To check on-page SEO, enter a page URL into the On-Page SEO Checker and it reads the title, meta description, H1 to H6 outline, canonical, robots and noindex tags, image alt text, word count, links and Open Graph tags from that page. It is free, needs no signup, and puts every page-level element in one list.
For context on how common these elements are, the 2024 Web Almanac SEO chapter found canonical tags on 65% of mobile pages and 69% of desktop pages, so a missing or wrong canonical is worth checking rather than assuming.
How to use the On-Page SEO Checker
- Paste the full address of the page, including
https://, into the URL box. - Run the check and wait for the results to load.
- Read the title, meta description and headings first, because they describe what the page is about.
- Move on to the technical tags: canonical, robots and noindex.
- Finish with image alt text, word count, links and Open Graph tags, then note what to change.
Check one page at a time. A homepage, a service page and a blog post will each show different problems, so test a representative sample of your templates.
How to read the results
The results cover the elements that sit in the HTML of the page. Here is what each one tells you and what good looks like.
- Title and meta description: both should be present, specific to the page and different from every other page on your site. A missing title is a clear fault. A very long one will be cut off in search results.
- Heading outline: one clear H1 that matches the topic, then H2 and H3 headings that break the page into logical sections. Several H1s or skipped levels are worth tidying, though they are rarely an emergency.
- Canonical: it should point to the preferred version of the page, usually itself. A canonical pointing to a different URL tells search engines to treat that other page as the main one.
- Robots and noindex tags: on a page you want found, there should be no noindex. Finding one here is the most important result the tool can give you.
- Image alt text: descriptive text on meaningful images helps accessibility and gives search engines context. Decorative images can have empty alt text.
- Word count, internal and external links: use these to judge depth and connections, not as targets. A page with no internal links is isolated from the rest of your site.
- Open Graph tags: these control how the link looks when shared on social platforms.
What to fix first
Work in order of damage, not in order of the list.
- Remove any accidental noindex tag on a page that should rank.
- Correct canonicals that point to the wrong URL, such as a staging address or a different page.
- Write a unique title and meta description where they are missing or duplicated.
- Give the page a single, descriptive H1.
- Add alt text to images that carry meaning, and add internal links from related pages.
After that, polish the details. Use the SERP Snippet Preview to see how a rewritten title and description will look in Google.
Worked example (illustrative)
Imagine you check a service page and the results show a title of three words, no meta description, two H1 headings and a canonical that points to the homepage. The canonical is the serious one, because it tells search engines to treat the homepage as the main version of this page.
You correct the canonical first, then rewrite the title and add a description, then merge the two H1s into one. After republishing, you run the checker again and the list is clean. This is an invented example to show the order of work.
Why it matters for SEO
Page-level elements are the basics that tell search engines what a page is, which version to index and whether to index it at all. They are also within your control. Fixing them will not guarantee rankings, but leaving a noindex tag or a wrong canonical in place can keep a good page out of results entirely.
For a wider review of a whole site, a crawl-based audit covers what a single-page check cannot. You can combine this tool with the Social Share Preview to check the Open Graph side as well.
Limits of this checker
The checker runs on the site’s server, which fetches the public URL you enter. That means it sees the HTML the server returns, not content added later by JavaScript. Some sites block automated requests, in which case the tool cannot read the page. There is a fair-use limit on repeated checks, so run it on key pages rather than in bulk.
It also cannot tell you whether the content is any good, whether the page matches search intent, or how it will rank. It reports what is in the markup. Judging quality still takes a person. If a framework builds your page in the browser, view the source of the page to see what the server really sends.
Questions about the On-Page SEO Checker
Why does the checker show no content for my JavaScript site?
The tool reads the HTML the server returns. If your framework adds the title, headings or text only after the page loads in a browser, those elements will not appear. That is also a useful warning, because crawlers that do not run JavaScript will miss them too.
Does a missing meta description hurt my rankings?
A missing description is not a ranking penalty on its own. Google may write its own snippet from the page. A good description still helps you control the message and can make the result more appealing to click.
Should I fix every warning the checker lists?
No. Fix anything that blocks indexing or confuses search engines first, such as noindex or a wrong canonical. Treat counts such as word count and link numbers as prompts to look at the page, not as targets to hit.
Browse the rest of the free on-page seo tools or the full free SEO tools list. If you would rather have someone review your pages with you, see my on-page optimisation service or ask for a free audit.