A beginner's guide to on-page SEO for small business websites, covering meta titles, headings, alt text, and content optimisation.
On-page SEO refers to all the optimisation you do directly on your website pages. Meta titles are displayed in Google search results as the clickable headline for each page. They should be unique for every page, under 60 characters, and include your primary keyword near the beginning. Meta descriptions appear beneath the title in search results and should be compelling, under 160 characters, and include a call to action to improve click-through rates.
Headings organise your content into a clear hierarchy that both visitors and search engines can follow. The H1 tag is the main title of the page and should appear once, containing your primary keyword. H2 tags introduce major sections, while H3 tags break those sections into subsections. Well-structured content is easier to read and more likely to be ranked by Google for multiple related keywords.
Images should always include descriptive alt text — a brief description of what the image shows. Alt text helps visually impaired visitors understand your content and gives search engines additional context. For internal linking, connect related pages on your site using descriptive anchor text (the clickable words of a link). For example, link from a general 'services' page to specific service pages using relevant phrases.
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