Ebook Copywriting

The Unscary, Real World Guide to
SEO Copywriting
SEO copywriting tips for writers, publishers and everyone else.

By Ian Lurie
ConversationMarketing.com
Portent.com

Legal, Notes and Other Stuff
© 2008, The Written Word, Inc. d/b/a Portent Interactive and Ian Lurie.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-
Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Click here to read the license.
That’s a fancy way of saying: Ian scrapes out a living writing and selling
books like these. Please, buy a copy. However, you are free to pass this
along to friends and colleagues as you see fit. Spread the word, and get
more people writing good stuff online.
If you like this book, you might want to check out Ian’s blog at
www.ConversationMarketing.com, and his company, at
www.portent.com.
If you want to talk to Ian, you can reach him at ian@portent.com or on
Twitter at @portentint

Unscary, Real World SEO Copywriting 2

What Search Engines Want
Search engines aren’t as mysterious as some professionals might have you think. And the practice of
moving up in the ‘organic’ or unpaid rankings on search engines - also known as Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) - isn’t that big a mystery, either.

Search engines want a nice, orderly world defined by content. In a search engine’s perfect world, all
content is neatly classified, easily categorized and really useful to us poor humans.

The closer we can get to that easily categorized, useful content, the better we’ll do in the search engines.

As a publication (a blog, a news site, or some other regularly published site), you’ve got some unique
advantages:

- You have lots of content.
- That content is generally of high quality.
- You add content all the time.
- The content can easily be organized and categorized.

So, this should be easy, right? Yes, and no.


The Catch
I said search engines want easily categorized content. They rarely get it. And publication web sites are
often a mess because the writing in those publications is top-notch for print.

In print, eye-catching headlines and careful use of column inches are paramount.

Online, descriptive headlines and easily-scanned content is the highest priority.

So you’re going to have to make adjustments.

That’s what this e-book is all about.


How Search Engines Think
Search engines are hierarchical beasts. They see everything in a series of pyramids.

First, they see the entire internet. Every page on the internet has ‘votes’ in the form of links, and search
engines decide a site’s authority based on those links. The more relevant links you have, the more
authority you have, and the closer you are to the top of the hierarchy for a particular topic:

More links & trust


Then, they see a hierarchy as determined by the structure of your site. The more clicks required to get
from the home page of your site to a particular page, the less importance a search engine will accord
that page within the site itself:

Home page

One click

Two clicks


Finally, search engines look at the structure of each page on your site. Each page is awarded relevance
to a specific topic or key phrase based on certain elements of the page structure itself: The title tag, the
headings, the copy, and then things like bullets, lists, filenames and a whole set of narrowly-defined
geekery from which I’ll spare you.

For your purposes, this is what you need to remember:

Title tag

Headings

Copy


As a writer, you can influence the search engines by doing what you do best: Writing!

But, you can exert even more influence by emphasizing these rules:

1. Text is Text
2. Write Descriptive Article Titles
3. Write Descriptive Headings (and use heading tags)
4. Use Descriptive Link Text
5. Create Hubs
6. Use Standard Phrasing

This isn’t about writing garbage for search engines. It’s about writing really fantastic online copy that
both your readers and search engines will find useful.

Now, I’ll go through each of these rules in detail.


1: Text is Text
Search engines understand text. That means words I can cut-and-paste from my browser window into
MS Word or another text editor:


1: Text is Text
Graphical text - text created using Photoshop and then placed on your site as an image - is pretty, but
search engines can’t read it.

Search engines do have video and image components now. But even those search tools determine the
relevance of a particular image or video primarily based on the text around it and the filename of the
image or video.

So remember rule 1: Text means editable, cut-and-pastable text.

If you can’t click, drag, and then copy and paste text on a web page into MS Word, then chances are
search engines can’t find it.


An article title must clearly describe the article, on its own. The reader should not need to read
any other copy to understand the article topic and, if relevant, the opinion of the writer.

Look at the title of any article on your site. Then write that title on a separate, blank sheet of paper. If a
complete stranger read that title, would they know what the article was about?
A headline that works in print often works because of the text around it. Online, your headline may
have to make sense all on its own. Can you tell me what the content of this article will be?

Mustang Gallops Into Sunset

Nope. How about this, instead?

Ford Mustang Wins Awards at Sunset Auto Show

See the difference? In print, you often keep your article titles short and punchy because of space
restrictions, and because you’re trying to grab the attention of passersby at a newsstand, or the guy
who’s reading over someone’s shoulder on the subway.
Online, you’re trying to grab the attention of someone who’s rapidly scanning a list of article titles in
their feed reader or on your home page. So descriptive is better.


