On-page SEO: what it is and what it is not

Executive overview

On-page SEO is the practice of optimising web pages to rank higher in search engines. Three widely repeated tactics — keyword stuffing, hitting a keyword frequency target, and meeting a minimum word count — are outdated and actively harmful.

What actually matters is satisfying search intent: matching the content type, format, and angle that searchers expect, then nailing the tangible elements like titles, subheadings, internal links, and readability.

Rankings follow intent match, not keyword density.

Three myths to discard

• Stuffing exact-match keywords harms readability and user experience; Google understands synonyms and related phrases.
• No keyword frequency rule exists — top-ranking pages rank for ~1,000 related keywords without mentioning them all.
• Word count is not a ranking factor; a 76-word page can attract 170,000 monthly visits if it satisfies intent.

What on-page SEO actually involves

• Align every page to search intent using the three C's: content type, format, and angle.
• Address the specific things searchers expect to find on the page.
• Optimise titles, subheadings, internal linking, and readability.
• Write content that serves the visitor, not a keyword formula.