tags for social networks.

Templates by page type

How to improve CTR using Search Console

1. Performance → Pages: sort by impressions.
2. Find pages with high impressions and low CTR.
3. For each, review the queries it appears for.
4. Rewrite the title and description for those queries, adding a benefit and a detail.
5. Record the date of changes and compare CTR after 3–4 weeks.

A mini checklist before publishing

• [ ] There is a primary query and a clear intent.
• [ ] Unique title and description; the title isn't truncated.
• [ ] One H1, logical H2–H3.
• [ ] The first screen answers the query and leads to action.
• [ ] The URL is short and readable.
• [ ] Images have alt text, dimensions and are optimised.
• [ ] Internal links, breadcrumbs and markup are present.
• [ ] Self-canonical, hreflang for languages.
• [ ] The page is fast on mobile.
• [ ] There is a call to action and lead tracking.

Common mistakes

• Identical titles and descriptions across many pages.
• A title that's a comma-separated list of keywords.
• Several H1s or none.
• Headings used only for styling, with no logic.
• URLs with dates, IDs and parameters.
• Images without alt text and at original heavy size.
• Optimising for a query that doesn't match the page's intent.
• Changing a URL without redirects.