Most will have you believe that SEO copywriting is a magic act that requires expensive tools and hours of research. While it often can involve tools and research, the basics when you get right down to it are quite simple.
Simple is good in the SEO world. Especially when you factor in all the complexity you are often faced with. There are many variables that go in to play with how certain pages and websites will rank. Overall, however, great content and the following SEO copywriting basics, are the first place to start.
Write targeted titles
The title of your page is crucial, whether it’s an ultra-targeted landing page, or a general blog post announcing something for your business. Not only does the headline, or title, have to capture attention, it needs substance.
What is the best part to start off a conversation? With an interesting opening statement. Think of your title as the introductory statement. People love this and so do search engines. When the title accurately and concisely describes the content, it’s win win.
Examples –
Good example: London Travel Package You Won’t Want to Miss
A meh example: On Sale Now! London Travel Package, Don’t Miss It!
You could write and re-write the example headlines over and over, however, focus on your keywords toward the beginning of the title, primarily for readability. Make it clear right away what you are offering.
Use text links appropriately
Do ‘click here’ links describe the destination very well? Nope. Didn’t think so. So why take the time to craft a sentence to point someone to ‘click here’. Don’t do it. Admittedly, it sometimes sneaks in every once in a while, even for the best SEO copywriter, but it shouldn’t happen too often, or else… the link doesn’t mean anything!
When writing links on your website use keywords and or key phrases to describe your link. This gives juice to the destination link behind it.
Examples –
Good example: Check out the new vertex pond aerators that we just got in!
Bad example: We just got in new vertex pond aerators, check them out by clicking here!
See the difference? It doesn’t take long before it becomes natural for you to include targeted links in your writing.
Use keywords liberally, but don’t stuff
The old school way to rank for keywords involved stuffing, sometimes over-stuffing a given web page with gobs and gobs of keywords. This worked, for a time.
The new way is to focus on naturally including search keywords in your content. There is debate as to whether bolding or italicizing keywords will maximize their effectiveness when a search engine reads the text. Whether or not that is 100% true, it does make for good readability for the human reading your content.
That is often more important, because if your content is useful to the reader they are willing to re-share it. Which leads into a whole different topic, off page SEO.
Be active in conversations about your brand and industry
A good SEO copywriter will also participate in social media marketing in a sense through actively participating in social media channels. Humans have great lie detectors built in and never favor a spamming friend or follower on social networks, so avoid that. But do share your awesome content with the world. That is a good thing! Watch it spread for the greater good.