7 Copywriting Tips to Improve Your Google Ranking

The famous search engine is relied upon to provide trustworthy and useful responses to every single query and the driving force behind this is, of course, SEO.

Configuring webpages so that they are optimized for SEO needs to be a priority for all online copywriters, web page writers and bloggers. However, ensuring that you optimize your content whilst avoiding black hat techniques is vital.

Here are 7 copywriting tips that can help you to master SEO and improve your Google ranking:

1. Write for humans, optimize for search machines

A web page is ranked based on the authority it is attributed by Google and on the site’s popularity. The more hits a website receives, the higher up a search engine results page the website will be placed. Real-life engagement is generated by posting relevant and interesting content, but this still needs to be built around keywords or phrases so that the page appeals to Google’s algorithms.

Keywords need to be specific to what your website is offering. Simply attributing broad phrasing will not distinguish you from competitors; people search using specific terms, so consider this when formulating your SEO strategy.

2. Plan your keywords carefully

Long-tail key words provide more accuracy, and are more likely to be searched for when users approach the point of purchase. While specific long-tail keywords are more niche, and thus have less traffic, the visitors you do attract are more relevant. This often results in achieving higher conversion rates on your landing pages.

Marketers need to have a clear idea of who their audience is and why they would be visiting the website to determine and effective long-tail keyword strategy.

3. Monitor your keyword density

While keywords are a huge part of SEO, be sure not to focus on them too much. Human readership is the overall priority, so do not let your sentences become too dependent on keywords.

Matt Cutts, an ex-software engineer at Google, is referenced by Fobes as the most up to date statement from Google on keyword density:

4. Focus on meta descriptions

Good meta descriptions can increase the number of users who click through to your page, building your site’s popularity and authority. They need to stay brief – no longer than 140 characters, including spaces – and they should contain your site’s primary keyword.

5. Create quality content

No matter how many SEO tactics you employ, if your content isn’t creative, original and professionally written, then it will all be in vain.

From blog posts to product descriptions, ensure your messages are concise and free from waffle to eradicate any chance of your audience misunderstanding what you are saying.

Another SEO fundamental, your website’s content needs to be. This is simply a standard that your visitors expect, and you can be sure that your competitors will be pulling out all the stops to engage and educate.

When you create good quality content, your site’s bounce rate will fall due to the content being more relevant and providing more value to your visitors. As such, this will eventually boost search engine rankings and increase your reputation as an industry authority.

6. Include alt text

Alternative (Alt) tags or alt text are another key facet to establishing a strong online presence through SEO. Alt attributes describe the contents of an image file and provide text for visitors who may be unable to see the images.

Rather than providing a blurb for your image, alt text should say explicitly what the image is. Try to strike a balance between description, simplicity and the use of keywords.

7. Optimize for mobile

Last year, Google announced it was going to shift toward mobile and took the first step in mobile-first indexing. This means that companies can no longer afford to ignore mobile optimization.

When optimizing for mobile, responsiveness must govern design so that your site is as mobile friendly as possible, but also think about how your text will be viewed on a mobile device and adjust accordingly.