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SEO Copywriting: how to be read on the web

BECAUSE IT’S NOT EASY TO WRITE ONLINE

A user’s attention span is really scarce on the web due to the speed of use of a particular device (PC, smartphone or tablet), the need to find information immediately, the awareness that if I do not find what I’m looking for at that precise moment, sooner or later, other articles will be written. All this causes a loss of attention when you have to wait a long time to load a page and a reduced reading of the contents to understand if the result chosen is actually the best.
So, the question comes spontaneously… How do you capture and keep people’s attention? Thus SEO Copywriting crops up.

WHO IS THE SEO COPYWRITER?

Let’s take a step back and let’s start with the copywriter.
The copywriter is not a writer, because they do not write novels, and isn’t a journalist either, because they do not write news story articles.
So, who are they?
The copywriter is a person who deals with copywriting, knows very well the language in which he/she writes and is an author: creates valid content, adapted for the web, so as to meet the requirements of SEO – Search Engine Optimization – to allow search engines, like Google, to find you more easily. This is why we often we hear people talk of SEO Copywriters: king (or queen) of synthesis, effective in the art of communicating, uses clear and understandable sentences to tell something to their web readers.

WHAT IS AN SEO COPYWRITER NEEDED FOR?

If you go to any search engine and carry out a general search, you’ll see at least a few thousand results, of which a dozen are displayed on the initial page. So a spontaneous question pops up: how do I get my site to end up on the front page? This is where the SEO Copywriter comes into play, through SEO Copywriting.

As I mentioned previously, SEO is search engine optimization, primarily Google, and it refers to all those activities aimed at improving the visibility of a website in order to increase traffic.
The SEO Copywriter’s task is to write content for a web page optimized in SEO. Writing for the web means above all analyzing and eventually using the keywords in the text; a fundamental element of the parameters used by search engines to index and position a site.
A good SEO Copywriter knows how to search for keywords, which ones to choose and when to insert them into the text so that it is readable and user friendly.
A good SEO Copywriter will ultimately increase visits to your website.
SEO Copywriting is therefore the art of writing and publishing texts that are able to intercept users’ needs, responding to them in the best way possible, providing added value and satisfying search engine seraches so as to place them in the best position.

WHAT ARE THE SKILLS OF AN SEO COPYWRITER?

If I were to make a choice of the skills that an SEO Copywriter should have, I would personally say that the following are the most important:

  • Knowing how to write in the language in which the texts are published, I would say this is a fundamental starting point
  • Have basic knowledgeof onsite and offsite SEOoptimization
  • Be capable of finding the keywords that have a medium volume of monthly searches, yet which are not too competitive
  • Know how to use SEO analysis tools like SemRush, SEOZoom, Moz
  • Being able to integrate all these skills with web marketing notions

HOW TO WRITE ARTICLES ON THE WEB IN AN SEO CONTEXT

TAGS

Professional SEO Copywriters do not just place keywords in their articles, rather they must be able to work on the web page, optimizing some very important “elements” like the title tag, the meta description, the header tags, the alt tag.

1. Title TAG

The title tag is the most relevant SEO onsite factor for ranking.
If you use a CMS as WordPress, the title tag is the title of your page or the title of your article and it must: summarize the topic being covered, contain the main keyword with which you want to optimize the page, including any “support” keywords , inherent pages linked from a semantic point of view.
How long should the title tag be?
Entering too much text in the title tag makes little sense, the longer it is, the more divided emphasis is given to the various words in the text. Unfortunately, there is no “magic number” of characters to create the perfect title tag. Through experience I can say that the average length is normally 42-68 characters (including spaces), however if we want to write a title tag suitable for all contexts we should use around 55-58 characters.

2. Meta Description

The meta description has no impact on the ranking, but this does not mean that it’s not important. It’s useful to always provide a description of the page that the user is about to visit and a call-to-action that invites them to choose us among all the results provided by the search engines.
Ideally it should be exhaustive and contain the keywords chosen for page optimization.
Here too there is no perfect length, but I can say that the average is normally around 160 characters (including spaces).

3. Headings, or Heading TAGS

When we talk about headings, we refer to the code instructions regarding the formatting of the content, i.e. the main title (H1) and the titles of the various paragraphs in which the text is subdivided (H2, H3, H4, etc. ).
When users read your article, the actual title of the page is H1 (and not the title tag). H2, H3, H4, etc. are used to segment the paragraphs and to make your user’s reading less cumbersome for particularly long articles.
In many CMS themes, the title tag coincides with the H1.

