What is on-page SEO and why is it so important?

 SEO is one of the cornerstones of online marketing. It can drive traffic to your website in a completely organic way – that is, the traffic and conversions are not paid for (like with Google Ads, for example).

Thus, it is self-evident why SEO is so important – with all its aspects, including on-page SEO. Depending on the strategy, some SEO experts may skip certain elements, considering them irrelevant. However, the truth is that each side of this field is closely connected to all the others. Therefore, the question of the necessity of a certain side cannot be raised – only the effectiveness of each one separately.

In today's article, we will discuss more about on-page SEO. This type of SEO aims to optimize your website and its detail pages, especially the content and user experience, to help the user. Why the user and not the search engine? Because the search engine Google is constantly looking for sites that allow and inform users - they enjoy the first position!

On-page SEO in the AI era – how do you optimize for AI Overviews, AEO, and GEO?

In 2025, search engine optimization (SEO) must also consider AEO/GEO ( Answer Engine Optimization/Generative Engine Optimization), namely artificial intelligence-assisted search ( large language models ). Since these language models understand written text excellently, the focus is now on search intent, user experience, clarity and appropriate semantics.

There is also a shift from keyword-centric SEO to topic-centric SEO. This is one of the current aspects you need to keep in mind if you want to understand SEO better!

At the same time, the EEAT factor is more important than ever – experience, expertise, authority, and trust are increasingly relevant to Google when it comes to indexing and ranking pages, especially in today's context of an ocean of pages and articles generated with artificial intelligence. EEAT differentiates you from lower-quality content.

What is on-page SEO optimization?

On-page SEO involves optimizing all elements on your website pages, aiming to create clear, concise content. The content must, first of all, provide the user with all the information they may need. Then, the content must be detailed enough to be picked up by the automatic answers offered in Google – through Features Snippets or AIO (AI Overviews).

Last but not least, the content must be structured (text and structured data ) to answer the user's potential questions directly. This increases the chances that the information provided will be picked up by AIO, ChatGPT, Perplexity or even voice assistants.

Equally important in this context is web accessibility (WCAG) – any optimization strategy must include managing accessibility elements.

On-page SEO takes into account several aspects – it is not a simple process requiring constant monitoring. Among the most important are keywords, media optimization, URL structure and metadata.

on-page SEO optimization

Main aspects strictly related to on-page SEO optimization

Google's algorithm looks for certain clues (or signals) to determine whether a particular page is relevant to the user. The level of relevance is significantly increased if certain keywords (user searches) appear in the body of a page on your website. This is the first step towards on-page optimization.

After keywords, all other elements of a page are taken into account - content, meta description and title, images, headings, page navigation, as well as the quality of the content itself - you will find more details about all of this below.

So, what is on-page SEO? In general, the term refers to all how a website and its pages can be modified to improve the user experience on them. This includes the so-called core web vitals but also mobile compatibility, internal links and page speed.

So, as you can see, a complete on-page SEO optimization strategy involves more than just keywords and throwing them (in some situations) on the page.

Basic on-page SEO elements – mainly keywords, meta titles and meta descriptions, properly optimized headings, internal linking strategy, and image and media content optimization.

New on-page SEO elements with increased importance – updated Core Web Vitals (emphasis on Interaction to Next Paint, instead of First Input Delay ), EEAT elements, behavioural signals regarding users, but especially semantic optimization, optimization for AIO, topical coverage, Schema Markup.

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What is on-site SEO?

This type of SEO is a subcategory of on-page SEO, especially since it deals more with technical elements related to website optimization. Thus, if the vast majority of on-page SEO techniques and strategies consider keywords, content, and content optimization, on-site SEO takes into account technical aspects - errors, page speed and so on.

Generally, this type of SEO deals with elements that are not directly related to keywords, such as:

The use and quality of links on the page – aspects such as their number, whether they are external or internal, their positioning in the text, the page they link to, etc. Links of both types are recommended, but in moderation and only where necessary/relevant;

Page loading speed – this is an extremely important element that significantly influences traffic. According to statistics, if a page loads in more than 3 seconds, the vast majority of users leave the site. Thus, it does not matter how well you have structured your keyword strategy if your website leaves much to be desired in terms of loading and speed ;

The importance of Core Web Vitals – especially INP, CLS, and LCP, as well as optimization for AI crawling. Core Web Vitals have undergone some pretty significant changes in the last 1-2 years, changing the way Google analyzes a website, in terms of these metrics, to position it in search results;

Using data structuring tools (such as Schema.org ) – tools of this type help you improve the way search engines read your website pages and, implicitly, the way they index and position them in search results. These tools require knowledge of HTML, as they involve adding information at the backend level ;

