The goal of all good search engine optimization programs should be to hone your online brand so that when your prospects use a search engine to look for what you offer, they have a better chance of finding your site in the results.
Google’s job is to show people the most relevant content relating to their searches. With all the recent updates on the search engines, it’s important to understand that what people think is quality content is what Google ranks highly.
So, how can your brand use SEO copywriting to do better online? Let’s look at three ways.
1. Use copywriting to increase conversions
You want more conversions on your site. We all do. The key to conversion is understanding persuasion. And the key to persuasion is language. Quality copywriting has always used the language of the target audience to engage and persuade. By writing about prospects’ needs and explaining in their own words how and why a product or service solves the need, copywriting increases the chances that a prospect will be convinced and convert.
In short, copywriting provides the relevance – the answer to the ‘so what…?’ question in the mind of the prospect. Copy doesn’t need to be fancy or flashy or clever. It needs to direct and persuade.
2. Write website pages around keywords you want to rank for
SEO copywriting seeks to understand the language of your prospects through research. The words that prospects use in searches for your product or service become the key words of the writing. Using these keywords in the copy aids persuasion and conversion because the prospect feels that your brand is in ‘sync’ with their needs.
Google and the other search engines know this and that is why their algorithms are geared around language. The closer your page is to using the exact language of your prospects, the better you will do in the search results.
Traditionally, brands have been very inward looking, putting up pages such as ‘About Us’ or ‘Our Services’ when they would be better to focus these pages on the keywords they want to rank for.
From an SEO copywriting perspective, ‘Services’ should be keyword-driven. For example, ‘Legal Advice Services’ or even more specifically ‘Accident & Injury Legal Advice’.
The reason to do this should be to aid clarity. Your prospects aren’t searching for ‘products’ or ‘services’. They are looking for something specific to solve a problem or aid them – a need. By using the specific words (keywords) as the anchor for the page, it is easier for the search engine to decide that your page is highly relevant and it is easier for your prospect to see immediately on arriving that you have what they want.
That’s win-win.
3. Create more pages around keywords for more ‘discoverability’
Having one page on a core phrase is good. Having more is better. More pages of content centred around your keywords puts more into the search engines, making it easier for them (and your prospects) to judge the relevance of your brand to the search. In other words, it is easier to be discovered.
This doesn’t mean putting out pages with similar-sounding content. This means publishing many types of content with a similar theme (keywords). For example, you might have a service page on your Personal Injury Service, a ‘how to’ page on how to work with a Personal Injury Solicitor, a guide page on Personal Injury Law, and several blog posts about changes and updates in Personal Injury laws and regulations.
With proper SEO copywriting, you can create unlimited ways for your prospects to find you in the search engines. Doing so also gives your prospects many pieces of content that are there to persuade and convince them to become customers.
About the Author
Derryck Strachan is a SEO copywriter and managing director of Big Star Copywriting, a leading UK copywriting agency. They provide copywriting services, content marketing and training to clients across the UK and internationally.