You’ve probably heard these two important words: SEO or search engine optimization and copywriting. One talks about how your website can fare better on search engines by complying with some essential SEO to-do’s, while the other indicates different types of writing for the web.
In this article, we will be defining those two terms fully while also defining what SEO copywriting is and how an SEO content writer can make your business an authoritative figure in your field with both your users and with Google.
2 different marketing tools… or are they?
Let’s take a look at carefully defining the terms SEO and Copywriting before we look at how they can work well together.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization is the process of making your website look great in Google’s and other search engine’s eyes by having a few key elements on your website. The reason you want Google to be happy with your site is because it will display your site higher up in the search results for keywords that are related to your website and service.
For example, suppose you were selling washing machine detergent. In that case, you will want your site to be optimised for keywords surrounding that phrase ie. ‘washing machine detergent company’ or ‘eco-friendly washing powder’ (if you want to be super specific).
Ways that you can optimize your website for Google are:
- To have your keywords in your title tags
- To have your keywords in your meta description
- Having a mobile optimized site
- Having a site that runs quickly
- Having original content
- Creating quality content, frequently
- High quality, relevant sites linking back to your website
- To have the keywords scattered throughout your page’s content, especially in headers and sub-headers
Copywriting
Copy or content is super important for a website as it is all the written information on your site, designed to either sell, give information, direct users, entertain or all these at the same time! Therefore compelling copywriting needs to be strategic in nature, ensuring that as soon as a person clicks on your site, your copy speaks directly to them and solves their problems so that they can stay on and eventually complete an action.
Copywriting for a website will include the actual website content and give information about the product/service or company and it should be easy to read for humans and for search engines.
With that in mind, we’re going to take a look at what SEO copywriting is and how you can fully optimise your content to bring both good SEO practices and copywriting practices together!
SEO copywriting
Blogging. Freelance. Creative writing. Copy writer. Content management. Flat cartoon miniature illustration vector graphic on white background.
An SEO content writer is focused on creating valuable content that targets specifically chosen keywords. This valuable content should be so compelling that users want to share that content, therefore improving your authority and relevance surrounding that keyword, helping to increase your ranking on the Google search results for that keyword.
What makes for good seo copywriting?
Good SEO copywriting stems from the ability to write optimised content that is not only keyword focussed but is also original, gives value and reads easily.
Here are some good SEO copywriting practices to remember:
Error-free – Google heavily penalises grammar and spelling errors in your copy. Make sure you are using tools such as Grammarly to pick up any grammar mistakes in your content.
Full of benefits – Remember you are writing copy focussed on a keyword that people want to be informed on. Therefore, give the people what they want, dispersing original benefits throughout your content.
Appealing to your audience – Write copy that speaks directly to your audience. This means that you need to get to know your audience first, understanding their pain points and what they ultimately want out of your copy. How can you solve their problems?
Optimized with keywords – Now that your copy is error-free, full of benefits and appeals to your audience, you need to write content that has your keyword dispersed correctly. This depends on how long your content is – the longer, the more keywords spread out. Your keywords should appear in your title heading (H1 heading), in the first 100 words of your copy, in at least 1 sub-heading and then throughout the copy. Make sure not to over-optimize your keyword, which is called ‘keyword stuffing’; Google heavily penalizes this!
Reads naturally – It’s all good and well that you have your keyword scattered throughout your text, but you need to make sure that it also reads naturally for your audience to understand. Keywords that are just dropped in that don’t suit their surroundings are highly obvious and frankly irritating for your readers who can see through this and will move on to a better read article.
why is seo copywriting so important?
So you might be wondering, after all this hard work put into SEO copywriting, is it all worth it? Well as SEO content writers ourselves we put a lot of emphasis on ensuring that our content is always focused on SEO because:
- It gets you to the top of the search results.
- It helps to increase conversion rates due to keyword relevancy.
- It is content that is compatible with both users and search engines.
how best to combine the two?
Now that you understand a little bit more about what SEO and copywriting are, now we can show you how best to combine them to get the best features of both tools.
1. Focus on content
As the saying often goes, ‘content is king’, therefore ensure that you are creating a constant stream of valuable content. This content should be unique, written well and satisfy’s a need. Your content should also be centered around popular keywords that are relevant to your offering.
2. Think about the keywords
Writing copy and then trying to fit the keywords in after doesn’t make for natural reading. It helps to determine the keyword before you start writing the copy. Ensure that you keep researching popular keywords to write content for. You can use the Google Ads ‘keyword research tool’ for this to find the most popular keywords around your service. Keywords must feature in important places, ie. Headings, URLs, title tags and meta descriptions, alt tags etc. Lastly, it helps to determine the search intent of the keyword and angle your copy towards that. Search intent can be:
- Informational – For people looking for information, keywords will include ‘how to’, ‘why’ etc.
- Navigational – For people looking for a specific website, eg. Facebook
- Transactional – For people looking for the best purchase, keywords will include ‘buy’, ‘discount’ etc.
- Commercial – For people with the intention to buy later, ie. doing a commercial investigation
3. Update frequently
Remember to constantly update older copy! Instead of writing new copy to focus on a new, popular keyword, you can make use of older copy that may be outdated but relevant to the keyword. This saves you time and ensures that your website always contains relevant and updated information.
Now let’s summarize our best SEO content writing tips, making it easier for you to remember!
10 seo copywriting top tips
Blogging. Freelance. Creative writing. Copy writer. Content management. Flat cartoon miniature illustration vector graphic on white background.
- Write click-worthy, keyword-rich headlines
- Create original, fact-checked content
- Organization is key! Structure your posts
- Add images
- Employ words, phrases, and concepts that Google has associated with your keyword
- Link to relevant pages on your site
- Keep updating.
- Put important keywords in bullet points or bolded
- Write in short paragraphs, keeps people reading
- Write over 1500 words. Become the expert/ authority figure
Are you ready to have SEO optimized copy on your website but don’t know where to start? The Weblab are expert SEO content writers who also focus on copywriting services such as writing Facebook and Google ads copy, website copy, and email copywriting. Get in touch today to find out more about our expert copywriting services!
