Copywriting for SEO: 6 Simple Steps to Better Conversions

We have to make sure that our post content is entertaining, informative, and easy to read, and on top of all that, copywriting has to go hand-in-hand with SEO. (SEO), or Search Engine Optimization, as it pertains to copywriting refers to the practice of loading up your content with relevant keywords while not distracting from the subject at hand. Why is this so important? More than two billion people use the Internet. Most of them – the overwhelming majority, I wager – do not go to your website directly from their address bar. No, most Web traffic comes from search results, and if you’re not writing search-engine friendly content, you’re not going to see the results you want.

Copywriting services utilized for search rankings can be a tedious task for the writers, but it’s not difficult, and it’s certainly worth the effort it takes. Once you start using these techniques as you write, it will become like second nature for you. Let’s take a look at these 6 easy tips you can use to improve the SEO value of your copywriting.

1. Start at the top

Your title and headline are the most important part of your post. If you have direct control over your HTML, or can otherwise set your page title, make sure that it matches your headline. As far as the headline itself goes, remember that search engines only index the first 65 characters, so the earlier you can work those keywords in the better. For instance, the title of this post originally had one of my main keywords, SEO, at the end of the headline. I noticed this and repositioned it for better search results. Little steps like this can make a big difference in how effective your copywriting services are.

2. Think like a reader

When you’re beginning your copywriting task, many times your client gives you keywords. Sometimes, though, you have to do some fishing and think on your own. Ask yourself – if I were looking for an article just like this one, what would I search for? Think in terms of longer tails, rather than just keywords. For instance, in the case of an article about cooking fish on an outdoor grill, you could use “grilling” “fish” and “cooking” for keywords, but also think about the long-form question, “How do I cook Tilapia on a grill?” and write for that, too.

3. Marry your thesaurus

Search engine robots are getting smarter, and while they’re not quite poised to take over the world Terminator-style, they are quite capable of recognizing when a word like “earning” is similar in meaning to a word like “gaining.” Utilize a thesaurus and use not only your main keywords, but synonyms as well, and different forms of your words. In the case of this article, I’m using not only the word “copywriting,” but also “copywriter” and just plain “writing,” where I can to maximize results.

4. Find your inspiration

When I write for blogs, oftentimes I write about a movie I just saw, a book I read, or a commercial that made me laugh. When you’re thinking about your next copywriting task, see if you can relate it to something real world that was especially inspiring, maddening, or otherwise memorable for you. Now, be careful not to stretch things too much – I don’t think an anecdote about how much you liked the Despicable Me sequel could tie too neatly to a post titled “10 Tips for Better Hygiene,” but perhaps an article about the unfortunate personal habit of the person next to you in the cinema could. One of the first posts I ever wrote professionally was for an automotive blog. I happen to like comic books, and I ran across an infographic of the Batmobile through the ages. It made for a perfect introduction, and was a pretty darn successful post at that.

5. Go for the long haul

Take any given search result that makes the front page of Google, and you’ll see that the content behind that search result is, on average, 2,000 words in length. Content that is thorough and in-depth gets better SEO ranking and will earn more shares organically than shorter, less-informative content. I never write fewer than 500 words on any topic, and 1,000 is generally the “standard” length that I use when copywriting.

6. Write for people; optimize for robots

Finally, remember that when you employ these tips, you should always be careful to not end up with content that reads like it was written for robots. Repeatedly inserting keywords at the expense of fun, concise, easy-to-read content won’t earn you any readers, and it probably won’t serve you well in the search engines for very long. Search engine robots are very good (and getting better) at finding “keyword spam” and eliminating those results, dooming them to waste away in the dark pits of the poorly ranked pages forever and ever. Good copywriting services are utilized to offer engaging and compelling to humans, with subtle touches for keyword optimization. When you write, write for people first, then go back and read what you’ve written, specifically looking for places you could alter a sentence to make your content a little more keyword-rich. Use tools like Google tilde (search for any term in Google with a tilde “~” at the beginning of the word to get a list of related keywords) and keyword counters to ensure your content is pleasing to everyone – humans and robots alike.

We hope this list will help you as you continue utilizing copywriting services in the future. SEO is a moving target, so make sure you follow relevant blogs (like this one, shameless plug!) to stay on top of the latest insights as to how those pesky robots work. Keep tabs with us, and we promise you’ll be among the first we invite into the bunkers when the search engine robots become sentient and try to take over, and we’ll ride out the SEO apocalypse together. You bring the champagne; we’ll bake the cake. Happy writing!

write by Rachel Sosa