Lesson 3: SEO landing pages and keyword map

The question of which page on your website should rank for which keyword in search engines is one of the most important and fascinating aspects of search engine optimization.

Definition of SEO landing pages

An SEO landing page is a specific page on your website designed to achieve good rankings for one or more selected keywords in search engines.
At this stage, you carefully determine which page of your website is best suited for each keyword.

Important Information About SEO Landing Pages:

Theoretically, any page on your website can be an SEO landing page, such as the homepage, a product page, a blog post, etc. The key is that it must align very well with the respective keyword.
Each keyword is assigned to exactly one specific page on your website.
However: A landing page can rank for multiple thematically related keywords. Example: A landing page for “English course Munich” can achieve good rankings not only for “English course Munich” but also for “English language course Munich,” “English courses Munich,” or “Learn English Munich.”
Of course, there are pages on your website that are not particularly SEO-relevant, such as the legal notice (Impressum).
Rule of thumb: You need a dedicated SEO landing page for every important topic, service, or keyword.
At the start of your search engine optimization, decide whether to optimize existing pages/SEO landing pages further because they already match a keyword well or to create new pages/SEO landing pages for one or more keywords (see also section 3.6 “SEO Audit”).
Additionally, it is worthwhile at the beginning of SEO to create a keyword map, which allows you to clearly assign your keywords to SEO landing pages (see sections 3.4 and 3.5).

3.2 Different types of landing pages and suitable keywords

There are different types of pages or landing pages on your website. Below, I will introduce you to common types of landing pages frequently found on websites. Additionally, I will provide examples of the kinds of keywords that typically match each type of landing page. Often, a single landing page, as mentioned earlier, can achieve good results for multiple keywords. For example, many landing pages, in my experience, generate clicks for 1-10 different keywords monthly. However, it is also possible for a single landing page to perform well for more than 100 keywords.

3.2.1 The Homepage

Screenshot seobility.de

The homepage exists on every website and can always be optimized for specific keywords in search engines.

Rule of Thumb:

The homepage is particularly suited for keywords that describe the core offering of your website or business. Essentially, it answers the question: What does your business do?
For my homepage, suitable keywords include “SEO course,” “SEO online course,” and “Learn SEO.” The image above shows the rankings and ranking improvements for my homepage after the latest revision or redesign.
For a local language school in Munich, appropriate keywords for the homepage might include “language school Munich” or “language courses Munich.”
Note: If you only offer English courses, it makes sense to optimize the homepage for “English language school Munich” or “English courses Munich.”
For a regional or national business or website, the main offering or theme is typically the focus, such as “HR software” or “travel blog.”
For an online shop, keywords like “tennis online shop” or “furniture online shop” or “buy furniture online” might be relevant for the homepage, depending on what the shop offers and its primary focus.
For online shops, category and product pages are also crucial (more on that later).
The homepage can be optimized for commercial keywords (“tennis online shop,” “SEO course,” “language school Munich”) or informational keywords (“travel blog”), depending on the website’s nature.

3.2.2 Service Pages

Screenshot seranking.com

Service pages are very important for search engine optimization. As a rule, you should create a dedicated landing page or service page on your website for each key service or offering of your business.

It is highly disadvantageous from an SEO perspective to combine all services on just one subpage or landing page. The reason is that it is very difficult to optimize a single page for 10+ different keywords or services that require entirely different content.

In the example shown in the photo, the service page for cooking courses for couples of a cooking school is currently found in the top 100 on Google for over 40 keywords. Often these keywords are very similar.

Service pages are commonly found on websites for local service and craft businesses, course providers, or regional and national companies in the software, service, or B2B sectors.

Keywords that generally suit service pages:

For a local cooking school in Chicago, keywords like “cooking class chicago couples” for Landing Page A, “italian cooking class chicago” for Landing Page B, and “indian cooking class chicago” for Landing Page C would be appropriate—depending on the courses offered.
For a lawyer in Sydney, suitable keywords for individual service pages might include “employment lawyer sydney” or “tenant lawyer sydney.”
For a regional or national website like mine, service pages could be optimized for keywords such as “SEO coaching” or “SEO webinar.”
For a national ERP software provider, keywords like “ERP software system integrators” or “ERP software for the food industry” could fit specific service landing pages—depending on the industries the software targets.
Typically, commercial keywords are the best fit for service pages.

