SEO and Copywriting: How to Attract Both Search Engines and People

Search engine optimization (SEO) is only part of the job to create successful online content. Good SEO brings your target audience to your website. Good online copywriting draws them in, makes them want to keep reading, and leads them to the call to action.

Both SEO and copywriting are aspects of online marketing. They're steps in getting potential customers interested in your products and services.

An overview of copywriting

Copywriting has been a skill since long before the Web and SEO existed. Used for print and now online as well, it's preparing copy, particularly advertising copy, for publication. Its purpose is to get readers to read the first sentence, and then the sentence after that, and then to keep reading and ultimately respond to your call to action — take advantage of a special offer, place an order, sign up for a newsletter, or contact you. It should establish rapport with readers and inform and persuade them.

Web hosting provider lists tips for effective copywriting:

• Know the target audience and write for them.
• Make the first sentence and every other sentence work towards your goal. Don't waffle or waste words; draw readers in right away.
• Write compelling headings that draw attention to the benefits of the products or services.
• Focus on your readers. Use "you" more than "I" or "we." Make the content about them and how you can meet their needs and wants.
• Use a conversational tone. Be friendly and informal.
• Provide information and back up your statements with facts and sources where possible.
• Write simply and concisely. Make it easy to understand for people with a range of reading abilities.
• Include a call to action.
• Repeat or summarize the key points.

An overview of SEO

SEO is optimizing your website for search engines so that when people search the Web for your products or services, your site will place high in the search results. For articles about SEO, see the SEO and Search Engine Optimization category at the right. A summary here:

Keyword choices and locations

• Research and choose keywords, both short tail and long tail keywords, which are specific to your products and services. Look for words and phrases that your target audience will use when searching online.
• Give each page at your site a focus, and optimize it for keywords specific to that focus.
• Use the keywords for each page in the title, the headings, bulleted lists, anchor text, and elsewhere in the text.

Writing style

Search engine bots don't know the type and quality of writing with these exceptions:

• They recognize keyword stuffing, which is repeating keywords numerous times on a page or in the meta tags. The purpose of keyword stuffing is for the page to do well in search results for those terms, but excessive keyword stuffing can lead to a site being banned from search engines. When done on the page, keyword stuffing makes the page less readable to people as it obviously isn't written with them in mind.
• They recognize when keywords are used in context by their proximity to words and phrases that are commonly used with those keywords.

Page content

For SEO purposes, pages should not be long and should be focused. A page about just one product can have a higher keyword ratio for words about that product than a page about several products can. Also, search engines tend to give more weight to content closer to the top of the page, so longer pages have more content that is given less weight than short pages do.

SEO and online copywriting together

Online copywriting combines the principles and skills of copywriting, web writing, and SEO. It's making web pages that are selling or promoting something compelling to both search engine bots and to people.

Keyword choices and locations

Choose keywords and their locations as above, but work the keywords into your copy. Write text that flows naturally with the keywords, and most visitors won't notice what keywords you've optimized the page for. Use the keywords to draw attention to sections of your copy in headings and elsewhere. They'll help guide site visitors through the page copy just as they helped bring them to it.

Writing style

Write for people while optimizing the content for keywords as above.

Web writing and copywriting are informal. Use contractions where they sound natural, and choose shorter words over longer words. Read the copy out loud to check that it flows and sounds like you're talking to your readers. Choose a tone suited for your target audience. Avoid hype.

Use lots of headings. Keep most sentences under about 20 words. Vary the length of your sentences and paragraphs. Use bulleted lists when you have list-type content.

Page content

Each web page is a potential landing page, and the copy should create immediate interest in your products and services. It should persuade visitors to want to do business with your company. It should keep them engaged all the way to your online call to action — which may be to click on a link to another page at your site.

The above description of page content for SEO purposes works for copywriting purposes too. Short pages are easier to read and easier to lead readers through. Inform readers by building on the keywords for each page while writing with the aim to connect and sell.

Related blog articles

• The Short Tail and Long Tail of Keyword Use
• How to SEO Your Website Fast
• Information Architecture and SEO
• The New Art of Persuasion: What Worked Before Won’t Work Now
• Writing for Search Engines without Shooting Yourself in the Foot
• Writing for the Web Versus Writing for Print

More in this web hosting blog

See also the articles in the Keywords category of this web hosting blog.