8 Tips On SEO Copywriting That Can Help You Rank Better

In this new Infobunny article we share with you 8 tips on SEO copywriting that can help you rank better in 2019 and beyond.

So let’s get started!

Are you looking for a way to increase your conversions?

Have you ever considered SEO copywriting?

This powerful technique can help you rank higher, get more eyes on your copy and inherently sell more through the power of persuasion.

If you are new SEO copywriting then take a look at this guide on how to write the perfect SEO copy.

What is SEO Copywriting?

SEO copywriting is an art of persuasion, just like regular copywriting is.

However, this one has an extra kick – it helps you rank better in search results.

So, SEO copywriting means writing so that it appeals to people and search engines.

When you write copy with SEO in mind, your job is to include keywords naturally.

Readers shouldn’t be able to tell that you optimized for Google and the search engine should be able to rank you high without penalizing you for poor SEO usage.

For instance, SEO copywriting is writing a compelling first paragraph while still including a keyword in the first sentence.

Blending the two areas may seem simple and easy but it’s more complex than you think.

Adding keywords seamlessly while keeping your copy persuasive is difficult and requires a lot of knowledge in both fields.

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8 SEO Copywriting Tips

Beginner SEO copywriters could benefit by studying each area separately for a while and then practising creating a perfect mix of each of these areas.

However, there are some basic things every new SEO copywriter should know before they start writing.

Here are some basic SEO Copywriting tips:

1. Understand your audience

If you want your copy to be effective, you need to understand your customers first.

And the best way to do that is to create a buyer persona.

Do deep research into who your customer is – or who your ideal customer is.

Then you should gather all of that information – age, gender, habits, behaviour, likes, dislikes and all of the little things you can discover about your customer – and create a fictitious profile.

When you write copy, from then on, you address that single person.

This person represents your audience and who they are as a whole.

This helps you figure out their pain points and what their objections to your pitch would be.

One of the easier ways to do this is to figure out what your customers need and wants is to look at what they say on dedicated forums.

These are the places where people are sharing their thoughts and pain points, looking for a solution.

When you look at their posts there, you should look at the keywords they have used – these are their pain points with solutions they found and their requirements when it comes to the service or product.

Then you can create copy that includes those exact keywords – this is what they would be used to conduct research – and respond to their requirements and pain points at the same time. This is how you start speaking in your audience’s voice.

2. Create enticing headlines

Everyone is aware of just how important headlines are.

This is the first thing that your readers would see when you come up in the search results.

If you were the only one there, this would be simple.

However, there are thousands of links and headlines distracting the customer.

Each headline is fighting for attention.

The wrong thing to do here is to go quirky and clever.

This used to be a trend in attracting attention but it doesn’t do the job.

The key is to be relevant – both to the audience and the topic at hand.

There are, of course, some tricks that work better than the others, and you could use them to make your headline more compelling.

• Try to insert a number in your headline. This is a popular trick and a pretty well-known one too. It works because the number either gives the reader some structure and insight into what’s in the text (7 tips, 5 Tricks…) or becomes the proof of quality or effectiveness (Business earned $1 million, I earned $5000 this month just by… ).

• Headlines that have 12 to 18 words work the best and receive the highest engagement.

• There are also some phrases that work best. In B2B, these would be “the future of”, “need to know”, “10 ways to” etc. In B2C, headlines that have “This is what”, “10 Reasons why”

• Certain types of posts receive more engagement than others – how-to articles, lists, complete guides, and so on.

• Keep your copy persuasive.

 

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3. Write longer content

While there is no tangible connection between writing long content and getting a better ranking or more visitors – or even selling more – longer content has more advantages than short content.

For one, it’s great for SEO.

People spend more time on your page.

Longer content usually has more useful information, so it gets shared more and gets more backlinks which is how Google evaluates the quality of your content.

It has been found in numerous studies that the best-ranking pages are usually between 1500-2000 words long.

While copy is slightly different than content and there are not many chances to insert backlinks to authority sites, you can still rely on longer copy being more efficient. You have more time to handle all of the pain points, present results and benefits and persuade them with detailed storytelling.

4. Proofread

Good copy is always accurate.

You have to proofread and edit relentlessly to get everything in order.

Of course, accuracy is not getting you more conversions, but if the copy is full of mistakes, you’ll be losing money.

So, make sure that the copy you create has no typos, no grammar mistakes, and that the syntax makes sense.

Here are some helpful tools that could help you with that:

– Mywritingway and Via writing are online writing guides that offer tips on various grammar rules and which you can break for the sake of good copy and dynamic.
– Boomessays is an online editing tool mentioned by Bestaustralianwriters in their blog. It can help you edit all of the fluff out.
– Academ advisor is a grammar checker who can check your copy for grammar mistakes.
– Essayroo and Paperfellows are content formatting tools that can help you create plenty of white space and draw attention to the right parts.
– Revieweal and Academized which you can use to generate catchy titles, subheadings and research keywords.

 

5. Include a CTA

CTA, or call-to-action, is a necessity in every piece of copy.

