SEO Copywriting Tutorial: From Start to Finish
SEO copywriting is a challenging craft because
you need to create content that's easy for search engines to read and understand. But that exact same content needs
to be appealing to human users too. Now, search engines and people that use
search engines don't need to be looked at as mutually exclusive. There are ways you can satisfy both while
writing in a very natural and organic way. And that's what we'll be talking about
in this SEO copywriting tutorial. In fact, I'll actually do the steps with you
for a hypothetical example to give you a better idea of what SEO copywriting looks
like in action from a workflow standpoint. So to paint a scenario for this tutorial, let's
say that our company sells sleep-related products and the topic for the page we'll be
creating content on is "how to get better sleep." Alright, so we're going to tackle this
copywriting tutorial in three stages.
The first stage is all about research. And the steps we take in this stage are
going to set us up for ranking success. Now, the first and arguably most important
part of this research phase is to check search intent for your target query. Search intent represents the reason
behind a searcher's query. And Google actually gives us clues into searcher
intent right within the search results page. For example, if you search for "slow cooker"
in Google, the search results are mostly made up of shopping ads and product pages. It's basically telling us as creators that in
order to rank high for this query, we'd also need to have a page that's transactional and
commercial in nature – like a product page.
Now, change your search to "slow cooker recipes,"
and you'll see that all top-ranking pages are blog posts that show lists of slow cooker recipes. The search results are informational and in order
to rank for this query, we'd need something similar because that's what searchers want. So because our target query for our example
page is "how to get better sleep," I'll start by searching for that on Google. Now, if you look at the top results, you'll see
that nearly all pages are listicles with tips to get better sleep – not step-by-step guides
or tutorials like the query might suggest. So that's the content format and
angle we'd want to run with too. The second part of the research phase is
to create a thorough outline based on data. Now, with SEO content writing, your goal
is to get your page to the top of Google search for your target query.
So naturally, the best place to actually start
building your outline is to look for similarities among the top-ranking pages. After all, they've made it to the top of Google most
likely because their pages are satisfying users. Now, looking at the top articles on how to
get better sleep, you'll notice that they all talk about how alcohol can negatively impact your
sleep, how a sleep schedule or routine can help, and to reduce naps to get better sleep.
These are foundational sleep tips so let's
take note of these things and we can include our own take on these tips in our post. Now, if we go back to the search results page,
you'll also see that there's a People Also Ask box that shows related questions. This one on getting 8 hours of sleep seems
interesting because it's what many people searching for this topic would aim to achieve. Also, this one on the causes of lack of sleep
would probably be good information to add to our post too.
The last thing I'll do is check for common
keyword rankings among the top-ranking pages. And the reason why I'm going to do this
is because it often reveals insights about what your target audience is looking for, the
language they use in search, and the topics that Google considers to be closely related. To do this, I'll use Ahrefs' Content Gap tool. And all I've done here is put the URLs
of the top-ranking pages for my target query in the top section. And if we run the search, we can see
all keywords that these pages rank for and their ranking positions.
So based on the results, you'll see that people are
using language like getting a "good night's sleep." They want to get more "deep sleep." Then there's a keyword here which gives
me the idea to include information on the recommended hours of sleep by age. Finally, this one on sleep schedules affirms
that we should definitely include a tip on that in our post. Now, before we continue, it's important
we talk about copycat content. SEO copywriting is not about copying
information from top-ranking pages. What we're doing at this stage is extracting
potentially important subtopics and industry jargon that may be required
to cover a topic in full. Think about it like this: If Google's job is to show the most relevant
results for any given query, then that means the top 3 results are the most relevant pages
for that query – at least in Google's eyes.
And because Google has spent billions,
maybe even trillions of dollars to get their search algorithms to where they are today,
their non-human ways of understanding user satisfaction are probably better than
our human ways in most cases. So look at this analysis as a way to understand
how you can best serve visitors to your page. Alright, we're done with the research
phase so let's move on to the next part of the SEO copywriting process
which is the drafting phase. Now, while writing styles will vary a lot,
content writers all have the same goals: to educate, entertain, and/or delight our
readers while ideally leading them closer to a conversion goal. So with that said, I'll give you a few copywriting
tips you can use for different sections of your content, starting with the intro. As cliche as it might sound, having an intro
that pulls in your readers is critical because it tells them they're in the right place
and that they should continue reading. A simple, yet effective method
you can use is the PAS formula.
