Do you know the ultimate secret to make your business survive on the internet for many years to come? Well, it’s not a secret.
Everybody knows about it but fails to realize its immense value: SEO copywriting.
I call SEO copywriting the fuel to online success.
The vast online space is filled with content. Words dominate visuals. All internet searchers start with Google and type in words; we call them “keywords,” that will lead them to the exact information they’re looking for.
But for words to take you places, particular ingredients need to be present in your web copy.
Once you know the best SEO copywriting tips and apply them, your business will shoot to the top of search results. Most of all, you will attract the right audiences who are ready to join your tribe or buy from you.
Read this article, and you will discover the importance of SEO copywriting and helpful strategies to implement today.
Contents
What SEO copywriting is and why it matters
SEO copywriting is an essential skill that entails writing content that boosts your search rankings and drives readers to take action.
There are those who assume that SEO copywriting is merely catering your content to search engines. Content that shows up at the first position of search but fails to engage visitors does nothing significant for you.
Because at the end of the day, what matters most is whether or not you’ve captured the hearts of your target customers. Your sales for that matter.
If you seriously want to stand out from the competition, consider investing in SEO copywriting.
An SEO-optimized and compelling piece of copy will be the reason why your audience will choose you over a competitor.
Here’s the explanation:
Searchers are naturally inclined to click through the top results on the first page of search. Because you’re in a prominent spot, you’ve gotten people’s attention.
Next, people read your content to see whether you have what it takes to make them buy. If it contains the information they need, has an emotional hook and message that directly speaks to them, you win.
8 SEO copywriting tips you should follow
Let’s dive into the details. Start applying these SEO copywriting tips to see your rankings and conversions drastically improve.
1. Understand your target audience
Many business owners assume that they know their target audience when in fact, they don’t. When you know the needs and pain points of your prospective customers, your content becomes more “human.”
Before you run a marketing campaign, make it a priority to decode your readers first.
Demographic data can already give you a fundamental understanding but don’t limit yourself to it. To be able to grasp your audience’s motivations and personal interests, dig deeper.
Paint a complete picture of them. Use the following strategies below:
Enable Demographics and Interests in Google Analytics
You can find demographic details via Google Analytics. Make sure that you enable Demographics and Interests reports in your Analytics.
Choose the account where you want these reports enabled. Next, head over to Audience > Demographics > Overview. Click “Enable” under the heading Demographics and Interests.
Survey your current customers
Unlock your customers’ concerns and personal preferences by running surveys. Online surveys also help you gain insights so you can provide better services.
Send an email to paying customers about your survey. Here are good questions you can ask your audience in your survey:
- What problem does our product or service help you solve?
- Identify one thing you like the most about our product or service.
- Can you recommend other products or services you would like us to offer?
- Tell us about your biggest challenge in [your niche].
Keep your surveys short and simple. Flooding your audience with questions results in fewer responders.
Search for relevant topics on Quora
Quora is a treasure chest of information. It’s a fantastic free tool. Quora can be used to research your target audience and discover blog content ideas.
Look for recent questions and discussions in your niche or industry. Just type into Quora’s search box any relevant subject. You will be given a list of questions that reveal problems that your audiences struggle with.
2. Start with a powerful headline
In this digital world full of distracted people, how do you get them to click through your headlines?
Many content marketers spend a bulk of their time crafting the body of their content and fail miserably when it comes to writing almighty headlines.
Take headlines seriously because they’re the first element of your copy that people read. Get them right, and you’ll garner massive traffic.
Crafting headlines involves a scientific and artful approach. You need to incorporate your main keywords into your headlines at the same time making them interesting for humans.
Here are some SEO copywriting tips to help you write powerful headlines:
- Include your main keyword in the first 65 characters of your headline. Read my guide on finding the right keywords.
- Make a real promise to your readers but be careful not to overdo it.
- Sneak in interesting adjectives such as effortless, free, popular, thrifty, strange, jaw-dropping, painful, and absolute.
- Use numbers for list posts. High numbers are great since they mean that your content is comprehensive.
- Ask questions to pique curiosity.
3. Write an effective meta description
Moz states that Google does not include meta description as part of its ranking factors. However, even if meta descriptions have no immediate impact on your search engine rankings, when done right they efficiently drive traffic.
A meta description of a web page shows as a 160-character snippet right beneath your page title in search results.
Remember to optimize your meta descriptions because they influence an online searcher’s decision to click through. Think of them as a way to advertise your content and drive conversions.
Summarize or give readers a sneak peek of what they can expect in your content.
In the example above, I typed into Google search the keywords “top fitness tips.” Notice that Google bolded these search terms in the meta description (shown above) to draw user attention.
4. Use an active voice
The active voice in writing is all about using actionable language. The subject of the sentence acts rather than the action being performed by the person. Can you tell the difference?
Why should you strive to maintain an active voice when writing any piece of content? With an active voice, you avoid lengthy sentences. It makes your copy more persuasive since readers can easily picture themselves performing the action.
Active voice examples:
- Mr. Smith rescheduled the business meeting.
- I heard their conversation earlier today.
- John enjoys writing content.
Passive voice examples:
- The business meeting was rescheduled by Mr. Smith.
- Their conversation was heard by me earlier today.
- Writing content is enjoyed by John.
Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress is one tool that will check your content for the presence of a passive voice while you write it.
5. Ask your readers to act
Every successful blog post, landing page, or any copy for that matter, deserves a call-to-action.
As a site owner, you want nothing more than for your visitors to buy from you or at least take another step that leads them further down your conversion funnel. No one will take action unless you ask for it.
Don’t make a visitor guess what to do next. People don’t have the time to figure this out so you better demand.
Below, notice WordStream’s call-to-action copy that reads, “GET YOUR FREE REPORT TODAY.” It uses simple language, is straightforward, and conveys a sense of urgency.
Another reason why this call to action instantly grabs attention is that it uses a button color that stands out. People will know right away what they need to click on.
There are other ways you can use a call-to-action to drive more conversions from your blog posts.
One simple yet very effective strategy is to ask your readers to share your content. Be sure that you have sharing buttons available at the right-hand side of your page.
Also, instead of just stating a single call-to-action that accomplishes one goal, why not include the same call-to-action throughout your content? Jeff Goins effectively uses this strategy in one of his blog posts.
Jeff Goins’ goal, through his blog post, “What Successful Writers Do That Unsuccessful Writers Don’t” is to get readers to join Tribe Writers.
To increase the chances of getting audiences to join, Goins included several links to the same page while using actionable language. You can use the same strategy and see your conversions skyrocket.
6. Include internal links
Never forget to include internal linking as part of your SEO copywriting strategy. An internal link is a link that directs readers from one page to another page of the same website.
These links add SEO value to your content and enhance your readers’ experiences. But how?
Regarding SEO, internal links allow your content to be crawled by search engine spiders. They also distribute link juice across pages. When a page receives a lot of internal links, it signals Google that the page is important. More internal links strengthen a page’s ranking potential.
On the other hand, internal links better user experience by making your site navigable. They suggest other relevant resources that readers might want to check out.
If you’re trying to boost certain pages of your website, be sure to use an appropriate anchor text. The anchor text should describe what the page it links to is all about. Set those links as “dofollow.”
7. Include external links
What good will external linking do for your SEO? Do external links improve your content’s performance in search? This topic is quite controversial.
Some marketers want to keep link juice all to themselves, so they hesitate to link out to other sites. The truth is, you could help boost the SEO of those sites you refer to but at the same time, you could also be limiting yours.
Each time you link to another website from your content, it helps Google decipher or understand your content better. Whether Google deems your website authoritative or not depends on the quality and relevance of the site, you link out to.
We can be sure of one thing though: That linking externally captures the attention of other site owners.
It is possible that these site owners will link back to your content if they find also find it a great resource. Blog readers also consider a site an authority on a subject if it links out to popular and top performing resources they know.
Avoid linking to bad neighbors. Choose sites that publish high-quality, helpful content and are related to yours. Check whether that piece of content belongs to a site with a high domain authority and page authority.
You’ll also want to be sure that a resource you link out to has a high level of engagement. It should have plenty of social shares and comments.
8. Take advantage of LSI keywords
Have you heard of LSI keywords? If you’ve been stressing about the regular primary keywords that you research using Google Keyword Planner, LSI keywords deserve your attention.
LSI stands for Latent Semantic Indexing. To make it easier for you to understand, LSI keywords directly refer to search terms that are related to the keywords that an online searcher types into Google’s search box.
Check the example below. You can see that Google returned the following related search terms or LSI keywords after I did a Google search using the terms “wood furniture repair tips.”
You would want to consider including LSI keywords for your content. They help improve your ranking in a way that they allow you to target more keywords. At the same time, these “synonyms” or related search terms help Google better understand what your content is all about.
If I were a website visitor who reads a piece of content with LSI keywords, I would stay longer on that page and possibly take a positive action.
Why? Because the article flows smoothly and sounds more natural to me.
Aside from conducting a Google search and scrolling to the bottom to get your LSI keywords, you can use a new tool called Answer The Public.
Conclusion
We want nothing more than to gain a much higher search visibility, traffic, and conversions that lead to sales. These SEO copywriting tips, when implemented properly, guarantee that you will meet the expectations of both search engines and your audience.
Start by getting a clear understanding of who you write for. While you do keyword research, consider LSI. Don’t take your headlines for granted!
Attract people on search results by improving your meta descriptions. Link in and link out to relevant and high-quality resources. Keep your language simple and actionable. Most importantly, encourage your readers to act.
Did you find these SEO copywriting tips helpful? If so, share this post with your friends and express your thoughts in the comments.