Originally published February 20, 2023 , updated on April 29, 2024
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility and ranking of a website or web page on search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. A website optimised correctly will not only receive an increase in traffic, but it will also improve the quality of that traffic. When planning a content marketing strategy, SEO is critical. In fact, SEO content development is the key to ensuring that your content gets noticed in the first place. According to a Forbes study, 72% of customers use a non-brand keyword when searching before moving to a brand keyword creating precious opportunities for organisations to get discovered through the power of SEO.
There are many ways in which you can create the best SEO content marketing strategy for your brand. But first, let’s answer a few questions, like why SEO is important for content marketing? What are the benefits of using an SEO copywriting strategy for organisations?
Importance of SEO Copywriting Strategies
1. Increased Visibility:
One of the primary benefits of SEO is increased visibility for your website and content. Optimising your website content for search engines can improve your search engine rankings, which, in turn, can lead to more traffic to your website. According to a study, organic search is the largest driver of website traffic, accounting for 53% of all website traffic. As a result, a lot of copywriting services focus on SEO to drive traffic and visibility.
2. Cost-Effective:
SEO is a cost-effective way to drive traffic to your website. Unlike paid advertising, you don’t need to pay for each click or impression. The cost of SEO is also significantly less than the cost of paid advertising. By investing in SEO, you can improve your search engine rankings and drive organic traffic to your website without the need to pay for each click.
3. Builds Trust and Credibility:
SEO can help to build trust and credibility for your brand. While not a direct factor when it comes to Google ranking, a website that displays expertise and authoritativeness indirectly influences how high the website will rank. So when your website appears at the top of search engine results, it shows your brand is authoritative and trustworthy. This is especially important for new and growing businesses. SEO content development can help establish organisations as credible sources in their industry.
4. Long-Term Results:
SEO can provide long-term results. Paid advertising stops as soon as you stop paying. But, SEO can continue to drive traffic to your website long after the initial investment. According to a study, the average lifespan of a page one Google result is around two to three years. This means that if you can get your content to rank on page one, it can continue to drive traffic to your website for years.
5. Enhanced Customer Experience:
SEO can also help to improve your website’s user experience. Optimising your website for search engines makes it easier for users to navigate and find the information they are looking for. This can lead to higher engagement and conversion rates, which can ultimately help improve the bottom line for your business.
Now that we have established that SEO content development is a vital aspect of any marketing strategy, it’s important to understand how to put it into practice to ensure your business reaps the benefits. One way to do this is by utilising the SEO copywriting strategies employed by professional copywriting services.
Top SEO Copywriting Strategies to Implement:
Here are a few tips and tricks about how you can use SEO content development for your benefit:
In-Depth Research for Keywords
Researching keywords is an important aspect of SEO. It helps identify the specific terms and phrases your target audience is searching for. Optimising your website and content for these keywords can improve your search engine rankings and drive more organic traffic to your website. There are several tools that can be used for keyword research, such as Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Moz’s Keyword Explorer. These tools allow you to identify high-volume and high-value keywords relevant to your business and industry.
These tools also provide insights into the competitiveness of a keyword, helping you decide which ones to use. They can help you identify long-tail keywords, which are more specific and less competitive (more on that later.) By doing proper keyword research, you can make sure that you are relevant to your target audience and improve your search engine ranking and website traffic. Therefore, this is one of the most important SEO copywriting strategies.
Use of Long-Tail Keywords
As mentioned above, long-tail keywords are more specific and less competitive phrases that are often easier to rank for. They also tend to have a lower search volume but higher conversion rates as they are more specific to what the user is searching for. For example, instead of using the keyword “shoes”, a long-tail keyword would be “men’s running shoes” or “women’s flip-flops.”
One way to use long-tail keywords is by including them in your website’s content. You can improve your search engine rankings by creating informative and useful content optimised for long-tail keywords. You can also attract more targeted traffic to your website. Moreover, you can use long-tail keywords in your website’s meta tags, such as the title tag and meta description, as well as in your URLs and header tags.
Blogs can also be a great way to attract targeted traffic to your website. It happens by providing informative and useful content that is optimised for long-tail keywords. Copywriting services often use long-tail keywords extensively in blogs to further drive an organisation’s content marketing strategy.
