Website promoters know that most traffic comes from the search engines. They also know that two of the major factors that affect ranking in the engines are inbound links to one’s site and keywords. Significantly, these two factors work together: the keywords on your site tell search engines what your site is about, and the backlinks to your site tell them how important your site isThe combination of the two factors determine your relevance. And relevance is, of course, what the search engines are all about.
There’s been a lot of talk about HTML meta tags and their importance. It’s wise to view these meta tags almost as street signs, which is how the search engines look at them. Specifically, the keywords in the tags should match those in the copy or your site will not be indexed for those keywords. Of course, the engines also take into consideration how often the keywords are used on the page. You shouldn’t overuse keywords in your copy, but you should make sure that it at least contains them. The trick is to make your copy keyword rich but not to compromise readability. Readability is important to your visitors — after all, they are the ones who will buy your product or service.
Keep the following nine guidelines in mind and you will be better able to make the copy on your site appealing to both visitors and search engines.
1. Categorize your site
Keep the structure of your site in mind. If you structure your pages around certain benefits, it will be easier to categorize them by keyword. For example, if you have a site that sells handmade Macbook and iPad carrying cases, you could divide it into separate pages for Macs, iPads, iPhones and so on, then segment each section into the different models and capacities. This way, your narrowly focused pages will be able to target more specific keywords.
2. Find your keywords
Subscribe to www.wordtracker.com for a day, type in the key points of products you’ve identified on each page of your site, and analyze keywords your customers will use when they’re searching for your products. Naturally, these are the words you will want to use in your copy.
3. Use phrases rather than single words
Needless to say, there’s much more competition for single keywords than there are for longer key phrases. Research also shows that, as Internet users become more search savvy, they’re more likely to search for specific strings rather than individual words. They’re learning that they can find what they’re looking for much faster by being more specific. So think about what’s unique about your business. For example, if you sell handmade Macbook and iPad carrying cases, then use this as your primary keyword phrase. In this way you’ll have a better chance of ranking in the more targeted searches. WordTracker can help you find the most appropriate phrases.
4. Focus on the important phrases
Don’t try to include every possible keyword phrase that could relate to every page. Focus instead on one or two phrases per page. For example, for your Macbook cases page, you could focus on the phrase ” handmade Macbook carrying cases.” On your iPad cases page, focus on “handmade iPad cases.”
5. Get specific.
Don’t just say “our cases.” Instead, wherever you would normally use that phrase, use instead the phrase “our iPad carrying cases.” Be careful though. Never sacrifice readability for keyword placement or you will risk annoying your visitors.
6. Put your keyword phrases in your links.
Tie your pages together with text links so that the search engines will see that the pages are related. For example, on the bottom of your “handmade iPad carrying cases” you would include a text link to your “handmade Macbook carrying cases” page. You can also include a similar link within the body of the page. For example, “In addition to offering handmade iPad carrying cases, we also offer handmade Macbook carrying cases” with the relevant phrases being links.
7. Use key phrases in your headings.
As you probably know, headings help readers to scan your website, but they help the search engines too, since they assign more value to phrases that are marked with the heading tag. Therefore, be sure to include your key phrases in your headings as well.
8. Don’t worry about keyword density
This may seem surprising, but I do not think you should pay too much attention to the keyword density of your text. This is because concentrating on keyword density almost inevitably results in poor quality copy. Fortunately, if you follow the other tips in this article, obsessing over keyword density will be unnecessary.
9. Write, write, write!
This may seem obvious, but copy really is king! If writing is a chore for you, consider using a voice dictation program like Dragon Dictate for Mac or Dragon NaturallySpeaking for PC. This allows you to write just as quickly as you can speak. Of course, careful proofreading will be necessary, but this is true no matter how you create your content, and many people find dictating much easier and mor natural than speaking.
These guidelines will help to ensure good search engine optimization for your copy. The main thing you want to do is find a balance between copy that is written for the search engines and that which is written for your real human visitors. In the final analysis, the latter always takes precedence over the former.
24 comments
Wize Time says:
May 11, 2011
These are excellent tips especially the content about phrases – I think, well chosen, they make a big difference. Using these phrases for links is something I had not considered, but of course, it makes perfect sense. Thanks – every little bit counts.
Daniel Snyder says:
May 12, 2011
Yeah longtail keywords (phrases) can drive a lot of traffic!
