On-page SEO: the complete checklist
On-page SEO is everything on the page itself — title, meta description, headings, content, internal links, images, URLs and canonicals. It is the part you fully control and where most sites have the fastest wins available. Here is the checklist, element by element.
On-page SEO is the only pillar where you control every variable. You cannot make another site link to you and you cannot rewrite Google's algorithm, but you can absolutely control what your page says and how it is structured.
It is also where most sites leave the most on the table — duplicate titles, missing internal links, headings used for styling rather than structure. Work through this checklist on your ten most important pages and you will typically find several hours of high-value fixes.
Title tag
The title tag is the strongest on-page signal you control and it is what appears as the clickable headline in results. Note that Google frequently rewrites titles when it judges yours unhelpful — the best defence is writing an accurate, descriptive one in the first place.
Keep it unique to the page, lead with the primary term, and make it something a human would actually want to click. Aim to keep the meaningful part within roughly 60 characters so it is not truncated on desktop, though there is no hard character limit — Google truncates by pixel width.
- Unique per page. Duplicate titles across a site are a common and easily fixed problem.
- Front-load the main term: 'ACAP permit cost 2026' beats 'Everything you need to know about the ACAP permit'.
- Add a differentiator — a year, a number, a place — where it is truthful.
- Include the brand at the end if it helps recognition, not at the start where it wastes the strongest position.
Meta description
The meta description is not a ranking factor, and Google rewrites it often. It still matters, because when it is used it determines whether your result gets the click.
Write it as ad copy that is also accurate: state what the page gives the reader and why it is worth opening. Around 150–160 characters is a practical target. A missing description means Google picks a snippet from your page, which is sometimes fine and sometimes ugly.
Headings — structure, not styling
Headings communicate the outline of the page to both readers and machines. Use them semantically: one H1 stating what the page is, H2s for major sections, H3s for subsections. Never pick a heading level because of how it looks — use CSS for that.
Well-structured headings do a second job that is increasingly important: they are what answer engines and AI systems use to locate the specific chunk of your page that answers a question. A page organised under clear question-shaped H2s is far more extractable than the same content as unbroken prose.
- One H1, matching the page's actual subject and close to the title.
- H2s that describe real sections and, where natural, mirror how people phrase the question.
- Do not skip levels for appearance; keep the hierarchy logical.
- Keep headings descriptive rather than clever — 'What the ACAP permit costs' beats 'The price of paradise'.
Content quality and keyword use
Cover the topic completely enough that the reader does not need to go back to the results page. That is the practical definition of satisfying search intent, and it is worth more than any keyword tactic.
Use your primary term naturally in the title, the H1, early in the opening, and where it genuinely fits. Use related terms and the vocabulary a real expert would use, because that is how a page demonstrates it actually covers the subject. There is no target keyword density; writing to a percentage produces worse pages.
Keyword stuffing — repeating terms unnaturally to manipulate rankings — is explicitly against Google's spam policies and works against you.
- Answer the main question in the first 2–3 sentences, then go deeper.
- Use short paragraphs, lists and tables — they are easier to read and easier to extract.
- Add original value: your own data, your own testing, your own photos, the practical detail nobody else includes.
- Show who wrote it and when it was last reviewed. Both are genuine trust signals.
Internal links
Internal linking is the most underused free tactic in SEO. It helps search engines discover pages, tells them which pages you consider important, and passes ranking signal around your own site — all under your complete control.
The mechanics: link from established pages to new ones, use descriptive anchor text rather than 'click here', and make sure every important page is reachable within a few clicks of the homepage. Orphan pages — pages nothing links to — are effectively invisible.
- Anchor text should describe the destination: 'ACAP permit costs' not 'read more'.
- Link from your strongest existing pages to the ones you want to rank.
- Build topic clusters: a hub page linking to detailed sub-pages, each linking back.
- Audit for orphan pages — anything with no internal links pointing at it.
