Best Practices of SEO Copywriting

Google encourages website owners to consistently create content for the users and not for the search engine. But many business owners have understood that it does not actually bring much traffic the hard way.

Yes, it is essential to create engaging and informative content for the readers, but the content won’t be successful if it fails to please the algorithms. However, this also does not mean that one should only focus on checking all the ranking factors and not focus on user experience.

You need to understand that both the search engine and visitors are interdependent, and the website content should grab their attention equally. This is why marketers use the art of SEO copywriting to create web pages that both crawl bots and searchers can read.

WHAT IS SEO COPYWRITING AND HOW CAN IT HELP SEO?

It is the technique of developing content that ranks high on SERPs and drives organic traffic to the website. It also successfully engages the readers and compels them to take specific actions like a purchase or subscription.

A top-ranking page with a low conversion rate is of no use, to be honest. Similarly, a page with a high potential of convincing readers is useless if it does not get the traffic to convert. With adept copywriting skills and search engine optimization practices, business owners can produce compelling pieces of content that hit the bull’s eye and bring in the much-deserved ROI.

If you are wondering how you can create content that effortlessly communicates with both readers and search engine bots, keep reading.

BEST SEO COPYWRITING PRACTICES FOR YOUR WEBSITE

There are numerous ways individuals can frame one content and achieve peak online marketing benefits. But some basic constructs will remain the same across all kinds of web pages. When aiming for compelling content that ranks high on the search results, you have to practice the following:

1. Detailed Keyword Research Based On Target Audience
Keyword research and selection are very important for SEO copywriting. Only about 0.16% of all keywords on the internet are responsible for more than 60% of all searches. So, even before framing content, you must jot down which words are most searched by your targeted audience and how they are related to your website.

There are several keyword tools like Ubersuggest, Google Keyword Planner, etc., that you can use to check the search volume of those keywords and choose the most prominent and relevant ones. Also, 8% of all searches are proper questions; so, you should also incorporate such phrases in your content.

Detailed Keyword Research Based On Target Audience

The integration of these words and phrases should not seem forceful or solely squeezed in for ranking, as both bots and readers can detect that.

2. Write The Content For The Readers And Not Bots
As already discussed, Google loves it when one provides the search engine with content that is written for the mass. However, this does not mean you will ignore all the SEO practices and only focus on creating engagement.

On the other hand, treat engaging content as one of the SEO copywriting techniques and use the ASMR formula to achieve that. Ahrefs’ CMO stated that reading is a transaction where the readers are trading their time for your content with the hope of improving their lives.

So, provide them with new information, entertainment, and comfortable content design. You can achieve effortless readability for your content by applying ASMR to it. These are:

  • Annotations like notes and side notes.
  • Short sentences and paragraphs.
  • Multimedia such as GIFs, videos, infographics, and images.
  • Reading the copy out loud to locate weak areas and correcting them.

With this formula, you can always develop engaging content that eases the reading process for the visitors.

3. Incorporate LSI Keywords That Substantiate The Content
LSI or Latent Semantic Indexing is an indexing process that Google uses to rank a page on the SERPs. A string of words will convey different meanings when used in a different context. The LSI keywords provide this “context” to Google so that it can better understand who will benefit from that particular content.

For example, the word “Nike” will mean a brand when put in content with words like clothes, shoes, quality, etc. On the other hand, it would mean a goddess if the content has terms such as mythology, lore, deity, and the likes.

LSI or Latent Semantic Indexing

So, you should use such words to substantiate your content and assist Google in ranking it on relevant search results. You can also use terms that your target audience is most familiar with to make the content even more audience-specific.

4. Write Accurate And To-The-Point Content
SEO copywriting is all about organically combining optimization with creative writing techniques.

An average buyer reads about 3-5 content before he/she decides on buying something. Now, if an article confuses them instead of accurately stating the benefits of a product, they will never end up purchasing it.

Always try only to convey essential information first; this helps readers gauge if the blog or article is relevant to their search. From then onwards, the entire content should also provide relevant and important insights. So, the visitors come back a second time for more information.

 

5. Try To Keep The URLs Keyword-Rich And Short
According to a study on search engine ranking factors done by Backlinko, there is a prominent correlation between short URLs and high SERP ranking. Moreover, if you incorporate the primary keyword in the URL, you are one step closer to the SERP peak.

Short URLs Tend to Rank Slightly Better than Long URLs

However, do not waste your time changing the URLs of the old posts on your website. This sudden change can cause severe technical SEO problems and create adverse situations for it. Instead, concentrate on the upcoming posts and apply this tactic to those.

