How to do SEO
SEO, or “Search Engine Optimization,” is an integral part of modern copywriting.
There are no two ways about it - much of the modern world’s commerce is navigated via search engines and their results. When you don’t know something, or don’t know where to get something - what is the most common refrain we give?:
“Google it!”
SEO is all about knowing the nuts and bolts of what “Googling it” really means.
Moz.com, SEO software guru, defines SEO as the following,
What is SEO?
SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” It’s the practice of increasing both the quality and quantity of website traffic, as well as exposure to your brand, through non-paid (also known as "organic") search engine results.
Despite the acronym, SEO is as much about people as it is about search engines themselves. It’s about understanding what people are searching for online, the answers they are seeking, the words they’re using, and the type of content they wish to consume. Knowing the answers to these questions will allow you to connect to the people who are searching online for the solutions you offer.
If knowing your audience’s intent is one side of the SEO coin, delivering it in a way search engine crawlers can find and understand is the other. In this guide, expect to learn how to do both.
~
In sum, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is the process of understanding how to position your business’ web pages - and their content and copy therein - to best be captured by the tides of the Internet’s ever-changing flows.
When someone types something into that URL bar at the top of their browser, search engines seek out the grand ocean of the Internet’s waves, looking for pages with words that best match their inquiry. And thus, search engines seek out business websites that are ready to answer their question.
There are additional complexities to it, of course, like the fact some companies pay for bigger boats - and are thus more likely to be spotted and positioned higher in the hierarchy of a person’s search. Additionally, ships {web sites, landing pages, company names in search results} get stronger the more waves come their way. As in, of the millions of websites out there, beaming the light from their lighthouses over the vast waters, though many may be using the same exact words and phrases - following the same SEO tenets - certain ones will end up drawing the bulk of the customer boats.
(you are probably wondering when this whole sea metaphor I have been running with is going to end… the answer is now!)
Through purchases, reviews and testimonials, and search engines picking up on certain sites’ continuous popularity, search engine algorithms will rank them higher in results, ultimately creating a well-worn path to those main companies providing the *best* answer to any given online question. This is for no other reason than because search engine algorithms, like Google’s - through their stated purpose to the public - are designed to help customers best find what they need.
The goal, for you and your own business, is to position yourself as one of those destinations that search engines deliver searchers to when they are seeking out the thing that you offer.
In all, the bottom line is that a modern business cannot afford to ignore a focus on SEO for their web pages and the copywriting throughout them. Outside of direct word of mouth references or contact in the real, material world, online search is how many people find business’ products and services for use in their lives.
SEO and the profession of copywriting are married in the sense that every copywriter needs to understand the nature of the field, industry, topic that they are writing copy for. If you are copywriting for a landscaping business, you better understand what prospective customers looking for landscaping services are searching for, namely what words they are using to do it. That is the thing a copywriter deals in, after all - words.
Luckily, there are plenty of tools out there to help with SEO, for businesses and their copywriters. Here with this little article, I want to do a quick how-to exercise with SEO.
On the topic of “health supplements”, somewhat haphazardly chosen, I am going to showcase in 5 simple steps how to prepare any piece of copy or content with some SEO considerations in mind. I hope this helps you as much as it did me!
~ a quote from https://answerthepublic.com/ home page
~
Step 1: Identify your topic and goal
The first step is the easiest - what are you writing about and why? What topic, what business, what concept? Are you writing copy - a home or landing page, a product or service description, an email, long or short, describing a sales opportunity? Are you writing content - a blog or article detailing an aspect of your business, its people, or its product?
For my example here, I have chosen “health supplements” as my general topic. This includes dietary and vitamin supplements, even herbal medicines and elixirs and tonics, that come in tablets, capsules, gummies, and powders, as well as drinks and energy bars.
The *why* behind your specific writing should be clearly defined here as well. If it’s copywriting - perhaps it is to promote and persuade around one of your latest offerings. You want to generate leads related to this particular product, with the copy strategically built out of how people are typically searching for it online. For content, you will want searchers to find your piece or blog post when they are getting curious about your product type, inevitably leading them to your site, or store, or program.
For this example, let’s say that I will be creating a landing page for a health supplement product called “Aries.” With a ram’s head logo charging forward in graceful violence, the Aries supplement, mixed as a capsule or a gummy, provides the user with energy, focus, heightened senses, and … potentially super strength, a healing factor, flight, and telepathy, you name it. A super supplement. Got it? OK.
