If you want to increase your website SEO, remember, it’s more than just keywords. Writing compelling copy matters to your long-term SEO strategy.

You can pay for search ads all day long, but that can get costly — and it still doesn't pack the punch that organic search results can. Organic results are 8.5 times more likely to get the click and they lead to far higher closing rates

Getting that organic search results comes from a marathon approach to maintaining your website and creating informative content. You have to write right, from beginning to end, and keep the fresh content coming.

To help you do that, we’ve pulled together six tips to help you improve your website's organic SEO by strengthening your copy.

1. use a keyword planning tool

Too many businesses think of their website as an online brochure — something you direct people to once you've met them, so they can browse your offerings. If you do that, you're missing the point. 

keywords help customers find your website

Maybe you show up first when people search the name of your business combined with your city — if so, good on you. But how many people are directly searching the name of your business? The truth is, you probably haven't met your best customer yet, and if you don't create a way for them to find you, you never will. Creating strong organic website SEO by targeting relevant keywords is key to meeting those customers.

keyword research tools

It's time to change your website from a brochure to a beacon. To do that, start with a keyword planning tool and start building a strategy. At energyhill, we also use Spyfu and Google Trends to do keyword research for our site and clients, but there are several other tools out there.

Keyword planning tools help you identify the words and phrases people are searching on the internet to find you, your business and what you do. Do you know the phrases people in your target location are searching to find your products? Are you powering your product pages with those keyword phrases? Are your SEO page titles using these keywords? 

If not, stop what you're doing right now. Go to the Google Adwords Keyword Planner (or the free Keyword Tool) and find out what people are searching. Write it down, and come back for the rest of the tips.

how to use keywords

Got those keywords now? OK. Let's recap. If you're a university with an amazing online MBA program that nobody knows about, you need to collect the words and phrases your prospective students are actually searching online. Then integrate them into the copy on the pages that talk about your amazing online MBA program — in your titles, headlines, and copy. That's how you start building great website SEO.

2. write SEO headlines and subheadings

When it comes to the headline of your page, you'll want to integrate the keyword or keyword phrase early and with confidence. It takes a touch of copywriting alchemy to write headlines well. On top of including your strongest keyword phrase, you'll also need to keep it concise— under 65 characters is best — and engaging.

use keywords in headlines

Remember, if you do your job well, your new page is going to show up in search results. You want that headline to stand complete in the search results (and not be cut off mid-thought). You'll also want it clearly correlated with the search phrases to get the click.

For example, if you're a credit union, and you find that people are searching the "best free checking account Tampa," your free checking account product page should probably be something like "Sign Up for the Best Free Checking Account in Tampa.” Make sense? 

subheadings (a subheading about subheadings!)

Your subheadings should support that SEO title. This breaks up the text and creates a sort of map for the reader. These should still be talking about the free checking account and its benefits, with more keywords that relate to the topic.

Another point to keep in mind when writing your copy — search engines like Google crawl a website the way most people would read it. They look at the headline — is this about the topic I think it's about? Yes, I'll keep going. Then, they scan the subheads — does this offer me information I need or want on this topic? Yes, even better. Then, they look at the actual words you've written. Do these words continue with that idea? Does it explain it well? Yes, great. Bonus points!

So it's always in your best interest to keep your consumer in mind first, with your keywords in mind, second. Lastly, keep your subheads in order so search engines can easily index them.

3. create useful content

You've come all this way — why would you go cheap now? Your content needs to be a lot more than just a few bullet points. Sure, you might get a nice initial scan by the search engines or the readers because of your excellent headlines and subheads. But if you don't back that up with true, relevant content, you're going to lose them all. 

blogging for SEO

And since we're close enough to talk about length now, I'm going to take the opportunity to suggest you incorporate a blog or news page on your website. 

Your blog or news page would be the perfect tool to create a perpetual stream of SEO-charged content — blog posts or news articles that talk about your products and services, industry-related tips and information, happenings with your company, and all those things that your customers want to know. Re-writing your website for strong SEO is great, but having fresh content with strong SEO is even better.

what’s the right word count?

A good rule of thumb for a minimum on word count is 400, but try to write much more if possible. First of all, pages and articles with more useful information are more likely to be read and shared. Second, search engines are smart, and you will be downgraded in your SEO score if you aren't following through with rich informative content on your pages. 

This is one of the few times in life where less is not more, so enjoy the excess, and don't leave out any details.

4. write custom, enticing meta descriptions

Meta descriptions don’t directly impact search ranking, but these descriptions are just as important as the content itself. Meta descriptions should quickly summarize the post and give your audience a reason to click and read. 

In organic search, meta descriptions are just as important as the on-page text because they can quickly engage the reader. Just having a dedicated meta description is proven to increase click-through rate. Use these snippets to share your posts on social media — another crucial part of your content marketing strategy.  

Make sure these meta descriptions for pages and blogs include your keyword or keyphrase and keep it under 160 characters — the quicker they get to the point, the better.

5. use a strong call-to-action

If you've done your job, your company's products are showing up on that first search page, you've earned the click from your target audience, and you've gotten the customer's interest. They're there, they're in the buying mindset. Now you need a strong call-to-action (CTA)

That CTA can be anything from "Get started" to "Buy now" — but you need to close the deal and create a path for them to reach you. Either have the option for them to sign up for or purchase your product right then and there, or at least include a "Request Information" form. 

Whatever you do, make sure you incorporate a CTA. That way, you can make the connection when the time is right.

6. build internal and external links to boost credibility

Great content is one thing, but that traffic needs to be converted into sales and interested potential customers. Part of your website SEO strategy must be to link to the important pages on your website, but also to high-authority external web pages.

The reason for building out links is two-fold. First, linking to internal pages on your website keeps users on your site longer and boosts your high-authority pages in search engines. Second, quality external links (or links to other websites) back up your arguments with valid sources and boost your site’s relevance in the process.

don’t overdo your links

You shouldn’t go crazy with links. For example, don’t start putting two links in one sentence. Be conscious about how much you’re linking off your site. It’s confusing for the reader and can be distracting. Don’t force it. Instead, use links when they’re extremely relevant to what you’re writing. 

write right

Strategies for SEO are endless, and you should constantly be adapting to find holes in your SEO plan and address them. Stay persistent and you’ll find results.

Write with your target consumer in mind, make it easier for them to connect to your products and services by using the right keywords and phrases, and give them all the information they could want. 

In the long term, you'll build your website SEO, and you'll build relationships with the people who matter. Don't we all love a win-win?

If you enjoyed this info and want some more help on building your website SEO strategy, reach out via email, phone, or just click the chat bubble in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. We'll chat IRL.

linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram