Unlock the Potential of Your Content: A Guide to SEO Copywriting
If you’re selling a product or service online, you’ll know all too well about the importance of digital content. But when it comes to creating compelling content, you can be left feeling like you are walking on eggshells. On the one hand, you’ve got SEOs telling you to optimise content for search engine algorithms. On the other hand, copywriters will quickly remind you that content must appeal to human emotions. So which one is it, should your content be designed to rank high on search engines or should it be designed to persuade people to take action?
What is SEO writing?
SEO writing refers to content that is written with search engines in mind. Copy that has been crafted for search engines will have a focus on keywords, these are the words that a product or website aims to rank for. For e-commerce products, these keywords will need to be implemented across product and collection pages.
This is usually achieved in areas such as product descriptions and FAQ sections. For example, a website selling handmade ornaments could target homeware gifts as a keyword. This keyword could be incorporated into the main heading of a collection page and the hero section of the homepage.
You could also incorporate the keyword into an FAQ section by adding questions such as:
• How do I take care of my homeware gifts?
• How long will it take to ship my homeware gifts?
• Can I return my homeware gifts if I don’t like them?
It’s also common to target what are known as LSI keywords, this stands for latent semantic indexing keywords. While it sounds complicated, these are simply words that relate to your primary keyword. In the case of a store selling homeware gifts, this may include terms such as home ornaments, decorations for home, and handmade gifts.
Writing copy based on these search terms will leave you with what would be classed as SEO writing or content that would be appreciated by search engine algorithms. However, it’s important to note that there are far more factors to consider when it comes to ranking on search engines like Google. These include link building, the age of a website and user experience factors.
What is copywriting?
If SEO writing is writing for search engines, copywriting is the exact opposite. A general definition of copywriting would be the art of persuading people to take action through words. Unlike SEO writing, copywriting isn’t limited to the digital world, and copywriters may be expected to work across channels such as print, TV and out-of-home marketing.
Where SEO focuses on keywords, copywriting focuses on the reader and often plays on emotions. Strong copy should instil a feeling inside a person, this could be happiness, excitement or even fear. In fact, some of the best examples of copywriting you’ll find are designed to generate fear inside the reader’s mind.
Check out this example of an advert for hair loss treatment that leads with the statement, ‘There’s no magic cure for baldness’ which is designed to stir up fear and create a sense of urgency. You can see how this type of copy is written for a human rather than for a search engine.
What is SEO copywriting?
When it comes to writing content for websites and webpages, it doesn’t have to be a choice between humans and search engines. For many, the right approach lies in finding the right balance between the two. In fact, no content should be written solely for search engines. With recent Google updates, content that is too focused on search engines will be penalised.
SEO copywriting would involve working keywords and other SEO tactics into persuasive copy that is focused on the person reading. The first thing to focus on is obviously the words, but be aware that easy-to-read formatting and linking to other helpful resources also help content to be more beneficial to humans.