Fahim Ahmed
If you wish to work as a content writer in the SEO industry, you will almost certainly be asked this question… Are you an SEO copywriter or an SEO content writer?
You are probably already confused and having an identity crisis.
Don’t worry…today we’re going to debunk this whole “SEO copywriting” thing and why it is very important for any content creator.
Writing an article is quite easy. You just sit with a cup of tea and pour the words that are coming to your mind into your text editor. There is not much brainstorming involved and nor do you have to worry about a framework.
On the other hand, writing a well-thought-out piece of content that is optimized for search engines and is also appealing to average readers is a tough job. Not only do you need to be creative with your words you will also have to be strategic.
If you want to build an audience and want people to engage with your blog post consistently, you need to write smart.
Why?
Because millions of pieces of content are produced every day on the Internet, and you don’t want to be just another mediocre blog post that ends up on Google’s “neat page.”
If you are looking to grow your online business or build an audience there is no alternative to SEO copywriting.
To understand SEO copywriting we first need to debunk “SEO” and “Copywriting” separately.
Understanding Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your web pages or content in order to increase your site’s visibility on search engines.
In simple terms, it is a way of ranking on top of Google search results for specific search queries.
Even though SEO doesn’t revolve around Google, most people focus on optimizing their website for Google alone ignoring other search engines.
When users type in a search query into Google and press enter, the search engine returns a list of search results that are related to that exact search phrase.
All these pages are crawled by Google bots and are placed in search results using Google’s Search Algorithm and Ranking System.
To improve the user experience, Google shows web pages in search results depending on the authority and relevancy of the page.
This is where SEO comes in. The purpose of SEO is to help search engines understand your content better so it can perform better in search results.
There are a lot of ranking signals that Google takes into account before ranking a web page. These signals are part of SEO.
Using SEO you can make your content appear on top of search results by outranking other websites in your niche or website that target the same search terms.
This will help you gain more organic traffic and create brand value.
SEO is essential whether you are a blogger or a multibillion-dollar corporation. It helps you reach out to target audiences and potential clients.
What Is Copywriting
Copywriting is a persuasive creative writing approach for marketing and sales that is focused on a target audience. The goal of copywriting is to increase sales or conversion.
Copywriting is used to persuade people to buy a product, subscribe to a list, or take any other action that results in a conversion.
Examples of copywriting may be seen in websites, ads, catalogs, promotional emails, and other forms of marketing campaigns.
Copywriting is quite like salesmanship. It’s about how good you are with words to convince someone to buy something from you.
The assigned person who is given the task of copywriting is called a copywriter.
A copywriter must be deliberate in their word choice. Understanding your target audience and what appeals to them is also an important part of copywriting.
A copywriter has to be convincing to direct users to the transactional part. They need to create content that is engaging and headlines that are enticing.
Turning your website visitors into subscribers is also a part of copywriting.
Copywriting is a very important part of digital marketing. Copywriting is not only used to influence end-to-end users but also influences search engines to appear on top of search results.
So, if you want to work as an SEO copywriter, you must also learn how Google and other search engines respond to certain terms, as well as the ranking signals they use to rank web pages.
What Is SEO Copywriting?
SEO copywriting is about creating keyword-optimized content (mostly blog posts) that appeals to both humans and search engines.
The content of your website is responsible for driving organic traffic to your site. Not only does your content has to be enticing to your target audience it also has to be optimized for search engines.
Even if you have the most interesting and informative content, unless you rank for it, you won’t likely get any organic traffic to your blog post.
This is where SEO copywriting comes to play. The primary goal of SEO copywriting is to get your content out there and put a spotlight on it. You can turn visitors into leads and sales by using SEO copywriting.
SEO copywriting can increase your online visibility and help you reach out to potential audiences by ranking high on SERPs.
When creating new content, your goal should be to not just rank at the top of Google search results, but also to boost your content’s click-through rate.
A lot of SEO gurus think that SEO copywriting is totally different from SEO content creation. Contrary to popular belief SEO copywriting and SEO content creation is interconnected and is complementary to each other.
The difference between these two content writing techniques is insignificant and they serve similar purposes.
You don’t have to worry about these little things if you’re optimizing your content on your own. Simply focus on providing value with your content so that it ranks and generates organic visitors to your site.
Why SEO Copywriting Is Important?
With millions of pieces of information flooding the internet, ranking at the top of search results for any search query has become incredibly difficult.