3.2.3 Category pages in the online shop

Screenshot seranking.com

Category pages are extremely important for SEO in online shops. These pages list all products within a specific category.

In the example shown in the photos, you can see that even a single category page, such as the “tennis shoes for women” page on Zalando, can rank in the top 100 on Google for more than 1700 keywords.

Category pages are well-suited for general search terms that include a product, such as “women’s jeans,” “laptops,” or “men’s tennis shoes.”
Additional keywords relevant to the page may include words like “buy,” “order,” “cheap,” “offer,” etc., such as “buy women’s jeans online.”
Category pages typically rank well for commercial keywords.

3.2.4 Product pages in the online shop

Screenshot seranking.com

Product pages are the second major source of traffic through SEO for online shops.

Product pages are well-suited for specific search terms or the product name. Keywords for a product page might include “men’s tennis racket 285g” or “nike vapor pro 3 4.”
Additional keywords relevant to the page may also include words like “buy,” “order,” “cheap,” “offer,” the color, or very specific features of a product.
Product pages also generally align very well with commercial keywords.

3.2.5 Blog articles, news and information pages

Screenshot seranking.com

Now, let’s move on to the millions of informational keywords that can be targeted with blog articles and similar content. Below, I’ll introduce you to some special types of informational pages:

Guide articles: Cover topics ranging from health and finance to DIY tips. Guide articles are especially popular and allow you to target numerous informational keywords such as “tips for sunburn,” “what to consider with health insurance,” or “how to install parquet flooring.”
Pages with lists and tables: A popular blog article on my site is the “List of 30 free business directories.” This article was clicked around 300 times via Google in the last four weeks and displayed for over 290 different keywords. Lists and tables are inherently popular with users due to their clarity.
Cornerstone content: In the informational area, cornerstone content serves as overarching content, similar to category pages in online shops. For example, consider the topic or keyword “attractions in Spain.” In a cornerstone article, you could provide an overview of the 20 most important attractions in Spain (e.g., 2-3 per city). From there, you can link to specific landing pages like “attractions in Madrid,” “attractions in Barcelona,” etc.
News pages: For keywords like “Bundesliga table” or “election results NRW,” you need a corresponding page with highly current content. Otherwise, you won’t stand a chance of ranking for these keywords.
Recipe pages: Recipes are incredibly popular and frequently searched for. It’s also important to add structured data to recipes (covered in Lesson 5), which can help your recipe page appear in Google’s recipe extension.

3.2.6 Job and career pages

Screenshot seranking.com

Many companies also have job and career pages, which can, of course, be optimized for search engines. Keywords like “jobs electrician miami” or “jobs software developer” are naturally a good fit.

There are generally two different types of landing pages for job sites:

Job category pages (with multiple similar job listings):
If you have multiple job openings of a similar type in one location (e.g., 10 jobs for electricians in Hamburg), it makes sense to create a dedicated category page for this combination and list all positions there. Such a landing page is very relevant for users searching for “Jobs electrician Hamburg” and has a good chance of ranking well in general Google search results.
Individual job listings:
It is also worthwhile to create a separate SEO landing page for each job listing with a detailed job description. On this page, you can also add “structured data for job postings” (see Lesson 5), giving your landing page the potential to be featured in Google for Jobs.

Tool Tipp

Explanation: I usually use tools to check which keywords individual landing pages rank well for. The tools I use most frequently are the Google Search Console (more on this in Lesson 7) and SE Ranking (Premium).

3.3 When do I create a new/own landing page for a keyword?

Should I optimize an existing page for a keyword or create an entirely new SEO landing page? And is it even worth creating a dedicated landing page for a particular keyword or topic? Below, I’ll provide you with some tips to answer these common questions at the start of search engine optimization.

