Like you, I used to think that search algorithms were a dark art. I thought that search engine optimization was all about page speed and backlinks. Little did I know that there was a whole other side to SEO; a side that’s all about creating useful, compelling content for people, not just search engines: SEO Copywriting.

I’d read articles and listen to experts but I still couldn’t figure out how to make my content rank higher. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and learn everything I could about SEO copywriting.

And you know what? It turns out that SEO copywriting is not a dark art. In fact, it’s relatively simple once you know what you’re doing.

In this guide, I’m going to share with you everything I’ve learned about SEO copywriting. By the end of it, you’ll know how to write high-quality content for people and optimise it for Google.

What is SEO Copywriting?

SEO copywriting is the art and science of writing content that appeals to both your audience and search engines. The role of content is becoming more important to search engine rankings than ever before, and it’s crucial to get it right if you want your website or blog to reach its potential.

It’s important to remember that SEO is not about tricking Google or gaming the system. It’s about providing a better experience for the users who visit your site.

SEO copywriting is a balancing act between creating compelling, interesting content and making sure that your content contains the right keywords and phrases that will help with search engine rankings.

It’s not enough to just write content that is keyword-rich; your content also needs to be well-written, informative, and engaging. If it’s not, then you’re not going to rank highly on search engines and people are not going to want to read it. Avoid keyword stuffing!

Think about it this way: if you were looking for information on a topic, would you rather read an article that was full of keyword-stuffed fluff or an informative, well-written article?

The answer is obvious.

And that’s what SEO copywriting is all about: providing value to the reader while also helping your site rank higher in search engine results.

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What is meant by SEO-optimised content?

SEO optimised content is content that has been specifically designed to rank well in search engine results pages (SERPs). It typically includes a target keyword and other related keywords, accurate meta data, and engaging and well-written text.

By creating SEO optimised content, you can improve your chances of ranking higher in SERPs and getting more traffic to your website.

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The Importance of Organic Traffic

You might be wondering why organic traffic is so important. After all, can’t you just use paid advertising to get people to visit your website? While this is true, it’s also important to remember that people are more likely to trust websites that come up organically in search results. This is because they seem more natural and less like an advertisement.

In comparison to other sources, such as social media traffic or referral traffic, organic traffic is more reliable. This is because people are actively searching for the things that you offer on your website. They are already interested in what you have to say and are more likely to become customers or clients.

Organic traffic is the key to most websites’ success and there is no doubt that ranking highly on SERPs is a big factor in that.

If you’re not convinced, here are a few statistics:

1. 53% of website traffic comes from organic search.
2. 99%+ of all searchers click on one of the links in the first SERP.
3. Organic search drives 10x more traffic than organic social media.
4. The top position on a Google SERP has a click-through rate of almost 30%, dropping to 2.5% by position 10.

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SEO Content plays a crucial role in search engine optimization, which is why SEO copywriting is so important. It allows you to create content that will not only appeal to your target audience but also help you rank higher on search engines.

In this post, we’ll give you some tips on how to create great content for both people and search engines.

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SEO in the Context of Content Marketing

Content marketing is the practice of creating and promoting valuable, relevant, and engaging content to attract, acquire, and retain customers.

The goal of content marketing is to drive profitable customer action by creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and engaging content. Content marketing is an important part of SEO as it can help to attract links and social signals, which can help with Search Engine Optimization.

Content marketing can be used to create a variety of different kinds of content, such as blog posts, infographics, ebooks, and more.

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Where does content fit into Search Engine Optimization?

When it comes to search engine algorithms, their overall goal is to serve content from the web to users that best satisfy their informational, transactional, and local search queries.

While different search engine algorithms place different levels of importance on the factors they consider to be most important for ranking, at a high level all search engines are looking for:

• Security and Accessibility
• Page Speed
• Mobile Friendliness
• Domain Age, URL, and Authority
• Links
• Technical SEO
• User Experience
• Optimised Content
• Social Media Presence
• Business Information

Think about the last time you performed a Google search, it’s likely that your search term was satisfied by a webpage that contained content that was relevant to your query, from a credible source, and published relatively recently.

This is what Google is trying to do when they serve up results for their users; give them the most relevant, authoritative, and recent content available.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO is the practice of ensuring that your website is optimised in a way that will help it rank higher on search. This includes things like ensuring that your website is fast and easy to navigate, that your title tags and meta descriptions are optimised, and that your site is correctly structured.

On-Page SEO

On-Page SEO includes things like ensuring that your title tags and meta descriptions are optimised and that your content contains the right keywords and phrases.

Off-Page SEO

Off-Page SEO is the practice of optimising your website’s links and social signals to help it rank higher on search engines. This includes things like link building and social media engagement.

Why is SEO copywriting important?

SEO copywriting is important because it can help you attract more visitors to your website or blog post.

