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Module 03 · On-Page SEO · Guide 2 of 8

Content Optimization

Heading hierarchy, entities, readability, original media and freshness: making a page easy for people and search engines (and their AI features) to understand.

By Updated 4 min readIntermediate

What you'll learn

  • Structure a page with one h1 and informative h2/h3 headings that work as a table of contents.
  • Cover a topic's related entities completely instead of chasing keyword density.
  • Explain what non-commodity content is and why Google says it matters most for AI features.
  • Separate Google's real guidance from AEO/GEO myths such as chunking pages for AI.
  • Run a pre-publish checklist covering structure, media, links, sources and honest dates.

On-page content optimization is not "use the keyword N times." Modern engines understand language; your job is to cover a topic completely, clearly and in a scannable way while staying technically unambiguous. This guide covers the body of the page: structure, language, media and freshness.

Heading hierarchy#

Headings are the skeleton machines parse first and users scan first:

  • One <h1> stating the page topic, usually mirroring the title tag's promise. Google can use the h1 to build your title link, so keep the two consistent.
  • <h2>s as chapters, <h3>s as sub-points. Don't skip levels for styling reasons; style with CSS instead.
  • Make headings informative in isolation. "Step 2: Configure the sitemap" beats "Going further". Headings help engines and readers understand each section, feed featured snippet selection, and become your table of contents.
  • Phrase question-intent headings as questions. "How long does indexing take?" mirrors how people actually ask, which helps for People Also Ask and AEO.

Keywords, entities and natural coverage#

The mental shift from 2010-era SEO: engines map text to entities (things and concepts) and judge how well a page covers a topic, not keyword density.

  • Use the primary keyword in the h1, first paragraph, and title, then write naturally.
  • Cover the related entities a complete treatment would include. A page on "espresso extraction" that never mentions grind size, dose, or temperature reads as shallow, to models and people.
  • Use synonyms and variant phrasings the way a human expert does. Your secondary keywords from the cluster usually appear naturally as h2/h3 topics. Google's May 2026 AI guide adds that you don't need to capture "every variation" of a query: its systems understand synonyms.

Non-commodity content#

In May 2026 Google published an official guide to optimizing for its generative AI features. Its central point applies to all of Search: creating unique, useful content "will likely influence your website's presence in generative AI search in the long run more than any of the other suggestions in this guide."

Google draws a line between commodity content (its example: "7 Tips for First-Time Homebuyers", common knowledge anyone could write) and non-commodity content ("Why We Waived the Inspection & Saved Money: A Look Inside the Sewer Line", an expert or first-hand take that goes beyond the ordinary). Before you write, ask what your page adds that the current top results and a generic AI answer don't: your data, your test, your screenshots, your decision and its outcome.

The same guide lists things you can ignore for Google Search: llms.txt and other "special" files, "chunking" content into tiny pieces, rewriting content just for AI, and chasing inauthentic mentions. If you use AI to draft, read AI-Assisted Content Without Penalties.

Readability and structure#

People bail on walls of text. The mechanics of scannable content:

  • Front-load the answer. Open each section with its conclusion, then elaborate (the "inverted pyramid"). This serves skimmers and makes a clean, quotable passage for snippets and AI answers. It is good writing, not a special AI format.
  • Short paragraphs (2 to 4 sentences), with a subheading every few hundred words.
  • Lists for steps and criteria, tables for comparisons. They are easier to scan and easier to lift into a list or table snippet.
  • Bold the load-bearing phrases, sparingly.
  • Write at the simplest reading level the subject allows. Expertise shows in precision, not vocabulary.

Images and media#

Images are content, not decoration, and they carry SEO weight:

<img
  src="/images/espresso-extraction-chart.webp"
  alt="Chart showing espresso extraction yield versus grind size"
  width="1200"
  height="675"
  loading="lazy"
/>
  • Alt text describes the image for accessibility and for engines (it's also a key image search signal). Describe, don't keyword-stuff. If an AI tool wrote it, check it: Google's October 2026 guidance names alt text among the metadata to fact-check.
  • Descriptive filenames (espresso-extraction-chart.webp, not IMG_4302.jpg).
  • Explicit dimensions prevent layout shift, a Core Web Vitals factor.
  • Modern formats (WebP/AVIF) and lazy-loading below the fold only. Next.js's <Image> component handles format negotiation, sizing and lazy-loading automatically.
  • Original images outperform stock. Original diagrams, screenshots and photos are evidence of first-hand experience and earn image search traffic and links.

For video, add VideoObject structured data and a transcript: the transcript is indexable content the video alone isn't. Full treatment in Image & Video SEO.

Freshness and maintenance#

  • Update content when facts change, and show an honest, labeled "Last updated" date that matches your dateModified structured data.
  • Don't fake freshness. Google's helpful content questions ask: "Are you changing the date of pages to make them seem fresh when the content has not substantially changed?" A stale year in the title is also one of the reasons Google rewrites title links.
  • Query deserves freshness: for fast-moving topics, recently updated pages tend to win. For evergreen topics, stability and accumulating links matter more.
  • After a significant update, use URL Inspection > Request indexing in Search Console to prompt a recrawl.

The full workflow (spotting decay, choosing between refresh, rewrite, merge and prune) is in Content Refresh & Decay.

A pre-publish checklist#

□ One h1; logical h2/h3 hierarchy; informative headings
□ Primary keyword in title, h1, first paragraph, naturally
□ Every subtopic in the cluster covered (or linked to its own page)
□ Something non-commodity: your data, test, example or experience
□ Answer-first paragraphs under question headings
□ Lists/tables where the content is enumerable or comparative
□ All images: alt text, dimensions, modern format, descriptive filename
□ AI-drafted text, titles, descriptions, alt text and schema fact-checked
□ Internal links in and out (see Internal Linking)
□ Sources cited; author byline present; date honest

Next: Internal Linking, the most underrated lever in on-page SEO.

Check your understanding

0 of 4 answered

  1. 1.A consultant tells you to split every guide into 100-word standalone chunks so AI Overviews can understand it. What does Google's own guidance say?
  2. 2.Which of these is the best example of non-commodity content, in Google's sense?
  3. 3.You add an FAQ section with FAQPage markup to a guide in October 2026. What can you realistically expect?
  4. 4.Which statement about images in content is correct?

Sources

Primary documentation this guide was checked against, last reviewed 5 October 2026.

  1. Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search · Google Search Central
  2. Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content · Google Search Central
  3. Image SEO best practices · Google Search Central
  4. Help Google Search know the best date for your web page · Google Search Central
  5. Latest documentation updates (FAQ rich results, May and June 2026) · Google Search Central

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