On-Page SEO: The Oft Misunderstood Element of SEO Strategy

Every time Google releases a new algorithm update, digital marketing departments across every industry ring the alarm bells.

07:47 15 April 2025

The world of search engine optimisation is one that is never static. Every time Google releases a new algorithm update, digital marketing departments across every industry ring the alarm bells as they face the prospect of overhauling their entire content strategy. It’s the nature of the beast as search engines refine their approach to returning quality results and what that means.

Over the years, agencies and in-house departments alike have grappled with how exactly to tackle SEO to differing levels of success. From black hat SEO tactics like keyword stuffing and sneaky redirects to multifaceted, well-crafted, organic content strategies, anyone in the business has seen it all. In that time, though, on-page SEO has appeared to take a back seat for many.

As search engines clamped down on the black-hat on-page tactics like shoehorning every keyword under the sun into website content, small-to-medium businesses saw content as a time-consuming nuisance. But that shouldn’t be the case, as on-page SEO is one of the best ways to ensure a successful ranking and, ultimately, increase conversion rates.

Some Industries Have Helped Keep Good Content Alive and Well

It must be said that it isn’t universal that on-page SEO has taken a nosedive. Some industries are perhaps better than others when it comes to businesses ensuring their website content is high quality. In these verticals, marketing departments have made the success of their websites the priority. It should be no surprise, then, that these businesses are those where the service is their website.

Take the online casino industry as an example. For these sites, it would be catastrophic for them to focus only on off-page SEO, given that their websites are what they want to direct people to. Because of that, you can see great examples of the very basics of on-page SEO in action. Look at Karamba for UK players. There, below the list of slot and table games that can be played, there’s a full page of content with information on all aspects of online casino gaming and answers to FAQs.

This means that the website will be recognised as a high-quality source of information, as well as being a good match for the services that people are searching for. In both the main body of text and the FAQ breakdown, it provides authoritative answers to regularly-searched queries. This is a key tenet of what Google says that its algorithm is looking for - people-first content. Even Tim Berners-Lee recognised this.

On-Page SEO More Than Just Quality Writing 

What’s important to note, though, is that on-page SEO is not simply about the quality of writing. You could have Hemingway, Joyce, or Dickens write your content for you, and it would still struggle in the rankings. There’s so much more to it than just creating something somebody wants to read. And this is where many who attempt to game the system fall.

As per the Semrush blog, on-page tasks can be wide-ranging and incorporate some more technical aspects than content. Page speed is a huge influence on how websites will rank. Combine a slow website with poor content - or poorly optimised content lacking metadata and both internal and authoritative external links- and you’ve got the recipe for an underperforming webpage.

Additionally, accessibility is something many marketing departments make the mistake of overlooking. For example, a lot don’t realise that steps taken to ensure that content is accessible for users who are visually impaired can be a huge boost to performance. That’s because things like properly formatted text and images with alt text improve screen reader experience and increase time-on-page stats.

On-Page SEO: The Lynchpin of a Good Marketing Strategy

The moral of the story, then, is that it’s no good having a great off-page marketing strategy if your website is neglected and unusable for swathes of the population. That’s why on-page SEO should be one of the focal points of any joined-up strategy.

Considering we very recently had another Google core algorithm update in March of 2025, having a solid base to your on-page strategy will stand any business in good stead as we fully realise the scope of all the updates. Maybe we will see a resurgence in well-optimised content.