Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Why Do Websites Need Search Engine-Friendly Copywriting

Companies should have a list of in-house strategies to develop their web presence. How to guides, a strong social media presence and high keyword content to maximize and improve search engine ranking. Billions of searches are conducted on the internet each month, proving that searching for products and services is one of the most popular activities online, second only to email; searches can turn into subscribers and buyers.

Keyword phrases are the backbone to developing a higher search engine ranking, and that all important website traffic. Loading your copywriting with keywords will not guarantee high rankings. Search engines and readers of your copy will know if you are using repetitive phrases and putting them in obscure places.


Copy should have a dual purpose. Firstly, it should provide information that is valuable to the reader. Secondly, it should contain keyword strings or phrases that are popular search terms amongst people looking for your products or services.

How can I maximise keywords without alienating my copy

Effective search engine copywriting tells search engines words that are the most relevant. Pages or articles should only be optimised with 2 or 3 keyword phrases. Keywords need to be on different paragraphs and certainly on different sentences.

Computer programmes called search engine spiders, which index website's content, only see letters, not punctuation, line breaks or bullet points. Phrases can be split with punctuation hiding it from the reader, but the spiders will pick it up, giving you the chance of a higher ranking. You can put your keyword phrase at the end of one sentence and the second word at the beginning of a sentence, separating them with a full stop. Example: … that will always be Digital. Development of certain... the search engines will pick it up, and to the reader it is separate and natural.

Lists can be powerful as they make for easy reading, and scanning naturally pulls the reader's attention. Search engines like keywords in list, but they should still be placed correctly and without becoming repetitive. Copy should be broke into sections so you can place keywords in them for example, in a headline, the first sentence, side bar, navigation bar, and last sentence. This is so it looks natural to the reader and is optimised best for the spiders.

Keyword pages

Too many keywords on one page can detract from the focus of the content, as can multiple keywords that are not related. Create separate pages that are keyword specific, not only is this better for the reader, it creates a keyword friendly page for search engines.

Another way to get keywords on the same page and keep it looking natural is with testimonials from positive former clients. These usually have the name of a product or company name in them, and with permission from the past client, you could inject a few keywords in there.

Potential customers are online searching for products and services that you provide, and using keywords and phrases. This is why it is important that your website has these phrases and keywords, and that they are picked up by the search engines. Following some of the steps above will help to maximise keywords per article, without affecting the quality of your copy.