SEO-optimized service pages are among the most high-value areas of a website. Your service pages can be a magnet for targeted traffic and lead to more conversions when you combine expert design and layout, quality content writing – and proven SEO optimization techniques. But just what must your website present to separate its service pages from the competition?
6 Elements of an SEO-Optimized Service Page
1. Select a Keyword Focus
First, service pages should be developed with a clear keyword focus in mind. As irrelevant content can damage search visibility, there are definite SEO dangers involved with straying too far from the main focus of a service page. Find relevant search terms for your primary services with keyword tools like Semrush and Google Search Console. Include some semantically-related keywords to create valuable service pages for your website.
2. Make Sure to Take Care of the On-Page & Technical SEO Components
It’s important to help Google determine the content theme of a page. You do this by including these main elements.
- Page – Limit to 60 characters and include the main keyword.
- Meta Description – Limit to 155 characters and include a call to action (CTA) and phone number.
- Title Tags & Headings – H1, then H2s, H3s, etc.
- Image Alt Text – Brief description of the image, including service keywords and location if relevant.
In some cases, your H1 will also be your page title. It’s perfectly fine for the page title and H1 to be the same, though sometimes you might want them to differ. Before making a title an H1, ensure the page title doesn’t automatically default to H1. To determine this, you must understand how the site is developed.
This H1 should represent the main focus of the service page. It’s an industry best practice to have only one H1 on a page. Your H2s, H3s, etc., should all support the H1. If the phrase does not include keywords, per best practices, it should not be an H1, H2, etc.
When applying title tags on your service page, if you’re struggling to determine what an H2 or H3 should be, we recommend thinking of it as an essay. Your H1 would be the title of your paper, and the H2s would be the paper’s two or three supporting significant points. If you make something an H3, it would fall under the H2 and support the H2 heading. If it doesn’t meet the requirements of being an H3, then in most cases it should be an H2 – or perhaps it’s not a heading at all and needs to be rewritten.
Beyond the title and headings, make sure you use the service keywords through the content. Take care to avoid stuffing the keywords. Here’s our rule of thumb – if you can read the sentence out loud and not stumble with the keyword in there, you’re good in most cases. Remember, Google wants you to write content for the user, not search engines. This means the content should be easy to read and use natural language. Writing quality content for services pages is crucial, and definitely impacts a website’s placement in search results.
3. Link to Related Content
Internal linking is important for several reasons. When visitors access your website, you want to take them on a journey throughout that website. You can accomplish this by leveraging internal links on keyword-rich anchor text. At the same time you’re passing authority between relevant pages, while also emphasizing the theme of the pages to Google. Internal links on top-level service pages can be directed towards supporting service pages – and vice versa – with the option of also linking to SEO-optimized location pages where appropriate.
Including external links on your service pages to authoritative sites is fine too. We recommend doing this sparingly – and if you do, set the page to open in a new window. It’s always best to keep the user on your website whenever possible. By having links going to third-party sites open in a new window or tab, your website will still be there – ready for them to continue browsing when the site visitor closes the link they just opened.
4. Add Questions and Answers
Adding a few relevant questions and answers to a service page can help with user experience and SEO. Users can benefit from getting answers to pertinent questions, while search engines may use the content within search results. Including questions and answers on a service page means you can also add FAQ Schema. This will in turn help you get featured snippets and placement in the “People Also Ask” box. Consequently, you can build authority in search results and get relevant traffic to your website.
At Rocks Digital, it’s our best practice to include three questions and answers on every service page we write for a client. When you’re trying to decide which questions to include, a quick Google search for the service will reveal the questions that others ask most often.
5. Include a Call-to-Action
A call-to-action (CTA) is a key step in providing tangible results for your hard work. If your service page is relevant and provides value to visitors, they will naturally want to take the next step.
A compelling CTA makes it clear how a consumer can reach you with minimal friction. Offering multiple contact points such as a phone number and contact form can increase the conversion rate. If you provide a free evaluation, including this in the CTA is always a good idea.
6. Design an Engaging & Easy-to-Digest Layout
A service page requires quality content, but you can’t ignore the visual elements that create an engaging layout. A page should be easy for a user to scan, and provide critical information without searching too hard. Using H2 and H3 headings, bullet points and high-quality images make a service page appealing for visitors, while also bringing additional SEO benefits.
At Rocks Digital, we like to include branded graphics on a client’s service pages. This adds visual appeal and also breaks up the wall of text to help the reader.
When we build a website for a business, we take this a step further. We set the featured image as a branded graphic and complete the social tab within SEO Yoast. This is helpful for the open graph tag. Completing this extra step means that when one of our clients sends a website link to someone through a text message (or posts a link on their Facebook or Twitter), the branded graphic pulls across along with the link. Our clients love this added feature. Try it out – you’ll love it too.
Call Us for High-Quality Web Design and SEO-Optimized Service Pages
At Rocks Digital, we write SEO-optimized service pages, design results-driven websites, optimize Google Business Profiles – and provide many other digital marketing services. For help improving the visibility in search for your business, contact us today. Call (214) 989-7549 or request a website evaluation now.
