What is SEO copywriting, and why is it important?

If you're a business, you're going to want to grow your audience. Content marketing is a great way to do this, but finding a balance between writing something people want to read while appealing to search engines is something that leaves many scratching their chins.

But here's the thing: SEO copywriting really isn't all that complicated. And once you've understood the basics, you'll be able to do a lot of it yourself.

This isn't to say you definitely won't need a professional copywriter to help you out at some point – but there are things you can do yourself to drastically improve your site's performance for free. First, I'm going to tell you what SEO copywriting is, then we'll talk about how you can learn to do it yourself.

Which factors impact your website's SEO ranking?

Ten years ago, web crawlers counted the number of times a certain keyword appeared in the text and pushed it to the front page based on this.

This led people to do all kinds of nefarious things, like keyword stuffing – which is where you cram as many keywords into the page as possible. This doesn't work anymore. In fact, not only does it not work – Google knows you're trying to cheat the system and pushes your website deeper into the recesses of page two (and beyond).

No. SEO these days isn't just about the words themselves. On-page ranking factors include keyword density and placement, as well as your site's layout and how user-friendly it is – among many other things.

If your site is cluttered, the writing is poorly laid out, irrelevant or difficult to read, users will quickly leave. Google sees when this happens, and records it. It's called your bounce rate, and if it's too high, it shows your website does accomplish what it should.

Here's why your bounce rate is high (and your ranking low):

- You've included keywords that are unrelated to the content on your site - Your website layout is cluttered and confusing - The font is too small, and there's not enough white space - Your image files are too big, which makes it slow to load - It contains lots of broken links, and/or leads users round in circles - The content is unprofessional-looking, with issues like low-quality images and typos in the text - The copy is badly written

What I think of when I think about keyword stuffing

What is SEO copywriting?

Let's get started. First, let's unpack the term 'SEO copywriting' and get to grips with what it is we're actually doing.

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (or SEO for short) is the act of fine-tuning a site so web crawlers can analyze and rank it. Websites that are well optimized show the crawlers that the website will likely provide the searcher with whatever it is they're looking for.

You'll see it in action when you type something into Google. You enter a phrase or word into the search bar, then click 'search'. The Search Engine Results Page (or SERP, as it's known) will then show you a list of website options, ranked in terms of relevance. Those at the top are considered most relevant to your needs. Those that aren't as well optimized appear lower on the page – or worse, page 2 and beyond.

What are keywords, and how do they work?

Keywords are words or phrases users type into a search bar. If your site or blog post contains those words, it shows Google your article is relevant. It also looks at how many times those words appear in relation to the total word count, as well as whereabouts in the copy they appear.

As well as the keywords themselves, Google looks at the site's authority – which means it measures the number of links pointing towards your site. The more sites that link towards yours, the more authoritative you look.

This authority is boosted even further if those pointing towards your site are authoritative themselves. To have the biggest chance of netting some high-quality backlinks, you need to produce high quality, authoritative content that's worthy of a mention.

Finally, it also measures the bounce rate of that page. So if the rate is high, i.e. people are clicking then leaving straight away, then it tells the crawlers that the content probably isn't relevant to the keywords.

Remember: Quality is the number-one ranking factor in search engines, and especially Google.

Joshua Hardwick's guide on how to use Google's Keyword planner is a good place to start.

What is copywriting?

If I had a dollar every time someone asked me if it's about trademarking stuff...

Copywriting is essentially any writing that is done to prompt the reader to take action – whether that's buy, donate or sign up. It's 50% artist, 50% sales. It's persuasive, emotive and creative. Copywriters know who their audience is, they know how to talk to them, and how to get them to take action.

Copywriters tend to specialize in either short-form content, like direct mail, print ads, banner ads and emails – or long-form content, such as blog posts, articles, scripts. Some do both.

What is SEO copywriting?

SEO copywriting is about targeting specific keywords, then creating useful, compelling content around the topic that readers will want to share. This increases the authority of your website, which improves its ranking in Google. To give your website the best chance of success, you need to follow SEO copywriting best practice. Here's everything you need to know.

How to do SEO copywriting, even if you're a complete beginner

1. Create a click-worthy headline It doesn't matter how great your website or blog post is. If your headline's not eye-grabbing, no one will click on it. Think of it as being like the elevator pitch to your entire article, and with that in mind, give it the due care and attention it deserves.

First, remember that your headline needs to deliver on its promise, otherwise readers will click away once they realise you're leading them on. They'll also feel resentful – which isn't great for collecting leads. So before you begin, make sure your headline matches your article.

