When creating online content, optimizing web copy with keywords is an essential piece of the puzzle.
But the question is, should that be your primary focus as a content creator?
Although optimizing your content is essential for generating more website traffic, it’s also crucial that you’re getting that traffic to convert. When traffic converts, you know your content is doing the work to get people interested in your business and can make them customers.
It can be easy to laser focus on weaving keywords into your copy, but that can distract from giving your readers a useful experience. That’s why it’s time to make creating quality content for your existing human reader your primary mission and use optimization as a secondary asset to attract more traffic.
Prioritize Solutions Over Keywords
With the Google Helpful Content Update’s launch, the tech giant encourages creators to focus on creating people-first content. This means offering your readers a satisfying experience while creating content that meets their expectations.
Do this, and you stand a better chance of ranking high in the SERPs. Don’t do this, and you’ll find your content will generate less organic traffic.
Creating and consistently posting content that offers solutions to your audience’s biggest pain points will allow you to achieve the pinnacle of helpful content. Even without Google’s update, you should craft content that positions you as knowledgeable and passionate. But since they encourage creators to write content that leaves the reader feeling like they’ve learned enough about a particular topic to achieve their goals, you might as well utilize this in search engines. Then you can be authoritative on a subject and market yourself in the SERPs.
So, where does keyword optimization come into play? Can I still optimize web copy with keywords? Google suggests writing to your human reader first, then directing your attention to SEO best practices for keywords. You avoid the typical lackluster, robotic, and unsatisfying content that comes from focusing only on search engines – which won’t bring in the conversions you need anyway.
7 Ways to Create Quality Content for Your Reader
Now that you know your human reader should always be your primary focus, how can you create quality content people enjoy reading and sharing with others? There are several things you can do to get started:
1. Focus on Their Unique Needs
Your readers search for content that addresses their unique problems. That’s why you should get to know your target audience because then you can identify the topics that will offer answers for them. And connecting on this deeper level reveals more about their interests and pain points — you humanize your business and build trust with the people you want to reach.
Once you know more about your readers, you can start doing research to determine what they search for on Google. A way to do this is by checking Google Analytics to see which search terms land people on your website. After finding those, take the successful topics from your site and reflect them on social media for further optimization. You can also use your content across multiple channels, saving time and effort.
Take things to the next level by studying your competitors. See what topics they use for their content to see what’s generating interest from their audience. Use it as inspiration, then dig deeper into the topic and put your own spin on the information.
2. Write Captivating Content That’s Easy to Read
All of your site content should be well-written and easy to consume. If it isn’t, your ideal reader could disappear from your pages. An easy way to start incorporating steps that will make your content captivating? Write a catchy, attention-grabbing headline. Headlines should be short and sweet and communicate the point of your article. Make sure this headline is relevant and avoid clickbait-y titles that can turn readers off.
From there, write an introduction that will set the overall tone for the article and leave your audience wanting more. In your introduction, highlight the problem you’re addressing so readers know what to expect. Sharing statistics or fun facts is one way to increase interest here. But make sure your stats are well-researched. You may opt to introduce your article with a fascinating story instead. Experiment and see what fits your style and audience’s attention span the best.
Make sure the body of your article is easy to read by checking for flow in the editing process. Formatting is another big step. Keep the post simple to follow through subheaders that break the blog post into sections. Additionally, numbered and bulleted lists help with readability because your audience can get the gist of a section without much effort. Basically, avoid big blocks of text that are visually hard to absorb and keep the blog dynamic.
3. Add Visual Interest
Visuals are another powerful way to up-level your blog posts. By adding images to your blog posts, you appeal to those readers who are visual learners. By incorporating images, you can help them understand complex topics through customized infographics and other images. Additionally, stock photos are helpful because they help you break up text and include humans to help make connections.
Whenever possible, you can also consider adding videos to your blog posts. Videos can expand on the topic at hand and provide additional information for your reader to consume. And by sourcing images and videos to complement your posts, your readers will sew how much time goes into the incredible content you produce.
4. Create an Emotional Connection with Your Reader
Content that evokes an emotional response and builds connection is memorable. It’s a great feeling when your content sticks in a reader’s mind. You can create these emotional connections in a number of ways.
For one, you can opt to tell engaging and relatable personal stories. Think about the reasons and feelings that would bring someone to your content, then comment on those and offer empathy. Additionally, consider how you write. Your writing should reflect normal conversations you’d have face-to-face with someone (so it’s more personal).
Since you typically try to get a reader to convert by making a purchase, considering emotions is necessary. Emotional needs often trigger buying decisions, so reel your reader in with content that appeals to that. Then you can showcase that your offer is the solution they need.
5. Show You’re an Authority and a Trustworthy Resource
There is a ton of content on the internet, and if you want to stand out, positioning yourself as an authority in your field is essential. It ensures that people will view you as a trustworthy, reliable resource.
