Writing a page that gets found
Your site is online, but brings in few visitors? Often it's not the technology, but the text. Google says it itself: it wants to reward content that's made to help people, not to attract visits from search engines. In this article you'll read how to write a page that answers the searcher's question. It applies to every site, even if you use the AI Builder.
First: what is someone really looking for?
Behind every search query lies an intention, the search intent. Someone who types "funeral bouquet" might want to order, or wants to know the cost, or is looking for a florist nearby. Search for your own keyword and see what Google shows at the top: shops, explanations, a map with businesses? That shows which intent Google sees behind it. Give each important question its own page, and merge pages that answer the same question. You can read about which words your customers use in Which words do your customers use? Free keyword research.
How to structure the page
- Start with the answer. Not "Welcome to our company!", but straight away what the reader wants to know. For example: "Order funeral flowers by the day before the funeral at the latest. We deliver in Amersfoort and the surrounding area."
- Use headings that answer questions, such as "What funeral flowers are available?" and "How does delivery work?". Headings help readers scan. According to Google there's no ideal number of headings and the order doesn't matter for ranking; they're there for the reader.
- Be specific. Real examples, delivery times, terms and your own photos of your work, with a description (alt text). A stock photo doesn't tell anything about your business.
- Show experience. "In winter we choose flowers that can withstand cold" says more about your expertise than "high quality".
- Make the next step easy: ordering, calling, making an appointment or dropping by.
- Write the way your customer searches. Use the keyword in the title, the main heading and the beginning, wherever it fits naturally. Repeating the same words over and over tires readers, and excessive keyword stuffing falls under Google's spam policy.
A fixed number of words isn't necessary. Google says that the length of a text doesn't matter in itself. Write as long as needed to properly answer the question.
Who, how and why
Google asks you to show who made the page (a name and background where a reader expects that), how it was made (did you test, measure or photograph it yourself?) and why: to help readers. Google calls trustworthiness the most important factor. Test your page with a few questions from Google:
- Does the page offer original information or an original perspective?
- Would you bookmark it or recommend it to a friend?
- Does it contain easily verifiable errors?
- Would your customer find the page useful if they came directly to you, without a search engine?
Proofreading AI texts
Google judges the content, not the tool. AI may help with research and structure, as long as the result is good and useful. Three rules:
- Check the facts. An AI model doesn't look up facts and can make mistakes. Read everything over, including the title, the description and the photo descriptions.
- Add what only you know: your prices, delivery times, terms, service area and personal experience.
- No mass-produced pages. Having many pages created that add nothing, for example the same text per town name, falls under Google's spam policy.
Using the AI Builder? It writes a first version of your texts. Always read it over and supplement it with your own knowledge. Under SEO you see a check per page: whether there's a page title and description of a good length, a main heading at the top, descriptions on all photos, enough text and a title that no other page has. That check helps against forgetting basics, but a green checkmark doesn't say whether your page properly answers the question. That judgment remains yours. You can read how to set your title and description in Setting title, description and alt text per page.
Links within your own site
- Give every important page a link from at least one other page on your site, for example from the menu or a text.
- Use link text that says where the link goes, such as "view our delivery areas". "Click here" or "read more" says nothing.
- Clean up broken links and links to old addresses.
Keeping it up to date
Are the delivery times, offerings and terms still correct? Adjust what changes. Don't just change the date to make a page look fresh: Google calls that a warning signal. Better five strong pages than fifty weak ones.