SEO Copywriting: what is it

If you think that an article about SEO Copywriting needs to contain hundreds of times the SEO Copywriting keyword to position itself correctly on Google, you are wrong. Keywords are not everything. On the contrary, the so-called “keyword stuffing” is penalized by the most famous search engine, which rewards the pages considered of higher quality after the analysis performed according to the secret and sophisticated algorithm it uses. Nobody knows for sure how it works, but the SEO specialists of every era have tried to intuit its “tastes”, succeeding in giving us today some best practices for the writing of SEO-oriented texts.

Optimized content for search engines and users

Not only keywords, we were saying: the features that Google associates with quality texts are quite different, among which – spoilers – we find originality and spontaneity. That’s right. The mysterious algorithm tends in fact to bring in the highest positions of the SERP the pages of the websites that it considers more useful according to the information need expressed by the person who types his query on the search bar. And a text stuffed with keywords, which is repetitive and poor in value content will certainly struggle to meet people’s information needs.

So should we forget about keywords? Absolutely not: you just have to learn how to use them correctly. The starting point is to grasp the real meaning of the expression “keywords”: for us they become “key” because they help us understanding how people look for information, products and services on Google. What kind of language they use, with what syntax, what are the details that are most relevant to them on a given topic, details that we wouldn’t have thought of before we did a keyword search.

If we have to write content that Google likes,first of all we must write content that people like, because Google wants to offer them the best experience in terms of quality and usefulness. And so do we.

SEO writing techniques, an introductory guide

So how do you create optimized content for search engines and people? There are some features that a good SEO text must have.

As already mentioned, a text written with a SEO perspective must be natural: the keywords that emerge from the initial analysis on a given topic must, yes, be inserted in the text to make it stand at the top of the SERP when people search for certain topics, but without forcing them. Words must scroll one after the other, in a simple way, texts must be clear and explanatory: lexical refinement and virtuosities must be exploited by writers elsewhere, because they are not appreciated by Google and do not help the good positioning among users’ search results.

Natural, okay, but also original: copycats are penalized, because a text already present elsewhere – even within the same website – is not considered of quality by the search engine algorithm. Any suggestions? Investigate the topics we want to write about directly from primary sources, instead of simply relying on what others say on the web.

When designing a Content Marketing strategy for a company, for example, the first step is to listen to the company: its history, its values, its products, its curiosities. Then you get never seen information, which will provide the basis to design the best communication strategy, but also original content to cross-reference with people’s search engines to create great texts for the web. An example? Some time ago I told you about the SEO-Copywriting project realized for Lazzaris (and about the excellent results achieved through the strategy adopted).

The deepening is another feature particularly appreciated by Google in the pages of websites: we are not necessarily talking about long texts, but more about well-structured content, which can answer many questions on a single theme, exposing each issue in an orderly, simple and clear way.

SEO Copywriting Checklist

Trying to make a little more practical the notions of the previous paragraph, here are some simple tips to follow to create good SEO Copywriting and allow the content we create to position itself well on search engines for the topics of interest.

#1 Creating orderly texts…

First things first, also taking up a bit, if you like, what are the 5W of Anglo-Saxon journalism: a good SEO-oriented text always starts by framing the main topic with precision and simplicity. This means that the introductory paragraph will always contain the main keywords identified for the topic we’re writing about – go back to the beginning of this article, for example -. Only afterwards we’ll go into the secondary issues, to which we’ll dedicate well outlined paragraphs.

#2 …and well-structured contents

Each detail introduced must be immediately identifiable within an ad hoc paragraph: how? By using the paragraph headings. Just as the title of a page (or an article) must always contain the main keywords to allow readers and Google to immediately understand the topic, secondary titles (h2, h3, etc.) must also be designed according to the same criterion, naturally referring to the content of the paragraph that follows them.

#3 What about keywords? In the most important positions

From the two previous points, we can derive the third tip: keywords should preferably be inserted in the most relevant portions of text. At the beginning of the page, in the titles, but also in the SEO title and in the metadescription, two elements that, together with the url, are part of the Snippet, that is that little bit of text that appears on Google’s SERP when we look for something. Why do you have to use keywords in this way? Because online users, rather than reading, scan texts in search of information of interest to them.

#4 Bold in the text? Yes, but judiciously

The same goes for the use of boldface: it must be used to highlight the most relevant words, allowing you to understand even with a simple scan of the text the overall meaning of the content. Please note: this is a gimmick to improve the experience of the content and not a real search engine positioning issue. Although, as we said at the beginning, quality helps positioning, and offering a good reading experience to users, it certainly increases the quality of a page.

#5 Yes to bulleted and text lists

Returning more to the factor “Order and structure”, but always with a view to offering the best experience to people, the use of bulleted and numbered lists is an excellent expedient to adopt in texts where many points are necessary in order to deepen a particular topic.

Here ends this small introductory guide to SEO Copywriting. You may be wondering how it is possible to create natural, original and pleasant texts for readers, keeping all these rules in mind. Well, this is the talent of a good copywriter: being able to combine the creativity inherent in the creation of a text with the writing techniques that help web pages to position themselves on engines. Adding to this, when writing texts for a customer, the ability to convey the identity of the brand and the specifics of its products or services. An association that, little by little, becomes spontaneous and natural in the hands of a copywriter.