You've put a lot of effort into making it look good: visually, your website looks slick and the website structure is solid. Yet the visitors just don't come in. A great shame. It's certainly not down to your time and energy, but what is? Many website designers focus mainly on the graphic part and therefore forget how fundamental good SEO texts are for website traffic.
Because if your texts are not clear enough, Google will ignore you and if your texts are not convincing, your visitors will not convert. Good web texts offer a solution, but that is quite a task in itself. Writing is not that easy and it only becomes really difficult when you have to take SEO guidelines into account. What is your mission? To provide texts that are well found by both Google and the visitor. Today, we'll explain what you need to take into account.
CONTINUOUSLY IN CONFLICT
SEO copywriting is actually a continuous search for the right balance. Not surprisingly, there is a constant field of tension. After all, as a copywriter you want nothing more than to provide texts that are easy to read. Yet you are also expected to seduce the search engines in the same way as the readers.
The fact that there are also many players on the market who have the same trick up their sleeve makes it anything but easy to stand out from the rest. Nevertheless, the Internet is full of commercial web texts written for no one but Google. For anyone who loves to write, this is a worrying development. To score high in Google with SEO texts, you therefore have to make an important consideration: does only commercial interest count or are you also interested in visitors? We hope you choose the latter. SEO should be seen as a means to an end and not as an end in itself.
WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS FOR GOOD SEO TEXTS?
Let's say first of all that it's all about the keywords. They are at the heart of everything concerning SEO copywriting. By incorporating certain search terms in the texts, Google receives a signal that a certain text is about a certain subject. Based on the similarity between the keyword and the content, Google determines which site is shown and which is not. This does not mean that you should stare blindly at the search terms, but it does mean that you should strongly consider the search terms.
By determining the search terms in advance, you can write in a targeted manner. You take the search intention into account and adjust your writing behaviour accordingly. In essence, you try to put yourself in the position of the visitor. How do you do that? By asking yourself what he or she would search for to end up on your site. What is important is that you take the golden mean that keeps both the search engine and the visitor happy.
AND WHAT DOES THAT MEAN SPECIFICALLY?
That you should take the following factors into account:
1. KEYWORD DENSITY
The keyword density is the extent to which the keyword to be optimised appears in the text. Usually, this is indicated in percentages, whereby anything between 0.5% and 2.5% is considered acceptable. Do you end up outside these percentages? Then the text is not very useful. If there are too few entries, the signal does not reach the search engine and if there are too many entries, the alarm goes off: the last thing you want is for the text to be seen as spammy. Therefore, use the search term in a natural way and don't overdo it.
2. STRATEGIC DISTRIBUTION
The keyword density mentioned above can be spread all over the page. However, there are a number of strategic places that give Google even more of a signal that your text is about a particular subject. Think of the title, the introduction and the headings. These places attract the most attention, both from the visitor and from Google. Both scan the text in their own way.
3. IRONCLAD INTRODUCTION
The first paragraph tells where your text is going. Everyone who comes into contact with the text is then given a signal about what to expect. The introduction therefore has both an inviting and informative task, which is why the keywords should be mentioned. Not only the visitor should know what the text is about, also Google should know. Make sure it is clear at a glance what the rest of your SEO text is about.
4. CONSIDERATION OF LINKS
The search engine sees a link as a kind of vote. The more votes it receives, the more important the page is. The great thing about online marketing is that you can control the number of votes, or links, to a certain extent yourself. For external links you have to make an effort, but for internal links it's up to you. By including links to other pages on your site, you make it easier for everyone: the visitor can easily click through to other useful information and the search engine gets a signal that it should not forget any pages. After all, the aim is for all your pages to be noticed by the search results page. And of course, the more you are found, the more traffic that can mean.
THE TARGET GROUP COMES FIRST
Because we are all so focused on what the search engine thinks of us, we sometimes almost forget one thing: it is the visitor who counts. Of course you want to be noticed by search engines like Google, but don't forget that in the end it is all about the reader.
THINK IN TOPICS INSTEAD OF SEARCH TERMS
There was a time when Google was fooled. By stuffing your website with attractive keywords, you could make your way to the top positions in Google. And although it is still theoretically possible, the search engines no longer allow themselves to be fooled. Instead, Google demands (although that desire is never clearly expressed) that you think in terms of topics rather than keywords.
