By Mick Dillon
Online Marketing Consultant
Search Engine Copywriting is the practice of creating website content that is highly readable for the visitor but also appeals to the search engine crawlers. Companies that employ copywriters usually achieve higher search engine ranking for targeted search terms.
The advantage of search engine copywriting over other techniques is two-fold. Firstly, websites that achieve a high search engine ranking through search engine copywriting tend to maintain the high ranking over time as the engines tweak and change their algorithms. Whereas other methods of gaining a high ranking often produce less stable rankings as the algorithms change. Furthermore, unlike cloaking or doorway page creation, search engine copywriting is a highly ethical way of improving your search engine listings for keyterms associated with your business.
The main elements of search engine copywriting are:
Keyword Research
As there is no value in targeting keyword search terms that no one is searching for, keyword research is the single most important element of good search engine copywriting. Research enables you to identify the keyterms that users are actually searching for and removes all the guesswork.
There are a number of tools available to aid keyword research: Wordtracker and Overture's search term suggestion tool are two of the most popular. Google also provides similar keyword research tools.
It is also important to understand consumer research behaviour when identifying keyterms. Take for example, a hotelier in Dublin who wants to drive qualified visitors to his website. The first keywords that come to mind might be "Dublin", "Ireland", "Hotel", "Hotels", etc. However these are quite generic and millions of results are returned when searched for. A lot of sites refer to "Dublin" and are of little benefit to users specifically looking for a hotel. This leads users to refine their search behaviour to get specific information. They may, for instance, type in "Budget Hotels Dublin" or "Dublin City Centre Hotels" and thus get more qualified results.
A more focused approach to keyword research results in a higher quality visitor; a visitor who is looking for exactly what your website is offering and thus conversion to sales will be greater. Secondly, the niched search terms are not as competitive as the generic terms and therefore you have a better chance of achieving a higher ranking.
It is important to remember that:
- When consumers search for information, they are searching for specific information, therefore copy write for specific search terms.
- It is better to target keyterms rather than single keywords. Single keywords tend to be too generic to be worthwhile.
Try to identify highly trafficked yet 'not overly competitive' keyterms, rather than the most popular and competitive ones. These will get a better ranking on the search engines and moreover, bring more qualified traffic to the website.
Page Content
It is vital to have sufficient content on your homepage and on the other pages of the website. Search engine crawlers need between 250-550 words of descriptive text on a page to assess its keyword relevance. Ensure the text at the beginning of the page contains the most important keyterms. This is particularly important for those search engines that do not index the entire page.
Avoid including links in images as search engines cannot read images. Provide an alternative form of navigation for the crawler to follow. Include keyterms in both singular and plural versions. Use all different forms of the keyterms including words that can be spelled differently or commonly miss-spelt words.
For effective search engine copywriting it is important to ensure that the target keyterms run throughout the page, rather than focusing on just the first paragraph or the title of each page. Ensure that you are generous with the keyterms but don't over do it. Excessive repetition of keyword search terms can lead the search engines penalties and accusations of spamming. Conventional wisdom tells us that the ideal keyword density is somewhere between 3-7%.
Page Headings
The algorithms of the various search engines identify those keyterms that have been emphasized to ascertain which are the most important to that particular page. It is therefore important that your important keyterms appear in the HTML header codes, <H1> and <H1> tags.
The <TITLE> Tag
The <TITLE> tag is the most important tag within the META DATA as it is given the most weight by the search engine algorithms. These algorithms assess the content within the tag to ascertain how appropriate the website is to a particular search query.
When including the keyterms in the tag remain focused. Use the same keyterms that appear in the page content, page headings, anchor text and the META description tag. It is essential to sequence the keyterms correctly in the <TITLE> tag. Place the most important keyterm at the beginning of the tag as this will display in bold in the SERPs (Search Engines Result Pages). Consider using both singular and plural forms of the important keyterms. For instance, use "car" and "cars". Google is still experimenting with stemming (the interchange of singular and plural terms), however it's frequently fluctuating in its deployment. Usually a <TITLE> tag of 80-90 characters is sufficient as Google usually only reads the first 90 characters.
It is advisable not to repeat keywords in the tag. Although repetition may temporarily work, this practice will ultimately be penalised by the search engines.
It is also important to create a unique tag for each page within the site, and use the keyterms that hold theme relevance to that particular page. This practice will also allow you to leverage more keyterms throughout the website.
When creating the tag remember that this is what is displayed on the SERPs. Most search engines are not case sensitive therefore write the tag in a way that's visually appealing. It is also used when a page is added to the Favorites menu on a browser, so it should ideally read like a phrase that makes grammatical sense and not just a collection of keyterms.
Meta Description Tag
Not all search engines give prominence to the META description tag; some even choose to ignore it. That said, bear in mind that some search engines pick up the exact META description tag and display it in the SERPs--just below the <TITLE> tag. Hence it is important to write a crisp and enticing META description tag that includes the most important keyterms and manages to capture the user's interest encouraging them to click-through to the website. The META description tag is particularly important for websites with extensive use of Flash, frames and imagery.
Meta Description Tag as it appears in the Google Search Results.
It is also important to include the most relevant and important keyterms in the description tag. Excessive repetition should again be avoided. Instead, pay attention to the sequence in which your keyterms appear. The most important terms should be placed at the beginning.
Focus on the same keyterms used in the <TITLE> tag, body text, headings and anchor text. Fewer and highly targeted search phrases can boost the web page's relevance in the SERPs. Hence the emphasis should be placed on writing a brief yet informative description of each page. 25-30 words should suffice.
Anchor Text
Anchor text is the visible hyperlinked text on a webpage, and the inclusion of important keyterms in the anchor text can make a dramatic difference in the ranking of a website. All the important search engines, give significant weight to the anchor text. In fact Google even has a special operator: "allinanchor:keyword", that only picks up text from within the anchor text of the pages it has indexed.
Many feel that the standard blue underlined hyperlinked text appears ugly on a website, however a good workaround is to use CSS to change the color and remove the underline without losing the power of the anchor text.
It is also worthwhile optimizing the anchor text of external links, as keyterms within the anchor text are equally useful from inbound links pointing to your website.
File names
Not only should the target keyterms appear within the content, but they should also be used as file names. For example, the Dublin hotelier's website from above should ensure a descriptive file name is used, http://www.hotelname.com/dublin-hotel.html. Remember to separate words within a keyterm with a hyphen.
Dynamically driven websites with complex query strings can also be rewritten using URL rewrite techniques, e.g. Mod Rewrite.
Other Useful Tips for Search Engine Copywriting
Content should be updated frequently as some search engines index the content more often if it is current.
Remember that search engine-friendly copywriting should not be noticeable to the reader. It should be fluid, natural and informative but should be exactly what the search engines are looking for when crawling the web.
Should you require information on how Interactive Return can help your company meet its online business objectives please contact Mick Dillon at +353-1-672-9160 or via e-mail.
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