If you want to create a brand value, you need to have content that’s useful and also interesting.
And, in order to increase search engine rankings and reach out to your target audience, your content must be optimized for search engines.
If you want your audience to engage with your content and convert them into paying customers, SEO copywriting is probably the best option.
The best part about SEO copywriting is that it is largely native marketing. You will have to promote products or services in a way that feels natural and not forced.
Your users should not feel that you are trying to sell products. Rather it should be more persuasive and a lot more interactive.
The goal of SEO copywriting is to boost conversion rates or brand recognition.
By utilizing the company’s editorial skills and generating non-disruptive advertising, you can see a lot more conversions.
A lot of big brands are now leaning towards SEO copywriting to enhance their marketing strategy and get more sales.
How Copywriting Is Different From Content Writing
In traditional content writing, we usually don’t focus on creating keyword-optimized content. We try to make our content more intriguing and insightful. Content writing provides value to the readers.
The intention behind content writing is to educate or entertain readers. It may also boost sales, but that is not its primary goal.
Content writing doesn’t rely on keywords that people frequently use to search for a specific topic. It is more of a reader-oriented approach.
While SEO content writing is still an integral part of digital marketing, it is mostly used to drive organic traffic to your web pages.
Even though it helps to create a brand value, it doesn’t help a lot with conversion. This is where copywriting differed from content writing.
Copywriting is directed towards a target audience and the intent is to convert them into paying customers.
If you want to run an effective digital marketing campaign, there is no alternative to copywriting. It is essential in search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns, and social media marketing.
As a brand, you don’t just want people to know about your products and services. You want them to buy whatever you are selling.
Copywriting helps businesses promote and sell their products to their customers without even them knowing.
How?
Through native advertisements. Whenever you see a sponsored post, someone is trying to promote or sell their products.
Sponsored posts are a big part of copywriting.
This is how a lot of big corporations are influencing their customers into believing in their cause or paying for their products.
SEO Copywriting Best Practices
Google likes changing its search algorithm and ranking system time and again.
While it enhances the search experience for users, it can be a bit stressful for SEOs and copywriters who need to adjust to these changes.
If you are a content creator, you may find yourself scratching your head whenever Google releases a new search algorithm update. The last time they did a major update the whole SEO community flipped upside down.
But you don’t have to be offended because it’s all part of the game and applies to everyone.
Even though you might see an increase or decrease in your website traffic after a major algorithm update, the core element of SEO still remains unchanged.
So if you can make sure you play by the rules and follow these SEO fundamentals, you won’t have to worry much. You can just sit back and enjoy the organic traffic coming to your website.
Here are some SEO copywriting best practices that will help you increase your
Click-through rate (CTR) and increase conversion.
1. Create SEO Content
The most essential part of copywriting is your content.
How you approach your audience with your words and how you optimize your content for search engines is the most fundamental part of SEO copywriting.
Your content is what will drive users to the sales funnel and turn them into paying customers. There are two types of informational content.
- Evergreen content
- Topical content
When it comes to SEO copywriting you should mostly focus on creating evergreen content. Evergreen content is SEO content that stays relevant for a long time.
As a copywriter, you should develop content that your target audience is looking for throughout the season. Instead of spending time creating new content, you can simply keep upgrading your evergreen content and keep it fresh.
Most search engines, particularly Google, prefer content that is current and up to date.
Evergreen content is what drives organic traffic to your website. You won’t get much traffic to your website if you don’t have enough evergreen content. This may be an issue for any business because if there is no traffic, there will be no sales.
The first step to copywriting is to write content that delivers organic traffic to a site. This means your content has to be well-optimized with keywords that people usually look for.
Keywords can often take months to rank in SERPs. Especially if you’re targeting a highly competitive keyword.
But one of the easiest ways you can rank is by targeting long-tail keywords that are ignored by most marketers. If you want to see organic traffic coming to your website in no time, you should use long-tail keywords within your content.
2. Avoid Over-Optimization
It is normal to want to rank quickly and see a rise in your website sales when you first start out. This paranoia can sometimes get you to over-optimize your content.
But how do you over-optimize content?
In terms of SEO, stuffing your content with a specific keyword to rank high on search engines is called over-optimization.
This used to be an old-school way of content optimization to influence Google’s search algorithm. But with the latest major updates, these silly tricks became outdated. Google always prefers quality over quantity.
Google wants to make sure it serves a better search experience for all its users. So if you are using these cheap hacks instead of ensuring quality content to your users, Google won’t take it likely.