The goal of my landing page will be to inform about the Aries supplement’s benefits and thus persuade a purchase of a 20-pack capsule or gummy intro bottle to get someone started on changing their life and health for the better!
Topic = health / dietary / vitamin supplement industry, in general; The “Aries” health supplement capsule or gummy product, specifically.
Goal = to generate sales from a landing page introducing the Aries product offering and online store.
Step 2: Explore searches around your topic
Next, before you even start creating your page or your post, you will want to explore the search ecosystem around your product or concept. What field or industry are you working in? What kind of words do people use when they are searching for this? What kind of related searches do they make? What questions are searchers - potential users/customers/buyers - asking when they go online in pursuit of answers?
You want your copy / content to be ready to answer these questions, using such relevant keywords, and accounting for any related search inquiries as well.
To start, to get a general lay of the land, make some searches! See the sites and companies that show up - what their copy or content is showcasing, what keywords they use, how they structure their online pages.
For my Aries health supplement product that I will be selling through my landing-page-to-be, my keyword research begins with using free online tools like Google Trends and AnswerThePublic.com. Each of them allows you to enter your desired search terms and then discover more about the trends and related searches, questions, and general online interest around those terms. There are additional resources out there, more robust (and costly as a result), such as: Keyword Revealer, Moz Keyword Explorer, SpyFu Keyword Research Tool, and Google Keyword Planner.
For now, sticking with the free options, I begin to delve the world of “health supplements” and related online searches.
https://trends.google.com/trends - parameters = US, past 12 months, comparison between “health supplement” x “dietary supplement” x “vitamin supplement”
Analysis ~ major takeaway is that “vitamin supplement” is a consistently hotter search than either “health” or “dietary”, both in the last 12 months in the United States and over the last 5 years.
AnswerThePublic.com - parameters: “health supplement” questions
Analysis ~ naturally, the questions center around discovering what these supplements do, why they might be good for you, and ultimately, which is the “best” supplement
AnswerThePublic.com - parameters: “health supplement” prepositions
Analysis ~ the prepositional searches deal with location (“near me”), and the specific health categories (or nationalities) of the type of individual that will potentially be using the supplement - gut, joints, anxiety, liver, weight loss, elderly, hindi, malay, chinese, etc.
AnswerThePublic.com - parameters: “health supplement” comparisons
Analysis ~ major comparisons are between “health supplements” and “vitamins” or “dietary supplements.” People want to know the difference between them and which one is “best”
In addition to using these keyword search tools, you will also want to specifically browse your major competitor websites and product descriptions so as to understand their copy and content strategy, their wording and webpage structure.
For health supplements, this would include many, many companies…
Step 3: Determine a strategy for your copy or content
From the previous step and our nascent research into the field of “health supplement” searches, we discovered a few valuable bits of info for our cause.
“Vitamin supplement” is a more common search than either “health supplement” or “dietary supplement.” Given that our product, the Aries supplement truly fits all three categories generally - it is a health supplement most generally, a dietary supplement secondarily, but certainly contains vitamins in its mix as well. This means that our content should probably leverage all three keyword phrases here, especially the “vitamin supplement” search term, given its higher prevalence on Google Trends.
“Best” is a golden word. As is evident, from these searches around finding supplement makers online, naturally people want to find the BEST one out there. Thusly, in our copy or content, we can try to utilize “best” in our description of the Aries product, its features and benefits, its creation process, and the fact that it is organic, all-natural, and healthy for you. We could claim that the Aries supplement will provide the user with “the best feeling”, or will allow them to better inhabit their “best self” or something along those lines. This is where copy and content can get creative and sales-y. Now, this isn’t to say that we should proclaim anywhere that the Aries health supplement is “the BEST in the world!” or that it can do things that it can’t actually do. Nor should we stuff the word “best” throughout our content, so as to ‘game’ the search algorithm. Not only will this make the copy or content flow sound worse, but it could also violate Google Search’s terms of service and actually lower your site’s ranking in the results. Food for thought.
