Copywriting and SEO are two of the most important aspects of digital marketing. Despite their importance, copywriters and SEOs often have no idea how to do their jobs well.
This article will give you a primer on copywriting for SEO purposes, as well as some simple copywriting tips that should help both copywriters learn more about writing for search engines and SEO professionals better understand what copywriters need from them in order to craft great copy.
In this article we will talk about the most important items when it comes to copy and SEO. Those are:
- Keywords – copywriting
- Relevance of copy to the user’s search
- Structure and formatting
Keywords
Keywords are one of the most misunderstood copywriting topics, mainly because copywriters and SEOs have very different approaches to the topic.
SEO professionals think about keywords in a long-tail fashion. They want their content to get traction from Google for searches with highly targeted phrases. Targeting specific keywords is what SEO writers try to do, both on landing pages and within the actual body copy.
Copywriters, on the other hand, don’t worry as much about targeting specific words or phrases. Instead they think about writing copy that contains popular keywords in a more general way. Copywriters usually don’t target specific keywords: instead they try to write copy that might appeal to users who have searched for those keywords.
Content copy is written with the user and their needs at the forefront of copywriter’s mind, not search engines or traffic numbers. This makes copywriting fundamentally different from SEO writing.
How do you reconcile these two approaches? It all comes down to how you view content marketing copy – as a means of getting more traffic or as an opportunity to provide value.
SEO copywriters look at copy as a vehicle for driving awareness and leads, while copywriters see copywriting as an important part of helping people solve their problems and getting better results. The secret is that both can be one and same.
Relevance of copy to the user’s search
Copywriters need SEO copywriters to help them understand how copy relates to keywords. One of the best copywriting tips you can get from an SEO writer is what popular search terms your potential users might be typing into Google.
Google provides a tool called Keyword Planner that copywriters and SEOs use to find out information about popular keyword searches, trends in those searches, and related terms used in Google queries.
It can be a bit advanced for beginners, but as you become more familiar with copywriting and SEO copywriting becomes easier over time.
Structure and formatting
In order for copy to attract traffic through search engines, it has to follow certain structural rules set forth by both copywriters AND SEO writers working together.
Copywriters are often unfamiliar with SEO writing. They give little thought to how their message will be presented visually within Google search results pages, which is very important for converting users into customers.
Formatting your copy well is one of the most important parts of SEO copywriting, because if you don’t format your content properly then it won’t rank as well in search engine results pages (SERPs). Not ranking well, means less visitors, less leads and less customers.
What copywriters need to do for better SEO
A better understanding of the way search eninges work
Copywriters should know that copy is typically written for one of the following user needs:
- Information – copywriting (95% will be keywords).
- Transactional – copywriting (5% will be targeted keywords).
The copy should always match the need. If you’re writing copy to help a customer solve their problem, then you won’t necessarily use popular search terms in your copy. You’ll write copy that helps people get their questions answered and advance them towards conversion.
But if your copy is meant to drive awareness or lead generation, keyword research can help a copywriter choose phrases and words that resonate with readers who are looking for information on a specific topic, product or service. When your copy does this, it’s much more likely to attract the traffic that copywriters want.
Look at the search intend or the searcher’s needs
Copywriters should think about how their copy fulfills specific user needs and how copy will be presented visually within search engine results pages (SERPs).
This is important because if copy doesn’t convert well, then it means there are things copywriter can do to improve their content: make copy longer, use customer testimonials or case studies, or add actionable items and other elements that readers find useful.
By writing copy geared towards your audience’s needs, you’ll increase your copywriting success and be rewarded a better position in the SERPs. The SEO writers of today realize that they should not write copy designed solely for Google crawlers because this type of SEO writing does not work anymore.
A better understanding of keywords and how to do SEO research on them
Copywriters can benefit from knowledge of the keywords that would be used for SEO. For copy to convert properly, it needs to encourage readers who land on the page through search engines to take some kind of immediate action like clicking a link or making an inquiry.
Skilled copywriting is one of the most powerful ways to help people solve problems and get better results. By understanding how keywords work within SEO, copywriters can create copy that generates conversions. Copywriters who focus on SEO how to use the keywords effectively can drive massive traffic to a website.
Copywriters have a lot of information to sort through in order to create copy that attracts traffic, it will make your copy more effective bringing the right people to the product or service.
Keywords are the lifeblood of both on-page and off-page SEO copywriting. Important for your SEO :
- Keyword density – the use of keywords in copywriting. It is important to include keywords frequently enough to satisfy search engines and often enough to keep readers interested.
- Simplicity – copywriters should stick with copy that’s easy to read so prospective customers will have no trouble understanding it. This is especially important for large websites, where copy needs to be similar across multiple pages, because that increases the chances your copy will rank higher in SEO copywriting.
- Optimization – optimizing copy through making sure both title tags and meta descriptions are properly constructed in order for the copy writing content to attract more visitors from search engines.
SEO copywriters can learn from copywriters too, not just the other way around. They can learn how well-written, useful content converts customers into clients. Both parties have something to learn from each other: Google Search Optimization professionals shouldn’t forget about the people behind the search queries, while copywriters need to understand keywords.
Want to learn more about SEO? Check this SEO website.
It’s all about copywriting : The copy has to be very good and written in such a manner that it entices the targeted audience to read further.
Once they do, they get hooked, and this is when you have them bite. In copywriting terms this means selling value propositions; i.e., telling the reader how your product or service can solve a problem for them.
Making sure knowing the basics of SEO will generate more readers, hence will make you hook more potential leads, which will turn into more conversions.
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