SEO Copywriting
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• What is SEO
• Why is it important and what does it do?
• Effects of SEO for a copywriter
• The main SEO elements
• Keyword Research
• Rules to writing
• Product titles and descriptions
• Summary
So what’s covered?
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SEO can be defined as the activity of optimising web pages or whole sites in order to make them more search engine friendly, thus getting higher positions in search results.
One of the basic truths in SEO is that even if you do all the things search engines are looking for, this does not automatically guarantee you top rankings.
SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search and industry-specific vertical search engines. This gives a website web presence.
What is SEO?
SEO – Definition:Search engine optimisation, the use of various techniques to improve a web site's ranking in the search engines and thus attract more visitors
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The Big Players...
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Why does SEO matter?SEO allows you to appear in front of a potential customer looking to purchase a product that you sell. 90% of Search Engine users don’t go past page 1.
If your website isn’t optimised for Search Engines you are relying on other forms of online marketing to direct traffic to your website.
• PPC – You pay for every click
• Affiliates – You give commission for each sale
• Email – Only targets existing customers
• Display – Mass impressions but low CTR, only targets brand awareness.
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Without optimised pages and products, your site will not be detectable by search engines
By optimising your site you are more likely to rank for your targeted keywords
By showing higher on search results, more traffic is driven to your site
Structured optimised sites give search engines an easily accessible route to finding information and gives the site a theme, leading them to showing up in search results (SERPs)
Why is SEO important and what is it’s purpose?
Click-Through Rates
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Good SEO = Top results, more traffic & increased conversion
• Best practice is essential
• Without an optimised site, customers cannot find your offerings/products when typing keywords/phrases
• By stuffing your title tags, meta descriptions and content with keywords you will not help your SEO efforts and may lead to your site being penalised
• Can dilute the relevancy of your site if you try to mention as many keywords/phrases as possible
Good SEO = Common Sense + Research
SEO needs to be done right
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So, if SEO is done well – what happens?
Title tags and meta descriptions include keywords relevant to the search term
(This term is now supported by a strong PPC campaign, increasing relevancy to web searchers)
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Title & Meta Rules
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TITLE TAGS
<title> Mothercare - Maternity Clothing, Baby Clothes, Pushchairs, Nursery Furniture, Car Seats, Preschool Toys and Baby Essentials </title>
• One of the most influential SEO tags• First 3 words of the title tag are the most important• Keep within 70 characters
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META DESCRIPTIONS
<meta name="Description" content='Welcome to Mothercare, Britain&#8217;s number one specialist retailer for mums to be and parents of young children. Shop online for the best of our nursery, cots, pushchairs, car seats, clothing, toys, gifts and furniture ranges, and check out our pregnancy and parenting advice.' />
• No longer a Ranking Factor but still important as appears in Search Engine results when kept relevant so include a Call to Action.
• Sometimes replaced by Google if a page snippet is deemed more relevant • Keep within 160 characters
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KEYWORDS
<meta name="Keywords" content='Baby equipment, pushchairs, Car seats, Cots, Baby clothes, Baby gifts, Nursery equipment, Pregnancy information, Children's furniture' />
• No longer used by Google. Only used by Yahoo.• Include keywords tag for best practice and to use as a basis for theme of page.• Always separate keywords and phrases with commas.
Keyword Research
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• To appear for the most relevant keywords in relation to your website and its products
• i.e. What your customers are typing into search engines to find your products
Why do you target specific keywords?
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Which keywords are best to target?
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Which keywords are best to target?Generic Keywords: e.g. Pushchairs, Car Seats = High Volume / Low Conversion
Where to target Generic Keywords: Home, Category and Sub Category Pages. Landing Pages targeted to a handful of keywords/phrases.
Long Tail Keywords:e.g. Bugaboo Bee pushchair black = Low Volume / High Conversion
Where to target Long Tail Keywords: Product Pages
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How Many Keywords Do You Target?
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• RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH!
How do you target the right Keywords?
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Keyword Research
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1) Have the keywords in the "title tag" for that page2) Have the keywords in your "header tags" (h1, h2, h3 etc...) on that page3) Put the keywords in your "meta description"- the description that is
shown in the search engines4) Put keywords in the “Meta keywords“5) Put keywords in the actual URL if you can. 6) Have the keywords naturally occurring in your text on the page.
Best Practice for including Keywords
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• Research keywords & competitors• Determine keywords to target• Do not just copy your competitors!• Use | pipes | to | structure|• Decide on a structured format:
– Product Name | Brand | Category | Mothercare
How to write optimised Product Titles
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• 250 words minimum
• You can repeat the product name in the description
• Keywords in first few words
• Twice in first paragraph
• About 4 to 5 times per 200 words
• DO NOT keyword stuff!
How to write optimised Product Descriptions
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• Link to related products within that category/brand
• Split up long paragraphs with suitable headings and sub headings
• Include the product’s basics: colour, dimensions, and material etc
• Include USP’s of products
• Outline the benefits of the products to the customer (how they would feel etc)
DON’T USE THE SAME MANUFACTURERS PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS USED BY ALL YOUR COMPETITORS! Be unique
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• SEO = optimising websites to drive traffic & revenue• Without optimised content, no-one can find you!• If done well, can vastly improve traffic & ROI• The main elements = Title Tags, Meta Descriptions &
Keywords• Keyword Research needs to be done indepth and continously• Rules to writing = include targeted keywords• Product titles and descriptions- must include keywords! • Best practice
Overview
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