Page URL structure – in some cases, URLs can help the user find certain information, and a centralized structure of them (categories, subcategories, etc.) can help both users and search engines better see your site;

Mobile compatibility – nowadays, you shouldn’t ignore this aspect. The vast majority of users search for information and make purchases on their mobile phones. Saying no to this type of optimization/compatibility can mean, in some cases, intentionally giving up 50% of your potential customers. Here, you can take the mobile-friendly test ;

Page metadata – by definition, metadata means data that provides information/details about other data, a way to define certain data in more detail. While basic data helps users (the body of an article), metadata is used by search engines (image tags, headings, meta title, meta description, etc.);

Increased security – currently, aspects such as HTTPS, GDPR and cookie consent are more important than ever since they have a direct impact on your position in the SERPs.

On-site SEO

Most of the time, on-site SEO requires the presence of an expert and maybe even a programmer (in case there are serious errors or redirects with a high degree of risk/difficulty on the site).

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What is a meta title?

A meta title is the title displayed in search engine results. It indicates the topic of the page it links to and usually has a main keyword – relevant to that page. This meta title can be different from the actual title of the article or page, although this is not recommended.

The meta title is an essential aspect when it comes to on-page SEO optimization, as it is one of the first things that both users and the search engine itself look at. That is why its structure and optimization are vital for a web page. Some general rules to follow are:

A 60-character limit for meta titles;

Description of the content on the page;

Integrating words considered " powerful "with influence;

Despite the relatively technical aspects above, the meta title still needs to be interesting, catch users' eyes, and contribute to a conversion.

Meta titles should also be optimized to increase click-through rates for AI-generated summaries (AIOs). In general, it is recommended to formulate them as answers to questions or as clear, concise structures to be easily digested by AI.

In this context, A/B testing of meta titles using data from GSC or other similar analytics platforms has become important. Thus, a seemingly easy aspect to achieve - and optimize -becomes an important element in an on-page SEO strategy, so important that it requires A/B testing.

meta title

What is a meta description?

If there is a meta title, then there is also a meta description. This is another important step for the on-page SEO optimization chapter. In the search results, after the meta title, users have the chance to see a short description of the topic addressed on that page.

As you've probably noticed by now, most meta descriptions of pages in Romania are not very coherent. Why? When this type of description is not mentioned/entered, Google will select a part of the content that either contains the keyword corresponding to the current search or is relevant to the page and will insert it as a meta description.

That part could be an incomplete sentence or a paragraph that can't be understood without context. That's why you have the chance to enter the meta description. Some general rules to follow when creating one are:

Consider the meta description a text advertisement through which you can sell a product or service – in this case, a page or website;

Avoid using descriptions similar to those of other pages or the competition;

Use a maximum of 155 characters;

Include a call-to-action word ;

Use the keyword or keywords;

Make sure the description is specific (not general) and describes the topic of the page accurately.

meta description

Nowadays, writing a meta description is as important as writing a meta title – because AI Overviews can take these over. Thus, meta descriptions are no longer general but must be adapted to different types of search intent (commercial, informational, navigational).

It is recommended that the meta description provide a quick answer relevant to the topic of the page. However, this is not always possible, especially for product pages, for example. The downside is that, in many cases, even with very well-written meta descriptions, Google prefers to ignore them and generate a description automatically, based mainly on the user's search. Again, note the importance of using natural language and covering the entire topic in a page or article to ensure that, regardless of how the search is performed (traditionally or conversationally, through AI tools), your page is in the top positions or even in AI summaries.

Why do you always have to use headings – H1, H2, H3?

As mentioned, Google and other search engines scan and analyze pages to determine if they deserve to be on the first page of results. Among the things they scan are the headings on your pages.

A heading is just that – the subtitle of the paragraph. In this case, it has the H2 tag, which indicates that it is a secondary tag within the content of this page. H1, on the other hand, is the title of the page, guides the content, and should be followed by relevant H2 and H3 headings.

Again, headings help both users and Google. It's because they help users navigate an article or page more quickly that these headings are important to Google.

The basic ideas in creating headings revolve around attractive, easy-to-understand, informative subtitles, but also around those that include keywords.

headings h1 h2 h3

Semantic page structure – an essential element for AIO and Featured Snippets

Headings need to be optimized for AI Overviews – generally, Answer Engine Optimization. How exactly? Simple – they need to be formulated, where possible, as questions. The same questions can be asked by users in various AI tools (ChatGPT, Perplexity), but even in Google – about 10% of all searches are in the form of questions. A question heading thus has more chances of sending a page to the AIO summary or the first search results.