Location interest (aka “near me”) and supplements targeting specific categories of health issue, age, or even nationality are additional considerations from these common search results. People want to find supplement products “near me” and they want ones that are designed to help their specific ailments. Knowing this, even though Aries may be an online offering via this landing page - if it is being offered in retail stores as well, you would need to include “near you” or “available in stores” as part of your copy or content. As for the health categories, such keyword mentions around “energy”, “focus”, “heightened” or “enhanced” senses, “overall health” and every other promised benefit of the Aries product would be included in the features and benefits details upon the landing page. Ultimately, you want the people that have those problems that the Aries product is designed to alleviate to be clearly described within your copy and content, so online askers can find their answer in your site!
Okay, so bringing that all together. For the Aries landing page we are brainstorming and strategizing for, we will want to include “vitamin supplement” and “best” somewhere (at least once or twice) in our language first and foremost. We should promote the type of supplement the Aries product is - for energy, focus, sensory and strength enhancement, brain health, etc., so as to highlight what specific health problems that it can help searching customers with. Additionally, if our Aries product is to be sold online and in stores, we should speak on it being “near” our customers in retail stores in major metropolitan zones, convenient enough for them to find online or off.
Step 4: Draft your work with your goal in mind. Then, edit for keywords.
Now with a preliminary SEO-based strategy in mind, we can draft our copy or content along with our persuasive knowledge of our product or service confidently in hand. Recall your original goal - increased sales, promotion of a new product, increasing general awareness around your business or brand. Draft your work primarily with your message and your goal in mind. And then, once you have expressed your main points, set out your blog hook, and funneled down to your call-to-action, go back and edit in any important keywords you found from your research (if you did not include them already in the natural flow of your writing.)
Here is my Aries landing page:
Headline
Our mission is to help give you the best, most healthy, mind, body and soul of your life!
Our Aries vitamin supplement is designed with your maximal health in mind.
Energy, focus, and attention for your mind will allow you to inhabit your best self.
Details
Better health is right around the corner - A health supplement unlike any other, our proprietary Aries mix was lab-tested and expert-approved. Organically sourced, we synthesized our selected vitamin and mineral nutrients alongside key herbal essences and all-natural mushroom extracts to create an elixir to rival any mythological medicine!
[BUTTON - See our ingredients and process]Upgrade your mind - Energy, focus, and attention are the three most valuable tools for our consciousness. These are the primary boons of making Aries a part of your daily regimen: you will wake up feeling ready for anything and go to sleep resolved that you maximized your day.
[BUTTON(s) - Studies on what vitamin and dietary supplements do ~ on why overall health supplements like ours are good for you ~ on the positive nootropic effects of the vitamins, minerals, other ingredients included in the Aries mix]Sense. Strength. Speed. - Alongside your mind, Aries will enhance your senses, your strength, and your speed. The Aries formula, combining with each individual’s unique brain and body chemistry, can produce some extraordinary benefits! Meet John, an accountant-turned-telepath. Or Roxie, a mom who is now batting .400 in the Major Leagues. Truly, Aries is already changing the world.
[BUTTON - Testimonials]Online and in a store near you - Aries is on sale now! Comes in either capsule or gummy form. We ship to all 50 states and are now being stocked in retails stores in every major metropolitan area. Find our elixir - and the best health of your life! - on a corner near you.
[BUTTON - Our Locations]
Call-to-Action
Who knows what kind of person - what kind of superhero! - you will become when you grab life by the horns!
Truly, Aries is more than just a vitamin supplement, it could be a key to a new improved life, your mind and body health boosted onto the next level.
[BUTTON - Buy a bottle of Aries now!]
Step 5: Reflect and evaluate
Once you have developed a draft of your copy, and implemented some of your SEO research into its flow, you will have a deliverable. From there, further editing and search engine research to be done, the final step is to make your copy or content live online. And then wait, reflect and evaluate. See how your work performs, how many hits it gets, leads it gathers, sales it generates. See where your piece is landing in search results. All the web-based stats and feedback you receive from a piece of your search-optimized content will feed into the next bit of search-optimized content you create for your enterprise.
Of course, the phrase “search-optimized” content is redundant. Truly, every bit of copy and content a company and its copywriter crafts these days MUST account for SEO, search engine optimization. This simple exercise, the tools and philosophy I presented here, these 5 steps, are just the beginning.
If you want to learn more about SEO, the answers are just a search away. ~
