How to write heroic SEO copy [a beginner's guide]

This post was written by an old man who's probably been writing SEO copy for longer than you've been off baby formula. Take his advice.

How's this for a curveball?

We're going to start this copywriting guide by breaking one of copywriting's cardinal sins.

Bad grammar? Nah. Loquacious sentences? Nope. Using words like "loquacious"? Well, yes – but that's not the point.

The point is this: we're not going to deliver on the promise of our title.

Woah, Nelly. Don't click away just yet. We are going to share some quick tips that will improve your writing. That's a promise.

But to write truly heroic SEO copy? That takes graft. Practice. Thousands of hours spent sweating over the warm glow of a laptop screen.

This one's for the newbies. The copywriting beginners. The reluctant wordsmiths who've been tasked with writing a new website but have no idea where to start.

We can't turn you into a heroic writer overnight – but remember these tips and you'll have a huge head start on the competition. Fact.

1. Treat keyword research as customer research

Rose-tinted tangent time: we're old enough to remember the early days of SEO.

It was so easy back then. You found some juicy, high-volume keywords, peppered them liberally into your copy like an unruly chef, then waited for the rankings to roll in.

Not so nowadays. Stuffing your copy with exact-match keywords is a surefire way to let Google know you're trying to cheat its system. And Google hates a cheat.

So what does Google want? Google wants you to write for customers, not search engines. To wit:

"Google's automated ranking systems are designed to present helpful, reliable information that's primarily created to benefit people, not to gain search engine rankings, in the top Search results."

That's from Google's own SEO fundamentals guide. So… case closed, right?

Well, yes and no. Google definitely likes "people-first content" (its words), but some have taken this to mean "Google hates SEO".

Thus you'll see advice like, "just write copy – don't worry about keywords or rankings. I dunno. Pretend you're Truman Capote bobbing in a lido or something."

This advice is wrong and bad. Google doesn't hate SEO. In fact, Google writes blog posts talking about its own SEO strategy. If it hated SEO, that would be like a vegetarian restaurateur writing a book about sausages.

Our advice: write for humans and search engines. Or, to put it another way, "put people first, and the search engines will follow".

This means treating keyword research like customer research. Because, well… it is.

Keyword research tells you the kinds of products and services your customers want. It shows you the language they use. It lets you know what questions they're asking and which problems they face.

Your job, as a copywriter, is to deliver on this research. You're there to sell the products, address the problems, answer the questions and speak to your customers in their own language.

Write this way and you won't have to worry about catering to Google. Your keywords will work their way into the copy naturally. And, more importantly, they'll feel natural – not wodged in at the last minute by a spreadsheet-toting SEO executive.

Go on, try it.

2. Ditch the narrative

"Storytelling" is a bit of an industry buzzword. And, yes, used in the right places – blogs, case studies, cornerstone articles – it can be a powerful tool for selling stuff and building brands.

But when you're writing snappy, sales-y web copy? Honestly, the story can get stuffed.

Dumbing down, much? Yes, the great copywriters of yore are probably spinning in their graves right now. But it's a fact – the internet killed long-form sales copy.

And it comes down to psychology. For whatever reason, we don't read websites like newspapers or magazines. We skim around like bluebottles looking for the right piece of information to land on.

Hard truth: nobody is going to read your webpage from start to finish. So forget what you learned at school about beginnings, middles and ends. Your job is to present information clearly and make sure customers know where to look for it.

This means prioritising the stuff that's most important to your mission. It could be a key fact about a product. More likely it's an impressive benefit or a tagline that sells your brand's USP.

In any case, stick it at the top where most eyes will see it. As you continue with the copy, start covering some of the less-important stuff. Expand on points you've made previously. Repeat yourself if you have to – they might not have seen it the first time.

Once you've got the roadmap, it's time to erect the signposts. Headings and subheadings. These act like flashing neon banners that say, "stop scrolling – this is what you're looking for".

Clarity is king here. Got a sly pun planned for that subheading? If it clouds the meaning – at all – then lose it. It probably wasn't as funny as you thought anyway.

Sorry, that was harsh. But the point stands – smart copy is succinct, single-minded and clearly signposted. You won't score points with customers by showing off.

If you can think of a clever quip and communicate what the section is about… congratulations, you're a true copywriting hero.

3. Make every sentence count

We'll finish with a quick one.

You've probably heard 100 variations of this tip before. "Keep things short and snappy". "Don't waste words". That sort of thing.

Good advice. But we're not going to dig up the same old tropes. Instead, we'll share an exercise to test whether your copy delivers on this front.

It's dead simple. All you need is a few highlighter pens (or the highlighting tool in your word-processing app).

Come up with a colour scheme. It might look something like this:

• Yellow: a sentence that tells readers to perform an action. "Sign up now and enjoy a 10% discount on sheep-shearing supplies".
• Red: a sentence that addresses a pain point. "You don't have to be an expert to use our portable sheep-shearing machine – it does the hard work for you".
• Blue: a sentence that sets out to convince. "We're the sheep-shearing experts, with more than 100 years of industry experience".
• Green: a sentence that informs. "This model includes our patented Safe-T clippers".

Now start highlighting. Categorise each sentence – or parts of each sentence – based on your colour-coding plan.

By the end of the process, your page should look like a rainbow of words. If there are any gaps – any uncoloured sentences – then they're dead weight. You can safely lose them.

Need words, like… now? We've got a million more copywriting hacks like these – and we're ready to put them to work on your website. Check out our SEO copywriting services or get in touch for a free consultation.