SEO copywriting is a key component and a major challenge in all SEO strategies. Because search engines scan web pages, your site content must be tuned to the search engines’ algorithms (which are constantly changing). You must also write clearly so that your audience enjoys and understands your site. And we know that readability is a ranking factor.
This SEO copywriting guide talks about the keyword research process as well as the 3 stages of the writing process. It will also help you write compelling, SEO-optimized articles that your site needs.
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SEO copywriting and holistic SEO
I like to practice what I (and some others in the market) call “holistic SEO”. Your first goal should be to have and maintain THE BEST website possible. Ranking in Google will come automatically if your site is of high quality.
Google wants to serve its customers. Its mission is to index all the information in the world and make it accessible to everyone. Also, Google obviously wants to make money, but if they want to make information as accessible as possible, they will have to show people results that they are searching for, otherwise people will stop using Google. So we can agree that Google wants to show people the best results, so if your site is the best in its niche, Google will want to rank it as high as possible in the results.
Read also: 10 pros and cons of being an SEO professional
Holistic SEO is an interdisciplinary marketing strategy focused on making the best website in a niche market. To do this, your site design must be excellent, the user experience (UX) must be foolproof, and all security aspects must be up to date. Most importantly, however, the content on your site must be well written and targeted to your audience. This approach requires advanced copywriting and SEO skills.
To ensure that your site is the best in its field, the texts on the site must be good and easy to read. Without compromising the quality of your content, you must optimize your text for the demands of search engines. The process of SEO copywriting is much like the process of writing anything else, so it is hard work and inevitably some of us have more talent for writing than others. Unfortunately, we can’t all be Ernest Hemingway, but with a little training, anyone may be able to write better for SEO.
Read also: SEO for copywriters – the “complete copywriter” figure
Always start with keyword research
The first step of SEO copywriting has little to do with writing – first you need to decide what you are going to write about. For what topics do you want to be found? You will need to use the keywords you want to rank for, so the first step of SEO copywriting is keyword research. Keyword research is what you do to list all the keywords or keyword phrases you want to rank for.
Keyword research consists of three steps:
Step 1: Formulate your business mission
Before you actually start the research, you should think about your mission. This is what makes you stand out from the rest. While formulating your mission statement, consider questions such as: who are you and what is your blog/website about? What makes it unique? Take your time and write your mission.
Step 2: Make a list of relevant words
Once you have formulated your mission statement, you can start making a list of terms (keywords) for which you want your site to be found. Once your mission is clear, you should have little trouble finding the terms that apply to your niche and generate sales. These will be the keywords for which you want to be found.
To find good terms, you need to know your audience. How will she find him? How will they google it? At the end of your keyword research, you should have a list of all the relevant terms that your audience can use to search for you. Also think about the combination and variation of these terms.
There are many tools available that will help you with your keyword research. Some of them are: Google Adwords Keyword Planner, Yoast Suggest, Google Trends and the Ubbersuggest.
Eventually, you will have a very useful overview, which will be of great help in your SEO copywriting process. It will help you create a keyword table and summarize the information. Try using word combinations as well, then sort them by some sort of priority – which keywords are particularly important to rank for (mission-aligned) and which are less so? When choosing the keywords you will address first, also consider what the odds are that your pages will rank for this specific keyword. In many cases, focusing on less popular and less competitive words can be a good initial strategy.
Step 3: Create your landing pages
The final step in keyword research is to create awesome pages for the words you want to rank for. A landing page is a page designed to serve your visitor who has found your content for a specific term. It can be a dedicated page or a post optimized for a specific word. Make sure your visitors can navigate to your blog from any page. And be sure to create a page for each relevant keyword you list.
Your keyword research will give you a good idea of what your blog is about. You will have to unlock content around a specific word. One word is not yet a topic. Along with a keyword (or phrase), you need a perspective, a story about that word.
Three phases of writing an article
Once you have decided on a topic or story you want to write about, the SEO copywriting begins! The SEO copywriting process consists of three stages: preparation, writing, and correction (editing).
Phase 1 of the writing process: Preparing your text
The first phase of the SEO copywriting process is to plan your piece. Before you start typing, take some time and think about what you are going to write. You may already have a topic in mind, but before you start writing, have clear answers to the following questions:
- What is the purpose of your article? Why are you writing? What is the goal?
- What will be the main message of the post? What is the key question you want to answer?
- Who is your audience?
- What information do you need to put on your piece?
- In what order will you present your information? What will be the structure of the article?
Text structure
The most important part in planning your article is the structure. The structure of the text on your site is vital for SEO copywriting. If your content has a clear structure, you have a better chance of ranking well in Google.
It is worth thinking about the structure of your piece before you start. The structure is the skeleton of your text: it will help the reader understand the main points of the article.
