SEO Copywriting Demystified

“How can my website show up in Google?” or, “Why isn’t my website showing up when I search for XYZ keyword?” are questions we get asked in at Social Tap on a daily basis.

The answers are multi-layered and can vary in complexity depending on factors such as search volume (how many people are searching for a particular keyword each month), keyword difficulty (the number of sites competing for the term), domain authority (a score that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages), backlinks (how many other sites link to yours) and the latest search engine algorithms.

But the one element of search engine optimisation that plays a larger part than any other are the words used on the page. Writing for SEO (otherwise known as SEO copywriting or content writing) is the foundation of a holistic SEO strategy.

“All I need is a sheet of paper and something to write with, and then I can turn the world upside down.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Writing relevant content is the key to turning the world upside down…or at least having people find your site when they search! But how do you know what’s relevant?

Keyword Research

Before you put pen-to-paper so to speak, find out if anyone is even searching for what you’re about to write.

Tools such as Keyword Explorer or KWFinder are perfect to research what people are actually searching for. Make a list of 2-5 keywords, plus combinations and variations of the terms. Also, don’t just gravitate towards keywords with the most search volume as they can be hard to rank for. In fact, sometimes it can be more beneficial to use paid search ads on high competition keywords.

Niche or more exact search terms are generally easier to rank for and can still give good traffic – often converting at higher rates than broader, less defined keywords.

Start Writing

Now that you know what people are searching for, start writing your copy using these keywords and phrases in context and naturally. Those two points are key – context and naturally. Using in artificial intelligence and adaptive learning, search engines like Google are becoming increasingly good at understanding user intent and natural language.

Back 6-8 years ago, SEO copywriting was basically keyword stuffing – if you used the same keyword 10 times, Google would think your page was about this. As a result, we saw sites with copy that was difficult-to-impossible to read as a human. An example of this is in the following sentence…

Just to be clear, DON’T DO THIS!
“If you’re looking for tips and help with SEO content writing Australia and SEO services Sunshine Coast then you should contact us as we are the leading SEO agency Noosa.”

The above sentence does not read clearly and Google will pick up that you’re trying to game the search algorithm.

Write naturally and in a way that is easy to read for a human. Write, take a break and then edit. Repeat if needed until you have copy that clearly communicates the message you want and uses the keywords identified.

Driving The Desired Action

This point is a more general advertising copy principle, but equally important for website copy. Read back over the copy you’ve just written and ask yourself does this grab my attention, awaken interest and desire, and ultimately cause an action to learn more or make a purchase? If it doesn’t, chances are your audience won’t find it interesting either.

Try to understand your intended audience and revise your copy so it appeals to them and their search goals are answered. Doing this will result in them spending more time on your site, leading to a greater chance of a new customer – be it product sale, visit in store, social share, email subscriber or sales lead.

Title, Meta Description & Image Alt Tags

Now that you’ve got your page copy written, the last part of the SEO copywriting equation is to write a page title and short description that stands out when viewed in the search engine results page or shared on social media, iMessage or Skype.

Plus any images used on the page need to have captions written in what’s called the alt tag – this is an area that both screen readers (for visually impaired users) and image search engines will scan to understand the context of images on your site and how they display them in search results.

Using This Article As An Example

Looking back over this post, we’ve used keywords and phrases all through this article.

Here’s our primary keyword list for this page:

  • seo copywriting
  • seo strategy
  • writing for seo
  • content writing

Our secondary keyword and phrase list was:

  • search engine optimisation
  • how can my website show up in google
  • domain authority
  • backlinks
  • seo marketing

We’re Here to Help

Hopefully, this has helped in your understanding of content writing for SEO. We’ve only scratched the surface of onsite SEO optimisation, if you’d like to have a chat with us about how we can help your website be more visible on Google and reach more people, drop us a line – we’re here to help!

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