Today’s freelance copywriters need to know that they are writing to two different audiences: Their human target demographic and Google’s robot algorithm. Sure, this is less than ideal, but in the digital content writing world, there’s simply no way around it. While it will always be necessary to keep human readers engaged with enjoyable content, the competitive SEO scene makes it such that ignoring SEO may mean that your content never sees the light of day.
Since it is estimated that 50% of internet users don’t even bother scrolling for additional results, preferring to key in different search queries instead, content writers need to spend time finding keywords with high search volume and weave them into your content. The trick is to do it naturally. We’ve used 8 keywords so far – did you notice?
Most budding copywriters (and non-copywriters who attempt to write 👀) will be familiar with the pain of trying to squeeze keywords where they don’t quite fit. Well, the good news is that keywords are no longer the be-all-end-all in determining search results. With the addition of BERT in November 2018, Google’s search algorithm now reads entire paragraphs in context instead of just processing individual words. This means that users can now input exactly what they are thinking into search bars and receive satisfactory results, instead of awkwardly typing in “keyword-ese” to work around the algorithm’s limitations.
Contrary to what conventional wisdom might have you believe, this is actually good for SEO professionals and copywriters. While keywords will continue to guide search results, content writers will have more bandwidth now to focus on what really matters – quality writing that engages humans and leads to conversions.
Low cost = low quality = spammy content = poor SEO results
Anyone who knows anything about working in SEO will tell you that it involves a ton of tedious legwork. From earning backlinks, to html tagging, and even ensuring that all images are appropriately named and in the right format for optimal loading, SEO can feel like a never ending spring cleaning project.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), the all-powerful force of A.I. won’t be of much help, either. Google has been dealing with content farmers who’ve tried to game their algorithm longer than most blogs have been in business. To combat black hat SEO techniques, Google has programmed a slew of algorithms such as Panda and Penguin to sniff out and penalise low quality, spammy content. So don’t get any ideas about uploading 300 bot-written articles riddled with poor quality links tomorrow. The only spot that will earn you is a place on Google’s blacklist.
Quality marketing content wins every time
I’m not sure about you, but the blogs I frequent the most are the ones with personality. Sure, I may have discovered these blogs because they had good SEO scores to begin with. But it is the useful and enjoyable content that keeps me typing their home domains directly into the search bar and sharing these articles with friends and family on social media.
At the end of the day, there will always be a cap to how much content you can put out. Don’t ever think that your work is complete once you achieve the coveted page rankings, though – that’s exactly why we’re launching this blog, 9 months after clinching position 1 for some of our desired keywords. We need to keep our website fresh.
SEO is a bit like trying to build the tallest lego tower. Your competitors are constantly stacking bricks too, so there’s no guarantee that you’ll stay at the top even after spending a ton of effort getting there.
Even if you have a team of superstar copywriters (like we do) the most highly searched keywords are always changing so ongoing content creation and tweaks to your SEO inventory can help you secure your ranking. See, Google’s 1st page is where the real competition takes place. Websites that do not provide readers with useful information will rack up high bounce-rates and quickly lose out to content with high engagement and retention rates.
Want a search engine optimised site with personality?
Combining SEO skills with high quality writing can feel like mixing water and oil for the uninitiated. The good news is that there’s this process known as emulsification that makes it possible. The even better news is that you’re in the right place, because that’s our forte!
At Etymon, we only work with clients who have adequate website health in Google’s eyes, or are committed to improving their technical health. Before working with any client, we give your website an SEO audit so that you know exactly what needs to be fixed. That doesn’t mean you have to engage us for SEO, you might have your own in-house team that can take this on. But if there’s no focus on website health then we’re not going to throw your money in the bin by producing content that’s not going to see the life of the day.
After that, we’ll identify keywords that should be targeted, rewrite your landing pages and SEO inventory. Then, you can sit back and watch the numbers steadily climb. We’re not just making empty promises. See improvements quantified in cold, hard numbers through our complimentary before and after reports.
Send your SEO woes and business enquiries to hello@etymon.com.sg. You may find that the fixes needed to bring your ranking up are easier than you realise, so don’t wait another minute!