SEO Copywriting Vs Traditional Writing - A Tale of Good & Evil?
What are the differences between traditional writing styles and their counterpart - SEO Copywriting?
In this article, we’ll cover just the contrasts and convergences between traditional copywriting for business and what is now referred to as SEO copywriting: a unique approach designed to zero-in on relevant terms using search engine optimisation SEO.
As we begin to compare the two forms, we’ll see they’re actually quite closely related and intertwined with one another; while also retaining a uniqueness in their own way. It’ll be important for us to closely analyse the similarities and contrasts to determine how we can best use each's strength to drive emergent results.
Since the dawn of time, an individual's ability to convey engaging and informative context via the written word has been highly regarded - and seen to require a unique skill set.
In the modern age, those of us who have been born with a love of writing and literature, spread across a wide range of interests, have become highly sought after by businesses of all shapes and sizes.
Like the Trojan Horse: a passionate scribe can now assemble their written pieces into something that carries a hidden payload - designed to propel businesses into the digital age.
This hybrid written format, sometimes known as SEO content writing, is carrying with it the topical expertise, authority, and trust - or (E-A-T), that search engines look for when providing results to the billions of individual users around the globe, at any given moment.
That said, traditional copywriting, as we are referring to it - meaning content that is only tailored to highlight the story of a brand while engaging readers with snappy phrasing, will always have a part to play. And, in many ways, remains the underpinning pillar of the way an article, blog post, email and so-forth are created.
So even if your content is perfectly optimised for search: signalling just the right amount of E-A-T and referring to the right adjacent topics, if it comes across as clunky and poorly written, you are bound to lose that potential sales-lead to a more captivating page.
Inside our business at West Coast Content, we’ve come from the world of old-school content creation: where you need to grab those eyeballs as quickly and firmly as you can, making the best impression possible, all while guiding potential clients deeper into their unique buyers' journey.
This is no easy task.
A good copywriting service can be worth their weight in gold when it comes to creating a series of cleverly branded messages; tasty snapshots which can be used across a website or business as a whole - creating strong brand cohesion.
Maybe you’ve got this base covered already? And have yourself a batch of high-quality written work, which is interesting and fun to read through.
From here, optimising for SEO with the secret tools found in a wordsmith's tool-bag has the potential to ignite your piece of writing into something much more than the sum of its parts.
It's this dark-quality of emergence that gives SEO copywriting its mysterious aura.
“All you can do is hope for a pattern to emerge, and sometimes it never does. Still, with a plan, you only get the best you can imagine. I’d always hoped for something better than that.
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And while the techniques and tactics involved with search optimisation don't guarantee reader-friendly content; they do have the capacity to transform - what on the surface appears to be a regular piece of text - into something more, with powerful potential for brands, businesses and to propel startup businesses with SEO.
To find out more about how we enhance our written work with an SEO flavour, feel free to check out our creative services.
While it's still a little early to answer the question posed in the title of this piece; we now know that both approaches are unique and valuable in their own right.
As we move into exploring the stylistic relationship, it's important to remember that we’re not necessarily looking for one approach to outperform the other; but to disassemble them in a way that highlights the strengths, weaknesses and complementary elements of both.
What relationship does traditional copy share with search engine content, and how do they coexist?
The relationship between these two writing styles can present as a little hard to pin down at first, although as we explore them in a bit more detail, we're sure to hit upon some workable similarities - alongside the stark differences.
As mentioned, it seems as if anything carrying the SEO tag, including content writing, has become the darker and more unknown version of the standard approach.
When it comes to writing for business, both styles can actually be used simultaneously to create a holistic and complete approach; which not only illuminates a brand's most engaging stories, but also conveys a digital message to search engines.
And hopefully the message says yes - we know our stuff, and have an outstanding grasp of the subject about which we are writing.
You don't have to pick a team - enjoy and benefit from the best of both worlds.
I like to start from the bottom, and get underneath the skin of a business owner or department leader - understanding the heart of the story and what makes a business tick; alongside the motivations and ambitions of the people who bring it to life.
It's these stories that will captivate your audience in a way that avoids pitfalls, and provides multiple benefits:
Who wants to read the run of the mill boring old content?
