SEO entails lots of different things. Some of them technical and some of them not. One of the simplest things you can do to immediately increase your search rankings is tighten up your website’s copy. It doesn’t involve an immense amount of technical knowledge and if you can string together a couple sentences, chances are you can re-work your web copy and make it work for you.
Before you start rewriting all your pages and blog posts, here are some things you should consider.
Write things people want to read
Before you even start thinking about keywords you should think about what your audience wants to read. Always keep in mind that you’re writing for your customers and your audience not for Google. If you’re not producing quality content that people want to read, you’ll be violating the first rule of any copy or blog writing. Conversion is king.
You could stuff as many keywords as possible into a page and jump to the top of search rankings but it won’t do you a bit of good if you’re not converting customers. To this end, you need to understand customer wants and needs. What questions can you answer for your customers? What aspects of your product do your customers care about most?
You should also lean toward quality vs. quantity. Which is to say, the longer, more thought out post, the better it is likely to do. You shouldn’t just be writing content because you heard that’s what Google likes. You should be writing content because you have a specific subject matter expertise and have the knowledge you can convey to your customer.
If you focus on quality, in-depth writing you’ll find that people want to read it more than shallow writing that only skims the surface. You’ll also find that people are more apt to share your content on social media which will score you points on your search rankings.
Make purposeful keyword choices
Spend some time thinking about what keywords you should be ranking for. Obviously, if you sell shoes then ranking for “sandwich” isn’t going to net you the best results. You should also take it a step further. Using the shoe example, it’s going to be very difficult for you to rank for a keyword like “shoe” in the first place.
There are plenty of companies and websites with a lot more firepower that is actively trying to be on the first page result for “shoe.” Can you be more specific? Do you want to rank for shoe because you sell shoes or because you repair shoes? Do you sell a specific type of shoe?
Drilling into the keyword and going after long tail search queries like “vintage sneaker shoe shop” might net you better results and might help you find better leads than simply putting all your energy into a single search term. You might also find that it will be exponentially easier to rank for the long tail query than the single word.
When using keywords on your site, resist the urge to jam your content full of keyword specific phrase. It won’t help and you’ll just wind up writing something that is virtually unreadable. Instead, think about different ways to phase the keywords. Use synonyms and similar grammatical phrases. Most search engines use something called Latent Semantic Indexing (LMI) which matches the searcher’s intention to certain keywords. Which is to say that if you’re coming close to your keywords, chances are that you’ll be rewarded for it.
Fresh content is good content
Whether it’s product copy, services copy or a blog post, having up to date copy is a good thing. Not only does Google love the freshest content, but it also helps you keep your website current and your audience engaged.
If your web copy is a little dated then take some time to go back and give it a facelift. Doesn’t have to be anything drastic. You might also think about breaking apart some of your products or services and make new pages that are more specific and can include better keywords.
For example, let’s say you’re a lawyer. There are many types of law you can practice and chances are you specialize in two or three specific areas. You could simply have one page that tells people about your law firm and overviews what you can do for them. Or you can break out your services and create a new page for each of them. The second option will net you better results. Not only do people visiting your site have more to look at and explore but Google has another page to crawl for keywords.
When it comes to a blog, the more frequently you post the better you’ll do. Keep in mind, however, that you’ll want to err on the side of quality rather than quantity. It can be a hard balance to strike but once you get in the habit of writing posts on a regular schedule it will get easier.
There are plenty of other aspects that go into good SEO copy and content. The main point is to write something people will want to read. If you’re not provided value to your audience and converting customers then it won’t make a difference if you’re number one for every keyword known to man.
Need help with your SEO strategy? We’d love to start the conversation! Contact Holony Media today for a free assessment.
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