But how can you do that? Pack value into your content by showcasing your knowledge on topics relevant and important in your industry. Then make sure you include statistics and other facts that can be backed up by linking to other reputable sources. Readers will know that you’ve done your research and care about presenting the best info to them.
Another smart move would be to incorporate testimonials into your content whenever appropriate. This is ideal to show leads that past customers enjoy the services or products you provide. It could also encourage them to take action if they’re on the fence about purchasing.
6. Finish with a Call to Action
Part of any of the content you write is making sure those who read your content (whether email, blogs, or web copy) take action when they’re finished consuming what you’ve created. By including a CTA in your content, you instruct your audience about what they should do next. If they don’t know what to do next, they could leave your site, never to return.
Because you have their attention, you want to take advantage of this by getting them to do something like sign up for your email list, make a purchase, or talk to your team. Your call to action should explain what you can offer and the value it provides in their lives. Then, link over to your web store or another internal page so they continue their journey.
7. Keep Your Content Updated
As time goes by, you’ll amass a large archive of content on your website. This is amazing because it will give your readers plenty of quality content to consume. However, it’s only going to be beneficial if you keep that content updated with the most recent and accurate information.
The best way to do this is to occasionally go back through your archives and find old, evergreen content that you can refresh. You may know this, but evergreen content remains relevant to your reader for a long period. Creating these posts is super helpful for broad organic traffic. Then you can update these posts with additional info and updated statistics or links while still utilizing the existing post.
Not only that, but your writing skills will likely improve over time. That means your older content might not be up to your current standards or branding. This is another great reason to freshen up those posts collecting virtual dust in your archives. Then, you can reshare them and generate tons of new traffic.
How to Optimize Web Content with Keywords
Now that you have some tips about creating people-first quality content, you’ll want that content viewed by the masses. This requires keyword optimization. Search engine optimization can seem intimidating when you’re just starting out, but once you check out some guidelines and know that there are tools that can help you, it can be pretty simple.
The more comfortable you get with SEO best practices, the easier it’ll become to optimize content with keywords. Over time, you’ll start to see rewards as Google ranks your valuable, well-written, and optimized content higher in the SERPs. Then you can watch the organic traffic grow.
If you’re still wondering where you can get started, we’ve got some tips to help you out.
Don’t Begin with Keywords
This may feel counterintuitive, but the most successful content marketing strategies begin with setting goals, not whipping out keywords and 3,000-word blogs. You should slow down and think about why you’re driving traffic to your site.
Do you want to build a bigger subscriber base? Do you hope to drive sales through great blog content? Hope to get more folks to schedule consultations with your rockstar team? You can have multiple goals, but you should define them before doing keyword research.
Having these goals will help you shape your strategy. And once you know what you want to accomplish, you can consider the topics that will help you reach those goals and start optimizing content.
Conduct Keyword Research
Understanding the topics that are trending in your industry and that people are searching for can make or break your content rankings. You can check out the content that your competitors post, make broad searches of your own to find popular terms, or utilize an SEO research tool like Semrush to find competitive keywords.
Once you’ve gathered your thoughts about topics and your niche, it’s time to research. You use the ideas you’ve generated for your business to select a keyword that has a good search volume because you’ll know people are searching for it. From there, you want to check out synonymous keywords to ensure you can still rank for that term.
You’ll find big keywords for your industry likely have a high keyword difficulty, which means that there is a ton of content out there about that subject. Don’t leave a huge gap in your content by ignoring these topics, but it’s more effective to target a less saturated topic when you get started.
Source: Semrush Keyword Magic Tool
As you can see, the keyword “content marketing” gets a ton of hits. But there are only a couple of terms here that have a keyword difficulty that you can target well if you don’t have domain authority and a strong piece of content behind you.
A good rule of thumb is to aim for difficulty scores under 50 – you can still be competitive with a great piece of content and generate traffic a bit faster than with keywords that have difficulty scores that edge toward 60 and higher. Essentially, high search volume and low competition keywords are a sweet spot worth targeting.
Use Keywords Strategically
The secret to successful optimization of your keywords? Understanding where to place them.
Including your focus keyword in your headline, introduction, subheadings, and throughout the body of your copy is essential. Placing these keywords throughout the content helps Google’s crawlers index your content well, especially when you use a complex header system.
When you set up your longtail keyword and then your secondary keywords in these headers, search engines can catalog your content better and put it in front of the right audience. It also means that your content is more scannable for your readers, which makes this keyword focus an asset to your primary goal – creating content for humans first.
Another big place to put your keywords will be in the meta title and description, as well as any alt text you use for images. You can use this SEO practice for a simple boost in keywords, and it’s helpful for screen readers and other devices that make the internet more accessible.
Don’t Go Overboard
You’ve decided on a strategy, you’ve got all your keywords, and you know where to place them. Now, you just need to make sure you don’t stuff your content with the focus keyword. Doing this can cause Google to rank your content lower, but more importantly, your audience can’t enjoy it easily.
