SEO Basics: A Foundational Guide
SEO is an extraordinary and brand-transforming tool that can help you reach all your professional goals- IF you do it right. How, you may ask? The first step is learning all the basics so you can build your knowledge on a strong foundation. If you’re a business owner looking to brush up on your marketing skills or a copywriter looking for resources you didn’t know you didn’t know, you’ve come to the right place. Hold my hand, and let’s go through all the need-to-knows for SEO.
What the Heck Is SEO Copywriting?
SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization. Using SEO means making the best or most effective use of a situation or resource. In most cases, that situation is Google, which is the most popular search engine. We’re going to walk through SEO for Google specifically. If you’re like me and learn better with analogies, I’ve got you covered.
Pretend that you own a restaurant. This restaurant serves burgers, fries, and shakes. Upon opening, you have some trouble getting people to come by so you decide to do a list of tasks to bring more customers in.
The first thing you do is find your niche of people that you think would want to come by. These people would be in close proximity, enjoy the type of food you serve, and have the money to pay for it. This is your TAM (total available market.) Through lots of research and planning, you come up with a plan to market to these people. On your social media pages and website, you speak directly to these ideal customers to get your business noticed. All the tasks that you would need to take to go from no customers to getting your business noticed is what we’re going to unpack next.
Understand the Playing Field
As the most common search engine globally, Google is ideal amongst competitors. They have a process that they strategically put in place to get the right businesses seen by the people trying to find them. In summary, it consists of crawling, indexing, and ranking. About a quarter million of sites are published daily so this system allows Google to process them all as efficiently as possible.
Crawling is the process of a tiny person named Googlebot exploring those 250,000 websites to see which ones are worth indexing. Just as the word means, indexing is organizing information into a place (Google) for easy data access. The guidelines that Googlebot follows to find which ones are worth indexing are EAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). These aspects evaluate page purpose, content quality, and website reputation. They assess how well results meet user intent, focusing on “helpful” and “reliable” content. To make sure your site is indexed, use Google Search Console to keep yourself updated on each webpage.
Yay, I’m Indexed; Now What?
Here’s the tricky part. Ranking. There are so many factors that can go into ranking but the most important ones are keywords, readability, and headlines.
- Keywords
Keywords are the foundation of SEO copywriting. Start by identifying the words and phrases that people are searching for in relation to your content. Use keyword tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ubersuggest. By doing this, you can find relevant and high-traffic keywords for your topic. My favorite tool to do this is Ubersuggest because it has a free version, is cost-effective, and has clean interface. Once you’ve identified your primary keywords, sprinkle them naturally into your content. However, don’t overuse them—keyword stuffing can hurt your rankings. Aim for a smooth, natural flow that enhances the reader experience.
2. Optimize for Readability (Write for Your Audience First!)
While SEO is important, remember that your content should primarily be written for your audience. Google values high-quality content that provides value to readers (Remember the EAT guidelines.) Write in a way that addresses their needs, solves their problems, or answers their questions. Think about WHY they would benefit from this information. Keep your tone approachable and easy to understand. Make your writing clear, concise, and engaging, without overwhelming your readers with jargon. Visually, you can break up long paragraphs into shorter ones to make your content easy to scan. Use subheadings (like the ones in this post) to organize your content, and include bullet points or numbered lists when appropriate.
3. Craft Engaging Headlines
Your headlines are the first thing readers see, and they also play a significant role in SEO. They can include your keywords and help the information be better organized. Make sure your headlines are clear and engaging. Google looks at headlines to understand the topic of your content, so be sure your headline accurately reflects the subject matter. Keep your headlines under 60 characters to avoid them being cut off in search results. Use action words, numbers, and emotional triggers to make them stand out. I love using OptinMonster which is a free Headline Analyzer tool to help create the perfect headlines.
To Sum It Up
SEO copywriting is an essential skill for anyone looking to improve their website’s visibility and drive organic traffic. By understanding the key components—keyword research, readability, and engaging headlines—you can create content that not only ranks well but also resonates with your audience. With the right resources and a strong SEO copywriting checklist, you’ll be well on your way to mastering SEO and crafting compelling, search-friendly content. If you’re a business owner finding this all being more to handle, leave it to the pros.