On-page SEO: six practical fixes using real business examples

Executive overview

Most on-page SEO problems fall into the same patterns: wrong keyword placement, too little content, or targeting a page type that doesn't match search intent. Fixing them doesn't require sophisticated tools — pattern recognition against the top 10 results is enough to identify what Google actually wants to rank.

Match the right page to the right intent before touching keyword density.

Core keyword placement checklist

• Target keyword must appear in the title tag, URL (where possible), H1, and first sentence
• Secondary variations belong in the first H2
• Closing sentence should include the keyword or a close variant
• Local terms (e.g. city name) need higher repetition than they typically get by default

Content length as a baseline signal

• Use the SEO content template to pull the average word count of the top 10 results — that figure is the minimum target
• A page ranking poorly at 64 words when competitors average 371 words has one obvious fix: add content
• Word count alone won't win, but falling short of the average disqualifies a page before other factors matter
• After hitting word count, layer in semantically related keywords the tool surfaces

Search intent determines page type

• For competitive keywords, look at what type of page Google is ranking — not just who is ranking
• For "SEO tool" (92% difficulty), every top-10 result is an informational list or free-tool page — not a homepage or product page
• Sending link equity to a homepage for a keyword Google associates with informational content is wasted effort
• Map each keyword to the page type that matches intent; if that page doesn't exist, create it

Conversion and UX issues that compound ranking problems

• A non-clickable phone number on a mobile page actively destroys conversion rate — fix before other optimisations
• Generic stock photos push key content below the fold; add minimal branding to make images unique
• Bottom-of-funnel pages (e.g. "emergency plumber") need persuasive content — case studies, testimonials, FAQs — not educational prose
• Top-of-funnel and bottom-of-funnel intent require fundamentally different content structures

Image optimisation

• Alt tags should target the primary keyword; this affects visibility in Google Image Search as well as on-page signals
• Even stock photos should be made brand-unique (e.g. overlay a logo in Canva) before upload
• Large hero images that push text below the fold hurt both UX and crawl prioritisation

When to rebuild versus refine

• If the existing content is thin, generic, and misaligned with intent, scrapping and rebuilding from a brief is faster than iterating
• A content brief should specify: target keyword, placement requirements, minimum word count, semantically related terms, and page type
• Internal and external links (especially .edu/.gov sources) add trust signals — include them in the brief
• Re-optimising the wrong page type is wasted work; fix the strategy before fixing the copy