Keyword incorporation in the URL provides another place to draw a connection with the topic. This will make the content seem highly relevant, and the search engine would reward it with better exposure on the SERPs.

6. Aim For Featured Snippets On Google SERPs
Until now, the discussion was about SEO copywriting for beginners, but this is an advanced technique that can provide a significant rank hike to a web page. While writing content, try and add “snippet bait” sections across it.

Featured Snippets On Google SERPs

These are parts in a blog or article explicitly designed to rank on search results as a Featured Snippet. There are no set rules about where one can put them and where one cannot. However, it is better if you put them at the beginning of your content and near the conclusion. Google bot crawl from both directions, so it will come across the baits faster.

Backlinko’s owner, Brian Dean’s experiments found out that adding these baits considerably improves a site’s performance and ranking.

7. Optimize Site Speed For Better User Experience
On average, a desktop page takes about 10.3 seconds to load, and mobile landing pages take nearly 22 seconds. It was seen that if the loading speed was reduced even by 0.1s, it will:

  • Improve retail customer engagement by 5.2%.
  • Reduce bounce rates of retail and travel product listing pages by 5.7% and 5.4%, respectively.
  • Reduce lead generation pages’ bounce rate by approximately 8.3%.

Hence, it is essential to ensure that your website pages load quickly. Otherwise, you will lose a significant amount of potential customers. As of 2021, 70% of online consumers stated that the speed of a web page affects their willingness to purchase something from that site.

Optimize Site Speed For Better User Experience

So, ensure that your content is not causing a lag in the site’s load time. Try to use tools, like Moz site speed guide, Pingdom, Performance Unleash, etc., in your SEO copywriting strategy to keep this speed in check. Also, you can partner with experienced SEO optimization professionals to help you with managing loading speed.

8. Pay More Attention To The Title Or Headline
The title is the first thing your visitors would read. So, put a lot of thought into framing the right headline for your content. It is also essential to put the primary keyword in the title for Google to understand its relevance even better.

You can also use power words like “best, beginner’s guide, top” to make the title more attractive. Also, using years or numbers to emphasize its importance works ten times better. Using one or both depends on the topic and what is most popular for that particular genre.
You can also put these types of words to modify a page’s title tag and rank for many bonus keywords without even trying extensively for it.

Pay More Attention To The Title Or Headline

 

9. Focus On A Single Topic In One Page Or Post
Conveying a clear message is very important in SEO copywriting. You do not want to confuse your readers with too much information about multiple products or services in one single post.

A good way to avoid this is by selecting a precise topic and frame what points you will discuss in the post, blog, or article. In the case of products, you can either discuss a particular product or a product category but including different things at once will also confuse bots.

Also, you get to create several pages by dedicating an individual page to every product, which increases visibility and ranking possibilities. You will also be able to incorporate more impactful CTAs for such a specific topic.

IMPORTANCE OF SEO COPYWRITING IN 2021

About 58% of marketers agreed that original written content is still one of the most essential content types surpassing images and videos. Furthermore, about 60% of B2B companies already have a tailored content strategy, and their marketers use at least 13 types of tactics to stay at the top.

Google has about 200 known ranking factors as of 2021; among them, the search engine still considers quality content as one of the essential ranking signals. This reason is enough for you to use professionally developed content on your website.

Moreover, if the content fails to hold readers’ interest, they will immediately leave the website, increasing its bounce rate significantly. Bounce rate is another important ranking factor that search engines monitor very closely, and adequately framed content can help keep it in check.

SEO copywriting requires experience, in-depth knowledge, and the ability to frame content that other websites link to. The traditional practice of “relevant keyword incorporation” has become overused and does not provide substantial ranking benefits. However, pages with quality backlinks rank significantly high.

CONCLUSION

Hence, the aspects covered in this piece show how relevant SEO copywriting is in the present day and age. You should dedicate more time to it if you want your business to gain substantial profits in the online scene. However, 73% of organizations have someone entirely dedicated to supervising their content strategies.

If you are not availing of any professional assistance for this, it may take a long time to master it. But, it would be wise to concentrate on the business essentials and hire expert to create engaging content.

What’s your take on this? Let us know in the comments section below.

Ashwani has been actively involved in SEO services since 2005. His expertise and distinctive work approaches have made him one of the most experienced and trusted SEO experts in the industry. He is a certified SEO and Google Ads professional. He also has strong business development skills in advanced SEO, PPC, and digital marketing strategies.

Comments

  1. Oliver says:

    Everything is very open with a clear clarification of the issues. It was really informative. Your website is useful. Many thanks for sharing!|

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