Co-authored by Tammy Joseph

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)  is probably one of the most talked about tactics in the online marketing sphere. Even so, many writers forget about optimising their online articles, press releases and site copy - even when the age old saying “Content is King” is dished out so often. 

It’s due to a number of reasons, but the biggy’s probably the lack of knowledge about how much weight copy can carry for SEO. The whole concept of tailoring copy to search engines also goes against the grain for most writers.

Writing your copy around keywords ensures that readers find your content (Image by "T" altered art under CC).

We conduct copy workshops from time to time, to educate writers about online copywriting and how they can start incorporating SEO into their copy. Below is a list of 5 things we discuss in our CopyShops that will help you make your copy just as relevant to the search engines as it is to your readers.

1.    Choosing the Right Keywords

Keyword research is an essential step and one that takes a fair bit of time and understanding. Keywords are like magnets to your site – they attract visitors. They are the words people use to find what they are looking for. You should use rich and effective keywords that relate to your topic and dip into the searcher’s psychology. Start by asking yourself, “what will users be looking for when searching for my topic?”.

It is important to define your keyword strategy before you start writing your copy. It is much easier to write content around specific keywords than having to slot them in afterwards. This also runs the risk of looking like Black Hat SEO. Once the research is completed, narrow down your keyword list according to relevance and begin creating fresh content. You can conduct your own keyword research, but having a professional assist you will save you a lot of time and ensure that your content is targeted precisely at what searchers are looking for online.

Keyword research can be quite helpful for writers actually – when you conduct key phrase research you will spy some very interesting ideas for new site copy or articles.

2.    Writing Rich and Informative Content

Content needs to be properly structured around your chosen keywords so that it sends signals of relevance to the search engines. You want well-written, keyword rich and informative copy that conveys the message you want distributed. Writers don’t create copy for search engine spiders, we write for our readers, so make sure that your content sends signals of relevance to your readers first and foremost – but keep those bots in mind at all times – there is after all no point in writing good articles only to have nobody find and read them.

3.    Where to Use Keywords

• In the page title – This appears at the top of a user’s browser and should be able to tell them what the main theme of the article is.
• In the meta description and meta keywords – By including your key phrases here, you are telling the spiders why your article is relevant to the search term. Meta descriptions will appear in the SERPs, so they not only need to be relevant to your copy, but also convince readers that it will be useful to read. Make your meta description compelling and you’ll increase the chances of your copy being read. Meta keywords should only contain the words that are important and actually written on that page – no adding good keywords if they don’t appear there please, it’s just too spammy and Black Hat for us.
• In the Headings and sub headings - Having a good heading hierarchy is important as spiders use it to move through your page and note what is important and how the content is structured. It once again also helps your reader understand what your article or webpage is about and makes it easier for them to scan.
• In the links – This is a super duper important aspect of SEO copywriting. The spiders use links to travel from page to page, so make sure that the text you use in the link is 100% relevant to the page you are sending your reader and the spiders too. By using the key phrase that the page you are sending the reader to is optimised for, the spider sees a flashing sign of relevance. As an added bonus your reader won’t get beyond irritated when they visit a page that actually has sweet FA to do with the link description.
• In alt tags of images - Our spider friends can’t read images (silly creatures), so this will tell them that the image is relevant to your page. But it’s once again not just for the spiders. Readers who have a slow Internet connection or are visually impaired will see the words you have used to describe the images.

4.    Copy Style

It may be a bit of a soul sucking realisation for authors, but very few people are actually going to read your entire article or webpage from start to finish. It’s a low down dirty shame, but the amount of information getting thrown at us on a daily basis is just too overwhelming. It’s for this reason that scannability is one of the most important things you should keep in mind when creating content for the Web. Readers tend to scan the text to find out what they need from it and to establish if it is actually relevant to them. Make your copy scannable by:

• Bolding or highlighting important phrases.
• Using bullet points and/or numbering.
• Ensuring that long reams of text are broken up into digestible paragraphs.
• Using different text sizes to separate headings from content.
• Remember that calls to action are vital to ensure users do what you want them to do on your site. Users like to be told what to do. Make these CTAs stand out from the rest of the text.

5.    Using Links

In point 3 we mentioned that you should try to use your key phrases in your links. Links are a very important part of online content as they allow users to navigate from one webpage to another easily. Once on your site, you will want users to find the rest of the awesome content you feature, so help them out. By giving your readers access to all the information they could ever want, you will increase your chances of that user navigation and/or returning to your site in future.

SEO doesn’t have to mean the death of good copy – it just means that you need to figure out the science behind an art. And then perfect it in such a manner that your reader feels that the copy was written only for them (and not the little bots that we all seem rather obsessed with). When you start implementing SEO in your copy, you’ll realise that it isn’t easy, but once you’ve bought into why it’s so important and you keep it in mind each time you write – it will get easier and feel more natural each time you create a piece of content.
Happy writing!

Find this post interesting? Why not check out:

• Copywriter vs. SEO Guru
• Content vs. Context
• Writing for the Web: Some Newbie Insights