Next, you need to fine-tune your headline to make it irresistible. And to do that, you need to make it emotive. People respond to emotions.

Buffer has created a list of 189 power words that catch your reader's attention – so if you're ever wondering where to start, try picking one or two of these. Numbers are also proven to increase click rate, so consider including a number to your title as well.

To really appeal to someone, you also need to know how to understand their intent. There are two main types you need to be aware of: informational and transactional.

Transactional keywords attract people who have the intent to buy. As a general rule, their search term will be specific – like 'Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless Filter shade 4' because they've done their research and they know what they like. Your meta description call to action should include words like 'buy' 'for sale' or 'subscribe'.

People who use informational keywords are doing research. They can have a good search volume, but if you use them for your site promotion they probably won't end up in a conversion.

Types of informational keyword include 'why', 'which' or 'how'. If you want to attract leads, you're better off deleting informational keywords from your site, but if your focus is on building an audience and brand awareness, then keep these words in.

Finally, write out a few different versions, and see which you like best. If you can, run your shortlist by someone else for a second opinion.

There are also tools you can use that will help you refine it: EMV Headline Analyzer will give you a score on how emotive it is (the higher the better). And if you're stuck for ideas in general, try Inbound Now's blog title idea generator (which is also good for helping you come up with ideas in the first place).

My all-time fave headline

2. Add keywords When it comes to placement, ideally, you'll want to include your keyword in your headline, and again in your introduction. You can then add it as many times as needed throughout the rest of your copy.

If you take the time to thoroughly understand what it is you want to help you reader with, you should find your keywords fall in naturally. Resist the urge to be broad (I know, it's tempting to show off all your knowledge) and focus in on one particular topic.

If you have more to say, you can write about it in a different article (which is great, because it means more content).

3. Perfect your keyword frequency

Keyword density refers to the ratio of your keyword to other words on the page. Stuffing your work full of keywords no longer tells Google it's relevant, but it's still important they feature in there somewhere. So include them, but don't go crazy.

If you're writing for your audience rather than around your keywords, they should fall into place naturally. But if in doubt, use the SEObook keyword density tool. If you have a score of 5.5% or above, you have too many in there. Remember: having spammy-sounding writing with too many repetitive keywords will hurt your ranking. 4. Format your article correctly

Your article should consist of a title or headline, followed by a concise introduction, then at least 1000 words of body text (The Google Panda 4.1 update penalises 'shallow' content, so your piece should be this long at a minimum).

You should help your reader work their way to the bottom of your article with lots of 'signposts', including sub-headers, pictures and occasional sentences telling them what they'll discover if they continue reading.

In the back end, these are labelled H1 through to H6. The heading tags will enlarge your font size and make it stand out. Start with H2 for your sub-headings, then if you have headers within each of these sections, make them H3 and so on.

Finally, make your writing as easy to read as possible through formatting. On web pages, your font should be at least 12.pt, but closer to 14 is better. If in doubt, head over to your favourite big media publication and make your font a similar size to theirs. You should also break your work up into short paragraphs (between one and five short sentences in length), and keep your sentences short.

Sometimes it's unavoidable, but in other cases, try to find a synonym. If you can't think of a replacement, just Google the word in question, plus 'synonym', and a list of options will pop up.

5. Edit your work (and follow these writing tips)

It sounds an obvious one, but check your work for typos. Having an article littered with grammatical errors not only looks amateur – it could confuse your readers and hurt your brand.

Grammarly is a great option for picking up mistakes – and their paid-for version gives you even more help in this department. You can also use WebFX's readable checker, which tell you the average reading age of your article. Keep your score in the green – anything above that, and you risk alienating some readers.

If you're ever tempted to put in a long word when a short one will do, try to resist the urge: the very best writing is simple, not complicated. Oh, and while we're on the topic of complicated words – remove any jargon, too. If in doubt, run it through this free jargon remover tool.

Another common error I see writers – both amateur and professional – do, is repeat words multiple times in the same paragraph. There's nothing technically wrong with this, but it is bad practice and sounds jarring. It's easily done, so run each paragraph through Wordcounter.net – it'll tell you how many times you've used a certain word in that chunk of text.

6. Add page links

Internal page links tell Google that your website is cohesive, whereas external links show that your website is relevant to the industry. Think of external links as being like networking: the more you can build, the more Google can see you being relevant in your field. Some things to remember:

- Link internally to other relevant pages on your own site, especially once in your introduction - Link externally to other reputable sites, and especially in-depth guides and journals

Ideally, when creating a blog post, you should add two or three links that take readers to other places within your website, and the same number again to external sites. And when you set up the link, make sure it opens in a new tab, so as to not take readers away from your page.