It is also recommended to use Schema Markup to structure the headings and sections of a page properly. Then, from a section point of view, it is preferable to fragment the content into sub-sections (multiple headings), thus facilitating automatic retrieval by AI.

Image optimization

Image optimization is more related to the type of on-site optimization, as users do not necessarily see its results. Also, the way images are optimized can affect the loading speed of a page, among other things.

When it comes to image optimization, the following aspects are taken into account:

Image size – both in terms of dimensions and file size; optimization involves maintaining high image quality in a file as small as possible;

Optimize the title, alt tag, and filename – ideally, all three should contain the keyword for the image. The image should also be relevant to the keywords. Image optimization is vital, given the presence and usage of Google Search Lens, for example, especially if you sell products that are chosen by users based primarily on their appearance. Optimizing for visual search is just as important as optimizing for audio and traditional search;

Use unique images – uniqueness is important online. However, even more important than this is the use of images that are not protected by copyright;

Proper text-image relevance – an image should tell the reader what the paragraph that image is about. More specifically, the image should be representative, and the text should complement it to create complete content.

The use of modern formats – such as AVIF or WebP, which are formats that guarantee high image quality at small file sizes. Thus, Core Web Vitals are also improved. In this regard, modules or tools for intelligent image compression can also be used – smaller sizes without loss of quality;

Structured data for images – if the photos have an informative role (graphs, infographics, tables), it is recommended to use Schema Markup to highlight these types of visual content. Moreover, these explanatory images have a higher chance of being picked up by AIO;

Context and relevance: 

Google is putting a lot of emphasis on text-image correlation, especially when it comes to AI Overviews. So, inserting random images to separate text, for example, is no longer recommended or at least optimal from an on-page SEO perspective.

image optimization

Text optimization

Here, you probably already know what aspects you need to take into account. Text optimization involves inserting relevant keywords while avoiding crowding the text with a specific keyword – or the main one.

Some experts recommend that keyword density should not exceed 2-3% of the total number of words in the text. Numerous online tools can check this density – however, it is not mandatory.

In essence, although the on-page SEO optimization aspect can become very technical – very quickly – the ideal is to use the keyword in a natural way, where it sounds good, as they say, namely to avoid forcing it.

text optimization

Specifically, you should consider the following aspects, both for optimizing the text itself and for optimizing the text for AEO/GEO (AI Overviews, ChatGPT, etc.):

Optimization by taking into account topic clusters, not just keywords. An article or a content page must be complete in terms of the topic addressed, even if the topic involves going beyond the scope of keywords discovered during the research process ;

Natural Language Optimization (NLO) – today's language models understand human, natural text very well. Thus, forced or overly obvious optimization is no longer necessary. On the contrary, it is recommended to express ideas in a clear, concise way, therefore favouring the takeover by AIO.

Strategic Keyword Placement: 

Of course, keywords are still important. They are vital signals that Google uses to read a page better. These are best placed in the H1, in the first paragraph, as well as in the conclusion of the text. Secondary keywords and synonyms should be used equally, naturally, throughout the text.

Semantic SEO and topic coverage – it is very important to develop the topic in depth; this is one of the main reasons why you no longer find short articles (for example, a separate article on text optimization). Optimized content, nowadays, involves covering the topic through related questions and associated terms (LSI keywords, entities, etc.). Thus, AI tools can better understand your content, increasing the chances of it being taken as a source.

Readability and clear structure – clear and concise are keywords in on-page SEO(search engine optimization ). Write short paragraphs, use bullet points/lists, tables, and subheadings. The presence of these elements (in a logical way) makes it easier for AIO and other similar tools to scan the page.

Strictly adhere to search intent – write content based on the search intent of the keyword. Don’t write a blog post covering an in-depth topic for a product page. Just describe the product briefly and to the point, but provide all the relevant details about it.

Answer questions directly, with short, clear paragraphs – which is why many articles now have an FAQ, term definitions, or how-to section, depending on the content.

Last but not least, use as natural, conversational language as possible, thus achieving on-page SEO for voice searches.

At the same time, it should be mentioned that this chapter, text optimization, includes all the things discussed previously – meta title, meta description, headings, but also image optimization. All of these elements are part of the text of a page or an article on a page – and that page needs meta tags, headings and images.

This is also why you may conclude that an SEO team is better suited to optimizing a page or even a simple blog post. They can take into account all aspects of on-page SEO – including on-site SEO such as errors, links, redirects, tag optimization, and so on.