SEO Copywriting – 5 Rules You Should Stick To

Before you decide to position for specific keywords, find out how often they’re searched in Google. Tools like Google Keyword Planner or Senuto Keyword Explorer will make it easier for you. Personally, I recommend that you try out the second option, but not because of where this article is posted, believe it or not ????. Senuto’s solution is just more user-friendly.

Such an analysis will help you handpick the best keywords and additionally facilitate your writing efforts.

2. Make sure your content is informative and error-free

The times when it sufficed to write anything that contained an appropriate number of keywords are long gone. Presently, Google and “living” audiences can verify whether an article makes sense and is informative. That’s why you should make sure your articles and posts published on your website are logical and worth reading.

Here’s an exercise for you. Once you write an SEO article, answer the following questions:

• Is content stylistically and orthographically correct?
• Is the article you want to post informative enough? Does it educate readers or solve their problems (even the smallest ones)?
• Is content structured in a logical way and is it easy to read?

If your answer to all the questions is YES, then congratulations! Not only will your articles help rank you higher but also the website itself will present valuable content.

3. Structure your content properly

Even though there are still legends about H1 headings living on (more and more often SEO specialists argue over the perfect number of such headings), I’ll cling to the belief that one page should have only one H1 heading. Google uses it to determine what about a given page is. H2, H3, H4, etc. may be more numerous, but remember that there can only be one H1 within a single page.

In addition to the right heading structure, content presentation is also critical. Neither Google nor people like to be welcomed by a wall of text difficult to sail through once a page loads. That’s why you should also distribute your articles adequately – divide paragraphs by headings and add graphic elements to spice the text up and make it more digestible. Don’t be afraid of bold, underlining or even colors. When used in a thought-through manner, they make your article look better and easier to read.

PS Headings are also a perfect place to put keywords that you find most important.

4. Using too many keywords is not the way

Keywords you position for need to follow from content on your website. Don’t put them wherever you want, use them naturally and drop some derivative forms and synonyms. Not only will the text have more quality but also you will be ranked higher in the search engine.

5. Don’t make mistakes that can harm your website

Errors and mistakes in SEO deserve a separate article or even a book so let me present you in a nutshell with things you cannot do in SEO copywriting.

• Don’t copy content of others

It is not a bad thing to look for inspirations, but copying content blatantly is a theft of intellectual property and spam (Google perfectly knows if something has already been posted somewhere else and who’s the original author).

• Don’t use text mixers and generators

Sure, it makes your life easier, especially when you need to prepare, for instance, a few hundred descriptions of similar products which vary from each other only in color. However, even the best applications for automatic text generation are not able to replace a true copywriter. Google knows how to check if a piece of text has been written by a person or generated automatically – and it severely punishes for such “transgressions”.

• Don’t hide content

If you have something to post but you don’t necessarily want a living person to read it, add it somewhere at the bottom where it is highly probable that the user will not get to. Under no circumstances do try to hide text e.g. by writing in white color. Such practices are severely punished by the “king of search engines”.

If you really don’t wish anyone to see a given piece of text, just don’t put it there.

• Don’t cheat your audience

Never ever do that. If, for instance, you want to share know-how and tips on a given subject on your blog, publish valuable and informative posts and articles that answer specific questions and solve specific problems. Don’t write click-bait titles that efficiently induce clicks on non-informative articles. Strangely enough, Google easily spots this as well.

SEO copywriting – to outsource or not to outsource?

This paragraph is for SEO specialists and website owners (if you’re a copywriter, you can skip it).

If you weren’t born to be a copywriter, you probably face a dilemma how to get content. Should you write by yourself or should you rather reach out to an expert?

When you own a small website and are on a tight budget (or you have no money to spend), you should be able to write a good piece on your own after reading this article.

But if your website is extensive and you have much more to worry about than only content and positioning, it’s advisable to outsource SEO writing. Don’t forget that posting articles on the website is not a one-off job and in order for the search engine to rank you high and efficiently you have to regularly serve new portions of fresh and well-optimized content.

How much should SEO copywriting cost?

In spite of appearances, SEO copywriting (whether you need an article, a product bio, a category description, etc.) is not expensive. In Poland, the lowest prices begin at PLN 2–3 per 1000 characters with spaces. Obviously, low price equals low quality, so you really should ask professional copywriters for help.

The final cost always depends on copywriter’s experience and the extent of a job; however, the price ceiling in the case of SEO copywriting that is supposed to not only support positioning efforts but also provides valuable information is PLN 15–20 per 1000 characters with spaces. It’s not too much for good content which may increase the rank of your website, helping you earn more.

Before you make a decision whether to write or to outsource, it’s worth considering all pros and cons. Calculate how much your work time costs and how much you lose (or how much could you gain) in time you would spend on creating SEO content. Once you know it, you’ll be able to choose what’s best for you.

5 rules of  SEO copywriting – summary

Summing up, SEO copywriting (whether on your own or with the help of specialists) should be preceded with an analysis and selection of the best keywords. The biggest role in SEO copywriting is played by appropriate structure, informative content and – like in any other field – moderation (enough is enough).

If you also avoid the most common mistakes (copying content, using automatic text generation, hiding text, etc.), you’ll be on track to succeed and rank high in search results ????.

*numbers of queries in Poland