You should work your keywords into your content naturally. So, follow grammatical norms and don’t contort a sentence just to make a keyword fit. Sometimes you can even make a keyword happen across punctuation because search engines don’t catalog that period or comma the way they do the words. Additionally, using synonymous keywords and different phrasing will help you distribute your keywords more smoothly.
So what should you keep in mind to avoid keyword stuffing?
Review your content to make sure it reads naturally
The ratio of your keyword to avoid being too high
Checking for complementary keywords
Stagnant traffic on the page
Review Page Analytics
While content is something that you can publish and leave running to continuously bring in traffic, you can’t just forget about the piece until your next audit comes around. Instead, monitor your analytics regularly after publishing.
You can start by seeing how it looks after a week, then a month, then step it back to quarterly. Make sure the engagement metrics you choose for this page are relevant to your business and your audience. This will guarantee you see how the content functions best. And, if a web page gets regular organic traffic, congrats! You’ve cracked the code for a mix of keyword optimization and authority content.
But if you find that a post or new page for your site doesn’t perform how you like, consider updating the post, double-checking your keywords, and finding other areas for improvement.
This list isn’t exhaustive, but with these tips, you’re on your way to optimizing content with keywords to help your existing readers and bring in new ones via search engines. Now, you can follow these steps and adjust them for your target audience and content needs. You’ll know your readers, and Google will love what you’ve created.
Get Optimized, Quality Content from the Experts
Here at Express Writers, we know it takes time and effort to craft quality content for your readers. Our team of expert SEO content writers knows how to optimize web copy with keywords so we can create content your readers and Google will approve of. Our content writing agency is the done-for-you solution you need to get back to growing your business. We help you reclaim your time with quality content.
As an SEO copywriter, I see what goes on behind the scenes in the world of online content.
By that, I mean I see the assignment and request sheets. I even have the long phone conversations with clients who aren’t exactly sure what they want, but who know they wantsomething.
I get the jumble of keywords and the word count and the instruction to make it into something useable.
It’s often creation ex nhilo, in its finest form. And the other copywriters out there know what I’m talking about.
Despite the fact that it’s often difficult, though, it’s entirely worthwhile.
And here’s why. Online copywriting challenges us to be one thing that we often aren’t in our daily lives: authentic.
Today, more people are turning to online content than have ever done so before, and their B.S. detectors are better than they’ve ever been.
Because of this, it’s critical to take all of the raw components of online copy and make them into something coherent, compelling, and, yes, authentic.
If this is something that you, like so many SEO copywriters struggle with, this piece contains some tips to help you be more authentic in all of your online content, starting now.
Enjoy!
Authenticity: The Cornerstone of Great Online Content
The best creations from any good SEO copywriter are like a puzzle meticulously assembled.
It’s a little bit of SEO, a little bit of research, a little bit of skill, a lot of dedication, and some humor or insight, all rolled into one cohesive package.
If any of these components are lacking, the content just does not work. And don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of this out there, but it’s not what people want to interact with.
Today, brands in all industries and specialties are striving for authentic content, and readers around the globe are working harder than ever before to find it.
This represents something extraordinary.
While content has long since been the vehicle for various forms of marketing, it’s a recent thing that the demand for authentic content has reached such a fever pitch. Today, customers don’t want to interact with pushy, stiff content that reeks of used-car-salesman vibes. Instead, they want legitimately valuable content that helps them solve problems and, get this, develop relationships.
According to an article published in the Harvard Business Review, the importance of a massive, powerful brand (think Wal-Mart) is falling, while the importance of company-customer relationships is rising.
In fact, the value of customer relationships has doubled over the last decade, leaping from 9% to 18%.
In addition to driving things like engagement and sales, stronger company-customer relationships also help promote brand recognition and loyalty.
And what’s the best way to create these relationships? You guessed it: authentic content.
3 Brands Currently Killing It with Authentic Content
To get an idea of what authentic content looks like in the world of online copywriting, it’s smart to look around at a few brands that do it well. Here are three of my favorites:
1. Dollar Shave Club
I reference Dollar Shave Club often in what I write because I truly believe they’re one of the best brands out there regarding online content. I’ll confess that I became a member of their service based purely on the genius of their launch video, and the goodness just continues.
For an example, consider this email I received from them just today:
While this headline might not immediately strike you as “authentic” (slapstick, maybe?), it does a few things well.
First of all, it’s funny.
I saw it in my inbox and knew that the email would contain a pitch for some hand cream. I also knew I wouldn’t buy any, but I opened it because I wanted to see what was inside.
And guess what? As a consumer, I’ll continue opening their emails until another one of their products does appeal to me, and then I’ll purchase it. Because they’re consistently funny, upfront, and authentic, I’m a devotee of the brand – even though there are similar ones out there.
