What is SEO Copywriting?

by Jon Wuebben

First, it’s important to know what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of using a variety of techniques to improve a site’s ranking on the search engines. These things could include editing or adding to HTML code, working with site navigation features, employing linking strategies, and last but not least: Web Page Copywriting.

The challenge for many businesses is that they don’t know the basics. The information in this blog as well as my book, Content Rich, will put you well on your way!

Serving Two Masters

Your website copy serves to unique functions. The two masters we are referring to? The Search Engines like Google and Yahoo and the potential customer who has found your site. They both have unique needs. The search engines are asking you to use certain keyword phrases a few times, in a few certain places and on a few different pages. The customer is asking for benefits – what’s this gym going to do for me if I join it? How is a membership to the Sunset Wine Club different or better than signing up for Cameron Hughes’ Wine Club? They couldn’t care less whether you’ve used a certain set of words 4.5 times, especially at the top of the page and in the sub-headers and Meta tags.

The big fallacy out there with SEO copywriting is that you can’t serve these two masters at the same time. The truth is that you can. It’s actually fairly straightforward. There’s a system to it, a certain way of approaching it, of course; but it can be done, with no problem whatsoever.

Making People Want to Link to You

Search engine algorithms have evolved to the point where link building has become more important than ever. What people think about your blog, website and other online content and how they describe it in their links is absolutely essential to the optimization process now. Of course, they can do more than just link to it now – they can dig it, bookmark it and who knows what else in the near future – this is a fast moving game! Make your SEO copywriting so good that people are literally compelled to jump on the bandwagon. It will pay huge dividends.

Summary

So, what is SEO copy? It’s a means of communicating confidence and integrity on behalf of an online business. It’s a means of ranking better on the search engines and selling more through your site. It’s getting people to want to link to you. All of these factors can be addressed through the copywriting process. The sections you write and the words you choose can be decided upon by looking at each of these reasons and then coming up with the best language to provide a good feeling in the prospective customer’s mind.

Make sure you write a Privacy page on your site, organize the copy in logical fashion, and reassure the customer that their information won’t be sold to anyone else. In essence, make them feel comfortable to do business with you. You’re not there in person to shake their hand, make direct eye contact and tell them it will “all be ok,” so make sure your copy does that for you.