If you’re in the world of content marketing, you’ve probably heard of the term “SEO content writing”. Do you ever wonder what that term means and why it’s important? Well, we’ve created a guide with SEO copywriting tips to help you answer these important questions:
- What is “SEO Copywriting”?
- How can you be better at SEO copywriting?
Let’s get started!
What is SEO Copywriting?
We all know what happens when you type a question into a search engine and hit “enter”– you get a list of search results that are relevant to your search term. To understand what marketers do to appear on that list, we’ve broken down the main components of SEO copywriting for you:
SEO: Refers to Search Engine Optimization, which is a practice to increase the quality and quantity of visitors through organic, search engine results.
Copywriting: The art of writing information and rearranging words that are consumed and persuade people to take action.
SEO copywriting is a mix of keyword research, on-page SEO, formatting, and creativity. It is about creating valuable content with specific keywords that you can easily promote on social platforms.
The main goal of SEO content is to attract search engine traffic. Including specific keywords in your content can help improve your ranking and relevance on Google. It also helps target your audience and direct them to your well-expressed content where you can provide a solution to their problems.
Let’s take a deeper dive into some helpful tips!
10 SEO Copywriting Tips
Here are 10 SEO copywriting tips to make your content go further:
Step 1: Write for the Right Audience
To write good content, you need to know who you’re writing for. It is not easy to write content that appeals to the whole market. Although your copy should relate to your products or services, it should also suggest improvements to your targeted audience’s problems.
To create content that relates to your audience, you need to know who they are and what they want. Here are some questions you should ask yourself before writing to your audience:
- Who am I trying to reach?
- How much does my audience know about the topic?
- What content will engage them?
- What actions do I want my readers to take?
Step 2: Create an Attention-Grabbing Headline
With headlines, you have a short amount of text to make a big impression. Don’t underestimate the power of a good headline. A clear and interesting headline sets the stage for your content by making a promise to your readers.
Even if your content is truly unique, a weak headline will ruin its chances of becoming successful. Here are some tips to help you create a headline that packs a punch:
- Brainstorm at least 15-20 headlines
- Keep your headline simple, but interesting
- Include powerful words to craft a striking headline
- Use keywords that your readers are looking for in your headline
“A good title should be like a good metaphor. It should intrigue without being too baffling or too obvious.”
– Walker Percy, author of Love in the Ruins
Step 3: Write Simple Sentences
Keep your copy simple and straightforward so readers can easily pick up your point. Only talk about one problem at a time and address each point individually to make sure your content is easy to understand.
If your content contains unnecessary messages, your audiences will get confused and choose to move on. People hate fluffy and complex words because it makes them feel like they are wasting their time. By taking out unnecessary words, you’ll keep your audience interested and excited.
Step 4: Structure Your Content
The quality of your content is important, but keeping your content organized is just as important. Breaking your content into smaller paragraphs makes for an easier read that will keep your readers engaged.
Format your headlines consistently, such as using H1 for titles and H2 for subtitles. Try using lists for some items rather than writing it out. Bold the important keywords in the paragraph to grab and hold your audience’s attention.
Step 5: Use Keyword-Rich Phrases
Using keywords in your copy will help search engines figure out what keywords you want your page to be ranked for. Although it is important to include the same keywords several times in your copy, don’t overload your copy with an excessive amount of keywords. Instead, select a few, but relevant, keywords to use.
A good strategy is to write your content before going back in and figuring out where your keywords naturally fit. Focus on targeting one keyword phrase at a time and using it several times in the body content. To keep your site current and fresh, make sure to update your content with relevant keywords regularly.
Step 6: Invest in Original Visuals
According to Venngage, about 49% of marketers said that investing in visual content is very important in reaching marketing goals. Out of the surveyed marketers, a total of 68% said visuals are either essential or highly important for their marketing strategies.
Creating original graphics or repurposing images can help you improve your search engine rankings. Visuals give your content a competitive edge by incorporating on-brand images, videos, and graphics. In the marketing world, pictures are worth more than 1,000 clicks.
Step 7: Promote Internal Link Building
Without internal links, your content’s ranking won’t improve on search engines! To make sure you get leads back to your website, include links in your content of other articles owned by you. This will not only help you land a higher ranking on Google, but it will also drive more traffic to your website. Great content will increase how widely your content is shared and engaged with. Other websites might choose to link to your article, so always aim for quality!
Step 8: Include Stats and Quotes
Link highly authoritative sources or websites in your content so audiences can use the information to assess the accuracy of your piece. These links allow a search algorithm to understand the relationship between your topic and web tags better. It will also help you improve the content relevance in targeted keywords.
Citing other people’s works can open up networking opportunities, especially when you write great content. You can then earn engagement and build relationships with influencers in your industry to boost your content.
Step 9: Monitor Your Activity
Remember to stay on top of your game by monitoring your copywriting efforts. Analyze how well your piece is performing by checking the bounce rate, how long your audience spends on the site, and all interactions with your content. If there is a huge drop off in engagement, it might indicate that the content is not what your audience is looking for, or that your content is too complex for your audience.
Keep the metrics simple so you have a good idea of which content is doing better and which content needs to be worked on. Monitoring your content regularly will also help you make better decisions when choosing what and how to write.
Step 10: Do Your Research
Remember! Research is very important! Your content must have value to your readers. Adequate research will make sure your piece is credible, well-written, structured, and useful. Utilize your research skills in every step of the writing process. Research an ideal way to organize your thoughts, craft narratives, make arguments and share your newfound knowledge with the world.
Takeaway
Search engine optimization is one of the most important tools of new-age businesses. Having a command of this tool can help you reach a wider array of opportunities by encouraging more people to engage and collaborate with your content.
The journey doesn’t stop here! Follow these SEO copywriting tips to know how to write better copy, and stay on top of your skills by continuously improving on them.
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