2. Patagonia
Patagonia is one of my favorite clothing companies, and it’s also one of my favorite brands for content. Dedicated to sustainability, recycled materials, and super high-quality outdoor clothing backed by an “ironclad guarantee,” Patagonia takes its vision into its content, and practices what it preaches every step of the way.
The company’s blog, The Cleanest Line, features articles on everything from preserving the Yellowstone Grizzly Bear to profiles on great outdoorsmen (and women).
While Patagonia isn’t funny like Dollar Shave Club (and, where it exists in Patagonia’s marketing, humor takes a different form), the company manages to speak directly and authentically to their clients, which is probably why they have one of the single strongest followings I know of.
3. Neil Patel
Neil Patel is the co-founder of Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics, and Hello Bar, and I believe he’s one of the best marketers out there. While he does many amazing things in the way of content, one of my favorite things about his approach is his willingness to admit that he hasn’t always been awesome at this.
While an influencer like Neil could feel completely inaccessible, he takes steps to break that perception down by openly sharing what he calls his “oh sh*t” moments. It’s vulnerable, honest, and authentic, and it makes people want to engage with his brand even more than they would if they knew he was one of the most successful marketers out there.
5 Steps to More Authentic Content (By Yours Truly, An SEO Copywriter)
Unless you know how to approach it, striving for authentic content can have the opposite effect: it can make your content feel stiffer.
Luckily, these five tips will help you get off on the right foot:
1. Write for your audience, whoever they are
Obviously, the audience Dollar Shave Club is targeting is somewhat different than the audience Patagonia is targeting, so it stands to reason that the voice is different. That said, though, both brands do an excellent job of speaking to their unique audiences.
To make your content more authentic, learning to speak to your target audience is key. It doesn’t matter who your audience is, only that you write to them and only them.
With that in mind, take the time to research your audience (or your client’s audience). Who are they? What are their concerns? What makes them laugh? Is there a niche-specific joke you can play on to earn their trust? By viewing the audience as actual people, rather than an anonymous body of “readers,” it’s easier to tease out authentic content.
2. Forget the sales pitch
This suggestion can strike fear in the heart of copywriters.
“But, doesn’t it need a sales pitch?” everyone wonders.
The answer is yes…and no.
Good content should sell without trying to. This means that it should be so informative, so valuable, and so compelling that the people who read it want to interact with the brand producing it.
Valuable copy is much more moving than a stuffy CTA, and it’s safe to say that content everywhere improves as soon as the writers behind it stop making sales their number one priority.
3. Be yourself – whoever that is!
Patagonia, Neil Patel, and Dollar Shave Club are all genuinely themselves in their content, and while the brands aren’t comparable in their voices or approaches, they all manage to feel welcoming and real.
In many ways, this is the gold standard of content. With so many pieces of information floating around on the web, and so many “experts” telling you how to transform your content marketing, it can be tough to hear your own voice through all the static.
At the end of the day, though, this is what sets the lasting brands apart from the flash-and-fade ones. An enduring brand knows what it is, and it knows how to express that in its copy, and this is more valuable than virtually anything else.
4. Write with a purpose
Depending on what you’re writing, your purpose may be to make your customers laugh or to move them to sign a petition. Whatever that purpose is, though, it’s important to keep it in mind throughout the writing process.
In addition to giving your content a direction, writing with a purpose also imbues online copywriting with emotion and relevance, all of which helps it feel more compelling and authentic.
5. Hone your niche and stick to it
One of the best ways to keep your content authentic is to find a niche you love and work there as much as possible. Whether you enjoy helping young brands tell their stories or writing copy for lifestyle and travel companies, writing about what you love is a good way to come off as excited and passionate in your online copywriting.
The Case for Authentic Content: It Benefits Both the Brand and the SEO Copywriter
Just like brands don’t want boring, stuffy content, SEO copywriters don’t want to struggle with writing content they can’t connect with.
Because of this, it’s essential for copywriters to learn the power and importance of authentic content.
Seek to create it every time you sit down to write. Demand it from your writer.
Let’s make the web an authentic place.
Need great copy that resonates with your readers authentically? Request your content today in our Content Shop and ask for Ashley (the author of the piece you just read) to write yours!
It’s easy to approach online writing the same way you would school papers.
Your first instinct may be to keep your language formal, professional, and terse. You want to sound like you know what you’re talking about and establish your credibility.
Mistake number one.
It’s equally as easy to approach writing online as if it’s your personal sounding board. You have a domain and a content platform – the world needs to know your opinions about your industry and anything else that rolls off the top of your head, gosh darn it.
Mistakes number two and three.
If you have fallen prey to these easy blunders, it’s time to get your head back in the game – the content marketing game. The above methods will not win you any ROI, so what will?
The online writing gods require certain things from you if you expect to get anywhere with your search rankings and traffic.
Follow these 10 commandments of online writing and you’ll get leaps and bounds closer to the ROI you need and want for your hard work.
