5 SEO Copywriting Tips

The Term “SEO Copy writing” can be very frowned upon due to it having a reputation of simply meaning to keyword stuff an article. Keyword stuffing is the act of taking a word or phrase you want to rank high in Google for, and trying to place it into your article as many times as possible so Google thinks your article (and website) is relevant for that keyword. This doesn’t really work very well anymore and looks plain unprofessional.

Good SEO copy writing incorporates elements that are helpful for the visitor (rather than the search engine) and are proven to make the reading experience better. Although there are plenty of articles out there on the topic, there a few great tips I’ve picked up from places like SEOmoz.org, which I’ll share with you here:

1. Use Images and Simple Layouts – The fact is, people have very short attention spans. Most people are more like ‘skimmers’ than they are ‘readers’. Therefore, design your article layout with strong paragraphs, images, and clean formatting so people can quickly read through your articles. For example: Don’t add an advertisement in the middle of your article. People don’t like that.
2. Use Numbers in your Headline/Content  - As much as people might hate math, they love numbers. Numbers grab people’s attentions because it adds a value and structure to an article. “5 SEO tips” sounds much better than “A few SEO tips”.
3. Use Sub-Headlines – This goes in line with designing your layout for skimmers. Sometimes, separating content with paragraphs isn’t enough. Use sub-headlines (that are bolded or underlined) in order to really help the content look organized and easy to follow.
4. Use Quotes - People love quotes. Whenever possible, be sure to use them, especially if they’re well known. Not only does it add great perspective for your subject, it gives the user a break and something to look at.
5. List Things - Just like basic customer conversion recommendations, whenever you can, list items using bullets or numbers. Imagine trying to skim through these tips if they were all in one large paragraph. The best website’s out there simplify their grammar and use bullet points as much as possible. No reason you shouldn’t do the same with complicated articles.