9 SEO Copywriting Tips To Increase Your Content Rankings

In present-day digital marketing, search engines are the gatekeepers. You can have quality products or services, a great team, and the knowledge to truly help your customers. But to grow your business as it deserves, you need to get that knowledge in front of customers — you need SEO copywriting.

What Is SEO Copywriting?

Search engine optimization (SEO) copywriting is content marketing that ranks highly in search engines. It appeals to readers with enticing headlines, engaging text, and valuable information. It also appeals to search engines with optimized keyword inclusion, readable structure, and relevant images.

It's a lot to think about. But when done well, an SEO copywriting strategy can grow your audiences and improve your online presence.

9 Tips to Help Blend SEO With Engaging Content Writing

Learning how to write for SEO is about finding balance. You have to engage readers and send the right signals to search engines while staying oriented to business goals. Don't worry — these nine SEO copywriting tips will help you stay on track.

1. Devise a Content Strategy to Guide Your Writing

A content strategy is a big-picture plan that aligns your content production with your overall marketing goals. It helps you determine three things:

• Which audiences you want to reach
• What you hope to get from those relationships
• What you need to do to achieve those goals

A complete content strategy includes:

• Buyer personas and journey maps: Who you want your content to reach and where the touchpoints will be along the buyer's journey
• Keyword research: The search terms you want to target and why
• Content calendars: A timeline for your content, including when and where you'll publish each content piece
• Key performance indicators (KPIs): Which metrics you'll use to measure your success, and what your short-term goals are

Think of it as your roadmap to SEO success. If you stay aligned with your strategy, then you can't go wrong.

2. Discover the Search Intent of Your Audience

When you type something into the search bar, Google analyzes your words to determine what you need. That underlying need is your search intent, also known as user intent.

Meeting user intent is Google's primary goal. Every algorithm update and SEO ranking factor exists so that Google can more accurately deliver content that meets users' needs.

There are four types of search intent:

• Informational: Learning more about a topic, not actively looking to buy
• Navigational: Looking for a specific website or part of a website
• Commercial: Doing preliminary purchase research or comparing options, as in "best of" or "review" searches
• Transactional: Looking for the right product to buy

Determining user intent is an SEO copywriter's detective work. It comes from careful analysis of search engine results pages and keywords. Find out what search terms perform well for a topic, then look at related questions and auto-fill suggestions. Eventually, you'll be able to piece together what people really want.

3. Speak Your Audience's Language

We're not just talking about world languages here — although that's important, too. If many of your customers speak a language other than English, consider building a multilingual website.

But speaking someone's language doesn't only mean writing in their mother tongue. It's also about speaking on their level — being appropriately funny or serious, professional or casual, and so on.

If you have a clear brand voice, this process will be easier. Use that voice as your starting point for every content piece, making only slight adjustments if the topic or reader persona calls for it.

For example, if you sell personal care products for teenagers and young adults, you might have two audiences: your actual users and their parents or guardians. Content will vary depending on which audience it's geared to.

4. Marry Your SEO Strategy With Your Content Writing

An effective SEO strategy incorporates everything about your online presence — your website, social media accounts, mentions on third-party review sites, and more.

Strong content writing takes your SEO strategy to the next level. It offers that all-important reader value and has the potential to connect your brand with buyers' needs.

To do its job, your content has to align with your overall SEO goals and methods. It has to target similar audiences in new ways, offering value that your other online properties can't.

But a good marriage goes both ways, and SEO copywriting is no exception. For your content writing to serve your search ranking goals, you have to publish using SEO best practices.

That means:

• Designing a user-friendly website
• Adding relevant internal links to each piece of content
• Encouraging readers to share and link to your posts
• Analyzing content performance from an SEO perspective

Think of your content like a meal. If you present it well, people (and algorithms) will think higher of its value.

5. Break Up Content With Optimized Headers and Images

There's more to SEO copywriting than just words. Search engine algorithms also evaluate readability, which includes layout and structure as well as writing quality.

Online content should be easy to scan. Large blocks of text make content less approachable, so keep your paragraphs short.

If the article is long, add relevant images to provide visual interest, and make sure the images are on-topic and engaging. Most importantly, always abide by licensing requirements.

Use H2, H3, and H4 headers to introduce different sections and subsections. Readers should be able to predict the content of each section just by glancing through the outline.

Target Keywords and Keyword Densities

Headings and subheadings are ideal placements for your target keywords. Regular keyword use highlights the relevance of your page, but don't overdo it. Your primary keyword should account for less than 2% of your content. Secondary keywords should add up to no more than 1%.

Try to use different types of keywords, both within a single piece and across your content strategy. You can vary your keyword use in multiple ways, including:

• Length. Long-tail keywords (4 or more words) are the most popular, but shorter keywords help you rank for different searches
• Search intent category. By using words related to the type of user intent — "Top 10" for navigational searches, for example — you can target specific points in the buyer journey
• Demographic. You can include location or demographic words like "for kids" to target specific buyer groups.