4. ALT Tag – Alternative Text for images

One aspect to keep in mind is to include one or more images in your article. These should be: quality images in good resolution and with a high compression so as to avoid weighing down the site. The images, as well, should be renamed appropriately, based on the keywords chosen for the post, before uploading them online.
There is a special tag that is used for optimization called the alt=” attribute and it allows you to insert an explanatory text to accompany the loaded image.
The alt tag has a dual purpose: on the one hand it replaces the failure to view an image with an explanatory text, on the other hand it helps the visually impaired and the blind with online navigation (telling them what the image represents).

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    KEYWORD SEARCH

    Keyword search is the first fundamental step in the SEO writing process and, in general, of all content marketing.

    1. What are keywords

    Keywords are simply the key words that users write in the search bar of their search engine.

    2. How to choose the right keyword

    Our objective is to find effective keywords that bring traffic to our website (or the one we work for).
    Finding keywords with a high search volume isn’t enough; it’s important to know the theory behind the long tail keyword.
    Over time, our users have become increasingly intelligent in carrying out searches. They used to only use key terms, now they ask search engines questions. The long tail theory intercepts these “queries” (questions) that are submitted to Google.

    An example?
    A keyword might be “Keywords”, a related long tail would be “Search for the right keywords”.
    The long-tailed keyword is more specific and, precisely for this reason, is characterized by:

    • A lower number of searches and therefore potentially lower traffic
    • Less competition
    • A higher conversion rate (because users will be more interested).

    3. The editorial plan

    Once the research and choice of keywords are completed, it’s time to start thinking about an SEO editorial plan. This is a document in which you create a publication strategy: which articles, on what topics, when to publish them, etc.
    The main thing is that it contains:

    • The title of the article
    • The main keyword
    • The related keywords
    • The search intent
    • The date of publication

    THE INDISPENSABLE TOOLS

    The essential tools when searching for keywords are:

    • Google Keyword Planner: perfect for searching for keywords, estimating traffic for a specific keyword, multiplying a list of keywords. By entering a generic keyword, you will be given a list of related keywords with relative traffic.
    • Keyword Magic Tool by SemRush: another tool for searching keywords. Long tail included, and analyze them.
    • AnswerThePublic: to help you get into the mind of your users and understand what doubts they actually have about a certain topic.
    • Google suggest: all you need to do is start a search and use the suggestions that the search engine provides.

    9 TIPS FOR WRITING AN ORIENTED SEO TEXT AND GET PEOPLE TO READ YOU

    Here are some practical suggestions on how to optimize the central part of an article for the web:

    1. Write for your users
    2. Repeat the keyword within the text (without exaggerating, avoid the risk of “keyword stuffing”)
    3. Make sure the keyword is repeated in the first 100 words
    4. Highlight the keyword (and important words) in bold, italic, and underlined
    5. Use related keywords, like synonyms and antonyms (Google’s ability to determine the value of an article by examining other words in addition to the keyword is known as Latent Semantic Indexing)
    6. Insert multimedia contents (images, drawings, gifs, videos)
    7. Insert citations, bulleted and numbered lists
    8. Use plugins to optimize page tags (like, for example, SEO Yoast)
    9. Insert a call-to-action at the end of the article to make your user take action, such as leaving their email in exchange for a useful resource or a free document.

    IN CONCLUSION

    SEO Copywriting is one of the optimization activities of a website. There’s no magic formula to reach top positions in search results, but I hope these tips will help you to be appreciated by both search engines and visitors to your site. In addition to the advice mentioned above, another very important aspect is adding new content to your website or blog.
    Content marketing is another step to help readers find you more easily. If you’re interested in the topic, I wrote an article with 9 tips regarding “The perfect blog post”.

    What do you think of these SEO Copywriting tips?
    I’m curious to know if you apply them too and get positive results for your content. I look forward to reading your comments if you feel like sharing them with me 😉

    Flavia Piantino Gazzano
    flavia.gazzano@gmail.com

    Digital enthusiast and growth hacker, with a strong passion for new technologies, social media and PR. She uses strategic communication as a strong asset in her life and has a creative approach to problem solving.

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