Writing Effective Search Engine Optimized Copy For the Web

Writing SEO copy can feel like a minefield. Get it right and your website will attract new customers via search engines and increase sales. Get it wrong and new customers simply will not find your site. The good news is, there are some simple things you can do that will make all the difference.

As far as the search engines are concerned, they want to find the most relevant content for each users search. They do this by looking at two things. The first is inbound links, which tell the search engines how important you are. The second is the content, which tells the search engines what you do and how relevant you are for each particular search.

Think Web Pages, not Websites
Google looks at each of your web pages on its own merits, rather than looking at your site as a whole. So, when you are planning the structure of your website, you need to think about your key areas. Make sure that each area has its own page. That way, you can optimise each page for a particular product, offering or benefit.

For example, if your website sells electrical products, divide the site into separate pages for broad areas such as kitchen appliances, then create individual pages within these categories for products such as washing machines and irons.

Keyword Research
It is crucial that you get your keywords right, so rather than guessing, use keyword research. Single keywords tend to have more competition, making it difficult to get good organic search rankings for them, so it is far better to be more specific and choose keyword phrases.

For example, an airline should use 'cheap flights to Malta' rather than 'flights'. This also helps to ensure you get good quality traffic. People are more clued-up these days about search engines and know that more specific keyword phrases are more likely to deliver what they are looking for.

Emphasise your USPs
In the same way that USPs are important when you are writing sales copy, they are just as relevant to SEO copy. If you offer something unique, it is worth including it in your keyword phrases. If for example, your airline is the only one offering flights to a particular city, include that in your keyword research.

Building Keyword Phrases into your Copy
Content is king. There is no point in attracting lots of people to your page, if what they find is nonsense. Nobody likes to read copy that has keyword phrases clumsily or inappropriately dumped in the middle of every sentence. It is important to get the balance right and make sure that the keyword phrases are not getting in the way of the readability of the page.

Start by writing a first draft of your page, focusing on what you want to say. Then look at how you can incorporate your keyword phrases without losing the essence of the content.

For example, if you mention that your airline offers a huge range of European flights, you could expand on that by saying that these include 'flights to Italy' and 'flights to France'. Or you could change 'European flights' to 'cheap European flights' if that is one of your keyword phrases.

Focus on two or three keyword phrases per page. If you have too many, you will end up diluting them and they will be less effective. It is worth getting someone to sense check your copy. They will soon be able to tell you where the keyword phrases are getting in the way of readability.

Keyword Saturation
Each page needs to consist of well written copy, laced with your chosen keyword phrases. Approximately 5% of your content should be keywords. It is important not to go over 10%, though, as search engines may think you are spamming and penalise you with a low ranking. Measuring keyword density is the only way to ensure your keyword phrases are appearing prominently to search engines.

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