The landscape of writing has changed dramatically in the age of the internet—and writers have changed with it. Copywriters in the digital age have learned the ropes of more than just grammar and syntax but even algorithms and how they work to bring about clicks and drive traffic. Creating quality written content now comes hand in hand with ensuring people are able to find it amidst a plethora of results.
But how do you do that? How do you ensure that people will find your content when there are pages upon pages of results that emerge in a simple Google search?
To understand this, let’s differentiate a standard writer and an SEO copywriter.
A standard writer can produce quality writing but there’s no guarantee that these stories will necessarily attract clicks. Their content may be engaging but in a highly competitive internet environment, it might not stand out.
An SEO copywriter, on the other hand, is someone who has a better understanding of the digital landscape and what people are looking for. They’re a little more savvy with what netizens are trying to find online and they find ways to incorporate it into their writing. By doing this, they increase the likelihood of traffic on a business’ site because of how they’ve embedded certain keywords or key phrases into the content they’ve created.
From a business perspective, an SEO copywriter will not only deliver quality content, but will also ensure that people are more likely to engage with it. If you own a small business and you’re looking to boost traffic, an SEO copywriter can help you achieve that goal.
Here’s why you should hire an SEO copywriter
An SEO copywriter can definitely boost your business and generate traffic while still telling compelling stories. Here are 10 reasons you should trust them to create content for you.
1. Researches keywords (and knows how to use them)
Copywriting services comes with the understanding of what people are searching for. Knowing what kinds of phrases or words people look up is critical to SEO copywriting as they can integrate these words and phrases seamlessly into a blog post.
To do this, most copywriters employ the use of online tools. By combing through the web with tools like SEMrush and Search Engine Journal, they’re able to pinpoint what keywords people are typing into search engines. These tools also generate similar keywords or key phrases related to the ones they’ve already found, optimising a search and expanding a site’s potential online reach. Remember: The more specific the keyword or phrase, the better.
Writers are then tasked with including these words and phrases into their content, being careful not to overuse them as they might be flagged for what’s called keyword stuffing. Search engines can pick up on overuse of certain words and will lower the ranking of the website.
2. Can structure content to improve ranking
Another important skill is understanding structure and how that can contribute to better rankings. In order to grab a reader’s attention right away, your keywords and phrases have to appear in significant areas. Titles, headers, and the first paragraph should include the words and phrases that will lead traffic to you. When results appear in search engines, a snippet of the article or blog post is often included. You want people who are searching to see that your post has these keywords they’re looking for right away.
They also understand the importance of reading from a screen and how big blocks of texts can be intimidating—especially on mobile. So they vary structure, length, and cadence, paying attention to how an article is structured on a site.
Building links and including both external and internal links is also key to SEO. Links inform a search engine that your site is a good source. Including links to external sources can also help as they have experts who are monitoring their traffic and these experts may pick up on your site driving readers to them and linking back to you.
3. Understands formatting
The visual impact of a page also matters and SEO copywriters take note of that, balancing text with image and breaking up the article into titled sections with headings. Even the elements working behind the scenes play an important role. Elements like headings, alt text, images, and title tags contribute to a site’s ranking on search engines, too.
Visually, headings are what splits up the content into easily digestible parts. But when encoded, headings actually inform search engines of what your content is all about. Search engines take headings into consideration in order to deliver more tailored results. Headings introduce what a certain section is all about and subheadings go into specifics within that section. H1 (heading 1) introduces the topic while H2 is a subheading for H1 and H3 is a subheading for H2, etc.
Alt text can also be a good source of SEO boosting. Alt-text is part of HTML code that shows up when an image doesn’t load properly that describes the image that should have been there. It’s also there to aid visually-impaired users. Because images also appear in search engine results, having descriptive alt text can be an effective way of driving traffic to your site—especially if they use keywords and phrases.
Not only do images break up the text and make a piece less intimidating, the way search engines index them can help boost SEO significantly. Beyond just descriptive file names, Google and other search engines can also analyse them visually and still be very accurate. The size of the image also matters as it can affect how quickly a page loads. A slow page might not attract as many readers, lessening leads.
Title tags are what appears on a search engine results page. They’re often the same as the title of the article or blog post you’re searching for but sometimes they can differ depending on their length or if there’s a punchier headline that makes better use of the keywords. Having a straight-to-the-point title tag can draw more readers in and bring about more traffic.
4. Knows the importance of long form copy
Many are surprised to learn that long-form content is actually deemed more valuable than shorter articles. This is true not just for search engines but in terms of social media shares, too.
Search engines prefer longer content because of the value that a longer, more engaging, and more thorough article has over something that is short. A comprehensive how-to article that spans over 2000 words is considered more valuable than a 300-word blog post that covers the same thing precisely because the longer piece is expected to cover more ground, therefore ranking higher on the algorithm.