Images and media
Images are usually the largest thing on a page and therefore the most common cause of a poor Largest Contentful Paint score. They are also an accessibility and search opportunity.
- Write alt text that describes the image for someone who cannot see it. It serves accessibility first and image search second.
- Compress, and serve modern formats such as WebP or AVIF.
- Set explicit width and height attributes so the browser reserves space — this directly prevents layout shift.
- Lazy-load images below the fold, but never lazy-load the main above-the-fold image, which delays LCP.
- Use descriptive filenames rather than IMG_4821.jpg.
URLs and canonicals
URLs should be short, lowercase, hyphen-separated and readable. A URL a human can read is a URL a human can trust in a search result.
Canonical tags tell Google which version of a page is authoritative when several URLs serve similar content — a common issue with parameters, filters, pagination and printer versions. Set a self-referencing canonical on every page as a baseline, and point genuine duplicates at the version you want indexed.
Avoid changing URLs without need. When you must, use a 301 redirect so the old URL's accumulated signal transfers to the new one.
A ten-minute audit for any page
Run this on your most important page right now.
- Is the title unique, accurate and front-loaded?
- Does the first paragraph answer the query directly?
- Is there exactly one H1, with logical H2s beneath it?
- Does the page cover the follow-up questions, or does it stop halfway?
- Are there at least three relevant internal links in and out?
- Do all images have alt text, dimensions and compression?
- Is there a self-referencing canonical, and is the page indexable?
- Is it genuinely usable on a phone at a slow connection speed?
Key takeaways
- ✓The title tag is the strongest element you control — unique, accurate, front-loaded.
- ✓Use headings for structure, never for styling; clear H2s are what answer engines extract.
- ✓There is no keyword density target. Cover the topic properly and use natural expert vocabulary.
- ✓Internal linking is the most underused free tactic in SEO — fix orphan pages first.
- ✓Images cause most speed problems: compress, set dimensions, and never lazy-load the hero image.
Explore the data behind this guide
On-Page SEO — FAQ
What is on-page SEO?+
Everything on the page itself that affects how it ranks and how users experience it — title tag, meta description, headings, content, internal links, images, URL and canonical tag. It is the pillar you control completely, which is why it usually offers the fastest improvements.
How long should a title tag be?+
There is no hard character limit — Google truncates by pixel width — but keeping the meaningful part within roughly 60 characters usually avoids truncation. More important is that it is unique, accurate and leads with the main term.
Does the meta description affect rankings?+
No, it is not a ranking factor, and Google often rewrites it. It still matters because when it is used it determines whether people click your result, and click-through affects how much traffic a given ranking is worth.
What is the ideal keyword density?+
There is no ideal density and writing to one produces worse pages. Use the primary term naturally in the title, H1 and opening, then write with the vocabulary a genuine expert would use. Repeating terms to manipulate rankings is against Google's spam policies.
How many internal links should a page have?+
There is no fixed number. The useful test is whether every important page is reachable in a few clicks from the homepage, whether no page is orphaned, and whether each page links to the genuinely relevant next steps for the reader.
What is a canonical tag?+
An HTML tag telling search engines which URL is the authoritative version when several URLs serve similar content — common with parameters, filters and pagination. Set a self-referencing canonical on every page, and point true duplicates at the version you want indexed.
Related guides
Sources & data note
This guide describes documented, widely-accepted practice as published by Google Search Central, web.dev and schema.org, which are cited above. Search and AI systems change continually: treat specific thresholds and crawler names as current guidance and verify against the official documentation before relying on them. Nepal-specific observations — market conditions, Devanagari search behaviour, what local competitors do — are our own analysis rather than published findings, and are not separately sourced. Guides are written from primary sources — Nepali government departments, operators, park authorities and standards bodies — and each guide lists the sources used for its own facts. Rules, fees and prices in Nepal change; treat figures as current at the review date shown on each guide and verify anything money- or visa-critical with the issuing authority before you rely on it.