Page and Post SEO

This article shows you how to update SEO metadata for a page or blog post in Site Edit, and how to write those fields so they read well in search results and shared links.

Before you begin: Open the page or blog post you want to optimize before selecting Settings. SEO changes stay in the Site Edit draft until you PUBLISH.

What the SEO fields do

SEO metadata is the text search engines and social networks use to describe your page. It is separate from the content visitors read on the page itself, so updating it never changes your headline, body copy, or layout.

Field Where it shows up
Meta title The clickable title in search results and browser tabs
Meta description The summary line below the title in search results
Meta keywords A list of topic keywords stored with the post
Meta image The preview image used when the post is shared
No index Asks search engines to leave the page out of their results

Because these fields are per page and per post, each one is an opportunity to describe that specific content. Pages and posts that share the same meta title and description are harder for search engines — and for people scanning results — to tell apart.

Open Site Edit

From My Sites, find the site you want to update and select SITE EDIT.

The SITE EDIT button on a site card

Open the page or post

  1. Use Pages or the preview navigation to open the content you want to optimize. For a blog post, select the Blog Posts filter in Pages, then open the post.
  2. Confirm the correct page or post is loaded in the preview.
The Pages hub for finding content

Settings always apply to whatever is currently shown in the preview, so it is worth confirming the right content is loaded before you start typing.

Open Settings

Select Settings in the toolbar.

Opening Settings for the current page or post
  1. Select Settings while the target page or post is in the preview.

Edit page SEO

For a page, open This Page → General:

  1. Turn on SEO settings if the SEO fields are collapsed.
  2. Edit Meta title.
  3. Edit Meta description.
  4. Optionally enable No index if the page should not appear in search results.
Page settings tabs including General for SEO
  1. General — includes SEO settings for the page.

The General tab also holds the page Slug, which is the last part of the web address. The slug, meta title, and meta description work together: the slug is the address people land on, and the two meta fields describe it.

Edit blog post SEO

For a blog post, open This Blog Post → General and update:

  • Turn on SEO SETTINGS if the SEO fields are hidden.
  • Meta title
  • Meta description
  • Meta keywords
  • Meta image (when you want a specific share image)
Blog post settings tabs including General
  1. General — includes meta fields for the post.

Posts have two extra fields that pages do not. Meta keywords records the topics the post covers. Meta image sets the picture that appears when someone shares the post — useful when the automatically chosen image is not the one you want representing the article.

Treat Meta keywords as stored descriptive metadata, not a ranking control. Major search engines do not use that field to improve a page's position in results.

Write meta titles and descriptions that work

Search engines decide for themselves how much of your text to show, and they sometimes rewrite it, so treat these fields as your best summary rather than something you can control character by character:

  • Lead with what matters. Put the distinctive words first — the neighborhood, service, or topic — so the meaning survives if the end is trimmed.
  • Keep each one unique. Give every page and post its own title and description instead of reusing one across the site.
  • Describe the page, not the site. "Waterfront condos in Sarasota" tells a searcher more than a repeated brokerage name.
  • Write for a person. A readable sentence performs better than a list of keywords strung together.
  • Match the content. If the description promises something the page does not deliver, visitors leave again quickly.
  • Front-load the description too. Use it to answer "why should I click this?" in the first phrase.

When to use No index

Turn on No index for pages you want live but not listed in search results — for example a thank-you page after a form submission, or a page you keep around for a specific link. It asks search engines not to include the page in their results; it does not restrict who can open the page. To limit access, use Accessible for logged in users only or Password protect on the same General tab instead.

Publish your changes

SEO edits are part of the Site Edit draft. Select PUBLISH to apply them, or DISCARD to remove unpublished changes.

Meta title and description affect how search engines and social shares describe the page. They are separate from the visible page title shown on the website.

Search engines re-crawl on their own schedule, so a published change can take a while to appear in results even though it is live on your site immediately.

For more about applying or removing pending changes, see Publishing and Discarding Drafts.

Need more help?

For questions, concerns, or feedback, chat with our team at app.placester.com/chat.

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