Most content management systems publish the article title right into the page’s title tag, as well. You
can see the title tag above the address bar for the page you’re currently visiting in your web browser:

I won’t go into the techie details of how that tag gets there. You’re a writer, not an HTML programmer,
and you shouldn’t have to become one just to write web- and SEO-friendly copy.
I will tell you, though, that the title tag is allll the way at the top of the page hierarchy search engines
use to categorize content. Refer back to page 7 if you want to see that hierarchy again.
Your content management system must use the article title in the title tag (good) or let you type in a
custom title tag (even better). If it doesn’t talk to your developers! As a copywriter you must have
control over the title.


Assuming your CMS lets you put some version of the article title into the title tag, there’s another, non-
SEO benefit: Writing a great, descriptive article title will improve clickthru from search engine results,
too. Search engines use the page title as the top of the ‘snippet’:

If someone searches for ‘internet marketing strategy’ and sees this title tag, they’re very likely going to
click. If they see ‘Conversation Marketing’ and nothing else, they won’t click, because they have no idea
what they’re going to get.

Rule #2: An article title must clearly describe the article, on its own. The reader should not need to read
any other copy to understand the article topic and, if relevant, the opinion of the writer.
Write descriptive article titles.


3. Use Tagged, Descriptive Headings.
Every page of your site must have at least one level one heading (H1). All headings must be
tagged as headings. All headings must be descriptive, so that a reader can understand what’s
coming next in your writing from the heading alone.

If you look at the page hierarchy on page 7, you’ll notice that headings are the second priority. Search
engines start with title tags (you read rule 2, right?) and then work their way down, using headings as a
page ‘outline’ that describes the structure of your writing.
The concept of headings can be a little abstract, so I’ll start with an example from a tool we all know and
love: Microsoft Word.
As a writer, you know you should create headings to break up a page of content (if you don’t, just quietly
nod and read up on proper copywriting techniques later). But, you also know you can create the visual
equivalent of a heading, or an actual heading. I create the visual equivalent by making my heading
bold and bumping up the type size:

But, if I then tell MS Word to create an outline, I get a mess:

I created something that only looks like a heading. MS Word has no way to know whether I mean the
bold text to be a heading, or just plain old bold text. Structural higgledy-piggledy results.


To create a real heading, I should use the styles drop down, like this:

Note that I can make a heading look any way I want by editing the style in Word. On the web, you’ve got
Cascading Style Sheets to do the same thing. Now if I use outline mode, Word knows what to do:

The word processor knows that ‘This is my heading’ is at the top of the page’s semantic structure.
‘Semantic structure’ simply means that text on the page includes information about the content’s
structure.
By setting my heading to actually use the ‘Heading 1’ style, I added information to the page that tells
Word it’s at the top of the page hierarchy.
That’s a word processor. Now I’ll show you how it works online.


This next section includes some very basic HTML code. Don’t worry! It’s easy to use. Plus, chances are
your content management system has an MS Word-style interface that lets you tag headings with a
click. Either way, at the end of this section you’ll be able to create a good semantic outline on your site.
In MS Word we can create a semantic outline. We can do the same thing in HTML. Here’s some text on
a web page:
Main Heading
Here’s the first paragraph, with a bunch of content that’s related directly to the main heading.
And here’s the next paragraph.

Sub Heading
This is a subtopic, related to the main heading but then classified a bit more by a sub-
heading.
Sub-heads make content easier to read.

I could create this layout by making the headings bold. But then a search engine will see this:
Main Heading
Here’s the first paragraph, with a bunch of content that’s related directly to the main heading.
And here’s the next paragraph.

Sub Heading
This is a subtopic, related to the main heading but then classified a bit more by a sub-
heading.
Sub-heads make content easier to read.

You already know that this means: No semantic outline. Search engines use the semantic outline to
figure out a page or paragraph’s focus. Without that outline, search engines probably won’t accord as
much relevance to your page for a given topic.


If, on the other hand, I use some very simple HTML to ‘tag’ my headings, like this:
In MS Word we can create a semantic outline. We can do the same thing in HTML. Here’s some text on
a web page:
<h1>Main Heading</h1>

<p>Here’s the first paragraph, with a bunch of content that’s
related directly to the main heading.</p>

<p>And here’s the next paragraph.</p>

<h2>Sub Heading</h2>

<p>This is a subtopic, related to the main heading but then
classified a bit more by a sub-heading.</p>

<p>Sub-heads make content easier to read.</p>

Search engines immediately understand: The H1 element - the text between <h1> and </h1> - refers to
the entire page. The H2 element refers to a subtopic.
If I had many subtopics, I’d just create an outline: All subtopics are H2 elements. All sub-subtopics are
H3 elements. And so on.
As I said before, your content management system may allow you to tag headings using a simple point-
and-click tool. But, at worst, you have to remember <h1> and <h2>.
So, first half of this rule: Use Tagged Headings.


