Moz Onpage Guide

Moz's on-page guide is a set of practices for optimising a page's content, titles, URLs, and HTML to match search intent and improve rankings.

Key points

Each page should target one clearly defined topic or search intent.
Place the primary keyword near the beginning of the page title.
Unique, valuable content is more important than keyword targeting alone.
Map keyword groups to pages so similar queries with shared intent are served by one page.
Internal links back to category pages, subcategory pages, and the homepage support on-page optimisation.

When deciding whether to create a new page or expand an existing one, the guide tells you to focus one page on one intent rather than splitting keywords across thin pages. Using moz can help you audit whether a page already covers a keyword group.
When choosing a title tag, the guide pushes you to put the primary keyword early and to write for click appeal rather than stuffing keywords. This affects how you write titles for product pages versus blog posts.
When you encounter duplicate content, the guide insists on canonicalisation or redirects, which changes your decision to keep or merge similar pages. For example, a visual guide to keyword targeting and on page seo illustrates how to consolidate queries.

Belief: onpage seo is only about keyword placement. Correction: Moz's guidance prioritises unique content, intent matching, and usability over mechanical keyword targeting.
Belief: One page can target every keyword variation. Correction: The guide says each page should serve one intent or keyword group, not every possible variant.
Belief: On-page SEO is the same as technical SEO. Correction: On-page optimisation covers content and HTML on the page itself, while technical SEO deals with site architecture, crawlability, and server responses. The guide does note that pages should be crawlable and return a 503 when temporarily unavailable, but that is a baseline.
Belief: Optimising a page guarantees a top ranking. Correction: Moz's on-page guidance is one factor among many; off-page signals like backlinks also matter.

Moz Beginner’s Guide to SEO – On-Page SEO Moz’s core beginner explanation of on-page SEO and how to align content with keyword groups and search intent.[3]
Moz Learn SEO – On-Page Factors Moz’s factor-level checklist for title tags, URLs, alt text, unique content, and internal links.[2]
Moz Blog – A Visual Guide to Keyword Targeting and On-Page SEO Moz’s practical on-page guidance on prioritization, titles, canonicalization, redirects, and page uniqueness.[1]
Google Search Central – SEO Starter Guide Google’s official reference for core on-page basics such as helpful content, descriptive titles, and crawlability.

Written and maintained by Nora Lindholm. Last updated 27 July 2026.

Spotted an error? Email me — corrections are logged and credited on the entry. Outbound links are unpaid; most are nofollow.