This ROAST resource aims to illustrate the best practice when optimising page copy for SEO. This includes, how to optimise a page’s meta title tag, meta description, H1 and main page copy with the pages target KWs whilst always ensuring KW stuffing is avoided.
Step 1: Identify your target KWs
You will have a different set of target KWs for each individual page (both core tier 1 and supporting tier 2).
Step 2: Optimise your page meta-data
Ensure the core target keywords for the specific page are included within the page copy, H1, title tag and meta description, signalling to Google that this is what the page is about, and improving your ranking in Google’s index for the selected keywords.
- Title Tag: an HTML code tag allowing you to give a web page a title. This title can be found in the browser title bar, as well as in the search engine results pages (SERP). The best practice is to keep title tags under 72 characters.
- Meta description: helps search engines and searchers understand what the topic is and why the targeted keywords keep appearing in content. Google uses the meta description on the page as a snippet when users search for keywords which are relevant to the page. The best practice is to keep the meta description between 150 – 160 characters.
- H1: the heading of your page, this is recognised as a major ranking signal by Google, it is important to include, prioritise and target KW for the page within the H1. The best practice is to keep the H1 between 20 and 70 characters.
Step 3: Optimise the main copy
Ensure target (both core and supporting) keywords are included throughout the page copy – this should happen organically if your target KWs are correct. Reference your target KWs as often as you can, naturally.
Tips – how to include KWs without KW stuffing:
- Use h2s and h3s to structure your page and establish a hierarchy: use target KWs in sub-headings as much as possible, BUT don’t duplicate headings. Use your h tags to tell Google where the most important snippets of information on your page are.
- Avoid keyword stuffing within the page body text: consider the user, the information and phrasing and check that your copy and passages are coherent and flow.
- Use a Natural Language Processor: check that the same or similar relevant terms appear as the top ‘keywords’ that you intended. Paste in your ‘Body of Text’, ‘Analyze’ and view ‘Results’ – ‘Keywords’.
- Use synonyms to reduce repetition: variation is key for maintaining interest, and using synonyms throughout the page copy makes it more engaging for the user (or reader) making the page content easier to digest. For SEO, synonyms/related key phrases helps Google to understand the context of the page which subsequently increases the site’s chances to rank for the target topic.
- On-page copy body text: aim to make content comprehensive, useful and relevant to the user. The key is to be clear on what you’re telling the user, and not to overdo the key phrase within the page copy but aim to include the keywords wherever relevant and suitable within the copy. Ask yourself – is this sentence or section adding any new information?
Additional optimisations
- Build internal links using the correct KW targeting: where related pages are referenced, add a link to that page, using the target KW of that page as the anchor text.
- Make content easier to digest by separating it into sections: use imagery in addition to your sub-headings to break your content down into shorter passages.
- Word count: usually 500 words or more to include your target KWs but the shorter the better while including all the information you need to.
- Avoid too many CTAs: as well as your target KWs, aim to identify around just two key call-to-actions. If you present too many, the impact and appeal of them can be lost.
- Understand and match keyword Intent on page: this refers to the motive behind the users search, generally speaking this is usually between informational (‘how to’) and transactional (product focus ‘software’). It’s important to ensure the page in question includes the keywords that match the search intent in order to perform better in the organic SERP. For instance, a resource blog page should not include transactional intent keywords and information.
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