On-page SEO doesn't get the attention backlinks and AI content strategy do these days, but it's still the foundation everything else sits on - and it's almost entirely within your control, unlike backlinks or algorithm changes.

Meta titles and descriptions

Keep your title around 50-60 characters so it doesn't get cut off in search results, and lead with the actual keyword or benefit rather than burying it at the end. Meta descriptions have more room - roughly 120-160 characters - and while they're not a direct ranking factor, a compelling one meaningfully affects your click-through rate, which matters just as much in practice.

Alt text for images

Alt text exists primarily for accessibility (screen readers read it aloud) and secondarily helps search engines understand what an image shows, since they can't "see" it directly. Good alt text describes the image specifically - "golden retriever puppy running on grass" beats "dog" or "image1.jpg" - without stuffing keywords in unnaturally.

Heading structure (H1, H2, H3)

One H1 per page that matches the main topic, then H2s for major sections and H3s for subsections underneath them - this gives both readers and search engines a clear outline of the page, the same way a table of contents would.

Word count and internal linking

There's no fixed ideal word count for an SEO blog post - it depends entirely on how much the topic genuinely needs to be covered well, and padding a post to hit an arbitrary number usually hurts more than it helps. What consistently does help: linking to other relevant pages on your own site from within the content, which helps both visitors and search engines find your other pages rather than leaving them as orphaned, unlinked URLs.

Tools for checking this as you write

Our Meta Tag Generator keeps your title and description within the right character counts as you type, the Meta Tags Analyzer scans a live page to show you what's already set up, and Word Counter tracks your draft's length as you write.