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What is SEO Copywriting?
SEO
Copywriting, or to give it its full name, search engine
optimization copywriting or search engine
copywriting, is the technique of writing the viewable text
on a web page in such a way that it reads well for the surfer,
and also targets specific search terms. Its purpose is to rank
highly in the search engines for the targeted search terms.
As well as the viewable text, SEO Copywriting
usually optimizes other on-page elements for the targeted
search terms. These include the Title, Description and
Keywords tags, headings and alt text.
The idea behind SEO Copywriting is that search
engines want genuine content pages and not additional pages
(often called "doorway pages") that are created for the sole
purpose of achieving high rankings. Therefore, the engines
cannot possibly view SEO copywritten pages as undesirable, and
the rankings they achieve tend to be as stable as those that
are achieved by other search engine optimization
techniques.
Practitioners of the search engine copywriting method
recommend around 250 viewable words per page, with one, or at
most two, targeted search terms strategically placed within
the text and other on-page elements.
SEO Copywriting strengths
One thing that
can be said about search engine optimization
copywriting is that works for suitable websites and for
suitable search terms (see below). SEO Copywriting can
achieve rankings that tend to do well across the search
engines, although no page can do equally well in all engines.
It is sometimes said by practioners of search engine
optimization copywriting, that the method tends to maintain
its rankings as the engines tweak and change their algorithms,
whereas other methods produce less stable rankings. This can't
be true. If 2 pages are in the top 10 search results; one
getting there by the SEO copywriting method and the
other by different search engine optimization techniques, they
are both there because they match the engine's criteria
(algorithm) quite well. When the criteria is changed, the
match that each of them had is necessarily changed. The
matches could become closer to, or further from, the engine's
criteria. Whether each page goes up or down in the results
depends on what changes have been made to the engine's
criteria. It is a matter of chance, and not a matter of
whether SEO copywriting was used or not.
SEO Copywriting weaknesses
Competitive search
terms
The technique only works for search terms
that are not particularly competitive. Competitive search
terms are those where many people are trying very hard to gain
the top rankings for their sites. Casino, sex, insurance,
health and hotels sites are among the most competitive, and
there are many other topics where people fight for rankings.
For medium to highly competitive search terms, other, more
vigorous, methods are needed.
Suitable
sites
Not all websites are suitable for SEO
Copywriting. Many simply don't have sufficient text on
their pages, and adding text would spoil the design or nature
of the sites. Also, some sites that do have sufficient text
sometimes don't want to be forced into changing what is
written on the pages, just for the sake of the search engines.
Cost, and the limitation
of targeted search terms
SEO Copywriting
is a time-consuming process, and professional SEO copywriters
are not cheap, therefore the cost of each page is significant.
Since each page can target only one or two search terms, it
would usually require a good number of pages to be made-over
in order to target all the required search terms.
Tied to a
copywriter
What happens when a website owner
finds it necessary to alter the text on a page that has been
worked on by a professional SEO copywriter? It can't be done
without either ruining the costly SEO work and, with it, the
page's rankings, or re-hiring a professional copywriter to
redo the work once the changes have been made.
Slipping in the
rankings
If a page is successfully optimized by
SEO Copywriting, and is ranked in the top 10 search
results for its targeted search term, then the optimization
was worth the cost. But what happens when someone else decides
to optimize a page from a different website for the same
search term? If their optimization technique is successful,
and the page gets into the top 10, the #10 page will slip to
#11 - and off the first page of results. Then suppose another
website does the same thing...and another...and another.
Sooner or later, the successful page will slip from the first
page of search results. As soon as people decide to optimize
their pages for the chosen search terms, existing top 10 pages
are on the way down. Then what?
If the sliding pages were professionally SEO copywritten,
there is nothing else that the technique can do for them, or
if it can, the whole costly copywriting process must be
redone. Adding one or two instances of the target search terms
isn't merely a case of typing them in somewhere, because the
final text still needs to read well for the site visitors.
Again, the website owner is tied to a copywriter.
Summary
SEO Copywriting is good when:-
-
there are not many search terms to target
-
the search terms are on the low to middle end of
competitiveness
-
money isn't a problem, or if it is your own website
-
you don't mind the text on your pages being frozen (if
money does matter)
Otherwise, 'search engine
friendly' techniques should always be done as a first measure,
and real search engine optimization should be done for
the search terms for which 'search engine friendly' techniques
are unsuccessful.
NOTE:
Competitive search terms
are not necessarily those where millions of results are
returned. They are those where people are competing hard for
the top positions. There's a big difference.
Copywriting Tutorial
This article is about
SEO copywriting and not about copywriting in general.
Copywriting is a specialized field, which has the ability to
make a website successful - or not. Those of us without that
skill can flounder along or we can enlist the help of one of
the best in the business. This copy right is the best that I've found on the web, and I
thoroughly recommend reading it.
SEO copywriting and normal copywriting don't always mix
very well, but it is worth taking the time to integrate them
as far as is possible. After all, SEO copywriting will help to
bring people from the search engines to the website but, if
the website fails to sell itself or its products to those
people, there isn't much point in them coming. |
