Ignore the SEO Copywriting-witch: convince search engines and readers!

There once was a SEO Copywriting witch who mislead unknowing copywriters, online marketers and website owners. She told them that successful SEO copy is meanly created by ‘consuming’ a lot of keywords. She would fatten them with countless keywords until they could take no more (e.g. had very bad webpages). Result: their websites performed dramatically and money wise, not much was happening either. The moral of the story: kick the SEO copywriting witch in the butt and take advantage of these essential basic tips for effective SEO copywriting.

Fairy tales do not exist, but as an SEO copywriter you can create your own SEO success stories. A Traffic Builders, I together with my capable colleagues, do this on a daily basis for our clients. We do not believe in fairy tales. That’s why we explore markets, target groups and promising developments in the field of online marketing and more specifically search engine marketing. We use these insights in a targeted way while measuring the results carefully and making adjustments when needed. You don’t need any spells or strange brews for that..

SEO Copywriting’s main purpose is to convince

To understand what the added value of good SEO copy (SEO copy partly focused on rankings), you have to understand the role of an SEO copywriter. This basically comes down to: convincing! Is that all? Yes, it actually is. Because, everything you do – doing keyword research, focussing SEO copy including keywords, adding the right benefits and smart calls-to-action etc. – is ideally focused writing SEO copy that:

1. Convince search engines that the page – based on focus and content – is created in the right way and is relevant to the topic
2. Convince visitors that the presented information can really help them

Writing convincing SEO copy is done by draping a sauce of relevant keywords over a factual and targeted message! First and foremost you are a pure copywriter – atlas, that’s my view (of course there is a difference between SEO editing and writing new SEO copy, and you are depended on the space you get…).

The crux is: Never let search engines and visitors get the idea that they are being bombarded with keywords. This usually doesn’t benefit you: It doesn’t improve the user experience, and search engines like Google could ‘punish’ you by dropping the ranking of your website lower.

Test it for yourself

SEO is about adding relevant focus. ‘Focus’, a vague magic word? Not really. Just make clear what you have to offer.

How do you get the search engine to think: ‘Damn, that is a well written and well focused page!’ ? Firstly, you write well written and easy to read copy with a clear structure. But wait! That’s mainly useful for users right? Exactly, you’re killing two birds with one stone!

At the same time, you offer bite-sized SEO bites. In other words: you make sure your most important keyword is, when possible, included in those page elements that search engines primarily use to decide what the page is about. These elements are:

- Title tage (‘the blue line of text in Google’)
- Meta description (‘the text below the blue line of text’)
- H1 (html page header)
- H2 and H3 (html sub headers)
- Introduction and end of the SEO copy

The beauty of it is: Exactly these elements are not just used by search engines, but also by people like you and me in order to help us understand what the webpage is about.

Features: writing a good meta description

The meta description deserves some extra attention. This html-element (in the header of the webpage) does not play a direct role in achieving higher rankings in a search engine, but the search engines scan them to decide the content of the page. In addition, this text is located below the title tag in the search results, and therefore you should get the most out of it.

Meta descriptions (I love to write them!) are very important from a conversion and click-trough-rate perspective: the more this little piece of text appeals to the search engine user (note: keywords are highlighted), the bigger the chance that he/she clicks through to your webpage. It is your chance to advertise the content and added value of underlying page. Ideally, the title tag and meta description should complement and reinforce each other.

From focus to conversion

With a relevant on-page focus (including an acceptable keyword density) and a triggering title tag and meta description you increase the chance of getting more targeted visitors to your website from search engines. An yes, once you get traffic to your page, and convince your (already interested) visitors with good copy that matches the search intention and/or (latent) needs.. In this case, the wanted (or needed) conversions are within reach! This is, after all, what SEO is all about.

Note: SEO copy alone is not the answer, but ideally, it’s an important part of a comprehensive search engine optimization strategy to quickly realize your online goals. See visual below:

Dirty candy from the SEO copy witch

But unfortunately… The overarching generic insight – adding focus – creates wrong ideas in the minds of those who are easy to mislead. Focussed is often confused with stuffing. As you can guess, the SEO witch strikes again (bitch!), while she looks sweet and hands out bags full of ‘seo-candy’ (=keywords). Spit the out right away! They are terrible!

Instead, think: less = more. By including keywords in the right places in a balanced way, you are well on your way. Use keyword-density tools to make sure you’re doing a proper job. Never forget to focus on creating relevance fro the user/reader. After all, in the end you do it for them, not the search engine. Search engines, especially, will appreciate this approach.

These are the basics, but there is more…

In this article I’ve discussed the basics of good SEO copy. However, writing copy that search engines and readers like – with as added side effect higher rankings and more conversions – requires more (learn the do’s and don’ts in our SEO Copywriting Workshop)

When writing copy, a focussed SEO copywriter also takes the effects of the following into account:

- a good and result-oriented internal link structure
- the themed relevance of related pages (and the website as a whole)
- interesting synonyms and long tail keyword combinations
- etc.

If you combine these seo copywriting elements in an effective manner, you are well on your way to reach your online (conversion) goals and even exceed them.

I wish you the best of luck!

Tags: Traffic Builders