Why Your Page Isn’t Converting: How Semantic Triples Unlock Smarter SEO

In this episode of the Simple and Smart SEO Show, host Crystal Waddell unpacks the concept of semantic triples and how understanding them can solve one of the most frustrating SEO issues ... getting impressions but no clicks. 

Drawing from her experience at a technical SEO conference and a real-world case study from her own business, Crystal reveals how aligning your page’s content with user intent (not just keywords) can lead to higher conversions. 

Whether you're an SEO novice or pro, this episode offers actionable insights into fixing semantic misalignment and crafting on age content metadata that actually converts.

Key Takeaways:

• Semantic Triples Explained: Learn how the "who," "what," and "why" of user intent can clarify your SEO strategy.
• Real-World Example: Crystal shares how her page for “volleyball gifts for girls” got 1,700+ impressions with zero clicks—and how she fixed it.
• Diagnosing Intent Mismatch: Uncover how tools can reveal pricing shock, vague copy, and semantic misalignment.
• Actionable Fixes: Get practical changes you can make to metadata, product descriptions, and page flow to convert better.

Memorable Quotes:

• “It’s not a traffic problem. It’s not a keyword problem. It’s a meaning problem.”
• “The fact is, if there’s no click, there’s no conversion—and that means there’s no SEO value.”
• “Being understood is the real work.”

Listener Action Items:

1. Audit Your Own Pages: Use semantic triples (who, what, why) to evaluate whether your content truly aligns with search intent.
2. Rewrite Metadata: Make your titles and meta descriptions more specific and emotionally engaging.

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 Hey, Shopify store owners! (Especially if you're selling on Etsy, too!)

Here's a quick question: Are people actually finding your products on Google?

If SEO feels confusing, overwhelming, or like something you'll "get to later", this is for you.

I'm hosting a free, seven day Shopify SEO challenge that breaks it down into simple, doable steps.

No tech headaches, no fluff. Join us at

Transcript

what's crazy is that I heard about semantic triples two years ago.

And it had nothing to do with SEO.

It was my son's English assignment in like fifth or sixth grade.

He was talking about subjects. And he was talking about predicates. And he was talking about objects.

And I was like, you are so ready to train LLMs because you understand how the English language works.

When's the last time I took a basic English class to learn what a predicate is?

[00:00:29] Welcome to the Simple and Smart SEO Show

Welcome to the simple and smart SEO show podcast!

I'm your host, Crystal Waddell, here to bridge the gap between SEO strategy and real world business success. By bringing you insights, stories, and conversations from the SEO community and beyond.

So grab a coffee or your favorite tea. And let's dive into Smarter SEO for your business. 

welcome back to the Simple and Smart SEO show podcast.

[00:00:51] First Technical SEO Conference Experience

How about we start back in December?

In December, I went to my first technical SEO conference. It was called Tech SEO [00:01:00] Connect. And it was in Durham, North Carolina. So I was able to actually drive there from where I live in North Carolina.

And so that was pretty fun.

Inside the SEO squad, we had tons of technical questions that came up, and people have constantly wanted like a linear progression in how they can make their stores better.

I've always been more of a troubleshooter.

And so I thought, okay, I think I need to go back to the basics. Because I was never formally trained in how to build websites.

[00:01:29] Discovering Semantic Triples

What I believe to have been missing is something called semantic triples. Now, don't tune out.

I know you're probably like, what the crap is that?

Don't use big words. But semantic, triples comes down to this idea of. Does the internet understand what you're trying to say?

And are you meaning what you intend to mean on your website?

Now, what's crazy is that I heard about semantic triples two years ago.

And it had nothing to do with the SEO.

It had [00:02:00] nothing to do with internet or people at conferences or people online.

It was my son's English assignment in like fifth or sixth grade.

He was talking about subjects. And he was talking about predicates. And he was talking about objects.

And I remember thinking that I had just read something about that in terms of like chat GPTs or LLMs.

Or something about how those types of computer systems understood websites and text on a page.

And so I don't know where it really came from, but I remember telling my son, I was like, oh my gosh, I just heard about this.

And I was like, you are so ready to train LLMs because you understand how the English language works.

When's the last time I took a basic English class to learn what a predicate is?

After all that happened and I realized, okay, I've got like a severe deficit in my SEO knowledge.

I realized it was probably technical and I needed to figure it out. So [00:03:00] when I had the opportunity to go to Tech SEO Connect, I was stoked.

They always say when you go to a conference, if you take away one thing, like it's been a successful conference. And I took away one thing. I took away a whole bunch of things.

I take a lot of notes, but because of chat, GPT and Gemini, now I can take my notes and say, Hey, build me a tool that takes all of this.

Synthesizes it together. And gives me an output that helps me accomplish something.

[00:03:27] Creating a Semantic Alignment Tool

So that's what I did, and that's what I'm gonna talk to you about today is this really super cool semantic alignment tool that I created.

And I'm going to I'm gonna give you an example with my own website. Okay?

[00:03:40] Introduction to Collage and Wood

So in case you don't know, I sell giant wooden letters in numbers. It's called collage and wood, crystal, Waddell, collage and wood.

