SEO copywriting is the practice of writing promotional material (or “copy”) in a way that optimizes it for search engines. Ideally, effective SEO copywriting should help the web page achieve a high search result ranking, while convincing potential customers to buy a product or service. Here are some more details on what SEO copywriting is and how to best apply it.

Some characteristics of SEO copywriting include appropriate keyword density, the use of keywords (or phrases) that people search for, and search engine (SE) optimized formatting. Attractive and SE-friendly META tags should be used. The copywriting must be in text format; it will not be indexed in results if it is inside an image or animation.

Good SEO copywriting doesn’t compromise clarity for the sake of optimization; it is best to avoid redundant or awkward phrases. Even if it is well optimized, poorly-worded copy has some drawbacks with regard to sales. Customers may question the quality of a company’s services or suspect that the words were translated from a foreign language.

Using bold text and/or H1 (large font) tags for important keywords in SEO copy will help search engines identify the web page’s topic, potentially producing higher rankings. These tags shouldn’t be used excessively and only ought to be applied to words directly related to what the page is about. They also must be words or phrases that people actually search for.

What about using links in SEO copywriting? This is acceptable, but they should open in a new window so that readers are less likely to leave the current page. When the link points to a competitor’s web site (perhaps to compare prices or features), consider utilizing the “nofollow” tag/attribute to prevent the link from giving SEO benefits to the other site.

Any images accompanying the copy/text should include relevant ALT tags. Some SE “spiders” take these into account; people with images turned off or text-only web browsers can also see these tags. It is best if the page containing the SEO copywriting is still fully usable and provides all of the necessary information without images.

To sum it up, SEO copywriting emphasizes relevant search keywords and uses search engine optimized formatting to enhance its ranking in non-paid SE results. At the same time, the copy must be persuasive and hold the reader’s interest, which can often be achieved using the same techniques as effective email or print copywriting.

In some ways, copywriting advertisements for the web is different than creating them for printed materials or email, including the fact that the way they are written impacts whether or not they will appear in search results and if people are likely to click these results. What techniques or practices should be considered do’s or don’ts in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) based copywriting?

Do’s

1. If it is your responsibility, make sure the web page where the copywriting will appear has an appealing description tag which will make people want to click on the link in their search results. Use a related word for the page’s file name (name.htm) as well.

2. Try to use a particular word or short phrase related to your product, service, or other offering in each paragraph of an article. It should be a word people regularly enter in search engines.

3. Do pay attention to choosing a title which is attractive to click on in search results. Remember that people won’t read the rest of your text if they aren’t attracted by the title.

4. Aim to use some SEO keywords that competitors have not utilized in their copywriting. This may allow you to gain a high-ranking position in search results without having to surpass them.

Don’ts

1. When copywriting, don’t write a promotional article that is many pages long, as some web sites have done. This makes it more difficult to attain a good SEO keyword density, and will overwhelm readers who have limited time.

2. Don’t put an SEO keyword in every sentence, or so much that it is obnoxiously repetitive or obviously manipulated. Search engines dislike excessively high keyword density, and so do readers.

3. Don’t place the copywriting text inside an image or animation; this is harmful for SEO because search engine spiders/robots cannot read this type of text and will have little indication of the page’s content.

4. Do not sacrifice the quality of your SEO copywriting for keyword density by insisting upon a specific percentage. It’s better to have easily readable copy and a three percent density than awkward-sounding, redundant text at four percent.

Basically, SEO copywriting should use META tags, file names, and popular search keywords to its advantage, but not at the expense of readability or sufficient detail. Otherwise, SEO copywriting ought to apply the same techniques which make good print or email copywriting effective.

As with any complex subject or issue, there are some big myths about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which should be dispelled. Read on to learn about five of these myths.

1. Some people claim that the purpose of SEO is to “manipulate” search engines. Actually, SEO helps make it possible for search engine software to identify sites as being relevant to the keyword someone is searching for. For a web site, it is sort of like putting your resume on high-quality paper and using a laser printer to make it more attractive for an employer.

2. Others state that just having high-quality content and writing “naturally” will usually produce a good keyword density, traffic, and high rankings. Realistically, the “spiders” which index pages cannot judge the quality of web sites, and there is a lot of high-quality content on the web that hardly anyone reads. Creating content which is of good quality is important, but does not eliminate a site’s need for SEO.

3. Another one of the myths within SEO is that only getting listed on the major search engines and directories is important. In reality, getting a link to your web site on a little-known site with a link directory about the same topic can bring it a substantial number of hits. It is also worth spending a bit of time to get listed on smaller specialized engines related to your site’s topic.

4. One of the more general myths is that the goal of SEO is purely to obtain higher search engine rankings. It is true that this is a big part of SEO’s purpose. However, high rankings are worthless if people don’t click on them, or quickly leave the page these results link to. SEO work must take into account the readability of pages, as well as the attractiveness of title and description tags. If this page had the keyword MYTHS in it twelve times, it would have a five-percent keyword density, but be less desirable to read.

