11 on-page SEO fixes most teams skip

Every team who wants to improve its website’s performance in the organic search results should invest in on-page SEO. In this post, we address a few of the most common on-page SEO issues that can hurt your website’s performance and share tips for fixing them.

1. Make sure your title tags are unique and relevant

When you look at a search engine results page (SERP), the first thing you see for each listing is the title tag.

Title tags are important because they tell search engines what your page is about. You should always make sure your title tags are unique and relevant to the content on the page.

If your title tags are too similar, Google may think your content is too similar and choose to show something else.

When writing your title tags, you should also try to include your target keyword.

In the example above, the title tag is “On-Page SEO: The Definitive Guide (2021).” The target keyword for this page is “on-page SEO,” so the title tag is optimized.

You should also try to keep your title tags under 60 characters so they don’t get cut off in the SERPs.

2. Don’t forget about meta descriptions

The meta description is the snippet of information that appears below the title tag on a search engine results page (SERP). This is your opportunity to provide a brief summary of the content and entice your audience to click through to your website.

You should always write a unique meta description for each page of your website. Use a combination of compelling copy and a clear value proposition to increase click-through rates (CTR).

Top tip: While meta descriptions are not a ranking factor, they can improve CTR, which is a ranking factor. Write a compelling meta description that includes your target keyword(s) and entices the user to click. A page optimized for tiny houses for sale in Tennessee, for example, might use something like: “Explore affordable tiny homes across Tennessee — browse floor plans, pricing, and available models near you.

3. Use alt text to describe images

If you have a blog or any kind of page with images, you need to be using alt text to describe them. Alt text is a small block of text that is used to describe an image and its purpose on a page.

Alt text is important for two reasons. First, it tells search engines what the image is about. Second, it provides a description of the image for people who are visually impaired and using a screen reader.

When you are writing alt text, be sure to describe the image as accurately and succinctly as possible. In most cases, you should keep the alt text to 125 characters or less.

4. Add internal links to your content

Internal links are the hyperlinks that point from one page on a website to a different page on the same website.

Internal linking is a great way to help search engines discover and index other pages on your website. It also helps to establish information hierarchy for your website and distributes page authority and ranking power throughout your website.

Internal links are easy to add to your website, but many content creators and SEOs forget to incorporate them into their content.

5. Use H1

The H1 is the main headline of the page. If you’re using a CMS like WordPress, then your site will automatically use the title of the page as the H1.

However, if you’re not using a CMS, or if you have a dedicated web developer, then you may have to manually enter the H1.

The H1 should be the most important headline on the page. It should be used to introduce the topic of the page and to make it clear what the main topic of the page is.

The H1 should also be the first thing that users see when they land on the page. It should be big and bold, and it should be the first thing that they read.

H2 and H3 tags to structure your content

H2 and H3 tags are HTML elements that help you structure the main content on your page. This makes it easier for both users and search engines to understand what your content is about and how it’s organized.

In most cases, your H1 is the title of your page or blog post, and you should only have one H1 tag per page. Your H2 and H3 tags are then used to split your content into different sections and subsections.

This is a great way to organize your content, but it’s also a great way to help Google understand your content and what it’s about. By using H1, H2 and H3 tags, you can help Google crawl your content more effectively and make it easier for them to understand what your content is about.

This can help you rank higher in the search results and get more organic traffic to your site.

6. Use canonical tags to avoid duplicate content

It’s not uncommon for websites to have identical or very similar content on different pages. This is often unintentional and can hurt your SEO rankings.

The best way to avoid this is to use canonical tags. A canonical tag tells search engines which page is the primary page and should be displayed in search results. This helps you avoid duplicate content issues and ensures that your primary pages are getting the traffic and rankings they deserve.

You should use canonical tags on any pages with similar or identical content. This includes product or service pages created with an AI web agent, category pages, and even blog posts.

7. Check for crawl errors in Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool that allows you to monitor your website’s performance in search results. It also provides a wealth of data that can help you identify and fix any crawl errors on your website.

Crawl errors can occur for a number of reasons, such as broken links, server errors, or problems with your website’s robots.txt file. If left unchecked, crawl errors can negatively impact your website’s SEO.

To check for crawl errors in Google Search Console, simply log in to your account and navigate to the “Coverage” report. This report will show you a list of any crawl errors that Google has encountered on your website.

If you do find any crawl errors, be sure to fix them as soon as possible. This will help to ensure that your website is being crawled and indexed properly by search engines, which is essential for good SEO.

8. Use schema markup to provide additional information to search engines

Schema markup is a kind of microdata that you can add to your web pages to give search engines more information about your content. The more information that you can give search engines, the better they can understand how to rank and display your content.

Schema markup can be used to provide additional information about your content, such as the type of content, the author, the date it was published, and more. You can also use schema markup to provide additional information about your website, such as your business name, address, phone number, and more.

The more information that you can provide to search engines, the better they can understand how to rank and display your content. This can help you get more traffic and improve your search engine rankings.

9. Use a sitemap to help search engines find your content

XML sitemaps are simply lists of your website’s content. They’re important because they help search engines find and index your content.

If your website is new or has fewer than 100 pages, you can create a sitemap manually. But if your website is large (like an e-commerce site), you’ll want to use a tool that can generate a sitemap for you.

There are several free and paid tools that can help you create a sitemap, including Yoast SEO and Screaming Frog. Once you’ve created your sitemap, you’ll want to submit it to search engines.

You can do this by logging into Google Search Console and selecting “Sitemaps” from the “Index” menu. Then, just enter the URL of your sitemap and click “Submit.”

10. Make sure your content is mobile-friendly

Finally, make sure your website and all of your content are mobile-friendly. This is a big one, folks. Mobile traffic has now surpassed desktop traffic, and it’s not going back.

If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re going to lose a lot of traffic. And not just that, but Google has also started to use mobile-first indexing, which means they look at the mobile version of your website when determining your ranking.

There are a few things you can do to make sure your website and content are mobile-friendly. First, make sure your website is responsive, which means it automatically adjusts to fit the screen size of the device it’s being viewed on.

You can also use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to see how your website looks on a mobile device. If it’s not mobile-friendly, you’ll get a list of issues you need to fix.

Finally, make sure your content is easy to read on mobile devices. This means using short paragraphs, bullet points, and subheadings to break up your content. You should also make sure your fonts are big enough to be read on a small screen.

11. Optimize partner pages for branded search

For example, many teams invest in referral or affiliate programs but forget to properly optimize the pages that explain how those programs work. If you’re running a referral program through a platform like ReferralCandy, for example, your referral landing page should be fully optimized for branded and high-intent search terms.

Start by identifying what users might search for — queries like “[brand name] referral program,” “[brand name] rewards,” or “how does [brand name] referral work.” Then ensure your referral page includes those phrases naturally in the title tag, H1, meta description, and body copy.

You should also internally link to your referral page from high-traffic blog posts, product pages, and your footer. Adding FAQ schema to answer common referral questions (reward amounts, payout timing, eligibility) can further improve visibility in the SERPs.

Referral and loyalty pages often drive high-conversion traffic because visitors already know your brand. Treat them like revenue-generating landing pages — not afterthoughts — and optimize them accordingly.

Conclusion

On-page SEO is something that should be done right the first time. It takes longer to fix it than to do it correctly in the first place. Once you have your on-page SEO right, you can focus on content and off-page SEO and watch your site rank higher and higher.