While search-engine algorithms are constantly changing and evolving, a copywriter has only one goal: to create content that humans find compelling and interesting.
But at the same time, the content has to be SEO-friendly enough to appeal to search engine robots without earning you a slap on the wrist from Google.
SEO copywriting can be described as the art of writing your content with a natural flow while including your keywords naturally, with the ultimate aim of ranking high in the SERPs.
In this post, we’ll be looking at some of the most effective SEO copywriting tips for 2020 that you can apply to your posts if you want to rank high, gain more traffic, and make more sales.
1. Start with a Captivating Title
The more interesting your headline, the more clicks and shares you’ll get, which will, eventually, result in more sales.
One of the key tricks with headlines is to make sure that you include your keyword in your title.
You should also try to include a number, especially an odd number as studies have shown that they appeal to readers.
Use catchy phrases as well as ‘how-to’ and ‘list’ titles for your blog posts and articles. They are very popular because they are regarded as informative, and a reader can scan them easily.
2. Follow Up with a Great Intro
Your introduction is also as important as your title, because it provides the first stage of engaging your reader and catching their interest enough for them to want to read the whole piece.
A poorly written intro or one that is unclear or too long will make you lose readers just as fast as you got them to click on your catchy headline.
Ensure that the paragraphs in your intro are short and to the point. People tend to run away from big paragraphs because they seem scary.
Also, make your sentences as short as possible. People find them easier to read.
3. Know Your Audience
You need to know the audience you’re writing for. Great copywriting usually starts with developing a ‘buyer personality’. This allows you to tailor your writing according to the target audience.
With information such as age, interests, gender, hobbies, and so on, you’ll have a better idea of who you are talking to along with their fears, goals, and wishes.
Browsing forums is one of the best places to carry out some great market research. On these forums, you can get first-hand information about people’s struggles and their choice of words in describing their hopes and desires.
These sorts of information can guide you in your copywriting.
4. Improve Readability with Sub-headings and Bullet Points
Your subheadings or section titles are just as important as your title. They provide a great way of breaking up your content.
Apart from guiding your readers through the content, they also define the content to search engines. You can use short paragraphs, bullets, and numbered lists to increase the readability of the content.
And when readability is increased, people read the whole of your article, then share or reference it in their own articles if it’s great content. This way, their readers will get to read, share, and reference it, too. This will boost your SEO rankings greatly.
Power words are another great way of improving readability. With power words, you can create a direct, lively, and convincing voice.
Also, when you have great writing in your sections, your readers get to spend more time on-page – and this will increase your rankings.
5. Add Some Media Files
Media files are not exactly copywriting, but they contribute a great deal to SEO because when you have great videos and images, they tend to draw the attention of your readers to main points, keep them engrossed, and increase their time on the page which can boost your rankings.
Also, with high-quality images, it’s easy to rank in Google image search. Do not use stock images. It’s highly unlikely that people would click on them, so they could hurt your ranking.
Google images usually lower the ranking of stock images compared to other images that are more attractive. Besides duplicate images from different sites are penalised, so that’s another reason why you shouldn’t use stock images.
If you want to do SEO on your images, here are some great tips you can follow:
- Compress your images. If you want fast page loads, you need to compress your images. An image file size of less than 70KB is ideal. If you need a free compression tool, Gimp is a really good one.
- Use the right alt text and titles. You should make the alt text the same as your image filename. You should also include a brief explanation of the image as the image title so that people can hover over it to get more info.
- Use a Proper file name. Using just any name for your images is no good. Instead, try to use some proper keywords, for example: 7-seo-copywriting-tips.jpg.
Your images must be relevant to the article and valuable to the reader.
Examples of relevant images are:
- Infographics with valuable information
- Charts and graphs that corroborate your topic
- Illustrative screenshots.
6. Improve Your Site Design
Great site design can boost the time it takes for readers to stay on your site, and ultimately your conversion rates. Examples of great designs are:
- Allowing the right amount of white space on your site
- Use a great font that enhances the readability of your site
- 14pt or 16pt font is great for reading on screens
- Use colours that pair well, and keep to just two or three
7. Make Use of Bucket Brigades
You’re probably trying to figure out what a bucket brigade is. Well, it is a bridge phrase that builds on a previous sentence to encourage a reader to continue reading the next one and the one after that to get more context.
Examples of bucket brigades are:
- And the good news?
- You’ll never believe this…
- By the way
- Here’s why
- As if that’s not enough
- Wow!
- Wanna know how?
They are mostly used by copywriters to help them connect emotionally with readers. Here are some reason why you should be using them, too:
- They save you having to think too much about how to connect two subjects
- They are ideal for conversational posts
- They make it easy to connect emotionally with your audience
- They keep the reader engrossed.
Final Thoughts
Copywriting is all about giving your readers something to talk about after they visit your blog or website and creating a relationship with them that converts them from visitors to your loyal customers and promoters. SEO copywriting is much the same but done with a bit more formatting that makes it easy for readers to discover you.
This guide has introduced you to some of the best SEO copywriting tips that will help improve your ranking in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and, consequently, your conversion rates. With these tips, you should be able to improve your SEO copywriting skills and become a better writer overall, while keeping your content creation natural.
If your business or website needs some great copywriting, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today.
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