If you are following in order, we have already laid out the structure of our website, and mapped out our keyword(s) groupings. Now we can start building the website if this is a new project, or optimizing the existing site if one already exists.
While we are going to include several variations and related keywords on each service page, each page will still have a top-level seed word, aka “the money word”. In a perfect world, that seed word is in the permalink, in the h1 title, and in the SEO title and meta description. There may be occasions when doing so would create a spammy url, especially if you are working with an exact match domain or a partial match domain, in which case you have to use your best judgement.
Permalinks
Single Location Brick & Mortar
When working with a single location brick & mortar business, take into the account the domain name. If the location is already included in the root domain, then I would not include it in the service page permalink too, as that is getting spammy. If the root domain is the brand name and does not include the location, then you can include the location in the permalink.
Ex: Let’s say there is a dental office named Houston Dental, which would be a partial match domain since it has the location in the brand name. We would not want to name our service page “cosmetic dentist houston” because that would create a url of houston-dental.com/cosmetic-dentist-houston, which is redundant and spammy. Instead, we’d just name the service page “cosmetic dentist”, creating the url houston-dental.com/cosmetic-dentist, which tells Google everything it needs to know without being spammy.
If that dentist’s office brand name did not contain a keyword or location, let’s say it is “John Doe, DDS” and the domain is johndoedds.com, then you would want to include the location in your page names. The url would be johndoedds.com/cosmetic-dentist-houston, which captures brand/primary kw/location.
Multi Location Brick & Mortar
When working with a multi-location brick and mortar business, your top level service pages will typically not include any geo-targeting. Keeping with the dentist example, the cosmetic dental page would include things such as teeth whitening, invisalign, veneers, etc. Instead of “teeth whitening in Houston” though, you are just writing about teeth whitening in general. You will use location pages to target each office rather than including the city in your service page content.
In this scenario, your service pages would simply be structured like /cosmetic-dentist/.
Service Area Businesses
Working with a service area business can go a couple different ways. Often, it is handled similar to the multi-location brick and mortar in that location pages are used to target the city rather than including the city on the service pages. The exception to that would be if you targeted a county or metro area on your top level service pages, then used location pages to bring in cities or neighborhoods within that geo. This works well, for example, if a contractor services customers throughout Dallas Fort-Worth. The top level services pages could be optimized for the DFW, then location pages would target Arlington, Plano, Irving, Denton, Richardson, Grapevine and the rest of the cities that are part of the DFW metroplex.
The H1 Title Tag
The h1 title tag tells Google what the main subject of any given page is. There should be only one h1 per page, and it should be at the top of the page. For the best SEO results, the seed word that you used for your permalink should be included in your h1. You can add to it if you want, but the seed word(s) should be at the beginning, and should be exactly as they appear in the permalink. If you are going to add to it, keep in mind that your title tags should be concise and succinct.
Our page for johndoedds.com/cosmetic-dentist-houston would have an h1 of “Cosmetic Dentist Houston”. If you wanted to make it “Cosmetic Dentist in Houston” so it reads a bit more naturally, that is fine too. “In” is a stop word and Google understands that “cosmetic dentist Houston” and “cosmetic dentist in Houston” mean the same thing. That is all. Do not embellish this to “the best cosmetic dentist that Houston has ever seen” or “our expert, professional cosmetic dentist in Houston”. Resist the urge to flower it up. The h1 is to specify the main topic of the page, and nothing more.
The SEO Title
The SEO title is what people see in the search results and what they generally use to determine if a website is going to match their search query (or not). It’s generally limited to 60 characters, though it varies a few characters +/- with the different browsers. For Google, 60 characters is what is recommended. Here again, we want to include that primary seed word, verbatim, in the SEO title, and we want it to be at the very beginning.
I typically like to break my SEO titles into 3 parts:
Part 1: primary seed word
Part 2: either the category from the Google Business Profile, or a synonym of the seed word
Part 3: Brand name
So how that might look would be Cosmetic Dentist – Dentists in Houston – John Doe DDS
In this case, part 1 “cosmetic dentist” is my exact seed word. It also happens to be the GBP category so rather than repeating it for part 2, I used a broader category and included the city. And part 3 is the brand/business name. I work primarily in the legal niche so I would typically include “lawyer” and “attorney” in my SEO titles so as to capture both search queries, such as: Auto Accident Lawyer Houston – Injury Attorney – Firm Name
The important thing here is that your seed word is used exactly as it appears in the permalink and h1 title tag, and that it is the first part of the SEO title. There is no right or wrong for parts 2 or 3. Just try to get as many options squeezed into 60 characters, and do not make it spammy. Keep the most important words at the beginning so if it does get truncated, you aren’t losing the most valuable part of your title.
The Meta Description
The meta description is the short blurb that is listed directly below the SEO title in the search results. This is also intended to give viewers a good indication as to whether or not your web page is a good match for their search query, or in other words, give them a reason to want to click thru to your website. Most browsers limit the length to 155-160 characters.
Here too, you want your primary keyword to appear verbatim, toward the beginning of the description. You can include variations, synonyms, categories, etc as well and this description is meant to entice a click or serve as a call to action, so you can be a little bit salesy but still be concise. You only have 160 characters to convince someone to click.
I like to include the phone number in my meta descriptions because people are inherently lazy and if I can get more calls for my clients just by saving viewers an extra click, why wouldn’t I? If there is a unique value proposition, I like to include that too.
For our good dentist, my meta description might be something like: Need a cosmetic dentist in Houston? John Doe DDS is accepting new patients. Convenient hours & 24/7 emergency care available. Call 999-999-9999 to book an appt
I’ve got the exact seed word at the beginning of the description, the geo target (Houston), I’ve confirmed that he is accepting new patients. Convenient hours and 24/7 emergency care is the unique value proposition. And there is a call to action with the phone number right under the prospect’s nose. That is exactly 160 characters but just like the SEO title, you can go over if you have to. Just keep the most important stuff at the beginning so if the description does get truncated, you’re losing the least important part.
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