If you are not watching this on video showing my lovely sign that I made but I make giant wooden letters, numbers. Photo collage gifts. I'm a sports artist.

I take people's sports photos, put 'em all over their jersey number, and then they can hang 'em up on the wall forever and [00:04:00] show their kids.

But.

Let me ask you something real quick. 

[00:04:03] Understanding Semantic Misalignment

Have you ever had a page ranking, like getting impressions, but like zero clicks?

That's not a traffic problem. Okay. It's not a keyword problem.

It's a meaning problem. And that's what we're gonna talk about today because today I wanna show you.

What I hypothesize is how search engines interpret meaning.

And why a particular page I had failed despite ranking. And then how I use semantic triples to fix it.

And hopefully in a way that you can apply to your pages as well.

Okay. So please forgive me, I have some notes here and so I won't, I'm gonna actually have to read from my notes because I'm gonna make sure I'm telling you something correctly.

[00:04:45] Semantic Triples Explained

But let's talk first about what are semantic, triples?

A plain English definition. So we're gonna simplify this because this is where a lot of SEO explanations is to go off the rails and we're like, woo, I'm not listed to this. [00:05:00] Okay.

So a semantic triple is just this. It's who it's what, and it's why, or like an outcome.

In search terms. The who is an entity and the what is an attribute and the why or the outcome is the intent. Okay?

So think about the times you've heard of the fancy words, like entities, attributes, and intent. All right?

Search engines don't just match keywords anymore, right? We've known this for a little bit.

They try to understand relationships.

So when someone searches, for instance, in my business, "volleyball gifts for girls" Google isn't just hearing words, it's constructing a mental model of those words.

And it becomes the who: is a girl who plays volleyball.

The what is a gift? And the implied attributes are an affordable, fun, physical [00:06:00] item.

And the implied outcome is that it's gonna be a quick win gift that feels thoughtful.

The full meaning not just the keyword is what we're referring to as a semantic triple.

And when your page doesn't match that meaning you get impressions and silence.

And that's what I experienced with the particular page that we're gonna talk about today.

[00:06:22] Case Study: Volleyball Gifts for Girls

Here's the real problem: semantic misalignment. And thankfully we also have a diagnosis.

Okay, so here's what showed up in the data.

According to Google Search Console, over the last 28 days. I had 1,715 impressions for this particular keyword.

I had zero clicks. Zero clicks and the keyword was volleyball gifts for girls.

 so I'm gonna take you through this semantic alignment report that I ran for this page on my website.

The first thing I got was a red flag, okay? The status showed up as critical [00:07:00] misalignment detected. And even though it was oh my gosh, I was so excited because I knew I had found it.

I had found the major error.

Any page I felt like wasn't working well, I now know why.

And so the diagnosis is that there is an intent versus offer mismatch.

And specifically. Price and specificity shock.

My report came back and said, you are ranking for a broad discovery query, which is volleyball gifts for girls, but offering a high friction, high ticket niche solution.

Which are $200 plus custom senior night collages.

The 1,715 impressions with zero clicks indicates that users see your link in Google. But what they see, title plus price plus description.

Does not match what they are mentally visualizing.

And so here's the breakdown of why this is happening and how to fix it.

Let's take a look at what shows up on the SERPs for this query, [00:08:00] the search engine result pages for this query: volleyball gifts for girls.

So step one, the maps, which is intent versus reality. The user intent map, which is the searcher. Their query is: volleyball gifts for girls. The implied context: is that the scope is broad.

It could be for a 10-year-old beginner, a 14-year-old club player or a senior. The price expectation is likely 20 to $50.

This means T-shirts, jewelry gear, or room decor.

The buying stage is discovery or browsing.

They're expecting show me cool stuff. Their core desire is that user wants variety or inspiration.

The page copy map, which is my page.

The offer is a 12 inch custom wooden number photo collage.

The price starts at $200. The context is senior night [00:09:00] graduating varsity transport to college. The process is upload pics, approved design. 

The core meaning is user must commit to expensive custom project for graduation.

So step two is then the alignment gap. Why is there zero clicks?

This is a severe semantic drift between the keyword that I'm ranking for and the content that I'm serving.

So number one: is the sticker shock in the SERPs.

If Google displays my price, the $200 plus in the SERPs, which it does. Next to a generic title, like 12 inch Volleyball Gifts for Girls, the user is most likely gonna ignore it.

The user's brain is I'm looking for a cute volleyball necklace or hoodie for my daughter. Whoa, this is $200. Skip.

I will say caveat here, my buyers do buy $200 necklaces for their daughters.

Number two, the [00:10:00] specificity gap.

My copy pivots hard to senior night and graduation.

Which makes sense because I sell senior night gifts, but the word volleyball gifts for girls includes fifth graders, middle schoolers, and club players who are not graduating. If a mom of a 13-year-old sees senior night in the description, she assumes this product is not for her.

Which I'm like, Hey, this product could be for anybody, but it is primarily for seniors.

And then number three, the "product blindness."

So the current title is 12 Inch Volleyball Gifts for Girls, an Amazing Gift. The problem, this title is vague. It doesn't say what the product is.