This is where you point out a problem,
agitate it, and then offer a solution. So for our hypothetical article on
how to get better sleep, I might say… "Everyone wants to sleep better, but unfortunately,
you can't just "will" yourself to a good night's rest. Beyond feeling groggy, research shows
that the absence of quality sleep can lead to weight gain and negatively
impact your daily brain function. Fortunately, many physicians have
found that people who follow sleep schedules are 98% more likely to feel
"at their best" throughout their days. So today, I'll share 7 evidence-based sleep
tips to help you build your sleep routine and consistently get 8-hours of sleep every night." Now, as for the body of the content, this
is when your outline that you made in the research stage is going to be clutch.
For landing page copy, the body is where you'll
sell your products by showcasing features and use cases. And for blog content it's where you'll resolve
the reason for a visit which can help build trust with your audience. The purpose of the body is to provide
immense amounts of value. You're basically delivering on your headline
and you want to give it your all. Now, because we're in the drafting phase, I
wouldn't worry so much about having perfectly optimized content because we'll be handling
that stuff in the next phase which we'll get to in a bit. The final piece of the content is the conclusion. And this is where you'll wrap things
up and direct visitors to a destination.
For example, on a landing page, that
might be to a sales or checkout page. And for a blog post, that might be
a recommendation to read another blog article, watch a video,
or to go to a sales page. The main thing I want to communicate
with the conclusion is that you shouldn't leave them at a dead end. For example, in our hypothetical
"how to get better sleep" article, the main point of my content might be to set good
sleep habits to build a proper sleep schedule. Now, as a business, I probably want to send these
readers to some of our product pages, but it's not exactly organic to recommend them here. So instead, I can actually try and point
readers to other informational content that's related to getting better sleep and
recommends our sleep-related products.
For example, my conclusion might say: "Building great sleep habits is an essential
part of getting good sleep consistently. However, it's also critical that you're using
the right pillow as the wrong one can cause neck tension that no sleep schedule can fix. Read our review on the 15 best pillows
to help you get better quality sleep." And of course, that best pillows
guide would have links to our products. Alright, now once you've finished the draft,
it's time to move on to the final stage which is editing. Now, many people overlook this stage and just
do a final read through to check for typos. But editing is just as important as drafting. It's where you ensure your messaging is right,
that all your on-page SEO optimizations have been done correctly, and where you'll
ensure the content flows smoothly.
Basically, you want to make it easy
for people to consume your content. A simple process you can follow
is the… ASMR method. The A stands for annotations. These are good to add within your
content to make certain parts standout. For example, we use side notes to bring
notice to an important point without breaking the flow of the content. The S stands for short sentences
and paragraphs. This helps improve
readability and digestibility. When editing, look for instances where
you used transitional words like "and," "because," and "that," and consider
breaking them into shorter sentences. The M stands for multimedia.
Consider adding videos, images, and gifs
to help illustrate your points without having to add extra words. And R stands for read. Make sure you actually read your copy
out loud to pinpoint areas where your content may not flow smoothly. In addition to these checks, consider
simplifying the complexity of your content. That means using simpler language when
possible and removing industry jargon when it's not absolutely critical. There are tools like the Hemingway app
which you can use to get a graded score. As a general rule of thumb, aim for
a sixth to eighth grade reading level.
Now, you might feel like you haven't really
done much so-called "SEO copywriting." And that's because the copy you write for search
and humans doesn't have to be all that different. Google has evolved quite a lot compared
to the days when you had to include exact match keywords in order to rank for them. Those days for the most part are over. The outline we created in the first stage
where we analyzed competing pages was a big part of the SEO copywriting process. We found subtopics and key phrases
that people use to search for a topic.
In much the same way, Google analyzes
"entities" to categorize information and understand relationships. Now, in addition to our research, drafting, and
editing stages, we still practice on-page SEO best practices and you probably should too. If you want to learn more, watch our full
tutorial on the on-page SEO checklist we use which I'll link up in the description. I'll see you in the next tutorial..
