If you’re new to the concept of SEO and have no idea how copywriting is related to it, just think about the list of the search results Google provides you with after you enter a certain search query and the order, in which different webpages appear on that list. Normally, the most relevant webpages from the most reliable resources appear higher on that list. SEO, or search engine optimization, is the method used to optimize the content of a certain website for the search engine mechanisms, boost the website’s recognition, maintain and improve its search engine rankings.

Content marketing is one of the most valuable SEO tools, therefore, copywriters – professionals who produce content of diverse kinds – are those people, who’re responsible for building the SEO base for a website, as well as drive it up the search engine rankings. Consequently, they need to generate content (primarily articles, blog posts, etc.), which already conforms to the SEO standards and includes certain ‘catch’ features, which will move it up the rankings along with the website to make it appear more reliable and worthy.

Unfortunately, being able to write a wonderful piece with a great story line or strong informative qualities doesn’t mean that you have all the necessary skills required to produce useful SEO content. The level of reader engagement, unique character of the article, the novelty of information you include in it and the extent to which you may solve the problem the person opened your article for and copywriter’s ability to promote useful user action are rather important for sure. However, when it comes to SEO, content quality is measured by a number of technical indicators. Those, when are adhered to properly, play a primary role when it comes to the SEO value of the article, its ability to catch Google’s attention and influence the website’s rankings.

Thus, if you’re new to copywriting or just want to improve your game, make sure to follow these 3 golden copywriting rules to generate useful SEO content.

SEO copywriting rules to follow

1. Get smart with keywords

Keyword richness is one of the most important SEO copywriting rules your articles need to conform to. The choice of related keywords and the inspection of their value should be performed along with the choice of the article’s topic. The main keyword should be as relevant to your article as possible. Additionally, it should be complemented by other related keywords, which will allow you to diversify this SEO factor and improve your article’s chances to get noticed and get ranked higher. The main keyword should be included in the article’s body a few times. Furthermore, it should appear in the headline, the first paragraph of the article and in one-two subheadings.

At the same time, your article shouldn’t look like it was created only with the aim of camouflage the keywords. They shouldn’t feel unnatural or forced in a sentence. Ideally, your reader shouldn’t even notice that a certain phrase was used like a main keyword. Don’t stuff your article with too many keywords, as it will look too suspicious to the search engine, and your readers will notice the poor quality of the piece as well. That will decrease the amount of time website visitors spend on the page, which is not the best thing for rankings.

Lastly, you need to research your keywords and related phrases to make sure that you come up with the strongest ones when it comes to the SEO value. There’re various online tools you may use for that matter. SEMRush and Moz Pro are the most popular ones, but you may find other alternatives as well. You may apply these tools to choose the strongest title for your article as well.

2. Generate compelling content

That’s where your incredible writing skills will be quite handy, as in the world of SEO and in the eyes of Google, the quality of the article and the level of its novelty are vital. But, apart from that, your article has to be engaging and useful enough to keep the reader’s attention and make users share, bookmark and link to it as much as possible.

3. Check for uniqueness

Obviously, plagiarism is severely punished by search engines. But, I’m not even talking about it, as copying someone’s work and pasting it as his own is one of the worst things a copywriter may do. I’m talking about the content’s uniqueness, as original, unique articles are positioned higher on the rankings.

The matter is that even if you don’t open any webpage related to the topic and don’t read through any article that may touch some aspects of it, you may still end up writing a piece of content that lacks uniqueness. I explain this phenomenon like this: when different authors write about a certain topic, they’ll inevitably use the same words and even phrases that are typical for this sphere. However, when those ‘standard’ phrases and words appear too close to each other and aren’t diluted enough, unique content checkers recognize the article as 65-85% unique.

The acceptable percentage of uniqueness varies depending on the topic of the article. For instance, it will be rather difficult to achieve 90% uniqueness if you're writing a general plumbing guideline or a recipe. But ideally, you should aim for not less than 85%. And I’ll remind you again to use content uniqueness, but not plagiarism checkers.