The 10 Commandments of ROI-Worthy Online Writing
1. Thou Shalt Write for Humans, Not Search Engines
Yes, online writing needs to be optimized for search engines – but it needs to be written for humans.
If the people in your audience aren’t top-of-mind every single time you sit down to write, you’re breaking the most basic commandment of web content creation.
It’s really just simple logic: If you want to reach your target users, you must write for them. The rest should fall into place.
Why is this true?
David Risley for Search Engine Journal puts it like this, and he’s spot-on:
That means you’re not adding keywords wherever you can, or sneaking them in where they don’t belong.
It means you’re not wondering “How can I make this more search-friendly?” while you’re writing.
It means you’re setting out to write content that answers human questions or solves human problems.
It means you’re striving to be informative, helpful, and logical.
Ironically, if you set out to write for search engines above all instead of humans, you’re going to get burned. Don’t do it.
2. Thou Shalt Use Keywords Strategically
Keywords – those magic words and phrases that search engines glom onto. If you use them correctly, you’ll probably look like this:
Without the strategic use of keywords, though, you’re going to be like the kid sitting alone in a crowded cafeteria. No one is going to join you at your content table and partake in your content feast.
Keywords are the little flags that let search engines understand your content and index it. Unless you use them strategically, you won’t draw the organic traffic that can be so vital to leads and conversions.
3. Thou Shalt Not Neglect Thy Meta Data
Metas, A.K.A. meta titles and meta descriptions, may seem inconsequential to your overall content strategy, but you’d be a fool to ignore them or gloss over their importance.
Here’s a big reason why they matter: They can encourage more click-throughs for your content in search results. This is because search engine results consist of nothing BUT metas:
Writing strong metas can persuade users to click. That’s powerful – ignore them at your peril.
4. Thou Shalt Proofread and Edit Thy Online Writing
Look at the two short paragraphs below. Which one looks more credible, trustworthy, and professional? Which one is easier to read and understand?
Proofreading your work and taking the time to edit is just one part of producing high-quality content. Neglect these steps, and you’ll not only hurt your chances of ranking – you’ll also inhibit your audience’s ability to understand you.
5. Thou Shalt Not Forget Thy Audience Niche
Speaking of your audience, are you remembering their specific needs, wants, desires, and preferences at all times while you write?
It’s easy to fall into the trap of writing what you think they want to hear versus what they actually want to hear. As a result, the content you write will be less relevant to them. This is something search engines will pick up on.
Avoid this by conducting regular target audience research, referring to your personas often, and writing directly to them in your content, like you’re having a conversation.
6. Thou Shalt Research Thy Online Writing Topics
For better content and online writing, research matters. A LOT.
To be blunt, making claims without backing them up with facts, data, studies, and sources destroys your authority and credibility.
Everyone’s knowledge depends on everyone else’s knowledge. When you add research to your online writing, you’re participating in this public conversation and showing you did your homework to come to your conclusions. You’re proving the accuracy of your work.
Even more importantly, you’re giving credit where it’s due and avoiding plagiarism. These things are huge online, where it’s incredibly easy to steal content.
7. Thou Shalt Publish Regularly
The most successful online writing, the kind that builds authority for a site and grows its search rankings, is published consistently, on the regular.
Google is hungry. It wants fresh helpings of your content on a constant basis. It doesn’t like stuff that’s stale, outdated, or served sporadically.
Along with freshness, successful online writing also requires some juice to help build its clout in the SERPs.
To be more specific, it needs some link juice.
Link juice does a few things:
It helps search engines crawl your site
It helps your audience navigate/browse your pages
It adds value to your content
This includes smart internal linking within your written content. What do I mean by that?
Deep-link to relevant pages within your site in your content. Include links to older blog posts and pages that can’t be reached from your homepage.
Don’t link to pages randomly. Make sure they always help the user in some way.
Create the anchor text for your links on relevant keywords. Mix it up – do NOT use the same word or phrase to link to a specific page over and over.
9. Thou Shalt Not Write in Third Person
Unless you’re a bonafide academic who writes formal, scholarly articles, you should never use the third person in your online writing.
I repeat: Never.
In content marketing, the third person voice is a death sentence for your written content. Why?
It’s too formal.
It’s too stiff.
It’s harder to read.
It doesn’t talk directly to your reader/audience.
If you’re worried about sounding unprofessional in your writing, guess what? You can still maintain your clout and authority by writing in the second person (directly addressing the reader as “you”).
Want proof? Look at one of the most respected sites in the industry: Content Marketing Institute. All of their articles and posts are written in the second person.
Need I say more?
10. Thou Shalt Not Give Up Too Soon
If your online writing is going nowhere, you may be tempted to throw up your hands and quit.
In content marketing, this is probably the biggest mistake you can ever make.
The truth is, you’ll only get better (and see results) if you keep on keepin’ on.
Writing requires practice, just like any other skill. Writing online, in fact, takes a particular skill set that you can only develop and hone with practice, patience, and more practice.