Use SEO tools like SEMRush or Google Keyword Planner to find the right keywords for your content. For extra effectiveness, add those keywords to your title and page descriptions.

Title Tags

A title tag is the name assigned to your web page on the internet. Also known as a meta title, it appears in three places:

• Inside the tab on your browser
• In your browser's title bar (the very top of the window on some browsers)
• On the search results page as blue title text

Title tags should be short and simple — no more than 50 to 60 characters. If you try to squeeze in too much information, Google will cut off the excess, possibly confusing the reader with missing information.

Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions appear under title tags on search results pages. Google calls them " snippets" — "the description or summary part of a search result on Google Search."

Google generates a snippet by scanning the page for a few sentences that summarize the article. If you describe it with a <meta> tag, Google will consider that instead of an excerpt.

The better your meta description, the more likely Google will choose it. Keep it between 135 and 165 characters, and use the focus keyword organically. In those few sentences, aim to answer the user question you're trying to rank for.

The better your meta descriptions (and title tags), the more attractive you'll be to readers

6. Answer Questions Your Audience Is Asking

Readers come to Google with specific questions. If the algorithm thinks you provide the best answer, you're more likely to rank high in search results.

Start by figuring out what those questions are. One useful (and free!) tool is Answer the Public, which generates questions about a specified topic. Enter a word or two that represents your brand, topic, or industry. Answer the Public then dives into autocomplete data to find out what else people ask about that topic.

The term "SEO copywriting," for example, generates questions like:

• Why SEO is important for business
• How to do SEO copywriting
• What does SEO copywriting mean

Any of these terms could be a blog post on their own or a sub-section of a longer article.

Another method is to Google your keyword and review the "People Also Ask" section. For the above search, People Also Ask generated:

• How do I start SEO copywriting?
• Is SEO and copywriting the same?
• How much do SEO copywriters make?

You can get even more results with AlsoAsked, a tool that aggregates suggestions from People Also Asked results. Instead of three at a time, you can generate several dozen. Each one could be an idea for your next article — possibly one you never before thought of writing.

7. Avoid Keyword Stuffing, Please!

Unless you've hopped a time machine back to 1997, you won't improve your search rankings by shoehorning keywords into your text. That's called keyword stuffing, and it's one of the most notorious SEO "tricks" in use.

Keyword stuffing comes from the days when search engine algorithms were relatively primitive. These early algorithms prioritized content based on keyword density — the ratio of keywords to overall word count.

It sounded something like this:

"Accounting software helps you keep your budget on track. The best accounting software has the right accounting software features, so you don't have to use anything other than your accounting software."

Thank goodness we don't have to write content like that anymore.

Today's Google penalizes instances of keyword stuffing. It prefers valuable, well-written content with just enough keyword use to convey intent.

8. Try the Inverted Pyramid Method to Structure Content

The inverted pyramid method is a tried-and-true staple of journalistic writing, and it's ideal for SEO copywriting. It puts the "base" of your article — the key facts that drive the story — in the first paragraph. This grounds the reader and entices them to learn more.

Each subsequent paragraph delves into supporting information, starting with the most important. The least critical details occur at the end, right before a summary and any calls to action, which are requests for the user to do something specific like click, download, or buy.

The inverted pyramid boosts your SEO by making your page more readable and engaging. Engaged readers spend more time on the site, boosting your credibility with search algorithms.

Inverted pyramids also keep the most important information front and center. Algorithms love this since it showcases your article as a clear answer to the reader's question.

Once you've covered key information, you can use later paragraphs to delve into sub-topics and touch on supporting keywords. This can increase your chances of ranking for other keywords.

9. Aim to Be In Featured Snippets

A featured snippet is a block of website text that appears at the top of a search results page, above the page's title and URL. It appears when Google identifies content that seems to quickly and clearly answer the reader's question.

Featured snippets appear at the top of the page, naturally drawing a reader's eye. If a reader clicks on the snippet, Google takes them directly to the quoted section of the page. According to a 2020 study by Search Engine Watch, 35.1% of clicks go to featured snippets.

That's more than one in three!

You can't mark content as a featured snippet, but you can make Google more likely to choose your page. Since Google posts featured snippets for questions, identify the long-tail question format keywords you want to rank for.

Then, ensure that the content piece has one section that directly answers the question. Work the focus keyword into the subheading if possible. Make your answer 40 to 60 words, aiming to include related keywords if you can do so organically.

SEO Copywriting Is an Art Worth Mastering

Writing for SEO isn't easy. You have to keep up with ever-changing algorithms and SEO content writing best practices. You need to communicate clearly, succinctly, and in the right tone for your audiences — all while using keywords organically.

If you struggle to develop and produce top-quality SEO content, consider outsourcing. Professional SEO copywriters know their industry like you know yours. They can create optimized content suited to your field, even helping you develop content ideas.

Compose.ly's SEO copywriters have expertise across multiple industries. Whatever your content needs, we can help you impress your audiences and Google's search engines. Reach out today and find out how.