That’s not to say that SEO copywriters just add to the word count for the sake of it. Quality still trumps quantity. And SEO copywriters are able to deliver quality long-form content.
5. Adheres to SEO ‘white hat technique’ principles
Search engines are evolving rapidly and have been able to detect sites that aren’t following their terms of service. These sites sometimes resort to cloaking techniques, keyword stuffing, or paying other websites to link back to them in order to boost search rankings. These are generally seen as “Black Hat SEO” by Google and can get websites banned. “White Hat SEO” is the opposite: Creating quality content that still remains in the boundaries set by search engines.
Rich, engaging content that organically produces traffic by using keywords, images, and quality writing will always fare better in the long-term as compared to any Black Hat methods, the gains of which may be short-lived. Instead of resorting to risky moves like purchasing links (which can be reported), SEO copywriters know to stick to best practices instead.
6. Considers both SEO and readers when writing
While it can be difficult to meet the expectations of readers and a search engine, it’s not impossible. You want someone who can strike that balance of compelling storytelling and SEO-friendly writing. Instead of just focusing on how to get better rankings on Google, an SEO copywriter will always remember that the algorithms aren’t going to engage with their content as an audience does.
Good stories that impact a reader are just as important as climbing to the top of search rankings. Stories are meaningful to us—we are less likely to forget a good story that made us feel something as we are a set of figures and data. It’s why some stories have stayed with so many of us for so long, even outliving their authors to become timeless.
The delivery of these stories is pivotal, too. The story itself can be engaging but if delivered poorly, it loses its luster. So the writer has to meet the expectations of a reader while still capitalising on keywords, alt text, images, and tags in order to rank high.
7. Is excited that engaging content is becoming more important than technical optimisation
Because search engines are becoming more and more intelligent, they filter and categorise results a little better every time. This evolution is exciting because it means that engines like Google are prioritising good, engaging content over websites full of keyboard stuffing. Quality work is slowly gaining more precedence over sites that overuse flimsy optimising tactics.
Search engines boosting good content is exciting because it opens up the doors for even more engagement and more traffic. So now more than ever, SMEs will need relevant, quality stories and storytelling in order to be more visible in search engine result pages.
Audiences are a big part of growth and being able to capture their attention is more important than trying to climb the rankings by making content that isn’t engaging. Audiences are loyal and the more they engage, the more exposure you get. Overusing keywords isn’t the answer.
8. Can satisfy Search Quality Raters
Search Quality Raters are the faces that accompany the Google algorithm. While search engines can index and go over thousands of sites and pages, the quality and trustworthiness of these pages need to be evaluated by humans. Search Quality Raters rate how relevant and trustworthy a set of results is compared to another set, helping Google see how people experience getting results. A good rating increases the likelihood of higher ranking for your site.
This all comes back to how the copy must be good and not just be of random keywords. Your content should grab attention while making masterful use of key phrases that work seamlessly with the rest of the work and be trustworthy enough to satisfy Search Quality Raters. This means no malicious links, engaging copy that’s trying to convey something, and an easy-to-navigate website that will appeal to more readers.
With appealing content that has great SEO and the approval of Search Quality Raters, your site can definitely rank higher.
9. Consistently creates content
Frequency also plays a big part in SEO. With consistent, quality content, search engines are more likely to trust in you and give you a higher rating. This is because they have a preference for sites that are up-to-date and have newer, more relevant information. Good writing that stands out and is consistently posted to a blog will also increase the likelihood of visitors and traffic which can turn into leads.
This is not to say that businesses should aimlessly flood Google with content all in one go but to have a schedule instead. If your audience wants a blog post on your site twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays, give them that consistency. It looks more professional and polished, your audience will know when to expect content, and you can even time it for when your audience is most active.
10. Can research your competition’s content to assess what’s working (and what isn’t)
You might think that promoting your business’s content and getting it out there for engagement is all that’s left to do but don’t forget about competition. Yes, you’re competing for ranking status on search engines but remember that you’re competing especially with those who have the same or similar service or product you do. This is a good opportunity to analyse what your competitors are doing right, where they are falling short, and how you can use these gaps in their strategies to your advantage.
SEO copywriters are so familiar with their craft that they can easily detect when a blog post is resorting to keyword stuffing or if it’s good quality by paying attention to style, syntax, and grammar. Being able to compare consistency is also important as it reveals how an audience responds to the frequency of posts and how it affects ranking on search engines.
If you’re a small business owner looking for good quality storytelling for your brand, SEO copywriters are a smart addition to your team. They can create engaging content that can rank high on search engines, bringing in more traffic to your business’ site, and ultimately producing more leads.
While they can’t necessarily replace an SEO specialist, they can definitely complement their role and bring a writer’s insight to a business’ SEO initiative. Good storytelling and copywriting may just be the key to your business’ success.
