To boost your sales, you need to connect with your target audience and ensure that you’re driving their interest. Achieving this goal can be tricky if you don’t want to know where to start.
This is when SEO copywriting gains importance. Copywriting is a great way to communicate with your target audience and tell them about yourself.
Yet, it can be difficult to reach them.
I mean, yes, you can create the best content for your audience, but will they be able to find them on the ocean of the internet.
While it may seem simple to write something that you think creates some traffic and boosts your sales, there are essential principles to follow. If you follow SEO copywriting tactics, it’ll help you draw customers, get more traffic, and drive sales.
What Is SEO Copywriting?
SEO copywriting is the art of writing content that is both informative and optimized for search engine ranking. It involves using key phrases and words that your target audience is likely to search for in order to help your website or blog appear higher up on the search engine results pages. You can apply this process to homepages, product pages, blog posts, emails, and different marketing materials.
Besides ranking, SEO copywriting helps boost your sales. So, you need to find a balance between writing for search engines and humans. If you write content only for Google, your content can sound unnatural. But if you write content only for the audience, your page probably won’t rank well on search engine results. It’s a tricky balance.
In short, SEO copywriting is a writing process in which you create content that Google can understand and that people want to read and share.
Why Does SEO Copywriting Matter To Ranking?
If you want to rank higher on SERPs, optimizing only the existing pages is not enough. SEO is an ongoing process, and you need fresh content. And SEO copywriting is the process of writing informative and keyword-rich content.
Google cares about user experience and natural language to ensure that users can reach the best results. Today, after several Google algorithm updates, SEO copywriting is not about search engine tricks and keyword stuffing but about creating valuable content for users.
But Google is still a robot, and you need some technical SEO practice.
While copywriters don’t necessarily need in-depth SEO knowledge, they must know some basics to write for search engines. An SEO copywriter’s work can hugely impact page performance. If you want to ensure that your website or blog appears higher up on the search engine results pages, SEO copywriting is essential.
The process can help you write content that is both informative and optimized for search engines, which will give you a better chance of ranking well. In addition, SEO copywriting can also help boost your sales by making it easier for people to find your content and connect with your brand.
What Makes Good SEO Copywriting?
The answer is simple – informative and keyword-rich content. But it’s not that easy to achieve this goal. You need to find a balance between SEO keywords and a good readability score.
There is almost no difference between good copywriting and good SEO copywriting. It is just that SEO content is optimized with keywords – naturally, not stuffed.
SEO copywriting process also focuses on techniques such as title tags, images, structure, link-building, etc.
Therefore, good SEO copywriting is writing content people want to read, share and link to. But you should also optimize your content for some SEO rules to be sure that search engines will also understand.
10 Steps To SEO Copywriting Success
Conduct Keyword Research
The first step you should take is to identify keywords before writing. Keyword research is the foundation of the SEO copywriting process.
It uncovers the words your target audience uses when searching for products and services, so you can reach those same users and attract them to your website.
Successfully targeting the right keywords while keeping search intent in mind is an excellent start to any writing assignment. Before you start writing, you need to know what keywords or key phrases your target audience is searching for. This way, you can optimize your content for those specific terms and ensure that your website or blog appears higher up on the search engine results pages.
You should have a clear keyword target; make sure you optimize your content for realistic and achievable keyword goals. You may intend to choose keywords with higher search volume, but you also check the difficulty. Those with higher volume are usually extremely competitive.
If you are a small website with less authority, you probably won’t be able to rank on a page for those terms, no matter how great your content is.
You can use keyword research tools like Google AdWords Keyword Planner, SEMRush, SEOBook, and KW Finder to find the right keywords for your business. Try to target long-tail keywords to be able to rank on the page.
Once you’ve identified the right keywords, you need to incorporate them into your content in a way that sounds natural and not forced.
Write For Your Audience
SEO copywriting is not just about using the right keywords. It’s also about writing content that appeals to your target audience and provides them with the information they are looking for.
You can have the best website and the most informative content, but if it’s not written in a way that resonates with your audience, you won’t get the results you want. SEO copywriting is about creating content that is both informative and engaging.
Before you start writing, take some time to understand your target audience. What are their needs, and what kind of information are they looking for? Once you understand your audience well, you can start writing content that appeals to them.
Remember to keep your audience in mind throughout the SEO copywriting process. Write interesting and informative content, and make sure to use the right keywords.
Structure Your Content
Once you have your keywords and audience in mind, it’s time to start writing. But before you start, it’s important to take a step back and think about the overall structure of your content. SEO copywriting is not just about writing great content, it’s also about making sure that content is structured in a way that is easy for both search engines and users to understand.
The first thing you need to do is create an outline for your content. Start by thinking about what you want to cover and what keywords you want to target. Then, organize your thoughts into a logical order. Once you have an outline, you can start filling in the details.
As you write, keep your paragraphs short and to the point. Breaking up your content into small, bite-sized pieces makes it easier for users to digest and also makes your content more scannable.
In addition to using short paragraphs, you should also use headlines, subheadings, and bullet points to break up your content and make it easier to read. Headlines and subheadings help users navigate your content, while bullet points make scanning and finding the information they are looking for easier.
Create Easy-to-Read Content
People research on search engines to find specific answers. They start this process with specific intents and questions. Therefore, they want to find the answer quickly and easily; they don’t want to go through many complex paragraphs.
Website content is different from other content types. They don’t need puns and complex, deep sentences; you don’t write a novel. You write informative content that your target audience should read easily. They should be able to navigate and find key points.
If your content isn’t user-friendly, it probably won’t gain many conversions. So, you can write more complex ones for a professional audience, but keeping things readable is still important.
