Pearl Lemon - SEO Agency London

What is the best boilerplate SEO strategy?

What is “Boilerplate”?

Have you heard the latest SEO buzz? Well, today is your lucky day because we’re going to fill you in on all the latest news surrounding boilerplate SEO strategy and optimization.   

Listen, excessive use of keywords in internal anchor text could be a problem.

In other words, you could be losing key business due to “boilerplate” issues”.

The boilerplate text often refers to documents or sections of text that will get reused across sites, pages, or sections for different purposes. These are things like about-us sections at the end of blog posts or press releases or legal documents like agreements.

In the world of SEO, Boilerplate classifies as:

  • Sitewide navigation- about us, home, blog, etc
  • Special areas that include links
  • Javascript, CC id/class names like the header and footer

How Google addresses Boilerplate

One option is that Google may fully ignore the repeated content that boilerplate follows. Things like contact-us pages and the likes often aren’t indexed unless the page also contains useful content.

Links can be indexed with a level of boilerplate understanding. There are a variety of factors when Google chooses what to do with these links, but it can falter good or poor depending on the indexing, and some links may end up being identified as paid.

Boilerplate content can be identified as useful content to help the bots figure out the purpose of your site. This helps figure out the structure of the site and other things like PR flow or finding true duplicate content issues.

What are Boilerplate Issues

Firstly, what exactly are “boilerplate” issues and how are they affecting your Google ranking?

A boilerplate is your company’s marketing pitch and SHOULD definitely be incorporated into your digital marketing strategy. Your pitch is the initial approach to potential clients, so make it your absolute best. You only have one chance to make a first impression.

Sounds pretty simple right?

But sadly it’s not that easy to implement. Don’t worry, with the right tools you can say goodbye to boilerplate anxiety and hello to google friendly rankings.

Poorly built boilerplates lead companies down a spiral descent in the SERPs. You need to have a strategy and a blueprint to build your description well. 

Your Boilerplate Strategy

You need to be sure when having purposeful repetitive content…like your about us section… that it is well crafted and provides value in the information, not just come off as repetitive content without enough context to be perceived as solving an issue.

Issues to solve include:

  • Who you are
  • Years of experience
  • What you do
  • What sets you apart from the competitors
  • What you provide/sell

Here’s how you can optimize your boilerplate strategy right now!

So, what are you waiting for?

About us Section:

I’m sure that you’ve heard this all before, but, I can’t stress this enough. It’s crucial to include a short, catchy paragraph to capture your reader’s attention.

This is your chance to explain why your company is the BEST at what you do! They are usually found at the end of a company’s press release or on the about page.

Now you may be asking if that one little paragraph is really necessary?

YES, YES AND ANOTHER LOUD RESONATING YES!

I’m sure that you know how challenging it can be to keep users on your landing page.

Did you know that the average person only stays on a page for a MINUTE?  

Just think about THAT… for a minute!

Shocking isn’t it?

This is exactly why your boilerplate must be beyond catchy and informative all at the same time.

First-time visitors to your page are going to want to know what your company is able to offer them in 3-5 sentences.

Let me give you an example.

Organic Search SEO Services

Do you see that? Let’s look at one more.

Boilerplate Strategy

But stay with me, we’re not done yet.

Did you know that Boilerplate SEO also NEEDS to focus on the core fundamentals of your website?

Let me explain.

  1. Focus on getting your page load speed down to as fast as you can make it
  2. Create a call to action on the homepage to capture people’s email addresses
  3. Have an online chat function for people that have specific questions
  4. Choose ONE platform to create an inbound marketing channel:
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • Quora
    • Pinterest
    • LinkedIn
    • Google+
    • Google ranking (then no.6 applies heavily)
    • Whatever you want

You should begin by heavily focusing on building out no.4 to drive traffic until one channel is beginning to provide enquiries.

Then:

Move to ANOTHER channel to provide inbound enquiries to increase the diversity of your inbound channels.

Here’s the bottom line; ultimately, a website needs to have good writing and even better content. In addition to an inbound sales channel, rapid page load times and a reason for someone to leave their email.

BONUS: Top Do’s and Don’t to Boilerplate Strategy

DO collect all previously written materials

Boilerplate may need to be updated and adjusted as time carries on. Each copy does not need to be built from scratch, though. Look at the most common repeated events highlighted in press releases and shifts in keywords to be able to have the most accurate updated boilerplate.

DO include the tagline

Your tagline and largest target keywords are a must to include in your boilerplate copy. You need to be able to reiterate your bold “YOU” statement, and the boilerplate is the perfect space to be able to do that. Adding this to your boilerplate isn’t as much of an option as it is a requirement. If you need a tagline for your business, you can use a tagline generator to create one that resonates with your brand.

DO stick with a single point of view

Point of view would be sticking with either the first or third person. Having a singular point of view allows for a smoother narrative. A smooth narrative makes your copy easier to read and digest, so pick a point of view and roll with it.

DO be sure you are using current terms

When looking at avoiding confusing phrasing, also avoid out of date terminology. If you focus on words that are no longer used and phrases that no longer hold their weight in your niche, you then come across as out of date yourself and in turn…not up with industry trends either.

DO include relative links and handles

Once your boilerplate is created, let the last bit of it be a space for users to find you easier. Include links to your social media or list out your social media handles. This allows users to follow up with your brand across other networks and see how your brand presents itself.

DON’T cram in jargon

It is easy as an expert to use what you think is commonplace words, but for the average person, it is unfamiliar and is simply jargon. Avoid possibly confusing words or phrases, and make it easy for any person to understand. Get rid of the mess that happens with confusion and allow for easier comprehension from the readers.

DON’T exaggerate what you can achieve

You need to be trustworthy to your potential customers. If you claim numbers, quotes, or positions, you need to have the evidence to prove it. When the time comes when case studies are asked for, and you can’t provide them, you can assume a potential sale is out the window.

DON’T switch between points of view

Different narratives come across as mismatched and rushed. This often happens on collaborative pieces. This is important to proofread when doing this. Beyond this it also comes across as sloppy to the trained eye (and sometimes the untrained eye as well), so you want to avoid this.

DON’T let the founder be the final eyes on the piece

The founder of the company can offer amazing insights to the boilerplate and often has an ability to hyper-focus on the content and what it needs to say. A common slip here is that the focus is on the content itself, grammar and typos can often be missed. Allow for a pair of fresh eyes to reread what is written to be sure simple mistakes don’t go missed and end up published.

DON’T let the copy get too long

The copy for your boilerplate should be able to fully capture what you do and your abilities, but let it be concise. Pack as much information in your boilerplate, but only keep this a few sentences long. Wordy boilerplates are off-putting and difficult to digest. You want to be able to scan over the page and pick up the information quickly…and too much-written content prevents that from happening. Think of it like hor d’oeuvres…just a few bites.

We’re a unique SEO company– we don’t take a ‘one solution fits all’ approach – our SEO team will design and implement bespoke campaigns for all of our clients, unlike, many other SEO companies who focus on optimising solely for Google.

If you have any questions or would like some help, please contact us at the link below.

https://pearllemon.com/contact-us/

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