As you keep working at it, pretty soon…
Researching and using keywords strategically in your writing will get easier
Your writing voice and perspective will flow more naturally
You’ll find it easier to keep up with online writing musts, like interlinking and posting regularly, because you’ll see exactly how they work
You’ll set up routines, strategies, and workflows that succeed in your lifestyle and writing style
You’ll start seeing results like higher search engine rankings, more organic traffic, more leads, and more conversions – it’s proven!
Who doesn’t love pirates? Google, and those of us who take pride in our creations from movies to music to content. We’re not talking about spunky and sometimes spooky fantastical characters. We’re talking about real, live cyber pirates who hand users illegal versions of programs, movies, music, and more. We’re talking about repeated copyright infringers, the thieves who make off with our content and spread it about the Internet. According to a recent Torrentfreak report, the latest Google Pirate update has had a noticeable impact on many torrent sites.
Most of us have heard of torrent sites, but unless we’re big downloaders, we probably don’t know much about them. A BitTorrent is a protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing. BitTorrent protocol distributes huge amounts of data over the Internet. Torrent files can be anything from legally sharable software, like OpenOffice, to highly illegal shares, like cracked copies of Adobe Photoshop or pirated movies and music.
Google’s Pirate Isn’t Torrent Friendly
According to Searchmetrics, Google has been repeatedly criticized for “not doing enough against Piracy.” The nature of the Internet makes it next to impossible to police the proverbial waters effectively. It’s been argued that there’s no proven means of halting piracy on the high cyber seas, but Google’s Pirate update appears to be a step in the right direction.
Since the update released at the end of October, popular “pirate” sites—BitTorrent and torrent sites—have seen massive drops in search traffic. It appears that the search engine giant is “policing” the high seas by deterring search traffic from locating these sites in the first place. Search Engine Land’s coverage of the update included the following screen shot of the SEO visibility for the site torrentz.edu:
According to Wikipedia, as of 2009 peer-to-peer torrent websites collectively accounted for an estimated 43 to 70 percent of all Internet traffic, depending on geographic location. Jump to February 2013, and these websites are suddenly responsible for 3.35 percent of all worldwide bandwidth. This is more than half of the 6 percent total bandwidth dedicated to file sharing.
There’s no denying that the distribution of pirated material has grown rampant. One might argue that it is virtually out of control. And it’s not just torrent sites that are the problem. Any site can be guilty of stealing content. Some event claim stolen content as their own. The Internet is so massive that it’s almost impossible for copyright holders to track down and report all offenders, but the incentive to do so just grew.
Whom It Affects
Google’s Pirate Update 2 works much like Panda and Penguin. Leveraging the data and queries collected by the first Pirate update from two years ago, Google’s new and improved swashbuckler is smarter than ever. You might say this buccaneer is sat proudly in the crow’s nest, actively on the lookout for copyright infringements. Any site where it spots a violation receives a huge drop in rankings. In some cases, sites are completely removed from search results.
But Google’s not just spotting and dropping copyright infringing sites. The king of the cyber seas is applying real, verified complaints and reports to the algorithm. Any site with a filed report through Google’s DMCA system will be the recipient of a sizable drop in rankings. The site risks immediate removal from the SERPs.
According to Searchmetric’s analysis, affected site are not receiving a mere slap on the wrist. You might say these sites are being made to walk the plank. Some have seen a 98 percent loss in SEO visibility, which is enormous. So far, it’s been unauthorized television and movie sites, peer-to-peer torrent sites, and various free download websites that have taken massive hits.
Are You in the Bullseye?
The good news, at least for most of us, is that Google’s Pirate is on a precise crusade. It seeks to spot and slash piracy websites. The current reports indicate that only mass download websites and those blatantly guilty of copyright infringement are being hit. It’s been about two weeks, and we haven’t seen any indication that there are bystander casualties.
Chances are you’re not in the Pirate’s bullseye. However, there’s certainly nothing wrong with making sure that you’re not ever skirting the outer edge. After all, the websites hit by the swashbuckler are getting hit hard. Your goal should be to hold to best practices:
Give credit where credit is due. Did you see the image credit earlier in this blog? You’ve probably noticed similar credits throughout numerous posts. It’s called giving credit where credit is due. When you “borrow” or share content, always give credit. It’s also smart to review the source. Read their terms and conditions. Confirm they are okay with their content being shared. See if they request a specific credit.
When it doubt, cut it out. If you can’t verify the source of any type of content, don’t display it. If you verify the source, but they state their content is not to be reproduced in any manner, don’t reproduce it. If they are okay with reproduction, but it comes with an express permission clause, contact them for permission. If there is even a sliver of doubt, cut it out! Don’t share or reproduce the content, even with a credit.
Observe the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have done to you. It’s solid advice for anyone, anywhere, any time. You wouldn’t want your content from words to images stolen. Don’t steal others. Instead, do everything in your power to promote a piracy free Cyber Sea.