What does that mean? That you should write your SEO web texts about topics instead of thinking in all kinds of clever keyword combinations. While the search engine used to distinguish between search terms such as 'jacket' (singular), 'coats' (plural) and 'jacket', it now understands that we are talking about the same subject. Optimising for each of these words therefore does not make much sense anymore. Fortunately, thinking in terms of topics does.
LONGER IS BETTER
Thinking in terms of subjects instead of search terms also results in fewer texts. After all, you no longer have to write a separate landing page for each search term. However, this does mean that the texts you write will have to be of higher quality than before. So you can go into more depth. Whereas a few years ago we were hammering away at 300 words, nowadays we have to think in terms of texts that go up to 1000 words. Or simply the number you feel comfortable with, but the point seems clear: to really convince, you have to come up with content. And in most cases, that means more words.
ONLINE MARKETING IN 2020
As with other activities in the online marketing mix, SEO texts are constantly adapted to the latest trends and developments. This also means that new opportunities are constantly emerging, also in the field of copywriting. For 2020, for example, we see a number of developments that could be very interesting for anyone who needs SEO texts:
- Voice search: You may already have performed a search by voice commanding your smartphone. Traditionally, search terms are entered into Google's search form, but nowadays more and more searches are done via virtual assistants installed on our mobile devices. What does this mean for SEO texts? That the search terms are becoming more and more elaborate. While we want to be as efficient as possible while typing (kapper centrum Den Haag), our voice takes little effort to pronounce a complete sentence (I'm looking for a hairdresser in the centre of The Hague). This development has more and more influence on the design of web pages. Long tail keywords are becoming more and more important.
- The importance of videosIt is also clear that we are watching more and more videos. Internet speeds now allow it, and the graphics are also becoming more professional. Videos are therefore hot, and will continue to be in the coming years. This offers plenty of opportunities for SEO copywriting. Can't just about every video be provided with a title, description and geographical location? We hardly need to explain to you how many opportunities this can offer to attract visitors to your website.
- Content becomes even more important: Online marketing has changed enormously in recent years and that is a positive note. Because while all kinds of information used to be forced upon us, we now do our utmost to attract readers. This means that push marketing is giving way to content that matters. By offering useful content, potential customers should find their way to websites. Online users are not fooled and now even have the power. What does that mean for SEO copywriting? That a good story needs to be told. Only then will visitors feel attracted to your website.
- Shareable SEO texts: And if you have already created valuable content, there is only one thing left to do: market it. Fortunately, we have social media for that. With the handy share buttons, you ensure that the content is noticed. And with a bit of luck, even be shared en masse. The best thing about that? That those shares can generate a lot of free attention.
THE CONVERSION AS A GUIDELINE
Good, your content is now rock solid and is noticed massively by your target group. You have now reached the step that matters most: conversion. By inciting action-oriented behaviour, you ensure that the visitor performs a follow-up action instead of saying goodbye to your website. In the most favourable case, your visitor is triggered by one of the products you mention in your blog article and proceeds to purchase.
But even filling in a contact form can be seen as a desirable action in itself. After all, you want your efforts to be followed up. How do you ensure more conversion? By including enough call-to-actions in your text. For example, end your SEO text with a button to contact the reader. You can also invite the reader to read a related blog. Keep in mind that it should not be too intrusive. SEO does not force, but should stimulate.
CAUTIOUS WINK TO GOOGLE
Voilà. We've given you a whole laundry list of information and all of these points should make sense to you. Hopefully, it will stimulate you to look at SEO in a different way. Still, we would like to warn you not to get too carried away and not to forget what it's all about: the reader. Always write with the visitor in mind and do not stare blindly into keyword percentages and wooden sounding keyword combinations.
Because ultimately, it's not just about the number of visitors, but also about whether they convert. After all, you can attract a whole load of visitors because your text is full of a certain keyword, but if there is poor readability, they will still say goodbye. In that respect, SEO copywriting is not that different from copywriting: you want the text to be appreciated. Although, of course, you can always give Google a nod.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
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