In today’s world, having a website is crucial to your business’s success, but just having a website is not enough. It is important to make sure your website is seen by your target audience. That’s where writing a SEO-optimised copy comes in. SEO or search engine optimisation is the process of improving the visibility of a website on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. One of the most important components of SEO is copywriting.
SEO copywriting is the art of creating content that is designed to be picked up by search engines while still engaging and resonating with your target audience. It involves using specific keywords and phrases that are relevant to your business, and that people are searching for, in your website’s content.
In this article, we will discuss ten tips for writing SEO-optimised copy that will help your website rank higher on search engines and ultimately drive more traffic to your site.
How to write a SEO-optimised copy
1. Do Your Research
Research is a critical step in creating effective SEO-optimised copy that drives traffic and boosts conversion rates.
Here are a few tips to help you do your research:
- Use keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to find relevant keywords for your niche.
- Focus on long-tail keywords that are specific to your business, as they are typically less competitive and more likely to convert.
- Analyze your competitors’ websites to see what keywords they are using, and identify opportunities to differentiate your content.
2. Write for Your Audience
Writing for your audience means creating content that speaks directly to their needs, interests, and pain points.
By understanding your audience and what they’re looking for, you can create content that is engaging, valuable, and more likely to be shared and linked to.
3. Use Headers and Subheaders
When writing SEO-optimised copy, it’s important to use headers and subheaders. These help break up your content and make it easier to read, which in turn helps search engines understand the structure and hierarchy of your content.
To make the most of headers and subheaders:
- Use H1 tags for the main title of your content.
- Use H2 tags for subheaders and section titles.
- Use H3 tags for sub-section titles and further organization of your content.
4. Optimize Your Meta Data
Optimizing your meta data is an essential part of writing SEO-optimised copy. Meta data includes your meta title and meta description, which show up in search results and can greatly impact whether or not a user clicks through to your site. To optimise your meta data, be sure to:
- Include relevant keywords in your meta title and description
- Keep your meta title under 60 characters and your description under 155 characters
- Write compelling copy that entices users to click through to your site.
5. Focus on Readability
In SEO copywriting, focusing on readability means making your content easy to read and understand for both human readers and search engines. To achieve readability, you can use short paragraphs, bullet points, and plenty of white space.
Here’s a quick list of ways to improve readability in your SEO copy:
- Use short paragraphs
- Use bullet points or numbered lists
- Incorporate plenty of white space to break up text
6. Incorporate Internal Linking
Incorporating internal linking means including links within your content that lead to other pages on your website. This not only helps users navigate your site, but it also helps search engines understand the structure and hierarchy of your content. Here are a few tips for internal linking:
- Use descriptive anchor text that includes relevant keywords.
- Link to relevant pages on your site that provide additional context or information.
- Use a reasonable number of internal links (not too many, not too few) to ensure a good user experience.
7. Use Alt Tags
Alt tags are brief descriptions that are used to describe images on a website. Using descriptive alt tags that include relevant keywords can help search engines understand what the image is about and can improve the overall SEO of your website.
Here are a few examples of how to use alt tags effectively:
- If you have an image of a red dress on your website, instead of using a generic alt tag like “image1” or “red dress,” you could use a more descriptive alt tag like “women’s red maxi dress for summer” or “formal red dress for special occasions.”
- If you have an image of a laptop on your website, a good alt tag might be “Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display” or “HP Pavilion 15-inch laptop with Windows 10.”
- If you have an image of a person on your website, you could use an alt tag that describes who they are or what they are doing. For example, if the person is a chef, your alt tag could be “professional chef preparing food in restaurant kitchen.”
8. Avoid Duplicate Content
In SEO copywriting, it is important to avoid duplicate content. This means that you should ensure that every page on your website has unique content. Search engines penalize websites for having duplicate content, so it’s essential to make sure that your content is original and not copied from other sources.
9. Keep Your Content Fresh
To keep your website ranking high in search engines, it’s important to keep your content fresh. This means regularly updating your website with new, relevant content that engages your target audience and signals to search engines that your site is active and valuable.
Here are a few quick tips for keeping your content fresh:
- Create a content calendar to help you plan out and schedule regular updates to your website.
- Consider using user-generated content, such as customer reviews or social media posts, to supplement your own content.
- Repurpose old content in new ways, such as turning a blog post into a video or infographic.
- Monitor industry news and trends to stay on top of what’s new and interesting to your target audience.
- Finally, don’t be afraid to experiment with new formats or styles of content to keep things interesting and engaging for your audience.
10. Track Your Progress
To track your progress in writing SEO-optimised copy, you need to use analytics tools that can help you measure the success of your content. By regularly monitoring your website’s performance, you can identify what’s working and what’s not, and make adjustments to your strategy accordingly.
Related Article: SEO Copywriting: A Comprehensive Guide to Creating Content for Businesses in Sydney