How to use SEO copywriting to boost traffic

SEO copywriting combines professional writing skills with knowledge of search engine optimisation (SEO) to create content that helps generate more traffic for your website.

It’s more than just selling a product. We use time-honed copywriting strategies to highlight your product’s unique properties and maximise the amount of views it gets. More views means more potential sales.

How is SEO copywriting different from normal copywriting?

Copywriting for business prompts readers to take a specific action. We craft sentences to better advertise, promote and encourage customer engagement. Our job is to combine our knowledge of your business and what your target audience wants to persuade users to stay engaged in your content and—ultimately—choose you over your competition.

SEO refers to a variety of arcane methods used to ensure your website content is visible on search engine result pages, so more customers can find you. But SEO without copywriting tends to sound clunky (I’m sure you’ve seen an example—anywhere it looks like the author has stuffed keywords in willy-nilly without caring how it reads). All it does is turn potential customers off.

SEO copywriters, however, write optimised copy that delights both humans and the Google gods.

How SEO works.

Every time you search Google (or your fave search engine), you see a list of related websites. But did you ever stop to wonder why the search engine has chosen to list those websites in that exact order?

SEO is to blame.

When you optimise your site well according to SEO rules, you’re more likely to rank on the first page of results. There’s other elements at play, too, like how popular your site is with users. But just ranking on page one means your site’s popularity will rise as well, so one feeds into the other creating a perfect SEO storm.

So far, so good. Now your website will need to pass the next hurdle—persuading a user to click on your link over all the others they see listed on page one.

This is where a good SEO copywriter who knows their stuff comes in handy.

The meta descriptions displayed on the search page are designed to help users find what they’re looking for. If your meta description is compelling and informative (tricky to do sometimes in less than 170 characters), you stand a better chance of users clicking on your link and finding themselves on your website.

And the more people who click on your link, the more popular your site becomes in Google’s eyes, and the further up the ranks you’re propelled.

That SEO storm is now building momentum.

But it doesn’t just stop there. Once a user arrives on your home page, they also need to find what they’re looking for. You need to engage them to stick around on your site a while to—you guessed it—improve your rankings.

If too many users click away from your site too quickly, Google assumes your SEO doesn’t match your content and drops you down the search result ranks. So, how you present your business on your website is also crucial to keeping your rankings high. Poorly worded, boring copy stuffed with keywords is a guaranteed way to lose in the game of SEO.

With over 500 million searches made daily, and search engines accounting for over 85 percent of all new visitors to websites, the benefits of using an SEO copywriter are clear. In fact, 61% of marketers believe that good SEO is the key to online success.

That means you can’t afford to ignore it.

The basics.

If your brain has started to make that keening sound that signals we’ve got a bit too technical too fast, never fear. Here’s a list of SEO basics you’ll want to consider for your site:

Keyword/phrase—these are words people are more likely to use to search things they want to find online. Discover which ones people looking for your business use the most and add one per web page, and you’re on your way to SEO success.
Meta description/ title tags—these help define what the topic is for search engines and searchers. They need to include the page’s keyword but also stand out to readers, so they want to click on your link.
Headlines/Titles—make them interesting, applicable to users and add the page’s keyword.
Properly tagged images—include the alt attribute when uploading images to your content and—you guessed it—use the keyword for that page if it makes sense to do so.
Internal linking—links to other pages in your website to show your content is meaningful.
Backlinking—links to other websites, preferably ones with greater authority.
Authority—higher ranking websites have higher authority. Backlinking to well-established sites adds value to your website and gives it more credibility and better rankings.

And, for the sake of all that’s holy, please try to avoid stuffing your content with keywords, unnecessary jargon, annoying ads or excessive links—you won’t be doing yourself any favours with your customers and it will probably propel your site down the rankings, toot-suite.

Did you know 97% of consumers research your business online before they contact you. This statistic proves how important it is your website stands out for your target audience.

Remember, it’s not just the technical details that are crucial to SEO. Don’t overlook the importance of the actual content of your website. Quality content is key to increasing views. Make sure that the content displayed on your website is clear, concise, informative, scannable and relevant to your product.

I hope this blog has demystified some of what SEO copywriters do and how we work.

Don’t feel overwhelmed if you haven’t heard some of the terms used. With a bit of online research, you can find out what will work best for your unique business. Or just go ahead and hire an SEO copywriter—it’s their job to make sure your business doesn’t slip through the web.