In short, effective SEO copywriting appeals to both search engine algorithms and human beings. It is keyword-rich, but also eminently readable. Here are 7 pointers for great SEO writing, all of which we have covered at Auroras Copywriting.

1. Readability is paramount.

There is no point filling your copy with keywords at the expense of readability. What you really need is a balance – you want enough relevant words so that potential clients are able to find you through the searches they perform, but then you absolutely need to impress when those potential clients come to your site. You need to convince them not only that you can help them, but also that you know what you’re talking about and you can be fairly entertaining while you’re about it. Or to put it another way, content is king.

2. Create click-friendly titles.

Titles for your articles are cut down to 65 characters in search engine results pages, so first of all, make sure your titles don’t exceed that limit. Also, make sure you have good keyword representation in your headline, right at the start. You need to grab your readers as soon as you possibly can, so give them what they want as soon as you can.

3. Link to important pages.

The more important your page, the more inbound links should take your potential clients there. Ideally these will be authority links (links from well-established, well-respected sites) but in the absence of authority links, links from other pages on your own website can do a lot of good work driving visitors to the right pages.

4. Create long-tail keywords.

The more obvious a keyword, the more it appears on the internet. This means rather than “diet tips”, your long tail keyword might be “diet tips for teenagers” or “diet tips for men over 50”. There is much less competition for these slightly more involved keyword combinations and therefore, particularly if your site is new, you have much more chance gaining a higher search engine result, and therefore much greater chance converting a potential client to a sale.

5. Optimise your descriptions.

Aside from your article titles, you should also be working on your descriptions, the small blocks of text that appear alongside the title on results pages. If your description sparkles, you’ll have many more people clicking through to your site.

6. Make your pages pretty.

Nothing is guaranteed to have your visitors clicking away from your site faster than a pig-ugly page – except maybe lifeless copy. Visually, your page needs to reflect the readability of the copy. Try using some of the following to make your page look sexy:

* different headings

* different sections

* cool images

* video where appropriate

…and of course…

* bullet points

7. Content is king.

Yes, this is the same as number one, but it is the most important tip so it’s definitely worth mentioning twice. You can try as many techniques as you like, but frankly, if your copy is not shimmering and eminently readable, you’re unlikely to set the internet on fire.

So if that’s what you’re after, give us a call at Auroras today and see what we can do for your website.