While the reaction to your content off-page has become the critical determining factor when it comes to search engine rankings, your targeted keyword phrase should still appear on the page itself. And while there’s little consensus in this area, having your keyword combinations appear throughout the page copy generally helps search engines further identify the relevancy of the page for those keywords.
The good news is, copywriting best practices can create compelling, engaging content that also contains repeated keywords and phrases. You never want to sacrifice readability in the pursuit of rankings, but given that links are more important than on-page keyword repetition, you should never have to.
Here are a few tips for keyword integration in your copy:
1. Titles
The most important place your keywords should appear is in the title tag of the page. The nice thing about blogging software is that your post or page title will be automatically transformed into both title tags and either an H1 or H2 heading tag as well. Remember, your headline should wrap your keywords in a pithy promise that perfectly communicates what the content has to offer.
2. Opening
I’ve always found it useful to repeat the targeted keywords in the opening sentence, as long as it can be done in a way that is appealing to a reader and reinforces relevancy. Since many search engines use this initial copy as the description of the content, you want to make sure you are accurately selling the searcher on clicking through as well.
3. Subheadings
Another important place that keywords can appear is in subheads that aid the reader in navigating down the page. A resource that matches up well with the targeted keyword phrase will find natural opportunities to restate keywords in subheads, as an introduction to the next topical section of the page. Subheads are typically created using the H3 tag.
4. Related Words and Synonyms
Good copy should naturally result in words that are related to, as well as synonyms for, the keyword phrases you are after. Rather than mindlessly repeating the same words ad nauseam, assume that search algorithms are advanced enough to look for proper contextually-related words that support your targeted keywords.
5. Specificity
One of the hallmarks of great copy is specific, descriptive words in lieu of bland general terminology. Specificity aids the reader by clearly demonstrating relevancy, allows for more dynamic copy, and provides opportunities to increase the general on-page keyword frequency. Make sure to employ your specific keywords when feasible within the context of the copy, rather than rely on generic wording.
6. Call to Action
Let us not forget that we want the reader to take some form of action that benefits us. Otherwise, what’s the point? Once again, your copy should conclude with a call to action that prompts the reader to travel down the path you desire. Is it to purchase, contact, subscribe or simply continue reading? Your primary keywords should naturally fit in with the next step you want the reader to take.
Conclusion
The key to good on-page SEO copywriting is crafting content that seamlessly integrates keywords in a way that doesn’t offend the reader. In fact, good keyword-rich copy should never even consciously alert the reader that keyword repetition is being employed for any reason other than his or her own benefit.
Previously in the SEO Copywriting 2.0 series:
- How to Create Content That Ranks Well In Search Engines
- The 5 Essential Elements of Search Engine Keyword Research
- How to Create Cornerstone Content That Google Loves
- Five Link Building Strategies That Work
34 comments... add one
#1 Michael A. Stelzner → 01.25.07 at 6:17 pm
Brian;
Do you know if there is a way to easily set subheads in WordPress?
Mike
#2 Brian → 01.25.07 at 6:22 pm Copyblogger
Nope. You have to actually go into the code (assuming you use the WYSIWYG editor, which I do not) and add h3 tags to the subhead.
Kind of a pain, but worth the effort.
Oh, and it also depends on the markup of your theme. Best to test the h3 tags on a WordPress page to see how they present.
#3 Andrew Cavanagh → 01.25.07 at 8:09 pm
Great tips.
I would also add that if you have images on your pages you should also:
1. Name each image after a keyword appropriate to the image and your page.
For example if you had an image on this page you might name it:
seocopywritingtechniques.jpg
2. Give each image an “alt” tag that is a keyword appropriate to the image and your page content.
In this example the alt tag might be “SEO Copywriting Techniques image”
Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh
#4 Brian → 01.25.07 at 8:48 pm Copyblogger
Andrew, yep. I debated whether to add image tags to this post, since they are not technically “on page,” but they are crucial nonetheless.
The SEO Copywriting 2.0 image above uses “Image for SEO Copywriting Series” as the description, “SEO Copywriting 2.0″ as the alt display, and the image title is “seo_copywriting.gif”.
I think it’s pretty clear what keyword phrase I’m targeting. ;)
#5 Nathania Johnson → 01.25.07 at 11:01 pm
If you write a description for the META tags, that’s the description that will appear in the search results.
SEO writers should utilize the opportunity to write both the META Tag description and a great opening sentence for the actual page that includes the targeted keyphrase.
The engines read from left to right, so the closer your keyphrase is to the beginning of your content, the better. But it must be done in a compelling way as to keep the attention of the reader.
#6 Brian → 01.25.07 at 11:11 pm Copyblogger
I’m using a WP plugin for meta description, but so far Google is not using it. Unless I’ve screwed it up, which is possible. ;)
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#8 Justin Khoury → 01.26.07 at 4:27 am
A very well constructed, and comprehensive, worthy of being ready by pretty much anyone who wants to write online.
You definately gave it the extra umph when you mentioned call to action.
#9 Hummerbie → 01.26.07 at 4:56 am
Brian, you did good on the Metatags…
I did a simple search in Google with
site:www.copyblogger.com
And all your descriptions are there, just as they should for Good SEO Practice…
#10 Richard Hearne → 01.26.07 at 6:18 am
Brian you meta description looks fine. When did you start using the plugin?
If Google is not using the description then there must e something else up.
But back to the post. The META description is a fantastic place to place well crated copy. As it shows in the SERP snippet it can be a powerful call to action for those search clicks. You should always test your SERP results to see what your competition are doing - the right snippet can often pull in more clicks than a higher ranked site.
#11 markus941 → 01.26.07 at 7:25 am
Great guidelines. Achieving the right balance is a bit of a task though - it’s an art few possess.
Many times there’s a much more poetic way to say something but you end up having to be pretty literal if you’re targeting keywords.
#12 Brian → 01.26.07 at 10:22 am Copyblogger
Markus, that’s true, and it’s also a reason that attracting links is still the top priority. We shouldn’t sacrifice the use of metaphor and analogy in our writing, because that type of stuff connects better with the reader.
But, that’s also why I like the landing page strategy. The landing page itself can be quite straightforward with its copy, while the component parts of the overall content will allow for more “poetic license.”
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#14 einfach persoenlich Weblog → 01.26.07 at 12:23 pm
Copywriting Tipps für Online Marketing Erfolg…
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#17 Jonix Konios → 02.09.07 at 2:54 pm
That’s a very good article and great guidelines, but sometimes for me is very difficult to write the “right” text to call people to action. Maybe that will come with more experience .
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#22 web design brighton → 03.30.07 at 5:28 am
A very informative article i agree that finding the right balance between keyword rich content and copy that wont send a reader to sleep is difficult.
#23 Carolina Event Planning → 05.07.07 at 6:40 am
Great information. I’m new at all this, so it really helped.
Ed
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Call to action is very important, even if there isn’t a specific product to sell for that particular article. I like to point visitors to a follow-up article, one that may include another sales pitch if the original article wasn’t designed for that task.
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#32 Shane: content writer → 02.25.08 at 9:26 am
Simple, straight, to-the-point and relevant. Thats what makes good content good content…
#33 Larry Brewer → 04.02.08 at 10:08 am
This is really good information that some books costing lots of money should have told me and didn’t. Thanks for the info.
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