SEO copywriting is a technique used to produce content that is highly valued by visitors and search engines. It focuses on producing valuable and interesting information for your readers by following certain search engine algorithm guidelines to appear higher in SERPs.
SEO copywriting is extremely important for online businesses that want to consistently increase their organic traffic. It does not require a large financial investment or a highly specialized skill set. As long as you are aware of what the process entails, you can start producing SEO-friendly content that will convert.
Table of contents hides
Step one: research keywords
Step two: decide on a specific search intent
Step three: work out the structure of your article
Step four: write the text with SEO in mind
Step five: optimize the content
Conclusion
Step one: keyword research
Before you begin the writing process, you should perform keyword research. This is how you will find out what keywords you should use to rank competitively on search engines.
These are some of the best tools for keyword research:
- Google Keyword Planning Tool
- Afrefs Keyword Explorer
- Moz Keyword Explorer
- SEMrush
- SEOZoom
Use these tools to find out what keywords people enter into search engines to find the information they are looking for. Then, choose those that are relatively popular but have low competition.
Step Two: Decide on a specific search intent.
Search intent refers to the specific type of information the user is trying to find on the search engine. For example, the search term “Hairdressers near me” will produce very different results than “What qualifications are needed to become a hairdresser.” Both search terms revolve around the topic of hairdressers, but the intent is very different.
To ensure that your content ranks well on search engines and provides valuable information to readers, decide the exact search intent you want to respond to. Enter the keywords you want to use in the search engine and observe what results tend to come up. Check what kinds of questions are asked most often and choose the one you can use as a guideline for your content.
Step three: work out the structure of your article.
Once you have set your keywords and research intent, it is time to create a brief for your content. This will not only help you cover all the information you want to share with your readers, but it will also encourage search engines to rank it better.
Start with a header (H1), which will be the main title of your article, page or whatever type of content you are working on. Next, divide the content into logical sections and assign each one a subheading (H2) of its own.
Be sure not to include overly full paragraphs: 3 to 4 lines of text is sufficient. People prefer to skim through content rather than read it thoroughly, so you need to adjust if you want people to stay on your site.
Step Four: Write the text with SEO in mind.
Steps one through three are for preparation. Once they are completed, you can start writing your content. However, be sure to keep SEO in mind at all times.
Set up a list of keywords that you need to include in your content and use search intent as the main goal of your text. To help you with this, you can use these tools:
- Surfer SEO
- Clearscope
- Dashword
- SEOZoom
The above tools are equipped to help your content respond to search intent and rank better on search engines. They all provide a clear list of keywords that should be included in the text and also specify how many times they should be repeated.
Although these tools are paid, this is a worthwhile investment that can make SEO copywriting a much easier process.
Step five: optimize the content
This step involves optimizing all other aspects of the content along with the text. A tool such as Rank Math can be extremely useful at this point in the process, as it will clearly indicate what still needs to be improved .
Here are the aspects needed to fully optimize your content:
- Key Phrase Focus . This key phrase indicates the intent of your content and can be used to see how well you respond.
- Alternative text for images . Including alternative text for all your images is important for two reasons: it makes your content more user-friendly in terms of accessibility, and it also makes it easier for search engine crawlers to understand your content.
- Meta description . A brief summary of what the page or article is about. This summary will show up in search results, just below the title and link to your website.
- External and internal links . Include external links to high-level Web sites relevant to your content. Also, include links to other content on your Web site, as this will help search engine crawlers index your Web site faster and easier.
Conclusion
SEO copywriting is easier than it sounds when you understand how it works and what you need to focus on. The process is also made much more accessible with a wide selection of tools that can help you.
Whether you are planning to write SEO-friendly content for your business website, your personal blog or an e-commerce site, this guide will help you make sure you attract both your visitors and search engines.