The best way to avoid the Pirate’s wrath is to avoid copyright infringement. Google is continuously improving their algorithms. We’ve seen the results in updates to Panda and Penguin. Spammy, low quality websites are being steadily weeded out of search results. As a stauncher stand on Internet piracy is taken, we can expect to see future updates to the algorithm. Keep your nose clean of copyright infringement; avoid distributing media and content without permission and credit, and you should be clear to keep sailing the cyber seas.
Search engine optimization is a bear of a topic. Many of us feel like we’re staring down a ferocious bear as we try to wrap our heads around SEO optimization of our online copy. It can seem like a daunting task, even when we hire a professional. Today, our goal is to turn that ferocious bear into a teddy bear by the time you finish skimming or reading this blog. Are you up for the transformation?
SEO Updates: Pandas and Penguins and Hummingbirds, Oh My!
Writing for the web has been said to be a beast of a task. Unlike traditional copy where you wrote for the audience, online copy demands that you write for the search engines too. Google, the king of search engine beasts, makes no secret of their requirements for proper SEO optimization. The guide they provide is great, but suddenly we find ourselves being hit by various creatures. In 2013, we had a panda, a penguin and a hummingbird thrown at us! Since when is throwing untamed wildlife at us okay?
Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird were all updates to SEO. With each one, the focus of optimization and rankings changed. At times, it felt like we were being attacked by wild animals. Now that the dust has settled (and the wildlife seems to be caged, at least for now), the ferocious SEO bear really does look a bit more like a cuddly teddy bear.
The Truth about Keywords
In all the wildlife excitement, someone had the courage to start a vicious little rumor that the days of keyword optimizing were going, going, gone. Based on Google’s SEO updates, we respectfully disagree. It is undeniable that how we use keywords has changed, but we have by no means been discouraged from using them altogether. As a result, you still need to tackle keyword research and keyword usage when optimizing online copy.
Keyword research is a frightening topic. “Research” isn’t a word most of us appreciate. It brings to mind painful classes and scary essays. What exactly is keyword research? Well, it boils down to discovering which words or phrases your target audience will use when conducting an Internet search. We published an informative blog about keyword research that can open your horizons to this concept in more depth, back in December.
You’ll want to pinpoint the top 1 to 3 keywords for your target audience. These words should be inserted into the following places:
The title tag
The #h1 headline
Image alt tags
The body of the text (usually in the first and last paragraphs)
SearchEngineLand published a fantastic article about optimizing a single page of content with multiple keywords. If you need (or want) detailed information about where and how to place your keywords and phrases, it’s a great additional resource.
Keyword usage in copy is a whole new ball game these days. In the past, Google’s search algorithms weren’t synonym smart. As a result, we had to use specific keywords and keyword phrases. It wasn’t uncommon to read copy that made both the writer and editor cringe. Proper grammar? Forget it. Semi-proper grammar? Maybe. Keyword phrases were often out of order or senseless because they had to cater to the search engine.
Thankfully, search engines are smarter today. Not only can they handle synonyms, but they can also adapt to variations! Instead of having to insert “sandwich peanut butter” into a sentence and cringe, we can now write “peanut butter sandwich” and the search engine will still grab this key if someone types “sandwich peanut butter” into a search query.
Keywords and phrases still need to be researched and used, but they don’t have to be used at the expense of quality content. The general rule is that a piece of content should have a keyword density of approximately 1 to 2 percent. However, the flow and quality of the copy should take priority because, as CopyBlogger points out when writing about SEO copywriting, “Google treats the truth and authority of your domain, what others think about your content and the words they use to describe it, as an important indication of quality and relevance.”
The Importance of Relevance and Authority
The primary way websites are ranked today is through a combination of relevancy and authority. In essence, search engines want to see relevant content conveyed by a credible or authoritative entity. They have numerous algorithms designed to determine relevancy and authority; geo-location, search history, Query Deserves Diversity and Query Deserves Freshness, just to name a few.
Domain authority is growing more and more relevant to SEO. At first, wrapping your head around it can be a terrifying prospect. I’ll be honest: the first time I read about domain authority, I felt like I was sitting at a tech conference. I thought, “My god, I’m in way over my head.” The SEO bear was growling at me, and I could have sworn he was about to swipe. Then, I started to find resources that helped me make sense of the tech jargon.
Moz published a great article about domain authority. Personally, I had to read it a couple of times to grasp it all. Don’t feel bad if you have trouble understanding domain authority at first. The learning curve isn’t as steep as it appears, and it really is natural to feel a little lost. Here’s what you need to know about domain authority in laymen terms:
Domain authority, or DA, is very difficult to directly influence.
A DA rating represents how a website performs in search engine rankings.
One way to begin increasing your DA is through SEO linking, but don’t expect immediate or noticeable results.