It can also help you rank higher in search engines, which can lead to more traffic and potential customers.

If you want to improve your website or blog post ranking in search engines, then you need to focus on creating high-quality, keyword-rich content. This means writing articles, blog posts, and web pages that are packed with valuable content for potential readers to satisfy their original query.

It can be difficult to strike the balance between writing for humans and writing for search engines, but it’s important to remember that your ultimate goal is to appeal to both. If you write high quality content that is rich in related and relevant keywords and phrases, then you’re more likely to rank higher in Google search.

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What makes good SEO copywriting?

There are a few SEO copywriting tips:

1. Targeted towards a search query: The most effective SEO copy is focused on a specific search query. This means that you should write content targeted towards keywords and phrases that potential customers are using to find businesses like yours.
2. Useful and informative: Your content should be useful and informative. It should provide value to the reader and help them answer their original question.
3. Compelling, interesting content: If your SEO copy is boring or uninteresting, people won’t want to read it and search engines won’t rank it highly. Add in relevant media such as video, images, and infographics to make your content more engaging.
4. A good balance of keyword density: You should avoid keyword stuffing, and instead focus on achieving a good balance of keyword density. This means using your keywords and phrases enough to let search engines know what your content is about, but not so much that it affects the readability of your content.
5. Readability: In addition to being interesting, your content should also be easy to read. This means using short, simple sentences and breaking up your text with subheadings and bullet points.
6. Engaging headlines and meta descriptions: Headlines are important for two reasons: first, because they’re usually the first thing people will see when they come across your content; and second, because they help to determine whether or not people will actually click through to read your article. Write headlines that are both interesting and accurate, and make sure to include your target keywords.

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Strategic Keyword Research

Before you start writing, you need to do some keyword research. This will help you to find the right keywords and phrases to target in your SEO copy.

Strategic keyword research is critical to your long term SEO strategy and key to SEO copywriting success. Defining clusters of keywords that are related to each other, and relevant to your business, will help you to create content that is targeted and useful for potential customers. Your objective is to position your website as a source of authority for a certain topic. This means completely covering a topic from start to finish, before moving to the next.

For example, if you were an e-commerce business selling running shoes, your keyword might be “best running shoes for beginners”. Your goal should be to write an article that covers this topic in-depth, and includes all of the relevant sub-topics under this main keyword. This might include information on things like choosing the right running shoes, how to break them in, common mistakes made by beginner runners, etc.

By covering all of these topics in a series of comprehensive articles, you’ll show Google that your website is a source of authority on the topic of running shoes. This will help to improve your ranking in search results and ultimately result in more traffic to your website.

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Are Long Tail Keywords still relevant?

Yes, long-tail keywords are still relevant.

So-called long-tail keywords are at the heart of SEO. Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific phrases that potential customers are more likely to use when they’re further along in the buying cycle. Long-tail keywords usually have lower search volume, which means that there is less competition for them.

Not only will targeting a long tail keyword help you to rank higher in search engines, but it will also help you to attract more qualified leads. These are people who are further along in the buying process and are therefore more likely to convert into customers.

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Targeting Search Intent

Search intent is the reason someone is typing a particular query into a search engine. Understanding search intent is critical to ranking highly in search results.

There are four main types of keyword intent:

Navigational: The user is looking for a specific website or page. For example, they might type in “Facebook login” if they want to access their Facebook account.

Informational: The user is looking for information on a particular topic. For example, they might type in “how to change a tire” if they need to know how to do this.

Transactional: The user is looking to buy something. For example, they might type in “buy running shoes” if they’re looking to make a purchase.

Commercial: The user is looking for information to help them make a purchasing decision. For example, they might type in “best running shoes for beginners” if they want to find out more about the different options before making a decision.

As a general rule, the further along someone is in the buying cycle, the more specific their search query will be. This is why it’s important to target a variety of different keywords and phrases, to cater to users at different stages of the buying cycle.

Keyword intent can change quickly over time. For example, someone might initially use a navigational query like “Facebook login” to find the Facebook homepage. But if they then want to find out how to change their password, they’ll use an informational query like “how to change Facebook password”.

It’s important to keep this in mind when you’re creating content for your website. Make sure to target a variety of different keywords and phrases, to cater to users at different stages of the buying cycle.

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Structuring Your SEO Content: The Right Way

SEO Copywriting needs to be clear and focused on the topic. People are busy and lose interest quickly. You will know from your own experience in using a search engine, you will skim through a result to see if it looks like what you were hoping to find. Subheadings and paragraphs help the ‘skimmability’ of your content as well as breaking up large blocks of text into bite-sized chunks.

This is why so-called ‘listacles’ are popular. People love lists! They are easy to scan and provide a satisfying sense of accomplishment as the reader ticks off each item. In our example, an article called ’10 Best Running Shoes for Beginners’ would be far more likely to be clicked on and read than one called ‘How to Choose the Right Running Shoes’.

