SEO copywriting; giving your website wings to fly high
SEO copywriting is a fantastic strategy to grow your website; not just in terms of sales, but to get it to rank higher on the listings and right in front of your potential customers. If you know about their functions and apply them in the right way, it'll be your best ally for increasing hits in the short to medium term.
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No doubt you've heard all about copywriting, but not so much about SEO copywriting, right? If you think about how relevant SEO content is to a marketing strategy, imagine how much more important it is in content writing - or copywriting - for an international audience. Advertising and website ranking isn't just a question of writing, writing, and more writing. Really, you need to stop looking at the trees and get your head above the forest to get some perspective. Or at least that's what they say. And they're not all wrong. If you've ever come up stumped when you've tried to understand SEO copywriting and all it encompasses, or you're wondering why you should invest in ranking your website, you're in the right place. Make yourself comfortable and take a moment to learn how SEO content can take you further than you ever thought possible.
What is SEO copywriting, and what's it all for?
Think about it: if you sign up for a beginners' SEO course, the first topic you'll come to is precisely what SEO (copywriting) is all about. The answer? Something along the lines of "part of a marketing plan in which you add elements to help index your content and increase traffic to your website". If you add SEO copywriting, things don't change much - apart from the small detail that the SEO content would be designed with hooking your leads (read: potential customers) in mind, and traffic will flow to your website like a river: there may be some currents, but it's a stable, constant flow.
What is an SEO text?
Copywriting is a creative writing technique used to persuade and seduce someone who is reading about, consuming, or interested in your product or service. So what happens when you add SEO? The seduction happens more easily, and more quickly, which translates into quicker profits and more satisfied customers.
Let's make it clear: If you want to strengthen bonds with your content readers, SEO content is the icing on the cake.
What are the benefits of SEO content?
Too many to count on your hands, but here are a few of them:
- Improved online presence: not just in terms of your Google ranking, but because it literally improves the appearance of your site. When you harness the powers of SEO content and SEO copywriting, your writing will be more organised, giving your website a more aesthetically pleasing, harmonious look overall.
- Honing in on what matters: We're all suffering from information overload. Nobody would be surprised to hear that browsers typically spend less than a few minutes glancing at a website (and even that's a miracle in itself). As such, the more structured and compartmentalised your content, the more time you save on all links of the SEO copywriting chain.
- Adaptation in all its forms: from the cultural content embedded in your keywords (the bare bones of SEO copywriting) to personalising themes based on your different target markets. It all falls under your multilingual SEO copywriting framework.
The answer is always the same: allocating resources to getting a good ranking for your website isn't a 'cost'; it's quite the opposite.
How to tackle SEO copywriting without getting in a tangle
With copywriting comes calls to action (or CTAs), empathising with the customer on their level (which you'll work out form researching a buyer person, or your dream customer). On top of that, it establishes which of your website browsers are actual leads, rather than casual browsers.
But to make the magic happen, you first need to learn how to do it, and then add each and every ingredient of the SEO copywriting spell to create the perfect blend.
Analysis of keywords
In SEO copywriting, keywords really are the key to everything.
This is down-to-the-last detail research, and it's generally done with the help of software tools, taking into account all the different types of keywords (long-tail or short-tail, level of competition, difficulty rating, search intent, etc.). Once you've chosen the right ones for your goals, your traffic will start to speed up, bringing a host of leads interested in your services along for the ride.
We're not going to say you should stake your life on it. If someone finds you thanks to your keywords, they won't necessarily convert to a customer immediately, but you will soon stand out from the crowd. And that's saying something.
Understanding search intent
Remember that buyer persona we mentioned? Well, that's your starting point.
When you research your potential customers, you'll start to see certain patterns in their buying or website browsing habits. In turn, this is influenced by the current trends and needs of the audience you're addressing your SEO content to.
As a general rule, there are four categories of search intent:
- Informational: when users are looking for a specific topic. Direct questions, or more general keywords are examples.
- Navigational: these users already know which website they're looking for, and they're heading straight for it. They'd enter the brand name or blog name directly in the search bar.
- Salesperson: users who prefer to search and discover the various options before purchasing a product. In this case, keywords used would be more along the lines of "best hotels", "gourmet meals" or "comfortable trainers".
- Transactional: when users want to purchase a product or service, come what may. It's a blend of commercial and navigational intent, and the resulting search terms would be something like "vintage Misako bag for sale" or "ATLS marketing translation service".
Apply SEO copywriting techniques to your SEO content
To make the biggest impact, your SEO spell ingredients need a helping hand. Certain techniques are used in content writing that bring subjects to life and hook the reader from the start.
It's a similar scenario with SEO content: you need to add in hooks that relate to both your personal brand and your leads' needs, making them feel welcome from the get-go. But you can't sacrifice clarity of expression. If you start using strange words or packing in too many repeated ideas, you'll only tire out your reader, leaving them unsure what the message actually is. And that renders your SEO useless. Content written with conciseness at the core always wins. And then there's the final, fundamental piece of the marketing puzzle; if selling a product is your ultimate goal, you always need to do it honestly.
And all good SEO copywriting is based on facts.
Optimise your content: On-page SEO
On-page SEO content competes with off-page SEO in terms of importance, but one thing is clear. The former is more focused on ranking your website on Google 'from within', putting the onus more on you.
On the one hand, there's writing content for the website, as well as working on the keywords and associated images. On the other hand, there are the title and header tags, along with meta descriptions, which need to adhere to character restrictions and include keywords. Similarly, improving your website speed or having a URL localised to your target market also improve the flow of browser traffic.
We haven't even got to the benefits of backlinks (links providing content relevant to the subject, to avoid penalties from search engines; if not, it's probably best to leave them out). And don't forget the extras - alt text on your graphics or images for example - because aside from being an SEO copywriting too, they're also important elements for inclusivity, used by people with visual impairments, among others. And you won't end up marginalising a percentage of your leads in the process.
Out of interest, did you notice the index on this article? Or the text in bold - we're using it now to highlight the phrase - just as we've done with other fragments throughout the article. This is all part of an on-page SEO strategy, too.
Our SEO content writing examples
We're not here to mislead you, so we're explaining the benefits of SEO for beginners (and veterans) based on the closest experience we have: ours.
At ATLS, we're backed by years of experience offering content creation services with SEO included, and we're always working on strategies and developing tools that enable us to improve them to the max. What does this mean to you? We can offer flawless results; living proof of how valuable SEO is to your website ranking - whichever field you're working in.
SEO copywriting isn't the one sole solution to all your website ranking woes, but it will certainly have more than an impact than you think. With the right instructions and a strong professional to guide you down the marketing path, your SEO writing will leave your competitors in the dust, especially if you take the time to ask yourself, "How can I improve the SEO on my website?". Which you're already doing by reading this article! We're here to welcome you on board the SEO copywriting ride!
Increase traffic to your website with SEO writing
There's not much more we could say to convince you of how valuable an SEO copywriting strategy can be: it builds customers' trust in your services, helps you access other markets (because SEO goes beyond national borders, obviously!) and makes you stand out when you add your personal touch.
You get the last word. At ATLS, we're here to help with what you need, and though you leave it in our hands, we'll always adapt to you. How about some personalised research to fit your needs?
