On-page SEO
On-page SEO for pages that should rank and do not.
Most on-page problems are not a missing keyword. They are a page whose intent is slightly off, that is competing with another of your own pages, whose title undersells it, or that is missing the one thing every page ranking above it covers. We find which it is, then fix it, rather than reaching for a link campaign first.
Straight answer
A page on page two is usually one fixable thing away, not a link problem.
The reflex when a page will not move is to buy links at it. Often the real cause is on the page itself, which is cheaper to fix and within your control. Links only help once the page deserves to rank.
What people reach for
- A link campaign against a page that is not losing on authority
- Stuffing the target keyword in a few more times
- Adding words to hit a word count someone quoted
- A new page for a term an existing page already half ranks for
- Rewriting the whole thing when one section was the gap
What usually actually moves it
- Matching the page to the intent Google is already rewarding
- Resolving two of your own pages competing for one term
- A title and heading that describe what the page delivers
- The one sub-topic every ranking page covers and yours misses
- Internal links to the page from somewhere with authority
Said plainly
The people who diagnose why the page is stuck are the people who write the fix, so nothing is lost between a strategist's recommendation and whoever implements it. We check whether it is genuinely an on-page problem before quoting the work, because if authority really is the constraint, this is not the service you need and we will say so.
Scope
What on-page SEO actually covers.
The work on the page itself, in the order it usually matters. Most of the wins are in the first three, and most budgets are spent on the last one.
Intent matching
Whether the page answers the search behind the term or something adjacent to it. A commercial page targeting an informational query, or the reverse, cannot rank no matter how good it is. We read what already ranks to see the intent Google is rewarding, then align the page to it.
Cannibalisation
Two or more of your own pages competing for the same term, splitting the signal so neither ranks well. One of the most common causes of a page stuck on page two, and one of the most satisfying to fix, because consolidating usually lifts the survivor immediately.
Titles and headings
The title tag and the heading structure that tell Google and the searcher what the page delivers. Not keyword stuffing, but an honest, specific description that earns the click from the results page and sets the page's topic clearly.
Content depth and gaps
The sub-topics the ranking pages all cover that yours does not, found by comparison rather than guessed. Complete enough to satisfy the searcher so they do not bounce back to the results, written to be read rather than padded to a count.
Internal linking
Whether the page is linked to from anywhere that matters, with anchor text that describes it. A strong page with no internal links pointing at it is a page Google struggles to value. Chosen links from relevant pages, not a templated block spraying equity everywhere.
On-page schema
Structured data that describes the page correctly and earns the rich results its query type supports. Implemented cleanly rather than through a plugin that half does it, and kept valid rather than left to drift as the page changes.
How it runs
Diagnose, agree, fix, measure.
Diagnosis
We take the page and the term, look at what ranks, check your Search Console for what it is already close on, and find whether the gap is intent, cannibalisation, content, links or something technical. You get the actual reason, not a generic checklist.
Within one working dayPrioritised plan
The fixes in order of impact, with the reasoning, and an honest note where a page is not worth the effort or where the real constraint is off-page rather than on it.
You approve before we startFix and measure
We make the changes, and we watch the page through the reassessment rather than declaring victory at deploy. On-page fixes often move within weeks, and we report on the movement rather than assume it.
Logged as it is spentEvidence
What an on-page fix looks like in practice.
From live client work, not a hypothetical. This is the on-page problem people almost always misread as a link problem.
Diagnosis
A strong domain ranking for nothing on a target page
The assumption was that the page needed links. The page-one competitors were on weaker domains, which proved authority was not the constraint. The real causes were on the page: a canonical pointing at a redirect, two pages competing for the same intent, and machine spun copy. Fixed on-page, and a link budget was never spent.
Fix
Twenty-five internal links cut to five
A templated link block was spreading equity across everything indiscriminately. Cutting it to five chosen, relevant internal links did more for the target pages than any single one of the twenty-five had, and a governance rule with a live ledger keeps the block from creeping back.
Cost
What it costs.
On-page SEO is billed at £90 to £110 an hour, or a £95 blended rate where it crosses into content writing. Most work starts with a diagnosis and is then scoped. Minimum engagement is 4 hours.
Page diagnosis
From £380
A single stuck page taken apart: intent, cannibalisation, content gaps, title and internal links, with a prioritised list of what will actually move it. The right first step when one page matters.
On-page project
Scoped
A set of pages audited and fixed, or new pages written to rank. Fixed scope and cost agreed in writing once we have seen the pages and the terms they target.
Full site pass
From £900
The on-page layer across the whole site as part of the broader audit: cannibalisation mapped, thin pages found, and the internal link structure assessed.
Time is logged as it is spent and the ledger is open to you, including anything scrapped or reverted. Full breakdown on the rates page.
FAQ
Questions clients actually ask
What is the difference between on-page SEO and technical SEO?
On-page SEO is what a page says and how it is structured for the term it targets: the title, the headings, the body content, the internal links pointing at it, the schema describing it, and whether the page matches the intent behind the search. Technical SEO is whether Google can crawl, render and index the page at all, and how fast it loads.
They overlap and they need each other. A technically perfect page with thin, off-intent content will not rank, and brilliant content on a page Google cannot crawl will not either. We do both, which is the point, but this page is the on-page half.
Is on-page SEO just adding keywords?
No, and doing it that way is how pages get worse rather than better. Keyword stuffing has been a negative signal for over a decade. On-page SEO is making sure a page genuinely answers the query it targets, that its title and headings describe that clearly, that the content is complete enough to satisfy the searcher, and that the page is not competing with another one of your own pages for the same term. The keyword matters, but as a description of intent, not a quota to hit.
Can you fix pages that rank on page two and will not move?
This is the most common on-page job, and it is often the most winnable. A page stuck at the bottom of page one or the top of page two usually has a specific, fixable reason: the intent is slightly off, two of your own pages are splitting the signal, the title undersells it, or the content is missing the one thing the ranking pages all cover. We find which it is rather than guessing, and the fix is frequently cheaper than the link campaign people reach for first.
Do you write the content or just advise on it?
Both, and they are hard to separate. We can audit and rewrite existing pages, or write new ones, and the writing is done to be read rather than to hit a word count. Where a page needs a subject expert's input we will tell you what we need from you rather than invent it, because on-page SEO for a page that makes a claim it cannot support is worse than leaving it alone.
How do you know what a page needs to rank?
We look at what is already ranking for the term, because that is Google showing you what it considers a good answer. Not to copy it, but to understand the intent it is rewarding, the depth it expects, and the sub-topics the top pages all cover that yours might miss. Combined with your own Search Console data, which shows the terms a page is already close on, that gives a concrete list rather than a hunch.
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Tell us which page is stuck.
Give us one URL and the term you want it to win. We will tell you whether it is an on-page problem, an authority problem, or a technical one, and what specifically is holding it back.