Setting up SEO

Most of the editable things in Payload have a set of SEO fields for controlling how the page appears in Google results and when shared on social media. These fields don't generate themselves — if you leave them blank, Google falls back to guesses or defaults, which are usually worse than a human-written version.

Where the SEO fields are

SEO fields appear on:

• Pages (the Pages collection)
• Blog Articles and Articles (news)
• Product Categories
• Homepage, Blog Page, News Page, Category Landing Page (globals)
• Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions, Cookie Policy (globals)
• A few other globals

You'll usually find them in a dedicated SEO or Meta tab on the edit form.

The three fields that matter

For each page, you get:

Meta Title

The headline Google shows in search results. Also the title that shows on the browser tab.

• Aim for 50–60 characters. Longer titles get truncated with an ellipsis in search results.
• Put the most important words first — Google sometimes cuts off the end.
• Include the brand at the end, not the start. E.g. Hydraulic hose fittings | Flowtech rather than Flowtech - Hydraulic hose fittings.

Meta Description

The snippet of text Google shows beneath the title.

• Aim for 140–160 characters. Shorter is fine; much longer gets truncated.
• Write for humans, not robots. Describe what the page is actually about in a way that makes someone want to click.
• Include a call to action where it fits ("Order online with next-day UK delivery.").
• Don't stuff keywords. Google detects this and it hurts rather than helps.

Meta Image (sometimes called OG Image or Social Share Image)

The image that appears when someone shares the page on LinkedIn, Facebook, WhatsApp, or similar. If you don't set one, they share a blank or a generic default.

• Size: 1200 × 630 pixels (the standard Open Graph ratio).
• Keep text in the image to a minimum — it can be hard to read at small sizes.
• Use your branded colours and logo so it's recognisable.
• Test the share preview — tools like the LinkedIn Post Inspector show you exactly how a link will look before you share it.

Previewing your SEO

The SEO plugin shows a live preview of the Google search result as you type the title and description. It updates when you change either field. Use it to judge length and tone before saving.

Common mistakes

• Leaving fields blank. Google falls back to the page title, which is often too short or too long. Always fill in at least Meta Title and Meta Description.
• Copying the same description across multiple pages. Google penalises duplicate meta descriptions. Write each one fresh.
• Using the page title as the meta title verbatim. The meta title can be more descriptive — it doesn't have to match the H1 on the page.
• Forgetting the meta image. If a customer shares your blog post on LinkedIn and it shows a blank preview, they're less likely to click.
• Changing the meta title of an existing page without thinking. Google will re-index and re-rank based on the new title. Small tweaks are fine; big rewrites can temporarily tank rankings.

Advanced: canonical URL and no-index

On some page types you'll see extra SEO fields:

• Canonical URL — used when the same content appears at several URLs. Tells Google which is the "real" one. Leave blank unless a developer has advised you otherwise.
• No Index — tells search engines to skip this page entirely. Use for internal-only pages you don't want Google to find.

If you're not sure whether you need these, don't touch them — the defaults are safe.

Saving

Like everything in Payload, saving the SEO fields is immediate and live. Google won't re-crawl instantly, but the new meta tags are on the page as soon as you save.