When you start to look at SEO for your website, it’s too easy to forget the user.
When you hear the phrase ‘copywriting’, don’t forget this is writing for the end user - the end goal is to get them to take action. SEO is optimising your content based on relevance and originality. The following techniques can help you write good engaging copy that search engines will love.
Always write for the user first
Traditionally SEO was in-depth keyword research and content length, but search engines and their algorithms have evolved. What’s important now is your content’s authority.
I hear you ask 'what exactly does your content’s authority mean?'
Well, in short, they want to know whether people trust your content or not. There is only one way to gain the trust of your readers and that is by focusing your content around what your readers want.
Writing your website copy in this manner will not only make your content easier to read for a user, but it will also make it more natural - pleasing both readers and search engines like. Trusted content will attract greater engagement with readers and more users will naturally link back to you - indicating to search engines that your content is trustworthy.
Over the years search engines have gotten smarter. When they first appeared they would return results based on exact keyword matches that were being searched for.
Now, search engines are smart and realised that someone who searches for “Pram” could also mean “Pushchair” or “Stroller” - which can be really helpful if you can’t quite remember the exact term you are looking for.
This means you don’t need to to cram keywords into your content to rank highly on a particular term. This could even get you penalised, so while keywords still play an important role, your focus should be more about relevancy than density. As long as you write with your audience in mind, your relevant keywords will appear naturally.
Photo: Pixabay
Make sure your content is easily readable
Writing for your audience should already mean your content is easy to read, but another way of presenting your content to make it as easily digestible as possible is to break up it up so it’s easier on the eyes.
This is very subjective but there are ways of making content appear clear and easy to read:
Use headings
Write short paragraphs
Use imagery where you can
Use bold or italics to highlight key points
Use bullet points or numbered lists
Making your content as easy to read as possible will help increase your authority, which in turn, helping you increase your ranking.
Using images as part of your content strategy will also help with SEO, using alt tags and captions on images provides another opportunity to show search engines what your website is about. Relevant images surrounded by relevant text will help increase your authority.
How much content is too much?
You may not think the length of your content is important but to your audience it does matters. Studies have indicated that articles between 1200 and 1500 words perform better in search engines on average. Some of the studies suggest that a word count of 1500 should be the minimum.
Why would longer content pieces attract a better ranking:
They provide more keywords, subheading and images
It increases the time visitors spend on your site - again show people trust your site
Providing more value to a reader means you’ll get better engagement.
As with above, the key in this is to keep the user in mind. So while aiming for 1500 words is fine, don’t just fill the in the gaps with pointless copy, keep your words useful, informative and relevant.
Include a strong Call to Action
Including a Call to Action (CTA) will help increase engagement with your content and can also create more whitehat links back to your site, both of which will help your authority.
There are two easy CTA’s that you can use:
Asking Readers to Share Your Content on Social Media
Social shares are not directly measured by Google, but they are still important as part of your SEO strategy. The more shares you are able to get, the more people you reach, which in turn will lead to more natural backlinks. Make sharing as easy as possible by including share buttons on blog posts will help as well, so will asking people to share their opinions on your blog.
Encouraging Readers to Engage Through Comments
Engaging with readers through the comments section isn’t directly linked to increasing authority, it does however mean that you have more content on the page. It also means if another user searched for something that is in your comments section, they’re more likely to find your content reliable.
A good way to get comments on a blog is to ask a thought provoking question at the end of your blog post.
Using these tips is a good place to start if you are just beginning with content marketing and SEO.
What are you doing to improve your SEO? Let me know on Twitter or Facebook!