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More and more businesses are posting job listings with the requirement “must have SEO experience.” Fortunately, SEO (search engine optimization) copywriting isn’t quite as daunting as it sounds.
But what exactly is SEO, and how do you write SEO content?
This article covers everything you need to know about SEO copywriting, its benefits, how to write SEO-optimized content, and what strategies to follow.
What is SEO copywriting?
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a set of practices and strategies used to improve the ranking of your web pages in organic search results.
With SEO, you generate traffic from free and organic results in search engines. The higher the website is, the more people will see it, meaning more people will engage with it.
So, SEO copywriting ensures your website copy is properly optimized to rank your pages higher.
SEO copy is crafted to appeal to the real people reading it, sending all the right signals to search engines' algorithms.
Benefits of SEO copywriting
Simply put, you want people to buy from you. And that happens with good copy.
As David Ogilvy said, "When I write an advertisement, I don't want you to tell me that you find it 'creative.' I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product."
When you write copy that optimizes for search engines, you rank higher and improve your chances of increasing conversions in several ways.
Let's have a look at the benefits of an SEO-optimized copy.
1. Improves Google search ranking
Google wants to show people the best results possible. Well-written, optimized content increases your chances of ranking higher on Google.
The higher the rankings, the more organic traffic you receive on your website.
SEO copywriting ensures your content is optimized with:
This all results in higher search engine rankings and increased organic traffic for your website.
2. Reduces bounce rate and increases dwell time
Imagine someone visits your website, doesn't take any action or see any other page, and then leaves.
The bounce rate is the percentage of people leaving your website without taking action on the site, page, or post they came in on. A great example is doing a search in Google, clicking your link, and then clicking their back button.
This may happen because they didn't like what they saw, or the content wasn't what they were looking for.
With SEO copywriting, you ensure your content is:
3. Increases number of backlinks
With unique and genuinely informative content, your chances of getting more backlinks increase.
How?
Imagine you open a blog or a webpage. Not only do you like what you see, but the content is informative, easy to read, and full of research and statistics. Oddly, you will save it, refer to it repeatedly, and share it with your network.
When someone links to that content from their own webpage, that page receives a backlink. The more backlinks a page has, the more trustworthy it appears to search engines. The page can also receive traffic from the linking page..
The more readers who explore that content, the more backlinks it can get. In fact, the number one page ranked on Google earns backlinks between 5 and 14.5% per month.
4. Boosts social shares
Writing compelling content and distributing it guarantees engagement through social media.
People want to share valuable content with their network. If your content is unique and well-written, people will read it and engage with it through likes, shares, and comments.
5. Improves conversion rates
We have discussed how SEO copywriting is essential for generating organic traffic to your website.
However, just getting people onto your site isn’t enough if you want to run a stable business. Your goal is to convert them into paying customers.
Luckily, good SEO copywriting does precisely that. With persuasive and benefit-driven content, readers feel compelled to stay around and engage with it. The more they engage, the more they are compelled to buy.
13 tips for SEO copywriting success
Apart from focusing on keywords, internal linking, and backlinks, you must focus on the quality of content you create for your website. This is what holistic SEO is all about. It focuses on all aspects of your website to rank higher in search engines.
The goal is to get more people to visit your website and engage them through quality content to increase conversion rates.
Let's look at some of the most important SEO copywriting tips.
Before you begin writing your copy, you must figure out who you are writing for. Ask yourself:
Researching your audience helps you understand your visitor's search intent. Whenever someone enters a search query, they want an answer right away.
Your audience can have one of the following types of search intent:
Now that you know quite a bit about why and what your audience is searching for, it's time to do keyword research.
First, list all the keywords you want your website or blog to be found for. Add combinations and variations of these terms, called long-tail keywords.
We created a nice list of the best keyword tools to help you get started.
Find out which search intent applies to your keywords and develop content ideas that match this intent.
Finally, when deciding which keywords to target first, choosing less popular and less competitive ones is typically the best strategy. You likely won't be able to rank for highly-competitive keywords when you first start.
However, starting with the less competitive one allows your site to build up credibility so you can go after the more challenging ones later.
Before we jump into copywriting, you need to know why you are writing a particular piece of content.
Here are a couple of questions you should answer before moving to the writing phase:
Now it’s time to start writing!
One key thing to focus on is keeping your language simple and easy to understand. They'll leave if your audience doesn't get what you’re saying.
This means your content needs to be:
Don't add complicated words or unnecessary jargon that readers will need to open a dictionary to understand.
Your headline, also called your SEO title, is probably the first thing your audience will read. So, it must be compelling enough that they can't resist clicking on it.
It's important to write a headline that will catch readers' attention and immediately let them know what your content offers. Add the primary keyword to your title is optimized for search engines.
Have a look at the examples below. Adding action verbs and speaking with conviction greatly impact your audience.
Instead of focusing solely on the keyword, see how you can create something creative and compelling that involves the primary keyword.
