SEO Copywriting - An SEO Testing InitiativeSearch Engine Optimization (SEO) Copywriting is about providing a means to an end within a website's page content, also known as "page copy". Copywriting is an acquired skill and like any skill requires practice and experience to perfect, so don't be fooled into thinking otherwise. Copywriting itself, is simply the term used to effectively market a product or service through written text. Copywriting can start with something as simple as a company logo, through to company flyers, newsletters and website page copy. Copywriting alone is an essential component of any effective website, combined with SEO there is potential to vastly improve the marketing of your product or service via the web.
Visitors who are unable to navigate your site through poor navigation, fail to understand the information presented, aren't sold from the first page or simply can't find your page within the search engines easily are unfortunately victims of a poorly copy-written site. These people, although genuinely after a product or service that you may offer, will leave and rarely return. Interesting isn't it? It is fact that most people do not understand or consider the implication of well written page copy and will often do their own for their websites. To employ a professional copywriter you will present a professional image for your site and in doing so will have a distinct advantage over the competition. Curious? Need more information? Perform a search for copywriter, or a similar term, review their portfolios and see what they can offer you. Determining a skilled copywriter from a poor one is as simple as looking at the first page and identifying for yourself how well that page is written. The same principle applies to any website on the net.
This page is an example of self written text. The page was written by me, reviewed and edited by my copywriter. If you were to read the content before and after, you would see the subtle but effective difference a good copywriter can make.
How does SEO copywriting differ from standard copywriting? Copywriting, as mentioned is the skill and art of manipulating text to catch the eye and be direct; this principle applies to all marketing copywriting internet or standard. SEO Copywriting is required to adopt this primary principle with a slight variance to suit the unique internet environment. The variance with SEO Copywriting is taking that initial page copy, then inserting appropriate keywords and phrases within that page copy. Effectively, the text still flows, catches the eye and is direct but with keywords contained within it. What many perceive as the given term within a page may be surprised to find that the keywords are in fact a little different. This page is, you guessed it, "SEO Copywriting", however; that term alone cannot be attributed to the overall effect of the page.
Sentences are constructed from, meanings and relationships with other words. SEO Copywriting is no different. To target a word, other keywords surrounding those targeted terms must be used to highlight a particular word within the page content. Search engines have clearly stated themselves, that they don't just read the words, they read the sentence structures for grammatical correctness. Now, think about that! That's a pretty damn smart software program reading your page. The spider doesn't assess your page. The spiders job is to find and retrieve the information back to a database for further analysis by other software. Just like the spell check function on your word processor checking your page for spelling and grammar errors, so do the search engines.
Other factors to be considered when writing an effective page, is the excessive use of one particular keyword. The use of synonyms (like words with the same meaning) or derivatives of that keyword can be just as effective within copy-written text. Search engines looking for specific keywords will also address synonyms and derivatives of keywords. Little difference from writing a letter to a friend or writing an essay, you wouldn't use the same keyword throughout the text of either a letter or an essay as it can and will affect the readability of the work. For example, to boost the effectiveness of the term "SEO Copywriting", you would find the synonyms of each relevant word that creates this phrase. SEO, is short for search engine optimization, thus you would find the synonyms for each of these terms, and decide which terms are directly related for the purpose, and those that are not. Let’s use examples to explain!
Terms uses and meanings taken from the "Word Power Dictionary" by Readers Digest.
Term: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Term: Copywriting (Copy & Writing)
Search: forage, comb, examine, ransack, scout, look for, hunt, investigate, explore, rummage around, seek, and seek out.
Engine: mechanism, machine, appliance, apparatus, contraption, piece of equipment, device, instrument.
Optimization: Nil
SEO: Nil
Copy: reproduction, replica, duplicate, facsimile, print, carbon copy, photocopy, fake, imitation.
Writing: script, symbols, inscription, marks, characters, letters, lettering.
SEO as it is an abbreviation, its not well recognized within dictionaries. The words search engine copywriting, individually and as a phrase are also not well recognized, as it is a fairly new concept. Consequently, the chances of a search engine directing attention to anything other than that particular phrase is unlikely. So the abbreviation SEO and the words Search Engine Optimization, plus synonyms, can be discarded for this page, as the page's focus is upon search engine copywriting. From the terms above, you could pick out; "reproduction, characters, letters" to help boost the authority of the term "copywriting" upon this page. By utilising these key terms within your page, it helps portray a picture about the primary content and words that the search engines will associate with your page. Using these terms automatically associates the words "copy and writing" to this page through the use of synonyms, therefore your term has now been emphasized beyond just the one word you are targeting.
Words also have meanings, derivatives, idioms and combinations associated to them, which also help highlight within a grammar check (search engine analysis) the main focus of your page. Lets look at them shall we for our terms.
Search: To try and find something. (Searchable, searcher, searchingly, search engine, search party)
Engine: Nothing of use in this term.
Optimization: Make the best or most effective use off. (Optimize)
SEO: Not listed
Copy: Material for a newspaper or magazine article. (Copies, copied, copywriter)
Writing: A sequence of letters or symbols forming coherent words. (Writings, writer)
With some thought, you can now incorporate some of these terms and meanings into your page copy to ensure it reads the best it can read when put through one of the smartest grammatical checkers on the planet, Google.
Apart from just words, there is then the formatting of the page copy for online use. Formatting website pages is no different from formatting a letter, brochure or company document. We use headers to scan, bold to get attention and italicize to emphasize the point. Heading within webpage design have six main types, rarely of use past the first three, ranging from <h1> - <h6>. Each heading has it standard sizes, though these can be adjusted to suit individual needs and page design. Simply put, the main page heading is normally <h1>, with sub-headings <h2> under that and so forth down the line. As the importance of the headings or statement contained within the heading loses value from the overall page, the headings reduce in size.
We also use bold <b> or <strong> to highlight a particular word within a sentence or smaller paragraph. To emphasize a point within webpage copy, the italicize <i> or <em> is used to emphasize the point with the text.
Everything text related upon a page, from the page title contained with the meta information, through to headings, paragraphs, formatting, punctuation and grammar are all required features of great
SEO Copywriting. To Copywrite is one thing within paper copy, to SEO Copywrite is the online equivalent, and a must for stable rankings, whether competitive or not. Page copy all by itself can hold its own to a certain extent within the search engines. This document will prove that exact fact. When done right, you can save yourself a lot of time in other non-essential areas.