Adrienne says:
May 11, 2011
Wow Tim, great post. Let’s see, how many things can I tell you I’m doing wrong! How about a LOT!!!
I have several blogs so on some of them I don’t do a very good job at all with keywords, headlines, etc. Now on a few of the others, I do a lot better but I can tell from what you just shared that I still have a lot of things I can definitely improve so thank you so much for this post. Now, back to work I go.
Adrienne
Tim Arends says:
May 12, 2011
Don’t worry Adrienne, getting some of these things right is a lot better than making no effort at all! In SEO, a little effort counts for a lot.
Dino Dogan says:
May 11, 2011
These are really great basic and often overlooked steps to good SEO practices. Well done π
Tim Arends says:
May 12, 2011
Thanks, Dino, glad you liked them!
Fox says:
May 12, 2011
Great post. I relied heavily on the above SEO practices and its a simple way to gain some traffic back to your site.
Daniel Snyder says:
May 12, 2011
These are fundamentals aren’t they.
SERPD says:
May 12, 2011
9 Steps to Successful SEO Copy…
Website promoters know that most traffic comes from the search engines. They also know that two of the major factors that affect ranking in the engines are inbound links to oneβs site and keywords. ……
manual article submission says:
May 12, 2011
These all are one of the excellent tips for getting the right headlines, Keywords etc it can be definitely improve in so many things.
Ileane says:
May 13, 2011
Hi Tim,
I’m using a WordPress plugin called SEO Pressor that help cover many of the items you mentioned here. I also try to reinforce some of these concepts when I leave comments on posts. For example, instead of saying “a plugin” I’ll say “a WordPress plugin called SEO Pressor” π
Thanks for the tips!
Tim Arends says:
May 13, 2011
I will have to look into SEO Pressor. Thanks Ileane!
Daniel Snyder says:
May 13, 2011
Hey Tim, I’ve written about SEO Pressor on this blog, so you can check it out here as well! (Moving up in the SERPS and SEO Pressor review)
Jane | Find All Answers says:
May 13, 2011
Hi Tim,
That is a great list of things to watch out. I use a combination of Keyword winner and Market Samurai for my keyword research. I usually don’t worry about the density as you have mentioned. I like #9, cherry on top of the cake π
Cheers,
Jane.
Best SEO Blogging | Kira says:
May 13, 2011
Thanks for the great share! Old folks SEO strategies are still the best way to get a better website search engines’ projection.
Web Design Brisbane says:
May 13, 2011
I totally agree with this statement that “Keep the structure of your site in mind. If you structure your pages around certain benefits, it will be easier to categorize them by keyword. ” because its very important to know where your sites belongs so that it will be not useless for you if you keep on promoting your site on the wrong category. Ready your post is a big help! π
Tim Arends says:
May 16, 2011
Thanks for the comment. Yeah, it’s important not to try to cover too much on a single page!
Sarvesh says:
May 17, 2011
There are very important and very valuable tips to get the high traffic on our site through the SEO. The above post is really very important. There are lots of things and tips to learn.
Anna says:
May 20, 2011
Hi, Tim
Your blog (and this particular article) was recommended by Jane from http://www.findallanswers.com and I didn’t regret that I have visited your site. First of all, thanks for the tips and for their clear presentation. That’s the problem for many other bloggers (me as well sometimes) – they can’t express and deliver the message. You did it! And now I can share this post with some newly born seo specialists who should understand the necessity of the right keywords.
Daniel Snyder says:
May 24, 2011
Hey Anna thanks for visiting info carnivore! π Glad you found and enjoyed the site and Tim’s guest post too. Have a great day.
Tim Arends says:
May 23, 2011
Thanks for the kind words Anna!
Andrew Walker says:
May 25, 2011
Hi Tim,
This is great. I learn new things after reading your tips. This is what I like the most. I give respect to all bloggers who write good quality content. Well done, Tim. Gotta try this out. I will always Write, write, write! Cheers.
Ana | Traffic Generation says:
Jun 2, 2011
It’s amazing how simple SEO really is if you think about it, Tim and Daniel, yet how few bloggers venture into it.
I like your very first point: too few bloggers set up their blogs correctly from the start – use too many categories, don’t use pages, dilute their content, in other words. I am glad you mentioned it.
Ana
15 SEO tutorials e guide per un SEO fai-da-te says:
Sep 6, 2011
[…] 4.ΓΒ 9 Steps to successful SEO copywriting […]