Posts and pages with a clear structure will also have a better conversion rate on your site. You have a better chance that your visitor will buy your products or return to your site if they properly understand your message.
Phase 2 of the writing process: Writing your text
Now you can finally start your SEO-focused writing process! This phase should consume about 20% of the total time spent on your article.
Just write!
The most important tip for this phase of the SEO copywriting process is just write. People usually have trouble with this first sentence. At this stage, you can skip writing the first paragraph altogether. Just put a few words referencing the content that your first paragraph should contain and start writing the second paragraph. Introduction and conclusion are easier to write once the body of your text is complete.
If a sentence is not grammatically correct or sounds strange, go ahead and don’t worry about it yet. You can rewrite in the next phase, which is editing. In the writing phase, it is important to stay in the writing flow.
Be faithful to the structure of your text
As you write, use the structure you created in the preparation phase as a guide to write your paragraphs according to plan. Make sure you write clear paragraphs. Start each paragraph with the most important sentence, then explain and elaborate your thinking further. Your readers will be able to grasp the most important content of your article, just by reading the first sentence of each paragraph.
The text should be easy to read
Reading on a screen is difficult, so if you want your readers to read your entire article, you need to make it easy to read. Posts that are good and easy to read will result in more visitors returning to the site and a higher conversion rate. Importantly, make sure your text is targeted to your audience.
Use some of these style tips
Some people are born writers and don’t need tips for their SEO copywriting – they are able to write a compelling, entertaining, and easy-to-read article in a few minutes. Others lack this skill, while attractive writing is a matter of talent practice can help! If you want to develop an attractive writing style, reading a lot helps a lot. Reading (books, blogs, magazines, or whatever) will inspire you to write your own articles. It will teach you how other people construct their sentences and paragraphs. It will teach you how to use humor and how to play with language, and it will help you develop a sense of what it means to write a good article.
Take some breaks
SEO copywriting can be an intense and tiring process. If you write for long periods, you will find that concentrating will become more and more difficult. The pause time, however, varies from individual to individual. If you feel that your mind has begun to fail, it is time to take a break.
Personally, I prefer not to write for more than 30-40 minutes at a time. At this point I need to get up and eat or drink something or perform another task that doesn’t require much attention. Even short breaks (2-5 minutes) can be enough to refresh the head and restore the level of concentration and activity.
Phase 3 of the writing process: Editing your content
Once you have finished writing your piece, you have the first draft of your article. This first draft is what you will improve on in this last phase. This final step will still take some time.
The editing phase is the phase of the SEO copywriting process in which you must get rid of excesses. Don’t be afraid to throw things away. You should read and re-read and re-read your post and correct any awkward, disconnected sentences and poorly structured paragraphs. Here are five steps (in order) for editing your article.
Use Yoast SEO plugin
If your site is on WordPress (and I hope it is), while editing your text, you will find that Yoast’s SEO plugin is quite useful for SEO copywriting as it helps optimize your text for search engines in addition to suggesting improvements in its readability.
Step 1: Read slowly and out loud
You can start this phase by reading your content slowly (and if possible aloud). Every sentence must be grammatically correct and with impeccable spelling. You must be very critical of your own work.
Step 2: Focus on sentences
Start by making sure that each sentence is correct. Focus on the pronunciation of the words and correct any errors. Make sure your sentences are grammatically correct and check readability: make sure your sentences are not too long.
Step 3: Focus on paragraphs
If all the sentences in a paragraph are approved, look at the structure of the paragraph, focusing on the first sentence. Does the first sentence capture what you want to talk about in that paragraph? Do the sentences have a logical order within the paragraph? Did you use appropriate transition words to connect the sentences clearly?
Step 4: Check the text structure
See if the paragraph structure is clear. Are the topics in your articles presented logically, or do you need to make some changes?
You should also check your titles and subtitles. Make sure your keywords are present in some of your titles and subheadings. But just as important, ensure that your titles and subheadings help readers scan the structure of your text.
Step 5: Ask for a second opinion
The final step in your SEO copywriting process is to receive feedback. After editing your text, ask people to give you feedback. In many agencies and blogs for example, all written posts are read by at least two colleagues before they are published. Feedbacks help because it comes from the perspective of someone who was not involved in the writing process and usually adds to improvements.
It will be equally useful if you let someone from your audience have access to the content to test whether the message is being communicated well or not. Likewise, feedback from some professional with writing and grammar skills, such as an editor, will help to further improve your post.
Conclusion: SEO copywriting is a process
SEO copywriting works best when you follow a defined process and make sure your content is the best it can be. While not everyone has the talent for writing, writing with SEO in mind is something everyone can improve through practice.
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