Those headings have to be descriptive, too. Otherwise, you create a nice semantic structure that’s
meaningless. Take this example:
<h1>Today’s Top News</h1>

<p>Here at Harrison’s Bike Shop, we offer great cycling apparel.</p>


<h2>Other Coverage</h2>

<p>Special for Fall! Get 20% off on every cycling jersey in stock!</p>


If I write “Today’s Top News” on a blank sheet of paper, do I really know the topic of the page? I know
it’s about news, from today, that’s important. But what’s the news about? Business? Medicine?
Politics? Hobbits? The squirrel acorn harvest? I have no idea. Neither will a search engine, or the
typical reader who visits your web site and rapidly scans the page. This is much better:
<h1>Today’s Top Healthcare News</h1>

<p>Here at Harrison’s Bike Shop, we offer great cycling apparel.</p>


<h2>Other Healthcare Coverage</h2>

<p>Special for Fall! Get 20% off on every cycling jersey in stock!</p>



What a difference a single word can make. Now I know I’m about to read about Healthcare news. A
search engine knows, too.
The perfect page structure will have:
- A level 1 heading <H1>
- Followed by paragraph copy
- Followed by one or more level 2 headings <H2>
- With paragraph copy after each of those, too
Rule #3: Every page of your site should have at least one level one heading (H1). All headings must be
tagged as such. All headings must be descriptive, so that a reader can understand what’s coming next in
your writing from the heading alone. Use headings.


4. Use Descriptive Link Text.
Link text must clearly describe the page on which the visitor will land if they click the link.

By now you get what I mean by ‘descriptive’: Take the link text and write it on a blank sheet of paper.
Does it tell you about the page to which it links?
For example:
For more information on emergency preparedness quality metrics, click here.

That link tells me the page to which I’m about to go is about ‘click here’. Of course I can read the rest of
the sentence. But my eye is drawn to the link first. Search engines take this to an extreme.
To a search engine, every link on the internet is a vote. More votes can mean greater authority for a
given topic. But the link text can define how those votes are applied. So the ‘click here’ link tells a search
engine the target page is very relevant and an authority about ‘click here’. Hmmmm...
Try this instead:
For more information on emergency preparedness quality metrics, click here.

You can keep the ‘click here’. Usability studies show that people like to click the words ‘click here’. But
by creating a separate, descriptive link, I emphasize the authority of the target page for EPQM.
Putting the descriptive link first, I (arguably) reduce the importance of the second link. By separating it,
I (definitely) increase the value of the link.


4. Use Descriptive Link Text.
One other note about link text: The best links are in the flow of the copy, not in a separate list of links
off to the side or at the end of the article. Search engines may ignore a separate list, or at least reduce
the value of those links.
Surprise! A nice, short section. I’ll bet that’s a relief.
Rule #4: Link text should clearly describe the page on which the visitor will land if they click the link.
Use descriptive link text.


5. Create Hubs.
Similar pages should link to and from a single, central ‘hub’ page. That hub page can be
anything - an article, a special category page, or something else. But there must be a single hub
page.

Way back on page 6, I said site hierarchy matters. Link structures within your site can funnel the link
‘votes’ that search engines use to determine the authority and relevance of each page on your site.
If a page is 30 clicks away from your home page, it has less potential for a high ranking than a page
that’s 1 click away. It also has less authority to confer back to other pages on the site.
If you have a site that grows steadily, you’ll add more and more pages of content. Inevitably, older
content will get pushed ‘down’ in the site hierarchy. They then move further from the home page and
lose some of their authority within the site.
That’s unfair! It means great articles on huge, well-maintained publication site with tens of thousands
of pages could actually lose authority over time.
Here’s how you even things out: Create hub pages. A hub page is a single, central page to which many
other relevant pages on your site link.
It can be an existing article or product page, or a category page. If you use an existing page, you’ll get
faster results than if you use a new one. Established pages will already be in the search indexes and
have authority upon which you can build. On the other hand, you can tailor a new page to be super-
optimized.
How do you decide? It’s actually pretty easy.


5. Create Hubs.
If you have a page that already has a strong ranking for a great key phrase, then make that page your
hub. For example, if I want to gain a high ranking for ‘Google Analytics Consulting’, I already have a
starting point:

I’m not going to create a whole new page. I’ll use this page as my hub.
If you don’t have a page that ranks well for any of my target phrases, go ahead, create a new hub page.


5. Create Hubs.
Say you’re optimizing for ‘buggy bumpers’. You have one page on your site, written 6 months ago, that’s
right on point. And it’s on page 2 of Google, so you know you’re close to getting some real traffic. But
you need to get into the top 10, and right now that page is pretty lonely:

Buggy
Bumpers


5. Create Hubs.
Create another page with more information on buggy bumpers. Then link from that page back to the
original buggy bumpers page, and vice-versa.

