Essentially, we’ve found a content creation method that blends good SEO fundamentals with sound copywriting principles. So not only does our content rank high on Google, but it also encourages our readers to read, link to, share and, later on, purchase our product.
Of course, we cannot solely attribute the traffic growth to our process. But we think it’s a part of the explanation.
SEO Copywriting
After all, content that gets tons of traffic from Google but never gets read is useless. The same goes for content that is incredibly compelling but never gets any traffic.
1. Match search intent
At 388,000 monthly searches in the U.S., the term “basketball shoes” looks like a good keyword to write a blog post about—if you own a basketball blog.
But you’d be mistaken.
If we look at the SERPs for “basketball shoes,” we’ll see the results are mostly e-commerce category pages from online retailers:
Google understands that searchers are in buying mode, not learning mode. So it ranks category pages over blog posts. And this is the first tip: create the right kind of content for the keyword you’re targeting. Fail to do that, and ranking will be an uphill battle.
In the SEO world, this concept is known as search intent, i.e., the why behind a search query. To analyze search intent, we can simply look at the top-ranking pages to figure out the three Cs of search intent.
Content type
What type of content is Google mostly ranking? Typically, the types are blog posts, product pages, category pages, landing pages, or videos.
For example, the search results for “wireless headphones” are all e-commerce category pages. And for “best wireless headphones,” they’re mostly blog posts.
Content format
Content format applies mostly to informational content. Example formats include how-tos, listicles, news articles, opinion pieces, and reviews. For example, when you Google “date ideas,” you’ll see that they’re all lists:
Content angle
This is the main selling point of the content. Typically, you’ll be able to see a dominant angle on the SERPs.
2. Cover the topic in full
Google wants to rank the most relevant, useful result on the first page. So your post should show that it deserves a place there. How do you do this?
By covering all the things searchers want to know and expect to see.
Search intent is one aspect of this process. But analyzing the three Cs only gives you a high-level overview of the intent.
To better understand what your content should cover, you need to dig deeper by further analyzing relevant top-ranking pages, i.e., pages that are similar to what you’re going to create.
For example, if you’re creating a listicle about the best wireless headphones, then you shouldn’t take reference from e-commerce category pages or landing pages.
With that said, let’s look at how to fully cover a topic.
Look for common subheadings
Subheadings offer quick insights into what searchers are looking for, especially if there are the same or similar ones across the top-ranking pages.
For example, if you look at the top results for “best wireless earbuds,” you’ll see that—as expected—they all mention Apple’s AirPods Pro. That probably means the AirPods should be on your shortlist for consideration. Other products that should be on your shortlist include these:
- Sony WF-1000XM4
- Bose QuietComfort Earbuds
- One of the Jabra Elites (3, 75t, 85t)
A quick way to view all the subheadings in a post is to install Ahrefs’ SEO Toolbar and use the free content report:
Of course, if you disagree vehemently with any of the picks in the top-ranking pages, don’t include them. Treat this as inspiration—you should, at the very least, check out and test these products and see if they’re worthy of inclusion.
Look for subtopics among keyword rankings
A page doesn’t just rank for the main keyword; it also ranks for other keywords that fall under the main topic (i.e., subtopics). If we can find out what these subtopics are, we can also cover them on our page. Here’s how to find them:
- Paste a few top-ranking URLs for your main topic into Ahrefs’ Content Gap tool
- Leave the bottom section blank
- Hit Show keywords
- Set the Intersection filter to 3 and 4 targets
Look at people also ask boxes
If you search for something in Google, you’ll see a SERP feature known as a People Also Ask (PAA) box:
These questions offer insights into other things searchers may want to know. For example, you may want to consider adding a section in your article about why it is/isn’t worth it to buy true wireless earbuds.
You can use tools like AlsoAsked to pull all the PAA questions related to the keyword you’re targeting:
Look at the pages manually
Finally, nothing beats simply analyzing each page manually. Click the top-ranking pages on the SERPs and go through each one by one. You’ll learn a lot that way.
3. Add “link triggers”
Google says links are one of its top three ranking factors. Our own study of 1 billion pages also found a strong, positive correlation between the number of websites linking to a page and how much search traffic it gets from Google:
So you’ll want your content to be able to earn links. We can do this by understanding why people are linking to the pages you wish to beat—and then apply those insights to your post.
We call these “link triggers.”
Let’s take the keyword “seo copywriting” as an example. If we look at the SERPs for the topic, we see competing pages with tons of backlinks:
But why are so many people linking to these pages anyway?
To find out, let’s take one of these URLs, paste it into Ahrefs’ Site Explorer, and check the Anchors report. This shows the most common words people use when linking to the page.
The goal isn’t to simply copy-paste these ideas into your post. It’s to analyze why. So in this example, Brian is the first person to introduce these copywriting ideas to the SEO niche.
Therefore, to apply this insight to our own post, we’ll have to share unique tips of our own too. (Which is what we’ve done!) If you see that people are linking to a page because of a unique statistic, then you may want to consider running a study or doing a survey.