Use Headings and Subheadings
Using subheadings for SEO helps break up the web page’s content into smaller, more easily digestible pieces. This not only makes the content more readable for users but also helps search engines understand the structure of the content on the page. Subheadings can also help to emphasise key points and make the content more scannable. This can improve the user experience and increase the likelihood that users will engage with the content.
While breaking down the content into pieces, it’s also important to consider the structure and flow of the content. Make sure that the subheadings and sections are logically organised and flow smoothly from one to the next. This ensures that users can easily follow the content and understand the main points.
You can also use keyword research to identify the most important keywords for your content. Then, you can incorporate them into the subheadings and throughout the content in a natural and relevant way. This will help to improve the visibility of the content on search engine results pages.
Leverage Internal and External Links
Internal and external links help search engines understand the relationships between different pages on a website. Internal links link to other pages within the same website and can help the readers engage with a brand through multiple articles. External links link to other websites and can help to establish the authority and credibility of the content published.
To integrate internal and external links into content, it’s important to use clear and descriptive anchor text. It should accurately reflect the content of the linked page. Additionally, it’s important to ensure that the links are properly formatted and use the appropriate HTML tags to state their destination.
When adding internal links, make sure to link to relevant and high-quality pages on your website that provide more information and context to the content. When adding external links, it’s important to link to credible and authoritative sources that can provide valuable information and resources to the users. By leveraging links, copywriting services often aim to lead readers to the right web pages to nudge them forward on their information search journey.
Write Compelling Meta-Descriptions
Search engines often use meta descriptions as the text snippets that appear below the page title in search engine results pages (SERPs). They can be a powerful tool for attracting users to click through to a webpage. They can also help to communicate a webpage’s main content and value to both users and search engines.
When writing a meta description, it’s important to include relevant keywords that are targeted by the page, but also make sure that the description is written for humans and not just for search engines. Keep it concise and clear, and make sure it accurately describes the content of the page.
It’s also important to use meta descriptions in a strategic and balanced way. Avoid repeating the same description across multiple pages, as it can make the website look like it has spam and may be penalised by search engines. Instead, make sure each page has a unique and compelling meta description that accurately reflects the content of the page and entices users to click through. When used correctly and within its character limit, meta-description is a simple but powerful way to enhance SEO copywriting strategies.
Give All Images Alt Tags
Alt text (also known as alt tags) is the alternative text that shows if an image cannot be displayed for whatever reason. Alt tags help to make the content more accessible for users who are visually impaired or using screen readers. Also, since search engines cannot read images, they help search engines understand the context and content of an image.
When adding alt tags, make sure to include keywords relevant to the image and the content surrounding it. This will help search engines understand the context of the image and how it relates to the surrounding content. Also, make sure only to include alt tags for images that are relevant to the content and add value to the page. Avoid adding alt tags for images that are only used for decorative purposes, as it adds to the noise on the page. As decorative images provide no information or content, linking them to an alt tag creates little-to-no value.
It’s also important to note that alt tags should be brief. Too much information can dilute the value of the tag and make it less effective in helping search engines understand the image’s context. Therefore, copywriting services often keep the limit for alt tags under 125 characters.
Optimise Website Load Time
Search engines like Google use page load time as a ranking factor in their algorithms. Therefore, a faster-loading website is more likely to rank higher in search results. Naturally, users are less likely to engage with or return to a website that takes a long time to load.
To optimise website load time, it’s important to identify and address any issues that may be causing the website to load slowly. This can include issues such as large image files, too many redirects, or slow server response times. Copywriting services use tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or WebPageTest to identify these issues.
There are several ways to optimise a website’s load time. These include compressing images and using a content delivery network (CDN) to distribute large files. You can consider using browser caching so that users don’t have to download the same files repeatedly. Also, ensure that the website is hosted on a reliable and fast server for an optimum SEO copywriting strategy.
Keeping these tips and tricks in mind while developing your SEO copywriting strategies can go a long way in ensuring that your content marketing strategy reaches its full potential. However, developing in-house expertise to execute these strategies to perfection can be a huge challenge for organisations. But that does not mean you should put a break on SEO content development.
How Can Goodman Lantern Help?
You can outsource your SEO content development needs to a content marketing agency that offers copywriting services like Goodman Lantern. Our experts are well-equipped to create the perfect SEO copywriting strategy suited to your business and target audience. With our copywriting services, you can rest assured that your SEO copywriting strategy will bring unmatched results.
Book a call or send us an email to learn more.
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