Anything mass or poorly produced is an instant turn-off to readers.
Everyone has an interesting story, it's just a matter of unearthing it to convey to people.
Humans have communicated with storytelling since the dawn of time - we expect and understand it.
If the art of storytelling and putting it all down on paper is not your thing, it might be time to find yourself a great copywriting service; one who can delve into the depths for you and bring out those shiny gems for display.
In practice, a great piece of traditional copy can quite easily be embedded with an SEO leaning - using some of the available software on the market these days. Although mixing it all together well, can take some time and benefit from a strategic focus initially.
By creating expansive content, work that speaks volumes around what you know and including adjacent topics and structures, can often be the best way to optimise something for search - while retaining a solid base of useful information for the general public.
Exploring associated topics within an article or blog extensively, not only helps users find what they are looking for in terms of helpful text, but also lends you an opportunity to add these associated topics to your website as time goes by.
This approach is often referred to as content clustering, and is a cutting-edge way to establish your site as an authority in its field by covering multiple related topics in depth, and linking them together internally.
In this way, SEO copywriting can be seen as a much broader strategy that just a few on-page tricks to jump the search rankings. It's actually more about building a solid topical base over time, which signals to google and others that you provide value in the realm, therefore helping you to organically rank.
When isolated, the two different techniques can only go so far.
A great piece of traditional writing will be a fun read for those who happen to find it online, while a highly optimised piece of content may rank well, although be thinly put together and lead to users bouncing from your website - which is another pit of horror for search rankings.
A simple example of this could be the way you construct your title tag with a keyword focus in addition to a catchy headline - something which is also easily doable when it comes to your meta description as well.
It's a nice way to see both skills working side by side together, as when it comes to titles, having something intriguing is a must - however it doesn't take much to optimise your text with a couple of highly relevant keywords - to give it a search engine focus also.
A title tag does carry some weight with google and co, so it's important to tick that box - while you construct a hook designed to grab the reader's eye and captivate them in some way. The same is true for a meta description, although the effect on ranking is negligible, it can be a great chance to remind users that you offer what they are looking for in a search result, and that it'll be a good read!
When thinking about the skill set that an SEO copywriter might need, i find it's best to think about someone with the natural ability for creative work. Mix this in with the curiosity of a journalist, and finish off with an understanding of marketing concepts, and how current technologies can drive the emergence of written SEO content to drive organic search results.
With a broad coverage across these talents, you have yourself someone who can take your business to the next level with the written word. And it's these combined skills that inform whether a writer is just that, or can label themselves as an SEO copywriter - someone who drives more than just a passing interest in the story of your business.
To conclude this section: let's remember that to create a cohesive and encompassing digital marketing plan, both traditional and SEO copy, will need to be brought together as seamlessly as possible - exploiting everything that a modern piece of online writing can accomplish.
Why would you exclude either of these elements at the expense of your businesses growth and brand awareness? When the two elements combined become so much more than just the sum of their parts - in the true definition of emergence theory.
Why SEO copywriting is critical for your online business
If you're running a business that relies on digital marketing to draw in leads and convert to sales from there, then no-doubt you have heard of SEO in it's many different forms and guises.
So why does Google prefer professional SEO writing over just good quality content?
The answer here lies in search intent, and the various user profiles active across the digital domain.
There is no reason that a great piece of work can’t just simply rank - even without a specific SEO strategy at play underneath. If Google decides that your page provides the most valuable information to its users, matching a unique intent, then there really is no barrier to your page ranking.
Problems or difficulties might start to arise however if there is stiff competition around a certain keyword phrase or chain.
What search engines are looking for here from content around the web, are signals that it contains E-A-T, and from here, can be matched the users intent, be it informational, navigational or transactional.
If your business operates as an online entity, then there's a fair chance that organic search might play a very-large role in lead generation and the subsequent steps in your sales funnel.
For this reason, SEO copywriting should really make it onto the list of critical elements to include in what you publish.
The hard fact is, for organic search to start driving traffic to your site, you really need to be in the upper half of the first page.
