Four keys to optimsation

Getting conflicting advice from consultants about SEO can be very off-putting.

Of course, it’s a new science (is it a science?) and so it’s probably not too surprising that people are still learning.

‘Gut instinct’ is not likely to be quite good enough in an activity that has so much new detail to learn. But when the specialists you consult don’t agree, the whole thing certainly becomes challenging.

Some consultants are very specific with requirements about text. “Use your keywords in a subhead between the third and fourth paragraph,” they say. “Be sure to use your keywords at the end of the last sentence on the page.”

Well, such instructions do not sound right to me. They are far too restrictive. If you follow them, the chances are your copy will become distorted. As a writer, my feeling is that you should always write for readers, not search engines.

Based on our own considerable experience at Action Words, here’s our four-step guide to writing for the web:

1 Identify keywords

The first step relates to research. You have to find out what your keywords are. What are the words or phrases that most prospects use when they are looking for your type of business? And you might get a surprise. If you are in the tourism sector, you may consider you offer ‘discount accommodation’, but people actually search for ‘cheap hotels’.

2 Produce impactful text

When you write, it is best to put the keywords to one side. Write in your normal way. Produce the best possible text with your audience in mind. You are communicating personally with an individual site visitor.

3 Insert keywords as appropriate

With your draft text completed, go back to your keywords and see where you can fit them in comfortably. But you need to be careful here. It’s not a matter of forcing them in, no matter what. Just slip them in where they fit nicely. Don’t spoil the natural flow of what you have written.

4 Your page tags should feature your keywords

For your page descriptions and page titles, keywords are essential. Your site visitors see the title tags at the top of their browser windows when they visit your site. The description tag is what the user sees on the search engine results page, so obviously it needs to include a clear statement about what you offer. In all tags you need to use your keywords.

There’s way more than this involved in search marketing, of course, but if you follow these four steps when you are writing your online copy you will be setting yourself up for success.