SEO copywriting involves merging technical, literary and informative elements to satisfy a heterogeneous “audience”: Google’s algorithm, our potential clients and niche peers, but why is it important to write for SEO and how to do it successfully?

What is SEO copywriting?

To begin with, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of what SEO is and why it is so much talked about. SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization”, and refers to the optimizations that are applied to a web page in order to improve its position in search engines.

The most widely used is Google, and the purpose of any search engine is to return useful answers to the user’s questions. To do this, they establish a series of guidelines that help filter and position the results and that is where SEO copywriting comes in.

This type of writing seeks to generate clear and dynamic content for both users and the algorithm. That is, that they answer people’s queries and also give Google reasons to consider them appropriate and display them at the top of the results.

What is needed for good SEO copywriting?

An SEO optimized blog post has most of these elements:

  • A central keyword
  • Concrete and quality information
  • Audiovisual content (images, infographics, videos)
  • References – inbound and outbound links.
  • A clear and easy to read structure.
  • A call-to-action.

Choosing the keyword

The first thing to do is to make a study of the most used keywords or key phrases in your sector. It is about analyzing what users put in the search bar when they want to find something related to your business or project.

Knowing the search volume of each keyword, it is time to choose which keyword to use for a given article. If you are just starting to optimize your texts for SEO, it is best to choose a keyword with an intermediate or low search volume.

This type of keywords are known as “Long tail Keywords” and refer to longer and more specific key phrases, which tend to attract less traffic but of better quality, because they have a very specific interest from the user. Putting “hat” is not the same as “buy white brimmed hat”.

It is also important to define what type of content works best for each search. Following the previous example, it is not the same to write an article about different models of hats than to directly offer a buy button for a “white brimmed hat”.

Write quality content

It is not only written for the algorithm. SEO copywriting needs to “speak” in a balanced way to both readers and web crawlers, and the more you develop SEO, the more you need to have good anchor copy.

But what defines a good article? In particular, it will depend on the objective you are pursuing and the audience you are targeting. Generally, it will seek to answer a question as completely and accurately as possible .

In other words, it is about writing with a defined objective: to advise on a certain topic, to compare options, to prove a theory or to share a story. The key is to connect with readers and build a community with them, providing them with what they are looking for in a clear and entertaining way.

As a copywriter, having a genuine interest and a lot of knowledge of the topic help to write an engaging article. If this is not the case for whatever reason, finding the switch that “turns on the light” of your own curiosity allows you to transmit the same feeling to your readers. After all that’s what they’re looking for (and what Google wants).

Finally, in addition to potential customers and web indexers, blogs are also visited by industry colleagues and/or subject matter experts. It is important to keep them in mind as they are potential quality backlinks, something that reinforces your authority on the subject and improves your page ranking.

Add audiovisual content

Anything that adds to the content is welcome in SEO copywriting, and audiovisual is no exception. Using videos, graphics and related images can help you a lot to rank for a certain keyword, since they attract the readers’ attention better.

In addition to explaining certain concepts or clarifying certain points in your article, audiovisual content has a very shareable nature. They are excellent to reach more people, get backlinks and therefore climb positions in search engines.

Images are also optimized and it is important to take this into account. Later on, when analyzing the structure of an SEO article we will see the basic way to do it, with some reference materials for further deepening. This brings us to the next item on the list:

Including inbound and outbound links in your SEO copywriting

Mentioning your sources or expanding on certain points with links to other blogs is important because it adds value and authority to the content. In addition, the mentioned bloggers may thank you by including a link to your site on their website.

But it is also important to link to other related posts within your own page. This allows the user to continue reading your content, which increases the permanence on the site and the chances of sharing your articles.

In addition, these internal links provide indications to Google’s crawling bots. index and position your website. The higher the number of links, the higher the relevance of the page within the website and, therefore, in the search engine ranking.

A clear and easy-to-read structure

The text must be well organized for both users and Google. It is therefore important to optimize each element of the structure and to think in advance which is the most suitable for each topic.

Title and subtitle in SEO copywriting

The title is the first thing users and indexing bots see. It needs to include the target keyword and be attractive enough to generate clicks. Ideally, they already answer the readers’ question: If they are looking for the trends in handbags for next winter, a good title could be “The 7 trends in handbags for this winter”.

Subheadings then help organize the information and give the algorithm guidelines for ranking the page. H1 is the title, H2 is the main subtitle and H3 is the secondary subtitle. If you can put the keyword in the H2, much better.

First paragraph

The first paragraph is very important for several reasons. A good first paragraph hooks the user to continue reading and is usually the “preview” of the note shown by Google in the search results. Keep in mind that this can also be optimized, as well as the meta-titles, basically the titles with which your articles appear in the search engine.

It is best to organize the content by placing a subtitle every three or four paragraphs. In terms of length, it is advisable to write up to five lines per paragraph, always conveying the concepts clearly and directly.

Bold and bullet points

Bold type is used to highlight both the keywords and the most important concepts of the text -and if they are together in the same line, the better-. On the other hand, the vignettes are another resource that structures the content and makes the reading more bearable. In addition, you can place links that lead directly to the point in question.

Images and videos

As already mentioned, adding audiovisual content is a very effective way to make reading more dynamic. It is recommended to place at least one illustrative image and add more, it gives the reader breaks between text and text, very necessary in long articles.

Add a call to action

There are different ways to close an article by calling readers to action. You can invite them to comment, share on social networks or continue reading other blog posts. You can also place a subscription button, a link to buy in an e-commerce or an access to schedule an appointment.

The call-to-action will depend on the objectives of your page, of that particular blog post and of the strategy that is carried out with the chosen keyword. In any case, it is essential to seek interaction with readers to increase visits and improve the position in the search engine.

Maintaining a blog using SEO copywriting is one of the activities to consider in search engine optimization. It can make a huge difference in how your content is perceived and valued by both users and crawlers.

These tips can help you improve your posts, positively impact Page Rank and increase your chances of appearing in the top 10 for a targeted keyword.