Buggy
Bumpers

More about
Buggy
Bumpers

Since links are votes, you’ve just added a vote for the buggy bumpers page. That page is giving some of
the votes, back, since it links back to the ‘more about’ page, but still, you’re gaining ground.
If you really know what you’re doing, you can NoFollow the links from the original page to the new page. That
way, the new pages provide more link authority to the original page, which keeps all that authority in one place.
Do not do this if you don’t understand it. This kind of link sculpting can potentially hurt your site in the
rankings.


5. Create Hubs.
Over time, you add more pages. They all link to that one central buggy bumpers page. Those links are
all descriptive, too, so they lend a lot of authority to the hub page. That boosts the importance of the
page and creates a cluster of content that’s all relevant to this one topic. Then, link to your hub page
from the home page, or from a page that’s 1-2 clicks from the home page. That brings this entire cluster
of content up in the site hierarchy. Your site will gain relevance for the topic as a result.

Buggy
Bumpers

More about Buggy
Buggy
Buggy Bumper
Bumper Tips
Bumpers Reviews

Even better, visitors will appreciate that they can find all of the buggy bumpers content in one place.
I am not suggesting you write reams of lousy content purely to move up in the search engines. Write good,
useful stuff. Your visitors will appreciate it, and they’ll be more likely to buy, subscribe or return to your site.
Don’t force the issue.

Rule #5: Similar pages should link to and from a single, central ‘hub’ page. That hub page can be
anything - an article, a special category page, or something else. But there must be a single hub page.


6. Use Standard Phrasing.
People search using familiar phrases. Make sure you use those phrases, too. Use standard
phrasing everywhere: Article titles, headlines, link text and body copy. And, pay attention to
spacing.

People tend to search for topics using common phrases. I don’t search for ‘air travel prices’ or ‘plane
tickets’. I search for ‘airfares’. You don’t search for ‘Manhattan business news’, you search for ‘New York
business news’.
You need to always be aware of common phrasing. This isn’t about researching keywords. You must
never, ever research keywords before you write an article. That’s a surefire way to write lousy copy.
Instead:
1. Write your article.
2. Look at other news sources, blog posts and other user-generated content out on the web.
3. Note how folks are referring to your topic.
4. Stay consistent and use that phrasing.
Use standard phrasing in:
- Your article title
- Headings
- The article copy
- Links
And so on. Again, don’t force the phrase into your writing. Just make sure that you use the right phrase
when you’re otherwise going to refer to a particular topic.


6. Use Standard Phrasing.
For example, if I know everyone says ‘all-natural chocolate’ when they’re looking for organic chocolate,
this isn’t so good:
Our all-natural candies from chocolate are tasty!

Nowhere in that sentence do I see ‘all-natural chocolate’. It’s almost there, but not quite. This is far
better:
All of our candies are made with tasty, all-natural chocolate!

See that? Same meaning, still flows nicely, but now ‘all-natural chocolate’ is in there as a phrase. That’ll
help boost the site’s relevance for the phrase.
And, if the phrase shows up in search results, the search engine will bold it. That makes the listing stand
out, and makes the reader more likely to click:

One last detail: Be aware of spacing. ClassicalMusic may be a great brand name, but if you want to rank
for ‘Classical Music’, you’ll have to space the words out. To a search engine, ‘ClassicalMusic’ is one
word, and ‘Classical Music’ is two.
You can space words out using a space, a hyphen (-) or a forward-slash. Search engines probably won’t
interpret an underscore (_) as a space.


The Real Lesson.
Nothing I’ve suggested in this book is really about search engines.
Descriptive titles help visitors find the content they want.
Descriptive headlines help them scan and find information on the page.
Standard phrasing means you’re speaking their language.
And smart linking helps visitors find their way around.
That’s the real lesson: Follow these guidelines, but make sure you think of your visitors first, search
engines second. Do what you do best: Write great stuff. The rest will follow.


There’s More.
There’s always more. This booklet distills 12 years’ testing and knowledge into 30 pages. So you can
imagine, I’ve cut a few corners here and there.
I tried to keep this totally focused on pure copywriting. No techie stuff, no fancy stuff.
If you want to learn more, have a look at a few sites:
ConversationMarketing.com - That’s me.
SEOMoz.org - A great resource for learning SEO.
CopyBlogger.com - If you’re a writer and you’re writing online, read this blog.

I also suggest reading the classics:
Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy
Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy

But the best thing you can do is write every day. Writing isn’t an inborn talent - it’s a skill you can
develop over time.


Contacting Ian

E-mail: ian@portent.com

Twitter: @portentint

Blog: www.ConversationMarketing.com

If someone gave you a copy of this book, great! I told them they could. Pass it on.


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