SEO Copywriting with Keyword Phrases

Doing Keywords (read Keyword Phrase ) research is one thing that all successful SEO Copywriters swear by. Targeting the right keywords and key phrases is a significant step in SEO copywriting because this way you would know what people are actually searching for. Good Keyword Phrase research removes guesswork. Focus needs to be on specific search phrases pertaining to what your site is offering. Once keywords have been decided they need to be used at several strategic places on your site.

Keyword Selection Process

The first step in the Keyword selection process is a good Keyword Research. There is simply no point in using keyword phrases that no one's searching for! Hence, it is advisable to do your keyword research by using tools like Wordtracker and Overture - Search Term Suggestion Tool Other search engines like Google also offer some tools https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordSandbox ), which can be used as a guide, although Google does not indicate the popularity count of each key phrase.

Note: Wordtracker offers free use for one day. If you are organized in your planning, you can complete your keyword research in a day and use this benefit.

Lets take an example to understand keyword research better. Lets say, you have a hotel in Las Vegas and your site wants to get traffic for customers looking for your services. The first few keywords that come to your mind may be, Hotel, Hotels, Las Vegas, Las Vegas Hotels etc. When we look for these keywords on Google, we are bombarded with several million pages of information. A lot of these pages talk about hotel chains, Las Vegas Gambling etc. The users usually refine their search to find more specific information. They may, for instance, type in ' Discount Las Vegas Hotel' or 'Las Vegas Hotel Reservation '.

The benefit with focused approach is two-folds. One, you would get visitors who would be looking for 'exactly' what you are offering ; Second, you would be dealing with far lesser competition in ranking your site high.

Therefore it's evident that:

1. When people search for information, they're searching for specific information. Hence it makes more sense to optimize for specific keywords .

2. It is better to use keyword phrases than single keywords, as single keywords tend to be generic. Apart from that, many keyword phrases can be made out of a single
keyword.

3. Try using popular yet 'not so competitive' keywords, rather than most popular and competitive ones. They'll get you better ranking on the search engines and moreover, bring targeted traffic to your site rather than just junk traffic.

Other Useful Tips:

After you have researched for your keywords, you may realize that your keywords appear in both singular and plural versions, as can be seen in the above given example. Hence, use all the different forms of your keywords in order to rank higher. This can also include words that can be spelled differently or commonly mis-spelt words. For instance, words like eCommerce that can also be written as e-Commerce.

For effective Search Engine Copywriting make sure that your key phrases run throughout the page, rather than focusing on just the beginning or the title of the page. So be generous while using those all-important keywords, but a word of caution, don't go overboard. Excessive keyword repetition can lead search engines to think you are spamming which can get your site penalized.

SEO Copywriting for Page Headings

Headlines, apart from giving a brief preview of what follows in the body copy, are also used to pass on the most relevant information on the page. One look at the headline and we decide whether we want to read the article or not. In Search Engine Copywriting too, headlines are as sacred as in most other mediums of communications as search engines give high value to text put in heading formats. So, place your keywords in the HTML header codes

and

tags.

For instance, the headline of this page is Search Engine Copywriting :
placed in the

tags. This is suggestive of what the page is about. The sub heading Importance of Good Copywriting follows in

tag. This is then followed by keyword rich body text.

Optimized Text-Length on Page

It is advisable to have sufficient text on your home page and important section pages. Search engines like to see between 250 to 500 words of text on a page to assess its keyword relevance. The longer the text, the better. Let the beginning of the page text contain your important keywords. Some search engines do not read deep in your page. As such, it becomes important that they read your initial text with the keywords. Avoid placing links in images. Search engines cannot read images. If you must have images, have a text link bar at the bottom of your page. Try and include your important keywords within the hyperlinks ( anchor text ) as this gives a high relevance not only to the page but also to the linked page. Read our detailed article on Anchor Text Optimization

Search Engine Copywriting : Using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

CSS or Cascading Style Sheet is a style sheet language that allows you to tell a browser how to present your page. CSS can be used to control text formatting, thus maintaining the visual appeal of the text in headings. This separates the presentation style of the documents from the content, hence simplifying site maintenance. This includes specifications regarding the kind of font to be used, spacing, color, margin, border etc.

Importance of Good Copywriting

and

tags. For instance, the headline of this page is Search Engine Copywriting : placed in the

tags. This is suggestive of what the page is about. The sub heading Importance of Good Copywriting follows in

tag. This is then followed by keyword rich body text.

tags.

For instance, the headline of this page is Search Engine Copywriting :
placed in the