Make sure you use headlines and subheadings that accurately reflect the content of the section. This helps not only with SEO but also with user experience.

If a reader clicks on a link and finds that the content is not what they were expecting, they are likely to click back to the search engine results page and try another result.

Title Tag

The title tag is one of the most important aspects of your content. It needs to be attention-grabbing and accurately reflect the topic of your article. It should also include your target keywords.

Meta Description

Sell your content In your meta description. The meta description is what appears in the search engine results pages (SERPs). make sure to sell your content in your meta description and include a call-to-action.

H2 and H3 Headings

Use H2 and H3 subheadings to break up your text, add context to each section, and make your article easier to read. This will help people scan your content and find the information they’re looking for. It will also help with your SEO, as Google gives more weight to content that is divided up into subheadings.

Body Copy

The body copy is where you flesh out your ideas and provide more detailed information. This is where you’ll answer the questions that your headline has raised and provide more information on your topic.

Make sure to keep your paragraphs short, use bullet points and numbered lists where appropriate, and include relevant media such as images, infographics, and videos.

Call-To-Action

End your article with a strong call-to-action (CTA) that encourages people to take the next step, whether it’s signing up for your email list, downloading a white paper or e-book, or scheduling a consultation.

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Crafting an SEO-friendly blog post

When you think about your website holistically, each section serves a different purpose.

The home page is designed to give visitors an overview of what your site is about and what they can expect to find.

The About page tells visitors more about your company and what you stand for. The Services page outlines the specific services that you offer, and could be more sales led or address some SEO key words. And the blog… well, the blog is where you get to show off your expertise, share your insights, and connect with your audience on a deeper level.

But if you’re not taking advantage of SEO, your blog posts might as well be invisible.

Here are a few tips to help you write SEO-friendly blog posts that will get seen, shared, and that will help you attract more visitors to your website:

Write a list of your FAQs

If your customers or clients are anything like people searching online, they probably have a lot of questions.

You could use these questions as the basis for your blog posts. Not only will this give you a great starting point for writing SEO-friendly content, but it will also ensure that you’re addressing the needs and concerns of your target audience.

Address the questions of your BEST customers, not just everyone

When you’re writing your FAQs, it’s important to focus on the questions that your best customers are asking. These are the people who are most likely to convert, so you want to make sure that you’re addressing their specific needs.

You can use your customer persona to help you with this. If you don’t have a customer persona, now is the time to create one.

Your customer persona should include:

• Demographics: age, gender, location, occupation
• Goals: what are they trying to achieve?
• Challenges: what problems are they facing?
• Values: what is important to them?
• How you can help: how can you solve their problem?

Once you have your customer persona, you can start to write your blog post with them in mind. This will help to ensure that your content is relevant and helpful.

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How do I optimise an existing web page?

When it comes to optimising an existing web page, there are a few key things you can do to improve its ranking:

Perform an audit : The first step is to perform an audit of the page in question. This will help you to identify any areas that need improvement, such as the content, title tag, meta data, etc. Tools such as SEO Surfer or SEMRush can be helpful to identify where to start.

Update the content: Once you’ve identified any areas that need improvement, the next step is to update the content. This could involve adding new information, deleting irrelevant information, or simply reorganising and rewriting existing content. Ensuring that your target keyword is adequately addressed, and your delivering high quality content is key to getting discovered online.

For example, if your web page is a couple of years old, it is likely that there have been relevant changes to include, whether this is new technology, or new regulations that should be mentioned.

Review the title tag and meta data: The title and meta data are two of the most important elements of any web page, so it’s important to make sure they’re optimised. This means using a particular keyword and ensuring that the meta data is accurate and up-to-date.

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Storytelling in SEO Copywriting

The art of storytelling is a powerful tool that can be used to captivate an audience and deliver a message in a way that is both engaging and memorable. When it comes to SEO copywriting, incorporating elements of storytelling can be an effective way to capture attention and improve your ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Some of the ways you can use storytelling in your SEO copywriting include:

1. Start with a strong hook: The first few sentences of your article are crucial in getting people to read on. You need to make sure you have a strong hook that will grab attention and make people want to find out more.

2. Use descriptive language: When you’re describing your products or services, use rich and evocative language that will paint a picture in people’s minds.

3. Create characters: People are more likely to engage with content that features relatable characters. You can create characters by telling stories about your customers or using first-person narratives.

4. Use emotion: Tapping into emotions is a great way to connect with your audience and get them to remember your content. Try to evoke positive emotions such as happiness, hope, or excitement.

5. Make it personal: People are more likely to engage with content that feels personal and relatable. You can make your content more personal by sharing your own experiences or using first-person pronouns.

