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What Is SEO copywriting

By Steve Kellas, Content Director

SEO – Search Engine Optimisation.

I am going to begin with stating that if you are a copywriter worth anything, you are already doing some SEO copywriting. Why? Because good copywriters write content that people will find pertinent, interesting and hopefully persuasive enough to take some action. Good copywriters know that by using the words that people expect you to use, they will your find copy MORE compelling and more relevant. For example, if I sell soap, you would expect me to tell you that my natural soap cleans, is scented with lavender and washes dirt away. 4 keywords in one sentence. How would you have searched for my product? Perhaps natural lavender washing soap...

It's all in the search words

To get SEO copywriting you simply need to understand which words people are using to look for what you have to offer, and where to use those words to help the search engines 'know' that your site has what that person is looking for. For a quick bit of research, type your keywords into a search engine. Look at the results and, if you're searching Google, look at the bottom for 'related searches'. How many of your competitors are using those words? Does anyone from your industry even show up? What other words are they using? What are the related search terms (words)?

Relevance

Beyond just the words, SEO copywriters need to understand a bit about how people/search engines decide that your website is relevant enough to recommend (show it in the search results). We look for cues in the content (relevance criteria). For my soap example, you might judge my website by asking some questions:

• Is this a soap site (look at the domain name)?
• Is Steve a soapmaker (about Steve the soapmaker)?
• Are the words I expect to see (searched with) on this page?
• Do the images match the contents of the page (is there a picture of soap)?
• Do other people think this site is relevant (do they link to Steve soap)?

In terms of SEO, that last question is the most important criteria. People (and therefore search engines) want to know if anyone else thinks my site is relevant. The more people I can get to write about my soaps on other sites and LINK to my website, the more trusted I become.  How do we get others to think our site is good? Well, we can't trick them into it. We have to convince them. And we do that by writing compelling, relevant content that they will want to link to. Right back to the beginning – good copywriting.

Optimised for Those That Search (OTTS)

SEOmoz has a great example of the 'perfect page' built with SEO in mind. This ticks all the SEO boxes.

What you will notice is that every piece of CONTENT on that example page is focused on (optimised for) what is relevant to people (Those That Search). All you need to know is which places to focus your writing on the key words that people would use to describe your product or service.

Good SEO copywriting is writing content and copy that works for people. Good writing that people will like combined with knowing where you should write it will help them find you.

SEO copy is copy that is OTTS.

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