Copywriting is an essential element of search engine optimisation, and good copywriting can enhance your business in so many ways. It improves your search engine rankings, increases your conversions and sales and boosts your visibility and brand image.
Yet we’ve all found ourselves on websites with bad copy: copy that’s too vague, too generic, too loaded with repetitive keywords or simply too difficult to understand. There’s an art to writing SEO copy, and one of its most important qualities is being natural and easy to read.
With Google’s algorithms updating regularly, it may seem like what makes for good SEO is always changing. Yet, there are some aspects of SEO-friendly content that remain consistent. These principles form the foundation of good copywriting. By following them, you’ll see positive results no matter what new developments in digital arise.
If you need help coming up with the right words, Anchor Digital can help. We can create copy to entertain, engage, inform and sell, all while accurately representing your brand. Here’s the Anchor Digital guide to writing SEO copy that sounds natural and authentic.
What is SEO copywriting?
Copywriting is the craft of writing marketing and promotional materials that inspire action. This can include ads and commercials, websites, email campaigns and blog posts. Copywriting is everywhere, from ads on TV to catalogues in your mailbox to slogans on billboards. In the online space, copywriting is also commonly known as web content.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving a website so that it ranks higher on organic search engine results pages (SERPs). The goal of SEO is to have you ranking on the first page of Google, where web users will see and click the link to your site. SEO helps Google’s bots crawl your site, rank it based on factors like relevance and quality, and display it in search results. Some timeless fundamentals of SEO include keyword optimisation, internal links and Meta tags. Quality content is another one of these essential principles.
SEO copywriting is the pairing of content writing with SEO. It’s the combination of practices, such as keyword research, that drives traffic with information that answers users’ questions and guides them to take a particular action. While SEO-friendly content focuses on pleasing both humans and bots to achieve results, pleasing humans is always the most important priority. If you get that right, it makes the rest of SEO easier.
Tips for effective SEO copywriting
Find your target audience
Understanding who you want to write for—their interests, demographics, and pain points—is the first step to successful copywriting. User personas (invented characters that represent the type of customer you’re aiming to reach) can help you write more specifically. Being specific is better than taking a too-broad approach that tries to be everything to everyone. Knowing who you’re writing for makes it easier to provide information that engages and appeals to them.
Understand keywords – don’t stuff them
To create content that meets users’ needs and ranks in search engines, you’ll need to know what people are looking for. While keyword research certainly helps you find the right keywords to target, it also helps you identify current marketing trends and find out what people are looking for right now. Conduct keyword research to discover which phrases your ideal customers are searching for and how you can work them into your copy.
Using keywords naturally is a big part of making the writing sound natural. Keyword stuffing, which involves unnaturally forcing excessive keywords into the text, is now considered a “black hat” SEO technique and can get you penalised by Google.
Satisfy search intent
Everyone who types a phrase into a search engine is looking for something. These days, SEO revolves largely around satisfying search intent. Web users are either looking to find information, do some research, make an immediate purchase or access a specific website. Knowing which one and tailoring your content and keywords to that will help you see more success.
Be direct and to the point
Readers want you to get to the point and to be human. Readers need to understand what you’re saying and feel that it’s relevant to their concerns. Use straightforward and direct language rather than jargon.
Write engaging, informative, people-first content
E-E-A-T (expertise, experience, authority and trustworthiness) is a key component of Google’s Quality Rater guidelines, which feature real people assessing search results. Google prioritises E-E-A-T to bring the most helpful and informative content to the forefront during any search query. Demonstrate that individuals with experience and authority created your content and established your brand authority by consistently publishing helpful and easy-to-understand content.
Please search engines by pleasing humans
Writing SEO copy that aims to satisfy people first is a far more effective approach than just writing for bots. Both love structure, so headings and dot points break up the text quite nicely. A site that’s user-friendly and uses keywords naturally is more likely to rank higher based on quality.
Optimise headlines, title tags and Meta descriptions
As David Ogilvy said, five times as many people read the headline as the body copy. If your headline doesn’t engage people, they won’t feel motivated to read any further. Keep in mind that Google will likely shorten your headline if it’s over 60 characters. Title tags are HTML elements that let you give your page a title, and Meta descriptions are short summaries of your page displayed on SERPs. For the best possible results, spend some serious time on all of these elements.
Include strong CTAs
In copywriting, a call-to-action (CTA) is a short instruction that directs users to the action you wish them to take. It makes it easy for them to take the next step in the process. A good CTA is direct, to the point and action-oriented.
Create linkable assets
A linkable asset is a piece of content designed to attract reputable backlinks from other websites. A good linkable asset provides value to your readers with helpful and well-researched information. Examples include listicles, research studies, infographics and free tools.
Aim for the featured snippet
Zero-click searches are on the rise. When users find the information directly from the first page of results without clicking on a single website, they’ve generally read the featured snippet. Featured snippets are short text excerpts that appear near the top of SERPS and are pulled directly from leading search results. Getting the featured snippet boosts your visibility and authority and increases traffic to your site. If your content addresses a question that could be answered in a few sentences, make sure you include those sentences somewhere in the copy to help you reach the featured snippet.
Optimise for voice search
Voice search is on its way to becoming the dominant form of search due to the prevalence of digital assistants and smart devices. To rank higher for voice search, target conversational, question and long-tail keywords, add an FAQ section and use keywords in a natural way.
Natural, high-ranking SEO copywriting with Anchor
If you need a helping hand writing SEO copy that converts, the team at Anchor Digital are happy to help. With more than a decade in the industry, we understand that it’s the most effective techniques that stay relevant. As an SEO company in Brisbane, we keep on top of new developments in the industry while keeping in mind the SEO strategies that consistently remain relevant. Our SEO is optimised for humans rather than machines, driven by data and aligned with the story you want to tell as a brand.
Content marketing takes many forms, and we can develop an effective content marketing strategy that underpins your whole marketing campaign and charts a course to achieve your goals.
Get started on your own strategy for fresh content and new results. Call 1300 971 392, email info@anchordigital.com.au or connect with the Anchor team online.