Optimize existing SEO landing pages or create new pages?

Often, SEO efforts begin when your website already exists. In this case, the question arises: which pages can be optimized for specific keywords? You can optimize existing pages if the page…

…already provides good content that matches a keyword.
…only requires minor adjustments to align with the keyword.

If these criteria are not met, it is generally recommended to create a new SEO landing page for the keyword.

When is it worth having your own page for a keyword/topic?

The correct assignment of keywords to SEO landing pages is one of the most important steps in your search engine optimization. Often, you face the decision of whether to create a new SEO landing page for a keyword or assign it to an already existing page. Examples:

Do you create a dedicated page for “Business English courses Munich”, or do you integrate the keyword into the “English courses Munich” page?
For a tennis online shop, do you create a dedicated page for “Men’s clay court shoes” and “Women’s clay court shoes”, or do you integrate the keyword into the main category page “Men’s tennis shoes” or “Women’s tennis shoes”?
Do you create a dedicated page for “Free business directory listing”, or do you integrate the keyword into the blog post “30 free business directories”?

Guiding questions to help decide: When deciding whether to create a dedicated SEO landing page for a keyword or topic, consider the following questions:

Is the search intent different compared to other keywords?
Is the monthly search volume high enough?
Does the keyword or service target a different audience compared to other keywords/services?
Can I create unique content for this service/topic/keyword?

In the above examples, we would recommend creating a dedicated SEO landing page for the first two examples because the search intent is different, and in the case of Business English courses, the target audience is also distinct. Additionally, there is enough content to justify a dedicated page. For the third example, we combined both keywords on a single page because the search intent is essentially the same, and the content for both pages would be identical. In this case, a single blog post is sufficient.

Tool Tip

Explanation: The SERP Overlap Tool helps you decide whether you can use the same landing page for two keywords or if you need a separate landing page for each. It does this by analyzing the Google rankings for both keywords.

3.4 Example keyword map language school

The keyword map is the overview of your website, where you systematically assign keywords to individual SEO landing pages.
In addition to the keywords and landing pages, it can also include other information such as monthly search volume, current rankings, etc.
Using a keyword map, you can optimize the structure of your website for search engines.

For a language school in Munich, a keyword map might look something like this for a few pages and keyword clusters:
(Note: This keyword map is, of course, incomplete and could be expanded to include many more languages and blog articles.)

3.5 Keywordmap Tennis online shop (excerpt)

A keyword map for a tennis online shop might look like this. As with other examples, this is only an excerpt. For an online shop, several thousand keywords can quickly become relevant or significant.

3.6 Extra: SEO audit for existing pages

If a website already exists, conducting a SEO audit or analysis of the current situation at the start of search engine optimization is always a good idea. The audit reveals which keywords your site is already ranking well for, which ones it isn’t, the site’s technical status, backlink profile, and more. This serves as the foundation for implementing targeted SEO measures later on. From my perspective, the following considerations play an important role in an SEO audit. The boundaries between an SEO audit and an SEO concept are sometimes fluid.

Which pages already have good rankings for certain keywords?
Do I need to create new pages or SEO landing pages, or can I optimize existing pages?
Which content is already suitable for important keywords? Where do I need to create new content?
Are all SEO-relevant pages indexed, or are there indexing issues? (You can learn more about this in Chapter 6.2.)
What is the page speed like?
Are there issues with duplicate content, internal keyword competition, etc.?

Note: Since landing pages play a crucial role in an SEO audit, I have included the SEO audit in this lesson. However, there are, of course, additional SEO aspects (as mentioned) that are also important in an audit.

Top tip: Take SEO into account when creating a new website

As an SEO expert, you sometimes receive requests like, "Our website is now finished. You can start with SEO now." However, it is generally much more effective to incorporate SEO directly during the planning phase of a website. Why? SEO is closely tied to aspects like site structure, content, and keyword assignment.

If you don’t consider SEO from the start, you often end up doing things twice. For example, with SEO measures, you’ll likely need to adjust your site structure, create new content, and so on.