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All lessons in SEO for Beginners Lesson 2.1 of 26

Module 0: Introduction

  1. 0.1What is a search engine?
  2. 0.2How do search engines work?
  3. 0.3What is SEO?
  4. 0.4How to start SEO

Module 1: Keyword Research

  1. 1.1What are keywords in SEO?
  2. 1.2What is search intent?
  3. 1.3How to find keywords for your website
  4. 1.4Keyword difficulty
  5. 1.5Keyword mapping

Module 2: On-Page SEO

  1. 2.1What is on-page SEO?
  2. 2.2How to optimize a page for a keyword
  3. 2.3How to write title tags and meta descriptions
  4. 2.4How to use headings for SEO
  5. 2.5Internal linking for SEO

Module 3: Link Building

  1. 3.1What is link building?
  2. 3.2What makes a good backlink?
  3. 3.3How to get backlinks for beginners
  4. 3.4Blogger outreach

Module 4: Technical SEO Basics

  1. 4.1What is technical SEO?
  2. 4.2How to check if a page is indexed
  3. 4.3How to find broken links on a website
  4. 4.4XML sitemap and robots.txt for beginners
  5. 4.5How to do a basic SEO audit

Module 5: Measuring SEO Results

  1. 5.1How to set up Google Search Console
  2. 5.2Clicks, impressions, CTR, and position explained
  3. 5.3Your SEO action plan

What is on-page SEO?

Covered here

  • The on-page SEO elements every page needs
  • How on-page SEO differs from off-page and technical SEO
  • Where beginners get the fastest wins

Short answer

On-page SEO is everything you do on a page itself to help it rank. It covers the content, title tag, meta description, headings, URL, images, and internal links. Good on-page SEO helps Google and other search engines understand what your page is about, and helps visitors find their answer quickly. You control all of it.

On-page vs off-page vs technical SEO

Remember the three pillars from Lesson 0.3:

  • On-page SEO improves what is on each page: words, headings, images, and links.
  • Off-page SEO builds trust from outside your site, mainly backlinks.
  • Technical SEO makes sure search engines can crawl and index the whole site.

On-page SEO is the best place to start. You do not need anyone else’s help, and changes can show in search within weeks.

The on-page SEO elements every page needs

ElementWhat it isQuick tip
ContentThe main text, answers, and mediaAnswer the search fully and clearly
Title tagThe headline in search resultsInclude the primary keyword, under 60 characters
Meta descriptionThe summary under the titleWrite 120 to 160 characters that earn the click
H1 headingThe main heading on the pageOne H1 that matches the topic
H2 and H3 headingsSection headingsBreak content into scannable parts
URL slugThe part of the URL after the domainShort, lowercase, with the keyword
Image alt textA text description of an imageDescribe the image for people who cannot see it
Internal linksLinks to your other pagesUse clear, descriptive anchor text

Content quality comes first

Web page with on-page SEO elements labeledbakeshop.ph/custom-cakes🎂URL slugH1ContentImage alt textH2Internal link
On-page SEO is everything on the page itself that you control.

The other elements help, but content does the heavy lifting. Search engines want pages that are helpful, original, and trustworthy.

Google describes this with E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. In plain words: show that a real person who knows the topic wrote the page.

Ways to show it:

  • Share your own experience, photos, and local examples
  • Add an author name and short bio
  • Keep facts, prices, and dates up to date
  • Cite official sources, like a government agency’s website

Spot the element

Pick a design, choose your flavor, and see our .

Quick quiz

1. Which is part of on-page SEO?
2. How many H1 headings should most pages have?
3. What does image alt text do?

Common mistakes

  • Focusing on tags but writing thin content. Perfect tags cannot save a page with no real answer.
  • Copying content from other sites. Duplicate content rarely ranks and hurts trust.
  • Leaving images without alt text. Blind and low-vision visitors miss the information.
  • Long, messy URLs. /page?id=4482 says nothing. /aircon-cleaning-pasig/ says everything.

Your action

Key terms

On-page SEO
Improving the content and HTML elements of a page to help it rank.
URL slug
The readable part of a URL that names the page.
Image alt text
A short text description of an image.
E-E-A-T
Experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, Google’s way of describing quality.
Duplicate content
The same or very similar text on more than one page.

Questions beginners ask

Is on-page SEO enough to rank?

For low competition keywords, often yes. For harder keywords, you also need backlinks and a healthy site.

Do I need to know code?

No. Most website builders like WordPress, Shopify, and Wix let you edit titles, headings, and alt text without code.

Related lessons

Want someone to handle SEO for your business while you learn? The team at Remar Digital can help.