If you want to take your SEO titles to be next level, check out our free SEO title generator.
The headings and subheadings guide your audience as they move through your content.
Write clear headings so your readers know what each section covers. The headings should be self-explanatory and obvious.
Focus on writing concise headings that explain each section clearly. Then, elaborate on that topic..
Here's how you can use various headings:
You must perform in-depth research to write great hooks that immediately catch the readers' attention. To do this, find out what competitors are saying and how they tackle a particular topic.
Make a point of understanding what drives your audience and what will motivate them to buy from you.
List down all the things that have already been said. Then, figure out a unique, interesting, unusual, or unheard-of angle. This is how you:
Jeremy Moser, CEO at uSERP, shares the main elements of a good copy:
A meta description is an HTML tag that outlines the content of a webpage. It's often around 160 characters long and appears below your page title on a search engine's results page.
The meta description convinces your readers to click on your webpage by persuading them that the content is exactly what they are looking for and will answer all their queries.
To write a compelling meta description, use the following tips:
You can generate meta descriptions using Copy AI's Free SEO Meta Description Generator.
Your call to action (CTA) is essential to any type of copywriting. Whatever content you write — web page, emails, blogs, social media content — it's important to add a CTA at the end.
It’s vital that your audience knows what steps to take after reading a particular piece of content. This way they can take the desired action instead of closing the tab or the app. A good CTA provides them the steps they should take..
Here are a few tips to keep in mind to nail your CTA:
After writing your first draft, it's time to "kill your darlings."
Don't be afraid of deleting huge chunks of text. Read and re-read your content, and edit out any:
Jonathan Wilcock, a freelance copywriter, shares his joy when refining the copy:
A/B testing your copy is the only way to know how well your copy works.
This method compares two versions of your webpage, email copy, or other pieces of content to see which performs better.
You can perform A/B testing on your:
See which version results in the most:
What does a readable structure mean?
Well, it means writing short sentences that are easy to read and using a layout that's easy to follow. Writing long sentences can make it difficult for your readers to understand your point.
Poor structure can make your readers move on to your competitor. In fact, 38% of people stop reading content simply because they don't like the layout.
Also, remember that most of your audience uses mobile devices to read your content. So, ensure you aren't writing long paragraphs that look like blocks of text after text. That can become overwhelming for your readers.
Here are some tips to make sure your content is visually appealing:
Check out the example below:
Eugene Schwartz, the legendary copywriter, once said, "Talk about what your product 'does,' not 'is' - and demonstrate this."
Instead of listing the features of your product, highlight the benefits your audience will get from it.
Features are factual statements about your product or service, but they don't entice your customers to buy. On the other hand, benefits are why someone is purchasing your product. They describe the outcome your user will achieve through your business.
Check out the example below. You can see the impact of making the copy less feature-centric and more benefit-driven.
How Copy AI ranked #1 on Google: A case study
We have talked about SEO copywriting and how it helps you rank higher on search engines and increases organic traffic and conversion rates.
Now let’s see a real example!
For this case study, we’ll use “how to write a comparison post”.
It’s currently ranking first for the keyword "comparison blog post."
The first thing we did was find the search intent behind this keyword. Most people searching for “comparison blog post” want to learn how to write one.
Next, we moved on to the content type. The top 10 results for this keyword are all blog posts. So, that’s what we decided to write.
Our blog details writing a comparison blog post by providing actionable tips and explaining the topic from scratch.
According to Backlinko, the average first-page result on Google contains 1,447 words. So, a bigger word count increases your chances of ranking higher on the first page.
This particular post has a word count of 2919 words. We made sure the blog covered everything anyone would want to know about writing a comparison blog post.
Apart from the keyword “comparison blog post,” this blog is ranking first for multiple variables of the keyword. This shows that it's a properly-optimized blog that provides quality content that helps readers.
For the keyword, “how to write a comparison blog post,” not only is the blog ranking #1, but it also has a featured snippet. This helps our post stand out and takes up additional space in search results.
This post also performs well for short-tail, more competitive keywords. For example, if you search for “comparison blog,” this blog ranks second on Google. Have a look!
We also checked out the "People also asked" section and answered those queries in the blog. This increases the chances of getting the coveted featured snippet.
Another element that helps us rank high for various keywords was adding multiple headings and sub-headings to the blog. This makes it easy for the audience to navigate each section and for search engines to understand the main points of our post.
By following simple SEO strategies and creating unique content focused on delivering value, we ranked first on Google and generated organic traffic from multiple search queries!
Generate organic traffic with SEO copywriting!
SEO copywriting is a skill you can learn and become an expert at.
While it will take some practice, you can start generating organic search traffic with your copy by using the tips we discussed above.
Now it’s time to start putting these tips into practice!
While writing, don't forget to check out Copy AI's free tools to generate SEO titles, meta descriptions, or blog conclusions.
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