You will be able to decide the format, depth and structure a page needs from its intent and the current results.
Priya decided to write a page for her third priority cluster, "how to solve PSLE maths heuristics". Her first draft opened with three paragraphs about her centre, listed her class times, and only then gave a few tips, followed by a booking form. It was a good sales page. It was also the wrong page for that search, and it did not rank.
Before you write any page, the search you are aiming at tells you what kind of page it must be. This lesson shows you how to work that out: the format, where the answer goes, how far to go and which follow-up questions to cover.
In lesson 2.2, Read the results page to confirm intent, you saw that the pages ranking for a search reveal what people want. That applies directly when you plan a page. If the top results for your search are step-by-step guides with worked examples, a sales page will struggle, however good your service is. The searcher wants to learn, and Google's systems are trying to show pages that teach.
The reverse is true for buying searches. If the top results for "P5 maths tuition Tampines" are centre pages with schedules and booking options, a long guide to P5 topics will struggle there. The parent wants to choose a centre, not take a lesson.
When Priya searched "how to solve PSLE maths heuristics", the top results were guides that explained each heuristic with a worked problem, plus two videos. So her page had to be a guide, with worked examples and diagrams. Her centre could appear at the end, as the natural next step for a parent who wants more help.
Note the format details too. Do the top guides use diagrams? Do they show worked problems step by step? Do they split heuristics into separate sections? These choices tell you what searchers have found useful.
Readers arrive with a question. Lesson 3.2, Headings, body copy and the words people use, covered putting the most important information early. For a guide, that means answering the main question near the top in plain terms, before any background.
Priya's revised page opens with a two-sentence answer: heuristics are named strategies for problem sums, such as drawing a model or working backwards, and the skill lies in recognising which one a question needs. Then it lists the heuristics the page covers, so a parent can see at once whether it will help.
After the main answer come the follow-up questions. A parent who understands what heuristics are will next wonder which ones come up most in PSLE papers, how to tell which to use, what to do when a child freezes, and how to practise at home. A page that answers those in order keeps the reader on it, rather than sending them back to search again, which is one of the things Google's helpful content guidance asks you to check.
You may have read that a page needs at least 1,500 or 2,000 words to rank. Google's helpful content guidance addresses this directly. It asks whether you are writing to a particular word count because you have heard Google prefers one, and states that it does not.
Length should follow what the searcher needs. A page answering "what time does the Tampines library close" should be short. A guide to PSLE heuristics with worked examples will be long, because the topic needs it. If the current top results are long, that may be because the topic is broad, and you may need similar depth to cover it well. But padding a page to hit a number makes it worse for readers and does nothing for Google.
The test is whether every section helps the person who searched. When you have covered what they need, stop.
Two sources do most of the work. The first is the People also ask box on the results page for your search. Each question in it is something people search in connection with your topic, and clicking one often reveals more. Note the ones your page should answer.
The second source is your own enquiries. The questions customers ask you on WhatsApp, at the counter or on the phone are follow-ups you know are real, and they often include details no tool will show you. Priya's parents regularly ask whether heuristics should be taught before P5, and whether the model method is still expected in the PSLE. Neither appeared in the People also ask box, but both belong on the page. The voice-of-customer file from Content and copywriting that people read is a good place to look.
Take the first priority search you plan to write for. The activity below asks you to list its main question, five follow-up questions from these two sources, and the format the top results use.
For one priority search, list the main question, five follow-up questions and the format the top results use.
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