Is it a trophy? Is it a poster?

Is it a ball?

The result is that users prefer certainty.

They click on links that say volleyball necklaces, or personalized volleyball hoodies.

So the semantic scoring, this is where it continued to get me.

The [00:11:00] category: core triple preservations. I scored a two out of five.

I fulfilled the word gift, but I missed the implied general and affordable expectation of the broad query.

The category of page fit on the search engine results page, I scored a one out of five. A Critical failure.

The metadata does not entice a click for this specific query.

The emotional layer, I scored four out of five.

It said that Get a Mom win is excellent copy.

But the user never sees it because they don't click. It makes me wonder if I should use it sooner.

And then the clarity of the page, the final score in the rubric is a two out of five where the page starts with "choose a single digit", which is part of the process before selling the why, which is the value.

So the verdict of the analyzer tool is that this page needs revision.

So step four recommendations.

[00:11:57] Recommendations for Improving SEO

I do appreciate somebody who can [00:12:00] criticize, but then give you solutions.

All right, so step four, recommendations.

To turn impressions into clicks. I have two choices. Number one, filter the traffic, which means change the title to reflect the high-end nature.

Get fewer impressions, but higher quality.

Higher quality clicks, which is what I want to do.

Or number two, broaden the hook, rewrite the metadata to sound more intriguing to the general searcher.

I like option A, filter the traffic.

That seems to be much more appropriate for what I'm trying to do.

To fix the metadata to get the click, I need to explain what the item is and why it's worth the click immediately.

The current title is 12 Inch Volleyball Gifts for Girls, an Amazing Gift. The proposed title is custom volleyball photo collage number, the ultimate player gift. The current meta description they pulled from the pay.

And then the proposed meta description is to turn her jersey number into a stunning wooden photo collage. The perfect personalized [00:13:00] gift for volleyball players of any age, handcrafted and unique. I like that.

And then recommendation B is to fix the page flow to get the conversion: your current page asks for work.

That's to upload the pictures, choose the digits before it creates the desire. The current flow is product options to upload instructions to description.

The corrected flow would be the emotional hook and headline, and then visual proof, maybe social proof.

And then the product options.

[00:13:32] Rewriting Product Descriptions

So step five, the tool gives us rewritten copy for the hero and product description.

So here's a rewritten version of the product description designed to align with the searcher. Justify the $200 price point and clarify the offer. So the title, custom wood number collage, the ultimate volleyball gift.

The subtitle: turn Her Jersey number into a masterpiece, and the hero section before the add to cart.

Don't just give a [00:14:00] gift. Capture her season, and I would actually say. Capture her career.

And here's the corrected copy:

you're looking for a volleyball gift that stands out.

Something that she won't just use but will treasure forever.

Whether it's for senior night, a championship celebration, or the highlight of her final club season, this isn't just a decoration, it's her story shaped in her jersey number.

Why moms love this gift. The mom win, it's completely custom. It's shaped into her specific jersey number.

It's handcrafted quality.

It's made from sturdy, 12 inch wood, not flimsy poster board. There's zero stress. You upload the photos.

Our professional designers create the layout. And we have a hundred percent guarantee.

You see a digital proof and approve the design before we make it.

And then comes the process, simplified.

How it works, select her number. Choose a single or double digit [00:15:00] above. Number two, upload photos. Add her best action shots, team pics or candidates. And number three, relax. We'll send you a design proof.

Within 72 hours, you approve it. We build it. Perfect for senior night, end of season banquets, or the ultimate birthday surprise.

Yeah. Pretty cool. 

The fact is, if there's no click, there's no conversion.

And that means that no matter how hard you have worked, there's no SEO value. Oh, it's like dagger through the heart, right?

If you are sitting there thinking, okay, I see the problem now, but I don't trust myself to diagnose this correctly.

I totally get that.

Okay.

That's exactly what I do, and I'm gonna be sharing them with you over the next few weeks.

Alignment audits that I've run and the feedback that I've gotten. And it's so funny because the tool itself is very objective.

So you know, it's not gonna be like a chat GPT, warm and fuzzy.

Oh good [00:16:00] job, good Try that type of stuff. I love what you've done here. It's gonna be like, this is weak.

Or this is where you really need to improve this. And I have a funny story about someone that I shared it with and they're kinda like, dang, that was harsh.

And I explained, I was like, oh, that was the tool. That wasn't me. That was the tool.

But anyway, so we can run this semantic alignment audit.

Get really great feedback where we can diagnose silent failures. Rebuild page meaning. Align your intent, the offer and the language.

If you're interested in something like this and you wanna book a consult call, you could do that using the link in the show notes or head to simple and smart seo.com.

[00:16:40] Conclusion and Next Steps

So this is episode one of my Semantic SEO deep dive series.

And I would love to know what you think. I'd love to know like what you felt like I got right, what you felt like I missed or got wrong.

And next time we're gonna go even deeper into entity relationships and how AI [00:17:00] search interprets fit versus relevance.

Because ranking. Is actually the easy part, right? I think we've all realized that.

Being understood is the real work.

Thank you for joining me today.

I will see you next time.