Tweaking your company Mission Statement for web and SEO

How to make your Mission Statement a useful piece of SEO copy

If you copied your mission statement verbatim from your website onto a piece of paper, then handed it to a complete stranger — would they immediately know what your business does, and where you are?

If the answer is no, read this blog. It will help you quickly refine your own company mission statement (for web) so it accurately describes the direction and purpose of your business AND acts as a useful piece of SEO text.

Generic Mission Statements aren’t suited to web

A well written company Mission Statement can bring more than just a sense of direction to your business. When published on your website, Google and the other search engines will use the text in your mission statement to learn more about who you are, and what you do. Don’t waste this opportunity.

As a professional writer I regularly see businesses display their Mission Statement on their ‘About Us‘ page — which actually is the the perfect place for it. But more often than not, the text is generic or ambiguous, and does nothing to improve their overall search engine rankings.

Let’s use a real mission statement I stumbled across at random on the web to demonstrate what I’m talking about.

Our mission is to provide the highest quality care and service to ensure our patients can keep their teeth for life – in maximum comfort, function and aesthetics.

To continuously and relentlessly pursue excellence through continuing education, personal and team growth and mastering of leading edge technology.

To focus on assuming a leadership role in the community as a resource – a body of information with concern for our patients’ overall well being. To consistently deliver more than would reasonably be expected.

This business aims to be a great service provider, a progressive and modern business, and valuable member of their community. The only problem is the mission statement on its own tells us almost nothing about who this business is, what they do and where they are. Only one small clue (the word teeth) lets anyone outside the business know these guys are actually dentists.

Use your Mission Statement for SEO

Every piece of text you put up on your website (especially that in your mission statement) tells search engines like Google something about your business. Don’t write generic and vague text and miss the opportunity of improving your website’s SEO.

Sure you can have a generic Mission over the front entrance of your office, but on the web make sure you:

(a) Include your business name

Don’t use phrases like ‘we aim to be the best at what we do‘ or ‘our customer service‘ or ‘the community looks to us‘. Instead clearly say who (and where) you are, using your business name.

(b) Describe your industry, service or genre

Make sure your mission statement includes at the very least your broad industry or service, or genre. Use words or simple phrases that a potential customer might type into a search engine: like accountant, doctor, English tutor, cover band, Italian restaurant, copywriter. Instead of saying ‘XYZZ aims to be the best.’ say ‘XYZZ aims to be the best wedding photographer.’.

(c) Specify your target location

Including the location where people can access your products or services will greatly improve your localised search engine rankings. Again write it like a customer might type into Google or Bing: Sydney dentist, best wedding DJ in Cairns, plumber Riverina area, youth hostel Melbourne CBD. If you are an online business you can use broader terms like ‘the best online clothing store’ or ‘online surf shop shipping worldwide’.

Crafting a more strategic Mission Statement

To demonstrate how to craft a better mission statement, I’ve reworked our example from the previous section. I’ve used a fictitious business name and one of my favourite parts of Queensland as the location.

Amazing Dentists provide the highest quality dental care and service in the Wide Bay area. We strive to help our patients keep their teeth for life — and receive their treatments in maximum comfort and aesthetics.

Amazing Dentists continuously and relentlessly pursue excellence through professional development and ongoing education. This enables the personal growth of our team and the mastery of leading edge dental technology.

Amazing Dentists assumes a leadership role in the Hervey Bay community and is widely known as a reliable a body of information, with concern for our patients’ overall well being. We have a reputation for consistently delivering more than would reasonably be expected of a dentist.

You can see how a few simple changes to the text make the mission statement more informative, more personal, and a more effective piece of SEO copy.

Now it’s your turn (repeating again). If you copied your mission statement verbatim from your website onto a piece of paper and handed it to a complete stranger — would they immediately know what your business does and where you are?

Maybe Google doesn’t either.

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