The stats are heavily in favour of the first 2-3 positions, which brutally taper off the further down the SERP you go. In fact one reason to make sure that your content is a highly enjoyable read, is to encourage social shares, which in-turn, send a small ranking signal that your work is being digested out there in the wider world.
This is one additional factor that can help when trying to scale to the top of page 1. Achieving results like this, for a search term with a healthy volume of impressions - can make a business.
Underpinning a startup project, or particular specialty of your enterprise, with a stream of highly qualified leads - leads who have been shown to convert into sales at higher rates than say via social media, or Google ads.
This is where the awesome power of organic search can be harnessed by an SEO content writer.
And if you're toying with the idea of hiring one of these professionals, consider what your business might look like with a page or two of content that is ranking high on page 1 - driving consistent, qualified leads through your doors.
When considered in this way, the investment in an expert to help you navigate these waters might seem like the best choice to make, both short and long term.
If you'd prefer to forgo the expense, and take a more DIY approach to the SEO factors within your business, we will outline a few hints and tips in the next section to get you moving along.
Don't be discouraged by DIY, many folks choose to do it this way - and after a moderate learning curve, you're sure to have the basics down.
With hoards of valuable information scattered across the web, any digital marketing niche can be explored at depth, or until your brain is about to explode from overuse.
We'll try to avoid the brain explosion here, while still offering you some great ideas around content, and even image optimisation - for search.
SEO copywriting tips and best practices
When you're starting out with your own blog site, or starting a new online business and associated website; there’s actually quite a few free tools and applications for you to take advantage of when it comes to optimising your site, pages and content for search.
First off, if you haven't heard of something called Google My Business (GMB), then you might want to start there - because GMB is one completely free way to start getting your business out there on the organic SERPs, and in front of your target audience.
Actually in the long run, GMB can help you to bypass the SERP completely, if you're able to optimise your listing fully with reviews, products, offers, posts and images.
In turn, if you’re working hard on attaining traditional organic rankings, then having an associated GMB listing can send out relevant signals that your are a legitimate operation, and the content published there reflects what’s published on your website or blog etc.
It can take a while for Google to set up your account (GMB) once you've requested it, so it might pay to get started on this one straight away.
Another tip for those who are just starting out on the road to SEO, is from my own personal experience. I've found that a couple of the big names in the industry are actually posting a lot of really valuable and basic information, which anyone can use to tune up their approach.
One of these sources is a guy called Brian Dean and his company Backlinko, who dish out all kinds of relevant info in the world of search - including this handy guide to SEO in 2020.
Another useful source is Neil Patel and his free keyword tool Ubersuggest - which can be handy in a pinch, although is mainly using scraped data from google.
Both of these guys are big players in town, and have the capacity to put together large and interesting studies around search behavior and ranking factors that exist out there.
By subscribing to these two emails listings, you'll find yourself immersed in pretty awesome information before long, and be heading off on your own SEO adventure before you know it.
As far as tips go, and on the content writing side of things - there are also some solid online tools available which can help you take the guesswork out of your topical relevance; assisting creators to put together content in a way that targets a particular keyword phrase, by circling in around it with adjacent relevant terms.
If that sounds a bit complicated, don't worry - tools like Surfer SEO, and at the higher end, Market Muse; will take the hard work out of it for you, by ensuring that your content is playing a leading role in the strength of your ranking success.
These tools get to the heart of what it means to signal search engines that you have expertise and deserve trust in your field - also that your content is informed and potently-valuable to searchers.
This generation of topical relevance and authority generation is bound to drive some very interesting data back to you through Google Search Console (GSC), which should become your holy grail once your published work starts to attract impressions and clicks etc.
From there, it's time to optimise your pages for the search terms where you may already have strong authority, and can make inroads into the upper echelons of the SERPs.
This can include all the usual on-page suspects, including a strategic url, page title and meta description - alongside image optimisation with tasteful keyword inclusions.
Once you've exhausted all of your on-page optimisation avenues, then it might be time to sit back and get the lay of the land, before moving on to link building, content marketing strategies and dissemination via social channels.
When writing out your optimised content, and if you've had a look around the web to check out the current best-practices, you will have undoubtedly heard the phrase "write for real people first".