Unnecessarily keyword-stuffed content often gets penalized and removed from the Google index.
Google doesn’t want shallow or copied content to rank high in their search results. This is why Google rolled out the Google Panda 4.1 update.
A well-written content should be at least 2200 words long. Even though there is no such requirement from Google, but most informational evergreen content that ranks on top of search results has more than 2200 words.
This shows that word count is quite important just like strategic keyword placement.
But writing a long article or blog post won’t ensure your the top spot in Google search results. There are more ranking factors that Google takes into consideration before ranking a webpage.
As a copywriter, you should focus on all these little details and SEO fundamentals in order to rank and ensure maximum reach.
3. Understand Search Intent & Buyer Keywords
We have talked about search intent in many of our earlier segments.
You can’t have a winning SEO strategy without understanding your target audience and what they want. You can only attract more people to your site when you understand what people are searching for online and why they are searching.
Understanding Search intent is a very important part of copywriting. Without understanding the purpose of an online search you won’t be able to provide your target audience the content that they really want.
Everyone making a Google search is looking for something relevant to their search query.
Some people are looking for answers, some people are thinking of buying something and some are still confused about what to buy?
Search intent usually represents different stages of a searcher’s journey. With all the data and analytics, Google has mastered the art of understanding search intent.
Google uses artificial intelligence (AI), to figure out what a user wants and provides the most relevant and useful search results.
Usually, there are 4 common types of search intent when surfing the internet:
- Informational intent: When a searcher is seeking information or a solution
- Navigational intent: A searcher wishes to visit a certain website or URL
- Transactional intent: When a searcher intends to purchase a product
- Commercial intent: User searches for information about a product before purchasing it
When it comes to copywriting you need to figure out both the search intent and keywords that people use when looking to buy a product or service.
Remember, the main intent of copywriting is to convert users into paying customers through native marketing. So it is important you use buyer keywords in your content to influence your users to make a purchase.
Figuring out the search intent and using buyer keywords accordingly will help you increase the conversion rate.
4. Create Headlines That Converts
The title of your blog article is responsible for a large portion of the organic traffic that your website receives. When a user conducts a search, the headline is the initial point of contact.
The headline of your blog post will undoubtedly influence whether or not a person clicks on it. Most users usually click on headlines that satisfy their search query and they find intriguing or helpful.
Even if you rank at the top of Google search results, you won’t likely get the most clicks if your title is just another mediocre clickbait headline.
A lot of copywriters often undermine the importance of “creating the perfect headline”. Even if you spend days writing the perfect article, there is no use if you don’t have a compelling headline.
The title of your blog article is what entices people to click on it, thus increasing your CTR.
Your objective as a copywriter should be to craft the perfect headline that catches people’s attention and prompts them to click on it.
Recent data from Google shows that title that has the primary keyword alongside a number usually gets a lot more clicks than a title without the focus keyword.
Adding your primary keyword in your title will help users understand that your content is relevant to their search query. It is an easy way to get the attention of the searcher.
Also, if it is relevant try to add a number in your title to make it a bit more interesting. Adding a number validates your content and makes it more intriguing.
5. Improve Page Speed
Most of us wouldn’t like to click on a website and wait for a while to buy our favorite pair of sneakers. Online consumers usually don’t like to engage with a slow-loading website and it impacts their willingness to buy from an online retailer.
Google always wants its users to have a better user experience. This is why they keep changing their algorithm to make it easier for users to make Google searches.
There are approximately 200 Google ranking signals, with page speed being one of the most important.
Spedding up your page is essential since it will help you increase organic search traffic and enhance your ranking. Multiple studies have shown that page speed directly influences your bounce rate and average time on a page.
If a web page takes more than 3 seconds to fully load, nearly 32% of users will bounce back to another web page. Your page load time will directly affect your conversion rate.
According to a Google study published in 2017, when page load time grows from one second to three seconds, the likelihood of a bounce increases by 32%.
Page speed also affects how your content ranks in search results. If you want your web page to rank, page speed is imperative.
Top-performing web pages often load in less than a second using mobile devices. As Google is prioritizing a mobile-first environment, a quick user experience has become essential. Google prefers Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) that loads instantly to help users engage with the content instantly.
A study done by Amazon shows that with each extra second of load time, website conversion rates fall by an average of 4.42 percent.
So if you want your target audience to stick around make sure you don’t keep them waiting.
