5 Best Tips for Effective SEO Copywriting
Your website is often the first impression potential clients will have of your business. Taking the time and attention to create a site that functions precisely on all levels will not only ensure a positive user experience but it will also allow it to effectively compete for search engine results.
Search engine optimization (SEO) has long been a buzz term in the digital marketing world. For those of you unfamiliar with this marketing method, SEO is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a website by increasing the site’s rank in popular search engines. Unlike Search Engine Marketing (SEM) which generally involves paying to appear in search results, SEO copywriting targets natural or organic optimization which is unpaid. The higher your site lists on a search engine results page, the more likely a person will be to click on your listing and visit your page.
In the beginning of the Internet age, optimizing web content was pretty straightforward — simply slap a few descriptive lines of HTML into your website’s code and you were off to the races. Much has changed since the early days of the Web. The introduction of social media and the rising popularity of mobile devices have caused many industry leaders to question the effectiveness of traditional SEO copywriting. However, below are ZOO’s proven techniques that work for organic optimization. For more information, you could also read SEMRush’s blog.
Our team at ZOO Media Group works with clients to build a comprehensive strategy aimed at creating the best possible website through
- Exceptional technical design
- Easy to navigate user experience
- Thorough security measures
- Well written content that is targeted at your ideal client
Search engines want to give people what they’re looking for so they are synonymous with reliable, quality results. They use set criteria to ensure they are spot-on. How can you leverage your organic optimization for best results?
Take the time to research what keywords or phrases are relevant to your company and website. You will want to use these words and phrases naturally throughout the site. Make sure content is easy to read and keywords make sense in the context of the message. It will take effort and finesse to successfully master this skill but the results are worth it. If you don’t have a Hemmingway on your team, ZOO Media Group offers SEO content writing services.
Five Major Elements of Effective Search Engine Optimization
“There are five key elements to remember when optimizing a website for search engines,” says Sandra Dugas, Partner and Creative Director at ZOO Media Group. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re writing a blog, online press release, or text for your website – you can benefit from paying close attention to these important strategies.”
1. Web Page Titles
Always, always, always include keywords in your web page titles. If you can put it at the beginning of the title, that’s even better. When people are searching for a specific topic, they want to see the keywords they used reflected back in the search engine results. Try and keep your title under 70 characters long. Search engines only show about 70 characters in their search results. If your entire title is visible, it will increase the likelihood of a click-through from the search results page.
2. Meta Descriptions
It has been debated whether the keywords in your meta descriptions actually influence rank. Either way, it’s still vitally important to include this information in your site as it helps with the overall presentation of your content in a search engine. The meta description for a web page is generally displayed below your page title in search results, and can thus influence potential searchers to click on your page. Remember to keep your description under 160 characters so the full snippet is visible in search engine results.
3. Keyword Frequency and Density
When creating content for a website you must keep your targeted keywords in mind. These words and phrases should describe what your content is about and appear frequently throughout your copy. But don’t just repeat your keywords mindlessly in hopes of attracting an engine’s attention — you’ll do just the opposite. Instead, focus on using your keywords naturally and in relevant context throughout your article. Aim to include your key phrases between three to five times in your copy, or until you achieve a density of about 5% (density is the ratio of keywords to the rest of the words on the page). Anything more could be considered spam by search engines.
4. On-topic Content
Unique and frequently updated content is what search engines crave. For the sake of search engine optimization, it’s important that your content sticks to the topic at hand. Take the time to structure your content so that it is clearly laid out. This will help your reader to stay focused and improve your search engine results. Try to include keywords related to your topic in subheadings and in bold text. Start each paragraph with the most important idea and expand on it from there. This will catch the people that are skimming the content and give them a good sense of the overall concept.
5. Show Some Link Love
The Internet is all about connecting people, that’s why it’s called the World Wide “Web.” So naturally, linking out to other pages matters when it comes to search engine optimization. When crafting content for a website, remember to link to relevant interior pages of your own site, as well as relevant external resources to help improve the article or company write-up. Always remember to use naturally relevant anchor text with your links as well; not only will this help with the flow of your content, but it will add some context to the link.
These are just a few optimization techniques that can help improve your website’s rank with the major search engines. If you’re looking to enhance your overall website with effective optimization for online success, contact the digital marketing experts at ZOO Media Group today!