Best Practices: Maximize SEO Through Copy

Post date: Sep 25, 2017 9:00:07 PM

- Insights c/o Josh Bland, SEO Manager, Earned Media and Unisa Asokan, Internet Editor, Creative Services.

SEO best practices constantly evolve as the search engines modify their algorithm. This presents a challenge for us to identify current strategies on how to best make the pages of homedepot.com discoverable and accessible. One thing never changes- SEO and Editorial need to work seamlessly together to help our site, and all its pages, float to the top of our users’ search results list so we can satisfy their needs.

All of the customer-facing copy we present on homedepot.com - the internal pages, the text you read in a search result list, the title in the tab of your browser window, even the name a browser gives your bookmark - provides opportunities for us to increase our rankings in search.

SEO BEST PRACTICES IN COPY

1. Write for the reader, not search engines.

It might seem counterintuitive, but you’ll have better SEO if you think of the reader first, search engines second. Google is doing its best to think like a human and will recognize if you are writing for them. You don’t want this. Try to naturally incorporate keywords throughout without overdoing it. Just like with the marketing copy block, you want a similar amount of keywords per page as your competitors. If Walmart mentions ‘Christmas Decorations’ on-page 18 times, THD should have a similar amount.

2. Use relevant keywords in section headers, search engines check them to identify the page.

Section header rows (H1s) and Section Header Row titles  (H2s and H3s) help Google identify relevant information on a page. Google typically gives H2s more weight than H3s, so set copy appropriately. H1s on category pages can only be changed by updating the taxonomy. H1s on PLPs and category pages are logic-driven and cannot be edited.

3. Place keywords naturally throughout the page, higher on the page for SEO weight.

Your page will rank higher if you use strategic keywords in educational, inspirational and marketing copy. Keywords are typically pulled from Google AdWords and are derived from thoughtful research and analysis.  

Keywords naturally incorporated throughout the copy will help the page rank higher for those words, including like terms and synonyms that rank high in search volume. Place them higher on the page to give them more SEO weight.  

4. All text over images needs to be live text.

All copy that is placed over images - hero and banner images - needs to be live and accessible to Google. Live text will scale better and will be seen by search engines, helping to reveal the contents of the page. If you can highlight text with your mouse, it’s live and can be crawled.

5. Give the “page title” extra care. It plays several important roles related to SEO.

The page title is more than just the title.  it plays several roles in SEO. It helps the users and search engines get a quick glimpse of what’s on the page. It’s the copy you read first in a search result list. It’s also the copy in the browser tab so you know what’s on the the page.  Your browser also uses the page title to name your bookmark/favorites.

When writing page titles  put the most important search term to the left, as that’s what Google focuses on when looking at pages. Although the limitation on number of pixels may vary, 55 characters is usually the maximum character count for titles. Add ‘The Home Depot’ as part of the page title to let customers know the content is from a trusted and reputable source.  

Content and category page titles are written and edited, but PLP page titles are created automatically and can’t be changed.

6. Put important keywords in the beginning of the meta description.

The meta description is an HTML tag that summarizes a page's content. Google recommends up to 230 character count. Most of the time, search engines show the meta description in search results when the searched-for phrase is contained in the description. You can access the Fetch meta form from the toolbar at the top of the CMS application.

Try to incorporate one or two keywords or phrases, ideally toward the front of the description. In the past, we tried to include ‘The Home Depot’ in the meta description; however, that is no longer required or advised.

You can test the proper length and the appearance of meta descriptions here: https://technicalseo.com/seo-tools/google-serp-simulator/

Examples of meta description in search results list:

7. Give clear and relevant anchor text to internal links so Google knows the target page is relevant to both the directing page and associated text.

Keywords linked to relevant internal pages send a signal to Google that a certain page should be considered for a certain query. This  also allows search engines to find linked pages quicker, which can have a positive impact on rankings and the overall customer experience.

For example, if the marketing copy for the ‘grills’ category page includes a link to electric grills using that keyword, it sends a signal to Google that the electric grills page has relevant information for the ‘electric grills’ search query. This is an important signal for search engines when determining what to rank a page for and what pages should rank for certain queries.

8. Put keywords in the URL string of the page, as close to the front as possible.

How a website url is structured can play an important role in how google and users see a page. URLs should contain only lowercase alphanumeric characters, with words separated by hyphens-- not underscores. It’s also a best practice to include the keywords as close to the front of the url as possible. Exact match is preferred.

9. Keep the marketing copy block approximately the same length as competitors.

Marketing copy blocks help users and search engines better understand the content of a page. You can find it at the bottom of a webpage, often explaining the page contents in a few short descriptive paragraphs.  It’s helpful to gauge how much content the competition has in their marketing copy blocks for reference. If Walmart has 250 words in their marketing copy block, we may consider writing more copy so we can compete with other brands Google is comparing.

10. Keep the structure of content consistent to encourage Google to create a “quick answer” from the page content in their search results lists

The “quick answer” is the holy grail of SEO for directed content - a how-to article or guide. To optimise for a “quick answer”, check the length of content that is currently ranking in Google’s “quick answer” and try to match it. Place keywords naturally throughout the guides.

Most important, make sure to clearly label any denoted steps as H2s. Google can pull this information and repurpose it as a “quick answer” in their search results lists. For content that directly answers a question, Google can also pull directly from copy depending on how the steps are enumerated.

It’s also a best practice to try to incorporate a call-to-action at the end of directed content that can provide an additional internal link to supporting content or product pages.

Examples of “quick answers” or Google snippets:

11. Think mobile first when writing copy. 

That means:

• • leverage keywords.

  • include an SEO copy block with anchor text and links. 

  • Write short, direct hero copy on mobile page.  

  • It’s okay to have copy below a  tab or accordion.

  • Don't forget alt text on mobile. 

Google is indexing mobile first for SEO as of 2018.  Accordions are crawlable so utilize when them when possible, but don’t use if you don’t have to.