For any person or company with a website worth investing in, SEO (search engine optimisation) is a concern that should never slip far down the priority list. Most visits stem from organic search, and if you’re not ranking prominently for relevant terms, you’ll struggle to be seen.
But what does SEO practically involve? In truth, there are many elements that go into it. You should have backlinks from trustworthy domains, minimal loading times, and mobile-first designs — but you should also have finely-honed on-site copy.
In this post, we’re going to make a clear case for why investment in your on-site copy can have such a big effect on your search engine performance. Let’s get to it:
It’ll boost vital on-page metrics
The better your copy, the longer the visitor will spend reading and absorbing it, and the more likely they’ll be to stick around on your website. As this happens, their visitor metrics will be creeping up — and the search provider will soon take notice. If it can tell that people are finding your pages useful, it’ll come to view them as more valuable, and rank them higher.
It must build on your SERP text
When someone does find your website in their search results, they’ll see two notable pieces of text: the title, and the description. If you give each page meta title and a meta description (adhering to character limits), you can make it likely that the search engine will use your data, but there’s also a chance it will cobble something else together.
Regardless of whether your search listings use your data, you need your website copy to match them and deliver on what they promise. Take your About Us page, for instance: a great About Us page can be impactful, while a bad one can push the reader away — particularly if they found it in their search results and had high expectations when they clicked on it.
It can win you easy backlinks
As noted earlier, backlinks are extremely important for SEO, and a huge part of digital outreach is trying to build them. You might have spent time emailing relevant websites to suggest content exchanges, or tried your hand at guest blogging. Both of those routes can be productive (particularly since either can still be valuable even if it produces no links) — but they’re tough.
The easiest way to build backlinks is simply to have incredible content. That’s it. Make your pages as polished as possible, offer a lot of value, make them look as appealing as possible, and work on your copy until it’s captivating. Visitors will end up linking to it unprompted, just because they’ll want their friends to see it.
It’ll bolster your brand reputation
Having a strong brand really matters in the digital age, especially with social media now having influence that spans the personal and professional worlds. You need to be memorable. If people know your name, then it won’t just help with SEO by making them more likely to write about you: it will also help mitigate the necessity of SEO by giving them the option of visiting you directly.
Sharing links is one thing, but talking about the quality of your copy is another. How good would it be to get a rousing endorsement from a notable industry figure? The more you improve your on-site copy, the more effective your website will become, and the more you’ll be talked about.
"Rodney Laws is an ecommerce expert with over a decade of experience in building online businesses. Check out his reviews on EcommercePlatforms.io and you’ll find practical tips that you can use to build the best online store for your business. Connect with him on Twitter @EcomPlatformsio."
