You need to look at both parts of On-page SEO

When working with a website as an SEO, there are two perspectives that matter: the broader one and the more detail-focused one.

People often talk about the cornerstones of SEO—technical aspects, content, authority, and so on—but what isn’t always as clear to many, at least in my experience, is that you need two different perspectives when reviewing a site. The first, which we at Brath have chosen to call “specific,” is the detailed check when it comes to technology and keywords. The second, which we call “general,” is the website’s overall function in the eyes of search engines.

Both aspects are required for a well-optimized site

If you have a very small website, it can be easy to get stuck in the details—and that may even be reasonable. With 20 pages of company information that are all accessible through navigation, there’s not much need for the general perspective. In that case, it’s enough to make sure that the keyword is in the title of the correct landing page, and so on. It’s also often relatively simple to do well on the specific on-page elements—there are more or less clear rules for how they should be done. The general perspective of SEO, however, is a bit more complex.

This is where I find that major shortcomings can exist, even on sites optimized by relatively experienced SEOs. It may be about how a site is structured, which content belongs together, and how to divide data or content across a site. Large websites with automatically generated or user-generated content can benefit significantly from slicing the content in different ways—with tags, filters, and categories. What’s the best way to do this, and at what point do you cross the line for Panda?

We won’t go into all the details here, but let’s just say that you need to include this perspective. In my view, it’s often the very thing that holds back relatively successful sites. With a holistic perspective, you can reach the real heights.