Check Competitors’ Articles
You may be a little confused about which keywords to choose, which topics get traffic, or even what kind of content you should write. Then go to your competitors, and check what they are doing.
When looking at your competitors’ articles, pay attention to the length of their articles, the topics they cover, and the keywords they target.
You can check the websites that rank for the keywords you want to rank, or you can directly go to your main competitors’ websites.
You can use tools like Google AdWords Keyword Planner and SEO Book Keyword Tool to find out which keywords your competitors are targeting. This information can help you decide which keywords to target with your own content.
Checking out what your competitors are doing is a great way to get ideas and inspiration for your own content. Remember that you shouldn’t create the same content with them; otherwise, your SEO efforts will be bad. You need to understand what they are doing and what kind of topics and content attract people.
Then you can create your own strategy and content.
It can help you understand what’s working well for them and what areas you can improve upon.
Optimize Your Header, Meta Title, And Meta Description
Your header, meta title, and meta description are all important elements of SEO copywriting. They all play a role in how your website or blog appears on the search engine results pages.
The header is the first thing people see when they land on your website or blog, so it’s important to make sure it’s well-written and informative. The meta title is what appears as the clickable link on the search engine results pages, so it needs to be catchy and relevant to your content. The meta description is a brief summary of your content that appears below the meta title on the search engine results pages.
While you don’t have complete control over how your website or blog appears on the search engine results pages, you can optimize your header, meta title, and meta description to improve your chances of ranking higher up on the page.
Meta Titles
Your meta title should be no more than 60 characters long, and it should accurately reflect the content on your page. It’s also important to include your target keywords in the meta title. This will help improve your website or blog’s SEO and make it more likely to appear higher up on the search engine results pages.
Meta Descriptions
Your meta description should be no more than 155 characters long, and it should give a brief summary of your content. It’s important to include your target keywords in the meta description, as this will help improve your SEO. However, don’t stuff your meta description with too many keywords, as this will hurt your SEO instead of helping it.
Headers
Your headers should be well-written and informative, and they should accurately reflect the content on your page. It’s important to use your target keywords in your headers, as this will help improve your SEO. However, don’t stuff your headers with too many keywords, as this will hurt your SEO instead of helping it.
Optimize Your Images
Images are a great way to break up text and make your content more visually appealing. Use visuals throughout your page — videos, images, charts, etc. The use of visual elements can increase the user experience and motivate readers to share the content on social media.
Did you know that you can also optimize your images for SEO?
When you optimize your images for SEO, you make it easier for search engines to find and index them. As a result, your images are more likely to appear in image search results, which can help drive traffic to your website.
There are a few things you need to do to optimize your images for SEO:
- Use descriptive file names. When you save your images, make sure to use file names that describe what the image is.
- Use relevant keywords that your target audience is searching for.
- Add captions that describe what is happening in the image and can help search engines understand the context of the image.
- Include alt text which is a bit of HTML. It describes the image, and search engines use it to find and index images.
Include CTAs
Of course, the primary purpose of SEO copywriting is to drive users to take some desired action — such as purchasing.
So, you also need a call to action (CTA).
CTA is a statement or button that encourages users to take a specific action. CTAs are an important part of SEO copywriting, as they can help boost conversions by encouraging users to take the next step.
The best CTAs are short, clear, and direct. They should be placed prominently in your content so that users will see them and be encouraged to take action.
Make sure to test different CTAs in your content to see which ones work best. Try different placements and wording to find what works for your business.
Link To Other Pages
You can help improve your website’s SEO and visibility by linking to other relevant pages on your site. This tells the search engines that those pages are important and relevant to your content. Plus, it helps users to navigate their way and discover more on your site.
Linking to other websites is also important for SEO. When you link to high-quality websites, you are essentially telling the search engines that you endorse those sites.
When adding links, it’s important to choose quality over quantity. A few well-chosen links are more valuable than a large number of low-quality links. Additionally, be sure to include both external and internal links. External links show search engines that your website is connected to other relevant websites, while internal links help readers navigate your website and find the information they’re looking for. Including both types of links will help you create a well-rounded website that serves both your readers and the search engines.
Site Speed Is Important
Google cares about site speed. Site speed has been a ranking factor since 2010, and it’s important for users, too. If your website or blog takes too long to load, Google may penalize you, and your website or blog could end up lower on the search engine results pages.
More importantly, site speed affects user experience too. People are more likely to leave a website or blog if it takes too long to load, which could impact your bounce rate.
There are a few things you can do to improve your site speed, such as optimizing images and using a content delivery network. You can also use Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool to get insights on how to improve your site speed.
Match Search Intent
The SEO copywriting process is all about matching the intent of the searcher. When someone types a keyword or phrase into a search engine, they are looking for something specific. It’s your job to make sure that your website or blog appears in the search results and provides the information they are looking for.
For example, let’s say you have a tennis school and you decide to write a blog post about “What beginners should consider when buying a tennis racket.”
If you think that targeting “tennis rackets” is a good idea, you’re so wrong. When you look at the SERPs for “tennis rackets,” you’ll see that most are e-commerce websites or online shopping pages of some racket brands.
Because Google knows that people who search for “tennis rackets” intend purchasing. If you want to find the ones looking for information and rank high, you should target a long-tail keyword like “what to consider when buying a tennis racket.”
To target the right search intent, you need to understand what kind of intent the searcher has when they type a particular keyword or phrase into the search engine.
There are three main types of search intent:
- Navigational: The user is looking for a specific website or webpage.
- Informational: The user is looking for information on a topic.
- Transactional: The user is looking to buy something.
Once you understand the searcher’s intent, you can optimize your website or blog to match their needs. Use the right keywords and write content that appeals to their needs.