When you highlight your anchor text (that's the bit you underline and turn into a link), remember to highlight the relevant words. This may mean rephrasing your copy so that the phrase you highlight accurately reflects the content of the article or page you're linking to.

For example, it's better to say 'read this free guide to SEO copywriting', than read this free guide to SEO copywriting' (the bold represents the link). The same goes for things like 'click here' and 'read more'. 7. Write your title tag and meta description

Your title tag is the blue bit of writing that appears at the top of each listing on the Search Engine Results Page (as shown in the image below). It's the first thing someone will see when they type something into Google.

It should be concise and tell the reader exactly what will be on that page. It should also be between 50 and 60 characters long. Anything less and you're missing out on crucial keywords, anything more and it'll be cut off by ellipsis (...) and you may miss off a crucial keyword.

Moz recommends you format it as follows: Primary Keyword – Secondary Keyword | Brand Name (That's an 'en-dash' (not em-dash or a hyphen), followed by a pipe.)

Next, you need to write your meta descriptions. As with your title tag, this gives search engines more clues as to what your page or site is about. Think of it as being like the blurb (or trailer) to your page, and include the keywords that also appear in the content.

Google also uses this information as the snippet (the two lines of information that paper on the SERP underneath the title tag when you type something in). This means it's what the searcher will read, right after your title tag. So make it good!

It should be concise, enticing and free from spelling mistakes. It should also be under 150 characters long (113 for mobile). If it's not very descriptive, full of errors or cut off with ellipsis because you've made it too long, then the reader won't click and your carefully written article will all be in vain. If that sounds intimidating – you're right: it is important, and it does deserve due care and attention.

So – how do you write an eye-catching meta description? The first thing to do is to understand keyword intent, which is the reason why someone might type a certain phrase into the search bar. What are they really interested in? Your meta description needs to tell them that you have the answers they're looking for.

Here's a meta description checklist: - Summarize what the page is about, and end with a call to action (that's an instruction asking the reader to do something - like 'discover' 'explore the collection', 'buy' or 'find out more'. Avoid over sales-y sounding phrases, like 'buy now today!', which sounds offputting.

- Include your keywords in a natural way. If it doesn't work, leave it out – but if you do, try to include a similar word or phrase.

- Make sure each of your meta descriptions is unique across your site. Google penalizes duplicate content – from your blog posts, right down to your snippets. 8. Create a regular content schedule

Well-written SEO blog posts will organically attract visitors to your site. But it's important to post and update your articles regularly because search engines prioritize fresh content.

There's a lot of information about how many blog posts you should write (as well as some impressive case studies about how blogging can increase traffic), but the long and short of it is, it depends on your capacity. If you can only produce one 1,000-plus word blog post per week, then it's better to do that than to run off three mediocre ones. Focus on quality, not quantity (although the more you can do, the better).

Try to commit to at least one post per week, and set reminders so you don't forget and end up scrabbling at the last minute.

How to get people to act

The best advice I can give you is this: have one idea, and stick to it. Everything in your article should help your reader better understand what it is you're trying to say. That's pretty much it.

If you're writing a blog post or article, and you're not sure your content flows or you're worried you've drifted off-track, try Perdue's brilliant reverse writing technique. In the left-hand margin, write down the focus of each paragraph. In the right-hand margin, note down how the paragraph advances your overall argument (in as few a-words as possible).

This should help you work out whether you've stayed on track, and whether your article has progression. If you spot a paragraph that doesn't contribute to your overall point, give it the chop (or move it somewhere that's more relevant).

Use data, quotes and graphics to prove your point. Users respond well to facts that back up your information.

Use 'you' and 'your' throughout your text if you're talking to an individual. It's more engaging. If you're writing from a companywide perspective, use 'we' – something that's more common in B2B. Use 2-5 keywords throughout your post, including long-tail keywords. Make sure they read naturally, and use similar-sounding words to further prove to Google your article is relevant and specific.

Finally, remember that even if your content is beautifully written, well-formatted and useful, it needs to be optimized for keywords that get lots of hits. It needs to contain a good number of trusted backlinks. And it needs to be an evergreen idea or topic.

If you combine all of these things – and post regularly, you will generate more traffic, improve your brand and give your leads a chance to get to know you better.

Do you currently do content marketing? If not, why not? Let me know what you think!