The only sure way to influence your DA is to spend time improving your overall SEO.
The Trick to Improving Your Overall SEO
The ultimate trick, the perfect key, the guarded secret…it all comes down to one primary thing: quality content. SEO is literally all about creating content that is so compelling, so relevant, so current, and so knock-your-socks-off awesome that people want to promote it. They want their friend to read it. Their friend reads it, and they want their friends to read it. Before you know it, your content has gone viral.
Social Media SEO
One aspect of search engine optimization that seems to fall by the wayside is social media. Since the trick to improving your SEO is quality content that goes viral, it stands to reason that a rather sizable part of increasing your optimization is through optimizing your social media channels. Let’s discuss 5 things you can do to optimize your social media regardless of the platform—Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.:
Include keywords. There are those pesky keywords again. Solid keyword research will most definitely pay off! Search engines take cues from social media. By including your keywords in your social media updates, you’ll increase your SEO. The more consistently you do this, the easier it will become for people to find you and your content. Don’t forget to use hashtags on platforms that support them, like Twitter and Google+.
Be engaging. The biggest mistake made by businesses today is neglecting to be social on social media. Yes, social platforms are ideal for promoting your content and offers, but you must take time to make posts that are purely engaging. In other words, ask questions, get people talking, respond to them, and then stay involved in the unfolding discussion.
Be sure to include lead generation content. It’s important to do more than promote your website, product, or service. You need to step into the new, leading generation of content. Season your activity with content about offers, downloadable content, and webinars.
Post frequently. Regularity is vital. You need to engage fans and followers with fresh material regularly; otherwise, they won’t have any reason to give you their attention. Each platform has its own “shelf life.” For example, tweets don’t stay up long because of Twitter’s dense activity. So, you’ll tweet more often than you’ll Facebook.
Incorporate value. It’s easy to start blasting out social network notifications, but you’ll look like a spammer if they don’t carry some value. Every update you send out should bring value to the audience. Don’t waste their time. They’ll leave you for someone else! Make it a point to share information that educates, engages, informs, and interests.
Aside from these best practices, you can go even further and optimize per social media platform. If you’re interested in learning the ins and outs to each platform, take a gander atThe Ultimate Guide to Optimized Social Media Updatesfrom HubSpot.
SEO Linking
Linking can be a burly SEO topic because of the consequences if you do it wrong. Improper linking can land you in trouble with Google. Therefore, learning how to build SEO links properly is important.
In essence, links are like streets that connect pages. Search engines send out their creepy crawlies that crawl the web, and they transverse these streets. SEO link building is a bit of an art. While challenging, it is essential. 4 link building strategies to use include:
Build a blog that is a resource. Blogs are an excellent platform for creating optimized content and building links. In fact, Google’s own engineers actually recommend blogging as a SEO link building strategy. Use your blog to consistently publish fresh, informative and relevant material that is both entertaining and educational. Build links to your posts via social media channels. Start and participate in conversations, and you’ll soon earn listings and links from fellow blogs.
Be newsworthy. If you can be and stay newsworthy, you’ll earn the attention of bloggers, press and news media. This is a sure way to earn links. Staying newsworthy can be as simple as offering free giveaways, releasing new product, or starting a conversation.
Be inspirational. People love things that inspire. If you can insight an emotional reaction, you’ll like have content other want to share. The SEO world calls this “linkbait.” Leverage the combination of usefulness, value, and emotional reaction to create a response. Users who see the content will likely share and link to it. These types of earned reputation are invaluable to establishing credibility, authority and ranking potential.
Get your customers to link right to you. If you have partners or loyal customers/followers who love your product, service or brand, you can send out partnership badges. These badges are icons that link back to your website. This is a simple, yet respectable means of building SEO links.
Ferocious Bear vs. Teddy Bear
Search engine optimization appears, at first, to be a bear of a topic. In all honestly, it’s the technical aspect to it that scares most of us away. As you can see, SEO isn’t all about in-depth technical knowledge. The ferocious SEO bear is really more of a teddy bear, once you get to know him. He has a marked appreciation for quality copywriting, he isn’t strict about keyword etiquette and he’s surprisingly social.
Optimizing your online copywriting can be an enjoyable task, especially when you take into consideration the avenue of social media. You have the opportunity to build your rankings just by reaching out to other people. We all love to stand around the water cooler at the office and chat. We like the interaction, and—let’s be truthful—we’d rather carry on a conversation than work. Social media hands you the opportunity to carry on a conversation around the social water cooler, and the best part is: you’re doing the optimization work while you chat!
So, now that you see how simple search engine optimization can be across the broad board of copywriting, do you see more of a teddy bear versus a ferocious beast? Hopefully, your answer is yes. Now that 2014 is upon us, we can gear up for a great year of SEO and copywriting. This time next year we can swap stories about the indigenous wildlife Google threw at us and how we survived (and learned) the latest evolution of search engine optimization.
