Writing pages people and search engines can read

There is an old idea that you write one version of a page for people and another for search engines. It was never a good idea, and it is now a bad one. The habits that make a page easy for a busy person to scan on a phone are almost exactly the habits that help a search engine work out what the page is about.

This note covers those habits, from the title down.

Start with the title

The page title (the text in the browser tab, set by the <title> element) is usually what appears as the clickable headline in search results. Google's documentation calls this the title link and offers some straightforward advice: give every page a title, make it descriptive and concise, avoid vague labels like "Home", avoid stuffing it with keywords, and avoid repeating the same boilerplate across many pages.

Two details are worth knowing. First, there is no character limit as such; Google simply cuts long titles off to fit the screen. Put the important words first. Second, Google does not always use your title. If the title is missing, vague or misleading, it may build one from your main heading or other prominent text on the page. A clear title means you choose the headline instead of Google choosing it for you.

A workable pattern for a small business is "What the page offers, where, and who you are": Deck repairs and re-stains in Dunedin · [your business name].

One main heading, then an outline

Every page should have one main heading (<h1>) that says what the page is about, usually close to the title. Below it, the subheadings should read like an outline of the page. The W3C's accessibility guidance makes the case clearly: people using screen readers often jump between headings to find what they need, and skipped or decorative headings make that harder. Sighted readers do the same thing with their eyes.

A quick test: read only the headings of your page, top to bottom. If they tell the story of the page on their own, the structure is good.

Answer first, explain second

Most visitors decide within seconds whether a page has what they need. Put the answer, or the most useful fact, in the first paragraph. If the page is about the cost of re-roofing, give a realistic range and what drives it before you explain the history of corrugated iron.

This also helps with the short description under each search result, known as the snippet. Google mostly writes snippets from the page's own text, picking the passage that best matches the search. A clear opening paragraph often becomes the snippet. A meta description is still worth writing for important pages, but treat it as a suggestion Google may or may not use.

Write for one reader

Google's guidance on helpful content asks site owners to check whether their pages are made mainly for people or mainly to attract search visits. Its self-assessment questions are worth reading in full, but the spirit is simple: would someone who arrived from a friend's recommendation, not a search, find the page useful and trustworthy?

In practice that means:

• using the words customers use, not internal jargon;
• saying who is behind the page and why they know the subject;
• giving specifics such as prices, timeframes, steps and limits, rather than generalities;
• updating the page when things change, not just adding new pages on top.

Images that pull their weight

Photos of real work beat stock images for trust. Give each image a short, descriptive file name and alt text that explains what the image shows and why it is there. "Before and after: weathered pine deck re-stained in a dark oil finish" helps a person using a screen reader and helps search engines understand the image. A string of keywords does neither.

Compress photos before uploading. A phone photo can be several megabytes; for a web page a few hundred kilobytes is usually plenty.

Keep visitors moving

A page that answers one question well often raises the next one. Link to it. A pricing page should link to the service page; a guide to building consent should link to the page about the work itself. Use link text that describes the destination ("how long a bathroom renovation takes") rather than "click here". Google's own guide points out that link text tells both people and search engines something about the page at the other end.

A ten-minute page check

1. Does the title say what the page offers, with the important words first?
2. Is there one main heading, and do the subheadings read as an outline?
3. Does the first paragraph answer the main question?
4. Are prices, places and timeframes stated where you can state them?
5. Does every image have sensible alt text?
6. Does the page link to the obvious next step?

If the answer to all six is yes, the page is in better shape than most on the web, and no trick would improve it further.