What is a SEO copywriter? This professional figure is crucial to your success on the web and is made of equal parts creativity and technical skills.
In this article we will tell you everything about SEO copywriting, why it’s important for your business and how to become (or hire) one.
In pochi punti:
What is a SEO copywriter?
As the name suggests, a SEO copywriter is someone who writes texts for a website with a creative spin. But he is also extremely focused on making the web page rank high on search engines.
In fact, SEO literally means “search engine optimization”, so the number one problem for SEO copywriting is balancing creativity and technical issues.
The goal of this professional figure is to make a web page rank as high as possibile on search engines. Such as Google (definitely the most important), Bing, Yahoo etc.
What does he do?
A SEO copywriter writes web pages content with two clear goals in mind:
- attract readers and turn them into potential customers;
- fulfill search engines’ requests.
And how does he do that? A study from Semrush and CMI revealed that acquiring this delicate balance is the number one challenge for marketers all over the world.
You need to have a great sense of communication, some rudimentary knowledge of persuasive writing, and know a lot about algorithms. But let’s start from the beginning.
What does Google want?
As well as any other search engine, Google is ruled by a complex and ever-changing algorithm. This is a way for search engines to quickly find what a user is looking for.
For instance, if you type “reading lamps” on Google’s search bar, the algorithm will find the most valuable resources for you in the wide web. That means, websites that sell reading lamps in your area and offer clear, valuable, interesting informations about them.
So, the SEO copywriter’s job is to make a web page appear into the first results for a specific keyword.
How a SEO copywriter searches and writes
As opposite to a “simple” copywriter, a SEO needs to make a complete and accurate keyword research. That will help him find the right words to use. In order to make people arrive on your website, the keyword distribution must be even and natural.
Google will perceive too many of them as “keyword stuffing”, too little won’t let your page appear in the first results. So what is a SEO copywriter? He is a creative writer who also got a perfect understanding of how Google works.
What do you need in order to be a SEO copywriter
This professional is crucial in the web marketing team of every company. Do you want to became one? Here are a few things you need to master:
- A lot of creativity and fantasy. Despite this is not a completely creative position, originality and a sense of wonder is required in order to create effective texts and catch the customers’ attention.
- A complete understanding of how Google’s algorithm works. This is pretty difficult, given that it’s constantly changing. You will need a lot of updates.
- Also, you need the ability to change your tone of voice in order to match each client’s style, target audience and means of communication.
- Don’t forget a little bit of programming: SEO copywriting is extremely important but it needs to be matched by some graphic and structutal choices about the website.
- LinkA link is a connection that let you jump from a webpage to another. It can be attached to pieces of text, images or HTML elements and it's actually a... building is also a must. A SEO copywriter knows that, in order to have a high-ranking website, you need good referral links and a network of reliable associates.
Examples of good SEO copywriting
In order to create a SEO-optimized text, you will need to follow some instructions. First of all, a keyword research is inevitable. You must know what people are looking for in your work field.
Use some free tools to start: Answerthepublic, Google trends, Keyword.io are useful to suggest what people are searching for. Also, you will understand users’ problems and create perfect texts and landing pages to solve them.
Moreover, your writing should be fluent, natural and spontaneous with the right tone of voice. A night club will invite people to have fun and dance in an informal way. In contrast to that, a law firm needs to inspire trust and safety with a formal tone of voice.
How can you be a SEO copywriter?
In order to forge your career path, you can start with a Communication or Journalism degree. Also, a Literature or Creative Writing degree is a good starting point.
To move on from there, you will need to master the web communications as well. A lot of master degrees and online courses can help with that.
Remember to start small: an internship with a communication agency is very good. As well as any experience with SEO copywriting, web marketing and content creation.
Do you need to hire a copywriter?
If your company wants to have a chance on the web, you can choose between different solutions. The first one is teaching your own team. But SEO copywriting is a difficult job and in order to succeed, you need a professional.
A SEO copywriter freelance will work on your web content startegy with a clear mind. Give him a goal to reach: do you want to sell more, rank higher on Google, acquire new customers? A freelance professional will consult with the rest of your communication and marketing team to get you to the top.
Lastly, you can hire a SEO agency. SEO copywriters will be at your service and set up a whole campaign in order to malke your business grow. A good editorial plan, the perfect keyword research, an accurate compatibility between email marketing, social media campaignes and SEO copywriting will get you great results.
How much will you pay a SEO copywriter?
This depends on the type of professionals, their contract and what you ask them. Overall, a SEO copywriter earns between 1200-1700€ per month if he works inside an agency.
SEO copywriters freelance can earn much more, depending on the scale of their projects and the number of clients they can manage. Also, you should decide head-on if they are going to manage only on-site SEO or content creation, social media, email marketing and such.
In conclusion, you can pay your SEO copywriter per text, per word or even per campaign, changing dramatically the budget you will allocate to web marketing.
Which agency to turn to
There are a lot of SEO copywriting agencies all around the world. Their main feature is the possibility to work remotely. So you can choose an agency that is miles away from your company or even in another continent.
What you really need in order to choose your SEO copywriter freelance or agency is to trust them. Search for their previous work, ask them conversion rates and data analysis from their other projects and a complete portfolio.
You need a person (or a team) you can trust with your website. Which is your open window to the whole world, so it’s very important for your business. Also, be sure the copywriters are willing to change their tone of voice in order to match your company and your values.
In conclusion
SEO copywriting is a very complex and fascinating discipline inside web marketing and content creation. A good worker in this field needs to know a lot about different subjects and always be updated to news.
Contact Mailsenpai to have a look at our SEO copywriting services and always follow our News and Tips page for the latest updates.