4. Choose a realistic keyword goal
Before you start writing, you should have a clear keyword target in mind. But make sure you set your content up for success by setting realistic and achievable keyword goals.
Keyword research is the foundation of the SEO copywriting process. You might be tempted to choose industry keywords that have higher search volume, but those keywords are often extremely competitive.
If you are a website with less authority, you’re unlikely to rank on page one for those terms, no matter how high-quality your content is. So how do you know if your content stands a chance of ranking?
Keyword difficulty scores can serve as a benchmark for your keyword goals. It is recommended to find relevant keywords with difficulty scores that are less than or equal to your site’s DA.
These keywords might be long-tail or have more informational search intent, but they can present real opportunities for your content to rank quickly and start driving clicks.
5. Analyze the top-ranking content
Want to know what it will take to rank? Look at the content that is already on page one. Review the top-ranking pieces of content and use them as models for your own content creation.
How long is the content? What are the page titles and meta descriptions that are enticing the users to click?
The goal here is not to create a carbon copy of your competitors, but to better understand what content, authority, and page experience signals that Google crawlers are responding to.
6. Understand and write for search intent
Search intent is often narrowed down into four categories: Navigational, Informational, Transactional, and Commercial. The search intent of your target keyword determines what type of content you should create.
For transactional keywords, Google is more likely to promote product or service pages knowing that the user wants to make a purchase. For informational queries, Google more often ranks blogs, top-ten lists, how-to articles, and resource-driven content types.
Most likely, your keyword can be categorized in the above four categories, so strive to meet that intent with your content.
7. Outline your structure
Not all content outlines will look exactly alike, but the idea is to determine the overall topic, subtopics, headings, and main points the content will include.
If you’re optimizing properly, your keyword targets will have a prominent place in these structural components. Not all copywriters like to work from outlines, but they can be very useful in ensuring proper on-page SEO practices.
8. Prioritize quality over everything else
Google wants to rank quality content for its users. But what is quality in the eyes of crawlers? Relevance, load times, backlinks, and referring domains, to name just a few.
In terms of the quality signals that are communicated through the writing, Google is looking for:
- Comprehensive, in-depth content.
- Original reporting and analysis.
- Expert authorship and sourcing.
- Proper grammar and spelling.
Do your best to meet these signals, and Google is more likely to see your website as high-quality.
9. Explore your topic in-depth
Although content length is not a ranking factor, there is a strong correlation between longer content and top rankings.
That’s because long content is more likely to display the quality signals listed in tip #5. Additional studies have shown that longer content also earns more backlinks and social engagements.
So do your best to be comprehensive and explore your content in-depth. Keyword tools can help you expand on your content by showing you the subtopics that have a relationship to your keyword goal.
10. Write for passage ranking
Google’s Passage Ranking update went live in early 2021. As a result, Google no longer just indexes and ranks web pages, but specific passages of content.
When the user clicks on the SERP result, Google has indexed the exact part of the web page that answers that question and highlights it for users.
Passage Ranking means that your content has so many opportunities to rank for multiple queries. Strategic use of structure, headlines, and questions is key to helping passages of your content rank well in search.
11. Use a content optimization tool
Leveraging AI and NLP tools can result in major boosts in keyword rankings.
Clearscope, SearchAtlas, SEMrush, and others all have content optimization software that eliminates some of the guesswork of the SEO copywriting process.
These tools identify common words and topics used in top-ranking content and suggest similar terms for you to include in yours. As long as you incorporate them naturally, the results can be significant. More SEO copywriters should be using them.
12. Offer answers to related questions
Another way to improve keyword rankings is to answer common questions that users are asking in relation to your target keyword. There are a couple of ways you can find out what these questions are: Google Search and a keyword tool.
Look to People Also Ask and autocomplete to see what common questions people are asking about the topic. Then, make sure you include those questions and their answers in your content.
Similarly, some keyword tools can tell you the common questions that searchers are asking.
13. Break up your content with rich media
Although long-form text is important to ranking, your content should have other non-textual elements that help readers stay engaged. Make sure you include images, videos, or infographics in your content, particularly to break up long passages of text.
Google likes to see content that incorporates rich media, so leverage it to your advantage.
If that rich media slows down the performance of your pages though, it can work against you. So make sure any rich media is optimized for speed and performance.
14. Include relevant links with contextual anchor rext
Your internal and external links, as well as the anchor text of those links, are also important quality signals to Google. Make sure you link to relevant, authoritative sources. Also, make sure you utilize anchor text best practices:
- Anchor text should be relevant to the destination page.
- Don’t use too much exact match anchor text.
- Avoid generic anchor text (e.g. “click here”).
- Use contextual anchor text as often as possible.
15. Make your content easy to navigate
Features like a table of contents and jump links make your content more user-friendly. This is particularly true for longer articles or resource pages.
Google crawlers like to see these navigational elements on the page that improve UX. Make sure you incorporate them whenever you can.
Side notes
The reality is, SEO copywriting doesn’t end after the content is published on your website. The internet changes, algorithms evolve, and your content needs to be updated accordingly.
If you deploy this final tip, you can increase the shelf-life of your content so it maintains top keyword rankings for years to come.