5. Finally, yet another of the myths is that paying for links is always harmful (with regard to SEO). There are a few reasons why this is incorrect. First, Google appears not to penalize paid listings in (at least some) directories which thoroughly review sites before listing them; its “Webmaster Guidelines” page encourages webmasters to submit their sites to the Yahoo! directory. Also, if the “nofollow” attribute is used in a link, it won’t enhance or worsen these rankings.

There are a number of words and acronyms involved in search engine optimization (SEO) which are not considered self-explanatory. It is helpful to know what they mean before reading articles or forum messages about SEO. Read on to learn about some of their definitions…

Keyword Density: Webpages are more likely to receive a high ranking in search results for a particular keyword if they use that word frequently (but not excessively). The keyword density is the percentage of the total number of words in which one keyword is used.

META Tags: This refers to part of a website’s HTML code, near the beginning, and includes the Title, Description, and Keywords tags. The Title tag is visible to both users and search engines, while the Description and Keywords tags are only used by search engine spiders. Many SEO experts feel that the “Keywords” tag is of minimal importance.

PageRank: The PageRank, or “PR”, of a website is a numeric ranking applied to it by Google, and largely based upon how many other sites link to it. The higher the ranking, the closer to the top of relevant search results a website is likely to appear. If you own a website, it is helpful to know its PageRank and check it periodically to determine if progress is being made.

Link Bombing: This practice (sometimes called “Google Bombing”) remains effective to some extent, but generally doesn’t allow for the kind of manipulation it once did. The concept is that if enough websites link to a particular webpage and use a specific phrase in the link text, the targeted site will appear in the top search results for that phrase or keyword.

White/Black Hat: Different types of SEO practices are frequently referred to in this manner. “Black hat” techniques usually are efforts to manipulate search results which are opposed by search engines; on the other hand, “white hat” SEO methods can improve a site’s ranking but generally don’t have the potential to harm it.

CTR: This acronym, meaning Click Through Rate, refers to the percentage of website users who click on a link or advertisement. This term can be applied to search results,  e-mail advertisements, banners, and other forms of promotion.

Natural/Organic: When website traffic is called “organic” or “natural”, it means that it comes without the recipient providing payment or anything in exchange. Examples of this are unpaid search listing clicks and voluntary links from other websites or blogs. SEO is a major way to generate such traffic.

Reciprocal Linking: This is a method in which two website owners add links to each other’s sites. It can provide both SEO and direct traffic benefits, especially if the websites are about similar subjects. However, Google has imposed a policy aimed at limiting the SEO benefits of reciprocal linking.

Analytics: When it involves SEO, this is the practice of collecting and analyzing data on a website’s traffic, then using it to more effectively promote the site. It can also be useful when making decisions with regard to web design.

Directories: Online directories are often used as a part of SEO promotional efforts. This usually refers to either “web directories”, which are categorized lists of approved sites (like dmoz.org), or “article directories”, which contain articles on one or more subjects (such as searchwarp.com).

It can take a long time to learn about all the important facets of SEO (Search Engine Optimization); keyword density, different types of links, META tags, directories, social bookmarking, etc. One way to learn about SEO is to read one of the many books about this subject, but can a book truly teach you how to do SEO work?

To some extent, yes. However, the methods which work (and no longer work) in SEO change relatively quickly. Major search engines can change their policies at any time, and it is not uncommon for new techniques to be discovered. If you are going to invest the time and money to read a book on search engine optimization, verify that it provides recent information. You will also want to review blog posts, news, and forums related to SEO occasionally, rather than only relying on what the book may teach you. On the other hand, this is not to say that some SEO techniques – like posting links to web site directories or creating Site Maps – have not remained beneficial for many years. It also helps to have sufficient computer/internet skills and a good understanding of marketing, which a book on SEO is unlikely to teach.

Some books on search engine optimization also cover pay-per-click (PPC) advertising or provide information on using particular web programming languages, like PHP or ASP.NET. If you need book(s) which will teach a basic or moderate amount of information about two or more of these subjects, selecting such titles may be a good choice. Be sure to consult reviews of the book you’re interested in (on web sites such as Amazon.com) to see if other readers feel they were able to learn enough from it. It is certainly possible to learn everything you need to know about SEO from the internet; however, it may take you longer to discover some concepts, and many people don’t consider it as convenient as being able to read the information in a book.

Basically, a book might be able to teach you how to conduct SEO work, but will not keep you up-to-date on it and probably won’t teach how to be an effective marketer or computer user; however, there are other books on these subjects which might be helpful. When purchasing a book on this subject, make sure it is appropriate for someone of your current skill level and that it covers the type of methods you’re interested in.