SEO Copywriting

It should come as no surprise that people approach websites differently than when sitting down to read a novel. People expect to skim web content and avoid reading lengthy paragraphs. This is great to keep in mind when writing content for your website, but even more important is writing with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in mind. After all, good content is only useful if it get's in front of the right eyeballs. 

To write an SEO-friendly page means writing so that Search Engines can easily scan content and recognize the key elements of each page in order to direct people there, should they be using the right search criteria. Luckily, writing for SEO and writing for your reader can go hand in hand. Here are a few tips for writing with SEO in mind.

Preparing Content for Search Engine Optimization

In day's gone by, it used to be that you just repeated your keywords or phrases over an over to get a higher rank. This is NOT the case any longer, and if done, could actually jeopardize your ranking. Instead, you need to use keywords in relevant places.

I: Create a Plan

Before you begin writing your content, plan out your keywords and create a plan.

• What do you want to say?
• Who will be reading your content?
• What action do you expect people to take after they read the content? (link, download, call, fill in a form?)

II: Establish keywords or phrases

Once you have a plan, set down your keywords and/or key phrases. You can do this by…

• Thinking like a customer, or a layperson who may not know proprietary terms but could be looking for your products or services. What terms would they use to find you?
• If you keep and eye on your visitor statistics (Google Analytics), review what keywords your visitors are already using to find you, and which ones are being searched for but not finding your website. 
• Contact a current customer and ask them what terms they would use to find you.

III: Write content using these keywords or phrases

Put the keywords to work by using them in relevant places on the page:

• Browser Title/Page Title: The H1 headline of a page should be used only once, and set up to show in the browser title, as well as the page title or highest ranking headline.
• Friendly URL: The web address of the page should contain the same keywords.
• Subhead: Use keywords in the subheads (secondary headlines) of each page as well.
• Content: It's important to make keywords bold when they are used within the paragraph text of your web page.
• Word Order: Try to position the keywords at the start of any title or phrase. If the key phrase is "pork production" then writing "Pork Production: The in's and outs" is better than "The in's and out's of pork production". If it sounds like Yoda talking, then you're on the right track.

IV: Finesse your Content

Spend a little time and finesse your copy to ensure that it's readable, and keywords are placed correctly without making it redundant. It is recommended to first write for your reader, and THEN for Search Engines. Luckily, what readers want, and what Search engines want is very similar.

• Search engines love content: It's recommended to use 300-500 words on each page. While it's easier for Search Engines to rank pages with at least 300 words, sometimes it's impossible to force onto a page, especially when you're trying to be concise and reader-friendly. You can strive for this, but don't make the readability suffer just to reach the goal.
• Detail is preferred: The more specific and dedicated your content is to a certain topic, the easier it will be for Google to make sense of it, and rank it accordingly. Readers also like content to be clear and concise so that they are rewarded in their search by reading information that matches what they're looking for.
• Repetition helps: Google takes note of how frequently you use keywords or phrases, and uses this data to determine what your post is all about, and how to rank the page in relation to a user's search term. However, simply repeating a keyword for the sake of repetition is both annoying, and out of order according to Google. Don't fall into the Keyword Stuffing trap - instead, write for your customer! You can still use multiple renditions of your keywords or phrases - just be sure to make it reader-friendly by incorporating them into your content in various forms.

V: Include Links

Linking to other pages or sites that are relevant to your topic helps legitimize your site. After writing your text, should you find keywords or phrases that pertain to other areas of your site, make them links. Here are some suggestions for linking based on generally accepted best practices:

• Link to relevant content fairly early in the body copy
• Link to relevant pages approximately every 120 words of content
• Link to relevant interior pages of your site or other sites
• Link with naturally relevant anchor text (not with "click here" text)

VI: Keep up-to-date

Search engines continually change their tactics so keep reading up on the changes taking place at sites such as the Search Engine Journal and CopyBlogger.com to name a couple.

Here are some recent examples of changes over the years:

• Meta tags - Who cares: Long ago, you would list all your keywords in meta tags within the code of your site, but these no longer make much of a difference.
• Images & Keyword Stuffing - Bad: Using alt tags on your images was a bonus, but some started stuffing keywords into image, and now such practices actually hurt your ranking.
• Code Compliance - Good: 90% of your ranking now comes from having compliant code, valid titles, and a proper header structure. IdeaBank builds their sites with these practices standard.
• Recency - Good: Search engines compare both relevancy in content and in timeframe. Making updates when needed, or adding new documents when needed will help keep the content "fresh" and relevant, and score you SEO points.

SEO copywriting can help your site rise to the top in search engine rankings and generate more leads, as well as help you create reader-friendly pages. IdeaBank is available to help put these tips into practice on your site, or create a customized SEO campaign should you be interested in taking this a step further. Check out our SEO/SEM services to find out more.