It’s no secret that search engine optimisation (SEO) has changed dramatically over the years. We’ve found that today’s flavour of SEO requires a more sophisticated approach – one that aligns content with user intent, page layout best practices, and industry trends. In this guide, we break down how we’ve observed on-page SEO working in 2025, and the specific strategies we use to help pages rank effectively in Google search results.
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What Type of Page is it?
Google has an advanced understanding of User Intent, which influences the type of page that will rank for a given search term. In most industries, we find that homepages rank for the most competitive terms, while in others, service or category pages seem to dominate the top results. In some cases, even for high-value keywords, Google may choose to rank informational articles over commercial pages.
Knowing what type of page Google ranks for a keyword is a crucial first step to SEO success.
The most common page types include:
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In essence, our ethos is that aligning your content strategy with the correct page type can lead to improved chances of ranking well.
What Are The On Page Ranking Factors?
We help businesses rank higher by optimising key factors that Google prioritises in search results. Many are related to UX (User Experience), which we have seen impacting Google rankings in response to user interactions with the page.
Some key ranking factors include:
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A Quick Note on CTR & UX Impact
Many years ago, I was fortunate to attend an SEO conference hosted by Rand Fishkin, who demonstrated the power of user engagement in rankings. He asked over 1,000 attendees to search for a small London pizzeria, click on the website, and interact with it. By the end of the day, the pizzeria had jumped from Page 3 to Position 3 in Google’s rankings – highlighting how engagement metrics influence SEO.
Page Templates / Layouts
We optimise page layouts to improve both UX and SEO, ensuring higher rankings and better engagement. We’ve seen, consistently, that Google often rewards pages that adhere to dominant layout patterns within their industry.
Below, we break down optimal page structures for the pages which will typically drive the most Organic traffic; Home, Service and eCommerce Category Pages.
Homepage Template
Homepage optimisation is always our first port of call, as many of the content blocks can be reused for other page types. That said, within certain industries, homepages cannot rank for top target search terms. This doesn’t mean they’re not important, of course, as they still play a vital role in internal linking and site authority.
As with everything SEO, the ideal homepage layout depends on many factors. That said, based on current trends we’ve noticed across our clients, successful home pages tend to follow variations of the following structure:
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Service Page Template
The structure of a service page isn’t too dissimilar to the homepage template, though there are some minor variations.
The ideal format includes:
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Collections / Category Page Template (eCommerce)
These pages are unique to eCommerce websites. They’re similar to the Service page template, but we find that Category pages require a different approach, focusing on product discovery:
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Google Search Results Landscape
A core element of ranking success is understanding how Google structures search results for a given keyword. Often, Google rewards pages that match the template of top-ranking competitors.
Case Study: Adapting to Google’s Preferences
In a recent Google Core Algorithm Update, one of our clients dropped from Position #2 to Position #7 overnight. Upon analysis, we noticed that Google was favouring pages with a specific page layout that our client wasn’t following.
By restructuring their page to match the industry trend – aligning URLs, breadcrumb trails, and page design with top competitors—we were able to recover rankings, eventually securing Position #1.
What about Google PageSpeed Insights?
While page speed impacts UX, our experience shows that content relevance and structure play an even bigger role in rankings.
One of our clients has a page that scores 1/100 in Google PageSpeed Insights, yet it consistently ranks in Position 1-2 for a high-competition keyword. While site speed is a useful metric, page structure and content relevance have a far greater impact on rankings.
That said, faster-loading pages enhance user experience, which can lead to higher engagement and conversions – so optimising for speed is still worthwhile.
Summary
We’ve covered the key on-page SEO ranking factors, the importance of page templates, and how Google’s search landscape changes. If you take one thing away from this article, it should be that SEO success isn’t a question of gaming the system, but of aligning your content, structure, and layout with what Google favours and what Google believes the user intent of a search term is.
Once you’ve achieved top ranking positions, the aim of any SEO strategy then pivots to maintaining these rankings in the ever dynamic world of algorithm updates, industry landscape changes, and competitors. But that’s for another article.
In today’s SEO landscape, adaptability is key.
