Search engine optimization (SEO) sounds mysterious, but on-page SEO is mostly about clarity: make it obvious what your page is about and make it genuinely useful. Search engines’ algorithms change constantly, but these fundamentals have stayed steady for years.
Start with the searcher
Before writing, ask: “What would someone type to find this, and what do they actually want?” Pick one main topic per page and answer that question better than anyone else. Helpful, original content that shows real experience is the foundation; everything else is polish.
The on-page essentials
- Title: clear and specific, with your main topic near the start. This usually becomes the H1 and often the search result headline.
- Slug: short and readable, like
/beginner-sourdough-bread/. Edit it in the post’s settings sidebar. - Headings: descriptive H2s and H3s that outline the content and help people skim.
- Meta description: a short summary that may appear in search results. Search engines sometimes write their own, but a good one can improve clicks. Your SEO plugin adds a field for it.
- Images: descriptive file names and alt text; compress them for speed.
Links: internal and external
Internal links connect your own posts and pages, helping readers go deeper and helping search engines discover content. Use descriptive anchor text (“our guide to choosing a theme”) instead of “click here.” Link out to trustworthy sources when they help the reader, too.
Professor’s warning: Don’t stuff keywords. Repeating a phrase unnaturally makes content worse for readers, and search engines are designed to reward helpful content, not repetition. Write for humans first.
The technical helpers
Your SEO plugin typically generates an XML sitemap. (WordPress core also creates a basic one at /wp-sitemap.xml.) After launch, submit your sitemap in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, both free, to monitor how your site appears in search. Page speed and mobile-friendliness matter too; we’ll tackle those next module.
For more on promoting your content, visit our blog marketing section, and test yourself with our quizzes.
Your assignment
- Pick one draft post and write down the search phrase it targets.
- Improve its title, slug, headings and meta description using the list above.
- Add at least two internal links to related content on your site.
