SEO Copywriting guide

Part 7: Structuring your site

Thinking about audience priorities, names and keywords naturally leads to the question of structure: how many pages you need, what they’ll cover and how they fit together. For small sites, a ‘flat’ structure where every page is reachable from every other page is the default option, and it works very well. As more content is added, these pages can take on more depth.

We can think of website sections as ‘rooms’ in a building, each dedicated to a different purpose. There should be a section devoted to every interaction that people might want to carry out online – browsing and buying products, learning about the organisation and so on. The text of each should reflect the language visitors would use – not to help them use the site (although that is important) but to help them find it.

Remember, search engines treat all pages in a site equally, so visitors can arrive anywhere – it’s like having a front door in every room. So site sections should be built as ‘landing pages’, each focused on particular keywords, directed at a specific audience and complete in itself.

Not only will people arrive where they want, they’ll wander around once they’re inside. Crucially, you can’t assume that people will arrive at the home page and read each page in order – browsing behaviour is decidedly non-linear. In copywriting terms, this may require some repetition between pages, being mindful of the fact that people may only view a few pages. You certainly want a clear indication of what the site is about on every page.

Now read Part 8: Producing your SEO text

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