Writing great SEO copy

When writing copy for your website there are some very important rules to consider. The difference between good copy and bad copy can really make an impact on the amount of traffic you drive to your website and how you convert those customers.

If your copy is only half thought out and written in a sloppy, unprofessional way, chances are these are the types of customers you're going to attract.

The best method when producing copy for your website is to have a standard set of rules and try to stick to these. The hints outlined in this article are just some of the things that I have found work well for me, but obviously everyone is different and these won't work for all.

It's always best to take one article or piece of info and use this as a base to learn and grow your skills from.

Write catchy SEO title tags

The title tag is an incredibly important element to use on your page. Not only do search engines rate this fairly highly in their overall ranking algorithm, it's also the tool you use to drive people to your website from a search engine’s results page. Given the fact that it's an important search engine factor and the main thing people see on a SERP (Search Engines Results Page), it's a pretty major thing to get right.

Writing SEO title tags:-

• Search engines only show the first 70 characters, so make sure your statement is made in this space.
• Try to get the keyword phrase you're trying to target at the start of your title tag.
• Give your title tag impact for your users. Make a statement, give something away or offer something to make your users click on your result as opposed to the other nine URLs on the SERP page.
• Make it relevant to your page. If your page content and title tag are both relevant to each other then this will hold more weight when being considered for ranking.

Here’s an example of our Marketeam homepage:-

Brisbane Web Design | Joomla Website Designers | Marketeam

Write description tags with keywords and a call to action

Another essential ingredient for actually driving people to your website from a SERP is to have a call to action in your description tag. Check out our article Why is a 'call to action' so important for SEO? for some helpful tips.

This is probably the most important area where you want to have a call to action from an SEO perspective. The description tag is what gets displayed in the search engines so you have an opportunity to engage your customers using your description tags.

To give you an example of a call to action, the Marketeam homepage description tag is:-

Websites that bring more calls, more customers and more sales. Call Marketeam today on (07) 3882 3375. Experts in Joomla and SEO.

So lets break that down a little...

The first thing mentioned is the benefit to the customer - a website that will bring more calls, more customers and more sales to their business. 

The call to action is for them to phone us, so I have an opportunity to sell them a website. During this phone call I’ll ask the potential customer for their contact details - in particular an email address - so I’m able to communicate with them in the future via our newsletter.

If you're in the type of business that people want to jump on the phone and talk to you, make sure you put your phone number in the description tags of your website. This will enable people to give you a call right from the search engines results page. They don't even have to go to your website to contact you!

Write great headings for users and search engines

It's really important to make your website’s pages easy to scan for your users. Great headlines will enable your users to scan your web page and see if they wish to read the entire article, and they're also great for search engines. There's two angles you will want to take for your headings:-

Headings for your users
It's always a good idea to write some temporary headings for your articles. After you've written the entire article, break it into sections and then refine your headings for your users. The idea should be that users can get to your page, scan the headings and have a good understanding of what the entire article is about.

Headings for search engines
When creating your headings you will also need to take into consideration the fact that search engines will also be looking at these and take your headings into account when ranking your website (as long as you add the right element to your headings... more on that in a second). To ensure you get the most bang for your buck try to create a heading that is themed around the main keyword you're trying to target.

When adding your headings to your page ensure they are enclosed in a H tag. A <h2> tag is preferable and this is the one I typically use.

Write your SEO copy with the benefit of the users in mind

This is probably the most important aspect of writing good copy in general. All of us in business have something to sell. Whether it's a product, service or information you should always have the benefit of your users in mind. If you keep this front of mind then your users will get more out of a visit to your website than just reading about how great you are or how long you've been in business.

Writing with the benefit of your end users in mind will help you to convert more of the customers you’ll get from your improved rankings. Remember that SEO is about driving targeted traffic to your website and converting these people into customers – not just about ranking a website #1 for a particular term.

Looking at your copy from an SEO perspective I recommend looking at some keyword tools in the first instance and getting some keywords and keyword variations along with semantically related keyword terms.

Try the Google Adwords Keyword Tool or My Keyworder for starters.

Then it's a case of incorporating these into your content and making it readable for your users.

So there you have it, the three main elements of writing SEO copy:-

• Title tag
• Description tag
• Content

If you have any questions about this article, please contact me directly on (07) 3882 3375 or email peter@marketeam.com.au