You can usually find it at the end of the copy and it entices readers to take action.

This could start with a question and end with an invite to take action.

For instance, “click the link, buy, read more, see the pricing, send an email, comment, take a survey, share” and so on are all calls to action.

You can’t have great copy without a stellar CTA.

Let’s say you wrote the perfect piece of copy – it responds to all of the pain points and lists all the benefits.

The reader is satisfied and wants to do something.

But what?

What was the point of your copy?

Where do they go from there?

Without a CTA, they don’t know.

And don’t fool yourself into thinking that they will search for an answer for themselves – share or buy, without you asking them to.

Your customer will move on because they didn’t want to do the hard work.

It’s your job to make it simple and easy for them.

Otherwise, they’ll give up.

6. Formatting

Formatting is the key to having your piece read.

It involves many different actions, all in favor of making your content more appealing visually.

People don’t want to read a block of text.

They need structure, dynamic and white space to rest their eyes.

Imagine landing on a page where there is no formatting at all – there are no bullet points, no subheadings, no paragraphs.

What would you do?

Reading that would be a nightmare.

You wouldn’t be able to stay focused, especially since the whole thing is on a screen.

What are you going to do, track the lines with your cursor or thumb?

No, you would probably leave the page and look for a more readable solution.

That’s how your audience feels.

And this is true no matter the demographic, habits, or behavior.

Here are some things that you should do:

• Create paragraphs. Short paragraphs – two to three lines at most.

• Create subheadings. This gives your text some structure and it’s easier to read through or scan through.

• Use bullet points. This is another way to create structure and also a great way to separate a complex topic into something more comprehensible.

• Bold the most important points. This could be a sentence, a word, or a number. This signals to the reader what’s important and helps them remember these parts better.

• Use a readable font. While the title of your copy could possibly be in cursive or styled font, your text body needs to be written in a simple serif or sans serif.

• The font should be 14pt to 16pt ideally.

Colors are also important.

This is not so much your decision because the design is probably out of your hands but a simple black on white (or dark letters on a light background) is the best way to go.

The space around your copy needs to be clean and distraction-free.

The design should also not intrude on bright colors or complex backgrounds.

7. Include keywords

The keywords are the prime factor in SEO.

This means that your copy needs to have them.

But, as mentioned, you need to insert them seamlessly, without your reader noticing.

Before you start writing your copy, you should focus on doing good keyword research.

You can do so on Google Analytics or other popular sites.

When you find keywords that you are going to use, then you should know where you need to put them in order to make them effective.

• Headings – Putting a keyword in your heading is a good way to tell Google what your text is about. The best practice is to place the keyword as close to the beginning of the title as you can.

• Subheadings – Not every subheading needs to have a keyword but one or two should.

• First 100 words of your text – Again, the closer to the beginning, the better.

• Sprinkle them throughout the text – Yoast usually advises up to 4% of your text should be the keywords.

The keywords are essential in making your text findable.

Place your keywords strategically in order to get the most out of them.

Google highly values H1 and H2 tags which makes it very important to include keywords as well.

You should also include plenty of keywords in your text.

This will ensure that your content can rank high in search engines,” says Sabrina Helsing, a social media manager at Stateofwriting.

 

8. Use bucket brigades

Bucket brigades are an advanced technique that copywriters use to draw the attention of their users.

It’s fun to read and it usually does the job.

Here is how you do it – you create a short sentence that forces the reader to read the second one to get more context.

It’s pretty simple.

Here are some of the most popular bucket brigades that you can use:

• Here is what you need to know

• What’s next?

• Want to know how?

• Check this out

• You won’t believe this

• Wow! Or Boom!

• You are about to learn something extraordinary.

• You can do it like this:

 

Bucket brigades are an amazing way to make people smile while drawing them in and inviting them to find out more.

You can definitely use them in many places.

Such a simple tool, so commonly used yet so many people forget about them when the time comes to write great copy.

Remember this and use it whenever you can,” says Donald Berstein, a marketing manager at Eliteassignmenthelp and Study demic.

Creating the perfect SEO copy takes time and research as well as a lot of knowledge in SEO and copywriting.

However, once you get the hang of it, you’ll realize just how simple it can be.

SEO Copywriting 2021 – 8 Tips That Can Help You Rank Better In 2019 – Takeaways

As you now know writing for your readers and for SEO is not that hard, it just really comes down to practice

Make sure that you do always proofread before you publish. 

Does your article read well?

Are there any words or phrases that jump out as not required?

These are the red flags that you need to watch for

Make sure that you follow the proofread tip and all of the other rules and tips for perfect SEO copy.

That’s all for now!

So do you write for both your audience and the search engines?

If you tend to focus just on your audience then perhaps you should rethink your strategy and adopt a more SEO copywriting approach.

Do have any SEO Copywriting tips for us in 2021 we should add to this post?

Leave us a comment below and let us know, make sure that you subscribe to the comments so you are notified when we reply.

Regards 

Freddie

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