6. Keep it simple: When it comes to SEO copywriting, less is often more. Keep your language simple and easy to understand so that people can quickly scan your content and get the information they need.

7. Be unique: There’s a lot of content out there, so you need to make sure yours is unique and stands out from the rest. This means writing in your own voice and offering a fresh perspective on familiar topics.

By incorporating these storytelling elements into your SEO copywriting, you can create content that is more engaging, memorable, and likely to rank higher in SERPs.

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Add LSI keywords to your blog content

Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords are words and phrases that are related to your target keyword. They help search engines understand the context of your content and can improve your ranking on SERPs.

By including LSI keywords in your content, you can help search engines better understand the context of your article and improve your chances of ranking higher in SERPs.

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How do I learn SEO copywriting?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as the best way to learn SEO copywriting will vary depending on your needs and goals.

There are many resources online that can help you to learn more about copywriting and how to optimize your content for search engines.

Examples include:

• Surfer SEO’s Academy
• Hubspot SEO Courses
• SEM Rush Digital Marketing Courses

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How do beginners practice SEO copywriting?

Start your own blog

The best way to practice is to start your own blog. This gives you a platform to share your writing with the world and to experiment with different copywriting techniques.

Choose your niche, come up with blog post ideas, and then start writing. As you become more comfortable with SEO copywriting, you can begin to experiment with different techniques and strategies.

Guest Blogging

Another great way to practice SEO copywriting is to guest blog for other websites. This gives you the opportunity to showcase your skills and reach a new audience.

When guest blogging, be sure to follow the site’s guidelines and include a bio with a link back to your own website. This will help you to build up your online presence and attract new readers to your site.

Join a community

Another way to practice is to join a copywriting group or community. This can provide you with feedback on your writing and help you to improve your skills.

Finally, you can also find online copywriting courses or challenges that can help you to sharpen your skills.

Writing for others

As you gain more experience, you can you to optimize your website for search engines. It provides an easy way to edit your title tags and meta descriptions, and also helps you to ensure that your website is mobile friendly.

4. CoSchedule : CoSchedule is a great tool for organizing your content calendar and keeping track of your SEO copywriting tasks. You can use it tostart offering your services to businesses and organizations that need help with their online content.

One way is to take on some writing assignments for free. You can find writing gigs by searching online job boards or social media sites like Twitter and LinkedIn.

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SEO Content and Social Media Marketing

When it comes to modern marketing, it’s easier to think of it with your customer at the core and the available channels as the spokes that lead in and out.

In all elements of digital marketing, the edges of where one channel ends and another begins are blurred. Your website should act as the hub for all of your marketing activity,

By this, we mean that every touch point should be planned with the customer’s needs in mind first. How will this content help them? Is it informative, entertaining, both? What does your target audience want to see from you on other channels

This is where SEO content and social media marketing come together.

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Promoting your SEO Content on Social Channels

Your social channels are the perfect place to promote and share your SEO content. By definition, your content is designed to appeal to your audiences search results, so by optimizing your content for social platforms, you can reach a larger audience and drive more traffic to your website.

As well as helping with link building, social signals are becoming increasingly important for SEO, and you can use this to your advantage to improve your ranking on SERPs. Here are some tips:

1. Optimize your social profile: Include links to your website in your social profile bio, and make sure your profile photo and cover photo are SEO friendly.

2. Use social channels to promote your content: Share your blog posts and articles, and make sure to include links back to your website.

3. Engage with other users: Social platforms are all about engagement. The more you interact with other users, the more likely they are to reciprocate and visit your website, as well as help with link building.

4. Monitor your activity: Use social monitoring tools to track your activity and ensure that you are reaching your target audience.

5. Analyze your results: Use analytics to track the performance of your campaigns and adjust your strategies accordingly.

By promoting your content on other channels, you can reach a wider audience and drive more traffic to your website.

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SEO Copywriting Tools and Resources

There are a number of tools and resources available to help you with your SEO copywriting. Here are a few that we recommend:

1. Surfer SEO: This tool is incredible for helping you rank for difficult keywords. You can design a content plan full of supportive page suggestions to help build authority and get your website ranking as it should.

2. Google Keyword Planner: This is a tool from Google that allows you to research keywords and their monthly search volume. This is helpful in understanding what people are searching for online, and how you can optimize your content to rank for these keywords.

3. Yoast SEO Plugin: Yoast is an excellent plugin for WordPress that helps you to optimize your content for the search.

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Conclusion

SEO copywriting is a necessary skill for any marketer or business owner looking to improve their online presence. By creating SEO content that is optimised for both the search engines and users, you can reach a larger audience. This will help to drive more traffic to your website while serving your audience.

There are a number of tools and resources available to help you with your SEO copywriting. I recommend that you use them to improve your content and get the most out of your marketing efforts.

What other tips do you have for SEO copywriting? Let us know in the comments below!