Put the main phrase where readers look first

How to do it

Google's Search Essentials ask you to use the words people search for. Place them in prominent spots, such as the title, the main heading, alt text and link text. Bing asks for the title, headings and content to share one intent. Write the title in the format and length that Give every page its own title sets, with the page's name first. Let the h1 say what the title says, in words that read well on the page. Answer the phrase's question in the first paragraph. Use variants in subheadings where they honestly name the section. Never force the phrase into a sentence where it reads badly. Take the phrase from Keep a keyword map from topic to one page.

Examples

JavaScript example

const has = (text, terms) => terms.some(term => text.toLowerCase().includes(term));
for (const { path, phrase, variants } of keywordMap) {
  const page = pages.get(path);
  const terms = [phrase, ...variants].map(term => term.toLowerCase());
  assert.ok(has(page.title.slice(0, 30), terms), `${path}: phrase not early in the title`);
  assert.ok(has(page.h1, terms) && has(page.firstParagraph, terms), `${path}: phrase missing from h1 or opening`);
  assert.ok(page.subheadings.some(heading => has(heading, terms)), `${path}: no subheading uses the phrase`);
}

Python example

def has(text, terms):
    return any(term in text.lower() for term in terms)

for row in keyword_map:
    page = pages[row["path"]]
    terms = [t.lower() for t in [row["phrase"], *row["variants"]]]
    assert has(page.title[:30], terms), f"{row['path']}: phrase not early in the title"
    assert has(page.h1, terms) and has(page.first_paragraph, terms), f"{row['path']}: phrase missing from h1 or opening"
    assert any(has(h, terms) for h in page.subheadings), f"{row['path']}: no subheading uses the phrase"

How to check

A build test reads the keyword map and each mapped page. The primary phrase or a listed variant appears in the first 30 characters of the title, in the h1 and in the first paragraph. It also appears in at least one h2 or h3.

Sources

• Google Search Essentials – Key best practices
• Bing Webmaster Guidelines

Related rules

• SEO-26 Give each page one main topic in SEO
• WEB-6 Give every page its own title in Website
• SEO-28 Keep a keyword map from topic to one page in SEO
• SEO-35 Relying on the keywords meta tag in SEO