And with good reason.
Keyword research alone won't make up for a sketchy batch of work, and you're sure to lose potential sales opportunities, should your SEO copywriting be aesthetically and cognitively - unappealing.
SEO writing targeted only towards search engines, becomes a very 'dry' affair, and lacks the soul from human input and creativity - the stuff that makes a great book, article or screenplay something that lasts in our collective memory.
The greatest works of writing from history have made an impact and stood the test of time. Not based on their embedded topical authority, but because they've been able to resonate with real-people in a way that few pieces of communication can.
Once presented to an audience, either digital or real-world, an incredible and captivating written work has the capacity to ignite imagination, inform and empower with knowledge - while remaining a true expression of human creativity.
Perhaps this last point is the most important to remember when creating content - people can inherently tell when they are being fed BS, or when the author has not taken any care in putting their document together before publishing.
If this is the vibe that your work displays, then you are headed nowhere in the world of content marketing, and fast.
From typos, to bad grammar and over-optimised text with treacle-like keyword density, these traits only serve to enhance the problem of poor readability, and diminish the overall user experience, or UX, of your website.
“Once presented to an audience, either digital or real-world, an incredible and captivating written work has the capacity to ignite imagination, inform and empower people with knowledge - while remaining a true expression of human creativity.”
While the temptation can be to rush through a piece of writing, get it optimised and get it out there to see the results - this author has found that it can be best to take a composed approach with daily word targets, and put a cap on the amount of text you punch out in one sitting.
As I have discovered, when trying to do too much, it can often lead to a drop in quality of the work, and the feeling that what you've just published - isn't the absolute best it could be.
You don't want to feel this way about your work.
Take your time, research anything you're unsure about, and try to provide your readers with valuable information and also links, to help flesh out their journey and even enhance your own ability to generate leads.
Adding some styling and typography to the work that you publish can also enhance the way it's digested by people and search engines - adding benefits for you.
This style of writing will ensure that your brand receives the recognition that comes from thoughtful content creation, in itself a rarity in the modern age of SEO, and even start to build a regular audience around your recently published work and as time goes by.
So the SEO writing best-practice list includes:
Researching relevant information - flesh out your own knowledge - (you might learn something)
Take you time with content creation - delivering better quality
Use your own voice - make it genuine to readers
Edit with care and re-work bad grammar, punctuation and typos
Avoid the temptation to over-optimise - keep the UX in mind at all times
Enjoy yourself - finding your internal creative head-space can turn any old writing job into a fun and energising event
For the writers out there, this last point is something that can make or break your career.
If creating words and working with them to deliver messages, while earning a dollar, is something you aspire to do with your time; then you need to harness your own creative powers and put them to use - regardless of context and specific task.
I can talk from experience here; when you are in the zone, your mind will make the tangential connections between your chosen topic and the job at hand, allowing you to generate your best work at any time and apply it to any situation.
Optimising the work for search comes after the creative brush strokes have been laid; ensuring that the technical aspects of SEO don't overshadow your talents and skills as a content writer.
And don't let the work title of SEO copywriting fool you, this is a task for a real writer - one who is able to add a technical skill set to his or her toolkit, and to complement your natural abilities.
How do you optimise your content? I hear you say.
I take the approach outlined above, and create a document that incorporates adjacent and complementary topics, into a valuable piece of writing, that I am proud to publish.
If you end up with a bunch of stuff out there that you aren't happy with, it'll weigh down on you and suck the enjoyment out of the whole process - making it just another chore in life.
Embrace your inner creativity, and do your work from the heart.
Sure, try your best to craft it around your strategic goals be it for rankings, audience engagement, branding, leads or otherwise - but use your talent to enhance it with your own flavour.
In this way you will ensure that your work is sought after both now and into the future; for it's creative edge, and ability to intertwine the need for engaging content, with remaining fully inclusive of relevant topics and clusters - and the range of tactics that go into making a document optimised for search.
So go on, get out there and give SEO copywriting a go - the potential benefits to you and your business make it well worth the effort.
Good luck!
For any queries relating to this article or the world of content creation for business and startups, don't hesitate to reach out to us at any time.
