For many years now, businesses have turned to their trusted copywriterto create their website copy.
Why?
Because they knew that the way their content was written would have an effect on their search rankings, in other words, they needed SEO copywriting.
Now for me ‘traditional’ (i.e. bad) SEO copywriting is no more, especially in light of Google’s constant algorithm changes that put more emphasis on good quality writing as opposed to that which is over optimised.
Let’s face it, that’s not a bad thing as finally, we might be able to say farewell to those awful web pages that are completely incomprehensible because they are stuffed to the rafters with keywords.
So are copywriters now redundant?
Far from it.
SEO copywriting is high-quality writing
Google adores good quality content. That means stuff that’s:
- Well written
- Adds value to the reader
- Interesting and relevant
And that means it should still be written by a professional because they do it every day and therefore are really rather good at it.
You see the misconceptions that SEO copywriting is all about including your keywords at least 15 times in your copy, or stuffing them all within the first few lines of your page, or just getting copy out there that the search engines read because people don’t read it anyway are exactly that, misconceptions.
SEO copywriting is and always has been about writing good quality content that’s focused on the reader and communicates with them in a conversational, simple to understand way.
Writing for your reader
Basically, the copy should always be written for the reader and not the search engines. Google or Bing aren’t going to come knocking on your door, credit card in hand, looking to buy your products or services so why write for them?
If you produce great content that entertains, educates and engages then customers will walk through your door because it shows that you ‘get it’.
Sadly, SEO copywriting has a long way to go before the myth of keyword stuffing is debunked for good. In fact, I was working on a web copy project recently for a client who, unbeknown to me, was working with some ‘marketing experts’ to get his business on track. He’d asked me to produce his web copy, which I duly did, focusing on the benefits and reader. After reviewing it and agreeing on it, he then sent it to these ‘experts’ who came back saying ‘this is not SEO copywriting, there is no optimisation…’
Was I fuming or what?
After explaining once more about SEO copy and offering to send his ‘experts’ some information from Matt Cutts that backed up my work, they went quiet. It’s a shame, but that just goes to show how indoctrinated people are about SEO copywriting.
Over to you
I could bore for England on this subject, but rather than do that how about having your say?
Whether you’re a copywriter, marketer or business owner, what are your thoughts on this?
Leave a comment below, I’d love to hear your views.