How do I write website copy that ranks well in search engines?

In November 2006, Heather Lloyd-Martin, an SEO copywriter, addressed the yearly AWAI conference on the art of writing web pages that rank high in organic search.

Her approach works, and she is one of the best at it. Writing search engine copy is a lot like writing print copy, only with a few extra steps added.

Choose the Right Keywords for Each Page

Her first step was to choose the right keywords for each page. The keywords are the phrases people will search to find the product in question, so you want them to be as accurate as possible.

Also, as copywriter Dianna Huff advises, it pays to devote a page to each of your products or services, and optimize that page for its own set of keywords.

You also want to select keywords that are the terms people search for the most, and this is something that you can look up online using tools that include Wordtracker, Keyword Discovery, the Overture keyword selector, Yahoo keyword selector and View Bid tool.

In fact, Lloyd-Martin recommends researching the words before writing the first sentence. That’s because she wants to know the actual phrases readers type to find what you sell, rather than the ones she guesses. Then, working the keywords into your copy helps it rank higher for those terms.

Two or Three per Page

Step two is to take the most searched terms, two or three per page, so the phrases fit the page and sound ok grammatically.

Pick the chosen keywords and use them three or four times in the body copy - or more, as long as it sounds natural. Keyword stuffing sounds forced and weird, so be careful not to let that happen.

So, test the copy by reading it aloud. If it sounds like spam, then take some phrases out. Remember: write for people first, and the search engines second.

Say a retailer holds a half-price sale on used widgets. Use the most searched term in your headline, something like: “50% Off Used Widgets.”

Where do the keywords go? They go into the headline, the subheads, the body copy and the call-to-action links, she says. Make the keywords underlined hyperlinks, like dental veneers or teeth whitening.

Then, make the benefit statement as close to your key phrases as you can. Each entry in the Google results shows the key phrase and a brief sample of copy, so placing the benefit statement close to the key phrase means that not only do searchers get to see your keyword, but that the benefit of doing that search is right there too.

Huff feels that it’s best to also use descriptive phrases of two to four words rather than single key words.

Meta Tags

Another way to help your ranking is to use meta tags.

Perhaps the three tags that mean the most to you in SEO are Title, Description and Keywords. They all shape what people see on search listings and what they choose to click on.

The Title Tag is the very first line you see at the very top of the screen of the reader’s web browser. Make it make sense, and put it on every single page of your web site.

Keep the titles descriptive, because failing to put keywords in the title usually causes the page to rank poorly. Anything from 50 to 75 characters, including spaces, should be fine.

The Description is the first sentence people see when they bring up search results for the product or service you are selling. Briefly, and I mean briefly, describe what the product is and what it does. Fifty to 175 characters are good for your description, including spaces.

The third meta tag, keywords, is a list of the most searched terms used by people who are searching for the product you’re selling.

Don’t jam every phrase you were able to pick up into the meta tag. Five to seven is ideal.

Check out the tags on your own page by choosing “view” then “source” in your browser’s menu options. You’ll see the page in HTML code. If any tags don’t meet these guidelines, rewrite them!

Most of these tips are geared toward improving ordinary multi-page Web sites. Search engines usually don’t value copy-heavy landing pages, and there isn’t much you can do in the way of SEO copy for one-page sites.