Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is both an asset and a challenge in any digital marketing content strategy. SEO writing is essential to ensure your content ranks highly in search engines and reaches your target audience.
In this article, we will explore the key features of SEO copywriting alongside the most valuable techniques. The objective is to make your content more SEO-friendly and relevant to Google searches.
What is SEO writing?
The main goal of SEO is to rank higher on Google search engines and reach a larger audience. Yet, this process is much more complex than people believe, with many factors to consider.
A key component of good copywriting involves the creation of valuable, and informative content that targets specific keywords. The inclusion of keywords enables people to find specific content when typing keywords into search engines.
The target keywords should be based on the topics and phrases that your target audience is searching for. Identifying the right keywords enables you to write content that the customer cares about. With the customer in mind, the content should also be detailed and informative yet comprehensive enough for the audience to understand.
High-quality content is also a key element in content marketing. Informative and interesting content will encourage your readers to share with friends or on their social media pages.
Who is an SEO Copywriter?
The primary responsibility of the SEO writer is to help a website page rank higher in the search engine results (SERPs).
To achieve this, SEO writers must have a strong understanding of the Google algorithm and its ranking factors. This will allow copywriters to identify the best practices and integrate them into the content. Google updates its algorithm hundreds of times a year. Therefore, SEO writers should try to be aware of any changes that could affect their content and ranking position.
Most importantly, SEO writers need to understand their target audience. This helps them identify the keywords, topics and content styles that will connect most with their readers. Keywords should be embedded naturally, and content should be straightforward enough for the intended audience to understand.
But how can SEO writers create a piece of content that meets these objectives? Keep reading to explore the techniques copywriters use to connect to their audience and rank highly on search engines.
A guide to SEO Copywriting
To ensure your website ranks highly in your specific niche, your content needs to meet several SEO copywriting requirements. Here is a practical guide on how to optimize your content and execute it in the best viable way.
Keyword research
The first step consists of researching the keywords that you want to use in the text. By including these keywords, the article has more chance of ranking highly on the search engine results. Here are some initial questions that will prove valuable for keyword research:
What would I like to write about?
How would I search for this topic? What would I type to find such content on search engines?
Which keywords would appeal to my target audience?
Keyword research involves compiling a list of words and phrases that come under the two following categories:
the main keyword
the related and relevant keywords.
To compile a successful keyword list, you need to have a good understanding of your target audience and their search queries. There are various free online tools to help you research keywords, including SEMrush, Answer the Public and Google's keyword planning tool.
Following this, you need to choose the main keyword based on traffic potential. Additional related keywords should also be included so Google can identify the main topic of the text. A good strategy is to include less popular keywords, such as long tail keywords. This is because popular keywords often face a lot of competition to rank highly in search engine results.
To keep track of the relevant keywords, using an Excel document can be a valuable organizational tool. The document should contain the average monthly search volume for each keyword and the difficulty of ranking.
SEO writing techniques
Several tried-and-tested writing techniques can improve on-page SEO. Each technique is used to increase the ranking position and engage with the target audience.
Title
Even with high-quality content and a good search engine ranking, a bad title means your target audience will be less likely to click and engage with the article. Therefore, ensure you create a title that is effective but also engaging.
The title should contain the main keyword to rank higher, but also be impactful to grab people's attention. This will invite them to click and engage with the content.
The title should be 50 to 70 characters in length. This will ensure users can see the whole title tag on the search engine results, without it being shortened.
Text
After identifying the keywords, you can simplify the writing process by adding the keywords to the text after the content has been written. This will require editing and including the keywords in a natural manner to engage your audience.
The structure of the text should also be optimised for search engines. To do so, the text should be organized with a relevant title, headings, and short paragraphs. All sources should be referenced correctly so the reader can easily find where the information originated from.
All paragraphs should be written clearly and deal with topics that are relevant to the overall article or blog post. The content within the paragraphs should be informative, but easy to understand so it is accessible to your target audience.
Search engines also reward unique types of content. With that in mind, be sure not to create content that has been duplicated from other pages.
Length of content
One of the most frequently asked SEO questions is regarding the length of the content. While there is no minimum or maximum length, Google tends to favour lengthy SEO content. The Google Panda 4.1 update was designed to penalise shallow content. Therefore, the aim should be to create fully developed content that answers the questions of the target reader.
Keyword frequency
Keyword frequency relates to the number of times the selected keywords appear on that page. Google tends to check whether the content is written with SEO or the audience in mind. Therefore, avoid stuffing your content with keywords in a way that seems unnatural or difficult to read.
Internal and external links
Citing sources of inspiration by inserting external links to other websites adds credibility and helps your audience find further information.
Additionally, linking one's content to one or more pages of the website helps improve user navigation. These internal links allow users to explore useful topics related to the content. Including internal links also helps Google understand and rank your website by showing which pages on your site are important.
Therefore, it is beneficial to:
Link to other internal or external pages that are relevant to your content.
Use a call to action (CTA) to link to guides or other in-depth content.
Place each link in an appropriate text (anchor) in a natural way without changing the meaning of the content.
Meta description
The meta description is the brief description that appears on Google or Bing below the title and the link. The meta information should be engaging enough to capture the attention of the target audience. While meta descriptions can be of any length, it's recommended to keep them between 150 - 160 characters. If the length exceeds this, it may be truncated when shown on the search results.
SEO copywriting is key to achieving high-quality content that will reach and appeal to your target audience. However, the process of curating SEO articles can be complex, with many elements to include and take into consideration.
To ensure your pages climb the rankings, contact our team of professionals at Xplore Digital.
