The short answer
On-page SEO is the small stuff on each page that tells Google, AI tools and guests what the page is about: the title tag, meta description, headings, image alt text and share image. None of it is hard. Most small property sites get a few right and quietly miss the rest. Here's what we got right at Comal Inn, what we missed, and how each miss got fixed.
What on-page SEO covers
Off-page SEO is everything other sites say about you: reviews, links, listings. On-page SEO is the part you control completely, page by page.
Think of each page like a room listing. It needs a clear name, a one-line pitch, a heading that matches, and photos that are labeled so someone who can't see them still knows what's there.
I audited our own site for this note. I'm showing the misses too, because every small property site I look at has a few. Each one took minutes to fix.
Title tags: name the page
The title tag is the blue link in Google and the text on the browser tab. It's the single most important line on the page for search.
| Where | What it said | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Homepage | Comal Inn | Boutique Vacation Rentals in Downtown New Braunfels, TX | Good. Name, what we are, and where. It runs a little long, so Google may trim the end on some screens. |
| Juniper Room | Juniper Room | Secluded Studio Cottage Rental · Comal Inn | Good. Leads with the room, then the reason to pick it. |
- Give every page its own title. Five room pages titled "Home | My Inn" tell Google nothing.
- Put the important words first: the room or page name, then what makes it different, then your property name.
- Aim for about 50 to 60 characters so it isn't cut off.
Meta descriptions: write the pitch
The meta description is the short blurb under your link in search results. Google doesn't use it to rank you, but it's often the first thing a guest reads about you.
| Where | What it said | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Homepage | 5 private cottages and studio rooms steps from the Comal River and Schlitterbahn. Book direct for the best rate. | Good. Specific, local landmarks, and a reason to book direct. |
| Juniper Room | Private studio cottage rental with garden patio and jetted tub. The most secluded unit at Comal Inn… | Good. Says why this room, not just what it has. |
Write it like you'd describe the room to a guest on the phone, in one or two sentences. Name the landmark people search for. If you offer a better rate direct, say so.
Headings: one clear H1 per page
The H1 is the main heading on the page. It should match the title tag in spirit, and there should be one per page. H2s break the rest of the page into sections, like the headings in this note.
| Where | What it said | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Juniper Room | Juniper Room — Secluded Studio with Garden Patio & Jetted Tub | Good. Matches the title and the description. |
| Homepage | Stay in the heart ofdowntown New Braunfels | Fixed. It looked fine on screen, but the two lines were built with no space between them, so tools that read the raw page saw "ofdowntown." One added space solved it. |
Alt text and file names
Alt text describes a photo in words. Screen readers read it aloud for guests who can't see the image, and search engines and AI tools use it to understand what's in the picture. For a lodging site, where photos do most of the selling, this matters.
| Where | What it said | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Homepage slideshow | Comal Inn New Braunfels vacation rental hero image 1 | Fixed. "Hero image 1" described the website, not the photo. Now it reads "Front porch of the 1872 Heinrich Voelcker House at Comal Inn, with white rocking chairs and gingerbread trim." |
| Cottage gallery | New Braunfels Cottage interior view 2 at Comal Inn boutique vacation rental New Braunfels TX | Fixed. A template filled this in, so every photo said the same thing, and this one is the historic marker outside. Now it reads "Historic marker for the Heinrich Voelcker House, built in 1872." |
Good alt text is short and literal. A few from the new gallery:
- "Original fachwerk timber framing and brick around a doorway"
- "Juniper Room studio with a vaulted ceiling, round window, king bed and sofa"
- "Stainless farmhouse sink under the kitchen window"
File names help a little too. juniper-room-garden-patio.jpg says more than bedroom-2.jpg or IMG_4471.jpg. Rename photos before you upload them.
Check your own site in ten minutes
- 01Search your own name.Look at the titles and descriptions Google shows for your pages. Are they yours, and do they read well?
- 02Open each room page.Check that the browser tab shows a different title for each room.
- 03Look for one main heading.Each page should have one clear headline that says what the page is.
- 04Check a few photos.In your website builder, open an image's settings and read the alt text. Blank or "image 1" means it needs a line.
- 05Text yourself a link.See what preview picture shows up, and whether it is the room or your logo.
If that turns up more than you want to fix yourself, this is exactly what my site check covers.
Quick answers
Do I need special software to fix these?
No. Most website builders have a spot for the page title, description and image alt text in each page's settings. If your site was custom built, it's usually a quick change for whoever built it.
Does the meta description help my ranking?
Not directly. Google has said it doesn't use it to rank pages. It matters because it's your pitch in the results, and a better pitch gets more clicks.
Why did Google show a different title than the one I wrote?
Google sometimes rewrites titles that are too long, too vague or repeated across pages. A short, specific title that matches the page is the best way to keep yours.
How long should alt text be?
One plain sentence is plenty. Describe what is in the photo the way you would to a guest on the phone. Skip "image of" and skip stuffing in your city name.
Want me to look at your site?
Send me your website. I'll tell you what I'd fix first, for free.