Credit go to Brian Dean
16
Actionable SEO Copywriting Secrets That Will Drive More Traffic To Your Site
by
Brian Dean | Last updated Apr. 9, 2015
Knowing SEO is great.
Knowing copywriting is great.
But when you can do BOTH?
That’s when you can slap a big ol’ “S” on your chest…
…because you’ll be unstoppable.
And today I have something that will make you feel like you have
SEO superpowers:
16 insanely actionable SEO copywriting techniques that you can
use right now.
Look:
Most people think SEO
copywriting is all about putting words after
words.
But in my experience, the STRUCTURE of your content is just as
important as the writing itself.
(In case you’re not familiar with Udemy, it’s a MASSIVE
directory of online courses)
Here’s how you can use
Udemy to make your next piece of content 2-3x more compelling:
First, head over to Udemy and enter a keyword.
For example, let’s say you were writing a blog post about
photography. You’d search for “photography”:
Udemy will show you all of their popular photography courses:
Next, pick a course that with a lot of reviews.
Let’s go with the EasyDSLR Digital Photography Course for
Beginners:
Once you pick a course, take a look at how many people have
already enrolled in it.
As you can see, nearly 6,000 people have enrolled in the
EasyDSLR course:
Do you see how huge this is?
You’re looking at content that 6,000
people have shelled out cold hard cash to get access to.
That means you don’t need to rely on your Spidey sense. You
KNOW there’s going to be demand for your content.
Thousands of people have already voted…with their wallets.
Now:
Once you’ve found a popular course, scroll down to the
“Curriculum” section.
That’s where you’ll find the proven structure you can use for
your next post:
Obviously, you don’t want to rip off the instructor’s course.
But you can use bits and pieces of the curriculum for your
outline:
Now that you have your outline,
it’s almost time to put pen to paper.
Before you do, make sure to read the next technique on my list…
When someone lands on your site from Google, two things can
happen:
They either leave right away…
…or they stick around.
And when people stick on your page like superglue, Google
thinks:
“This is a great page. Let’s give it a
rankings boost.”
But when people leave your site like a sinking ship…
That’s when Google drops you like a stone.
The bottom line?
If you want higher rankings, you NEED to keep people on your
site.
How? Bucket Brigades.
Bucket Brigades are words and
phrases that keep people on
your page.
For example:
You may notice that I tend to use short sentences that end in a
colon, like this:
That’s a Bucket Brigade.
But what are Bucket
Brigades, exactly?
Bucket Brigades are an old school copywriting tactic that were
originally designed to keep people reading sales letters.
I’ve adapted Bucket Brigades for
online content and the results are, well, crazy.
In fact, here’s Backlinko’s average time on page:
Yes, that’s 4 minutes.
A good chunk of that above-average Time on Page is due to the
fact that I sprinkle Bucket Brigades into every post.
Now it’s time for me to
show you how to use Bucket Brigades to boost your Time on Page:
First, find a place in your content where someone’s likely to
hit their browser’s “back” button…
…and add a Bucket Brigade.
Start with your intro.
Here’s an example where I used two Bucket Brigades in my intro:
(By the way, the Time On Page for that post is over 7-minutes):
You also want to use Bucket Brigades in the middle of your
content.
Bottom line: whenever you have a
section where someone may get bored and leave, add
a Bucket Brigade.
You can make up your own Bucket Brigades, like I did in the
example above (“The secret to publishing content that people want to share is
this:”).
Or you can use these tried-and-true Bucket Brigade classics:
§
Here’s the deal:
§
Now:
§
What’s the bottom line?
§
You might be wondering:
§
This is crazy:
§
It gets better/worse:
§
But here’s the kicker:
§ Want to know the best
part?
And — bada bing, bada boom — you’re set.
Once you’ve added a few Bucket Brigades, move onto technique #3…
Today’s super-smart Google doesn’t care how many times you cram
a keyword into your article.
(LSI keywords are a fancy way of saying: “synonyms and closely
related words”)
And these LSI keywords
help Google understand what your page is all about.
For example, let’s say you do a Google search for “cars”.
How does Google know whether you’re searching for:
§
Cars the vehicle
§
Cars the movie
§
The 1970s rock band (with awful hair)
§
The Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs)
The answer? LSI keywords.
For example, when Google sees a page with LSI keywords like
this…
…they know the page is about the cars you drive.
But when Google sees a page like this…
…they know it’s about Cars the movie.
So how can you add more LSI keywords into your content?
I’ll explain with an
example:
Let’s say your keyword was “laptop repair”.
First, search for that keyword in Google:
Then, scan the page for bold
words and phrases that aren’t your target
keyword.
Here are some examples from the first page for “laptop repair”:
See how Google bolds words like “notebook”, “computer repair”,
and “fix”?
Google bolds those terms because it considers them VERY similar
to the keyword you just searched for.
(In other words, LSI keywords)
Finally, sprinkle these bold terms into your content:
Once you’re done, you’re ready for secret #4.
Bold promise? Definitely.
But stay with me.
What’s the big secret I’m talking about?
Creating your own
keywords.
I’ll explain.
If you search for your brand in Google, you probably rank #1.
You may not have thought about
it, but your brand is a keyword…
…a keyword that you automatically rank #1 for.
But why stop there?
You can generate boatloads of
extra organic traffic when you also brand
your techniques and strategies.
For example:
You’ve probably heard about The
Skyscraper Technique, my 3-step strategy for getting more organic traffic to your
site.
Because I branded my strategy “The Skyscraper Technique”, I now
have a pipeline of extra visitors coming to my site everyday.
In fact, according to Google Webmaster Tools, the keyword
“Skyscraper Technique” gets 1,103 searches per month:
Because I rank #1, #2 AND #3 for that keyword, I get the lion’s
share of those 1,103 clicks:
Bottom line?
Whenever you develop a unique strategy, tactic, or technique…
…make
sure you slap a branded name on it.
When you do, you’ll get a bunch of extra organic search traffic.
A while back I published a post
called, “Why
Google Hates Your Site (Hint: It Has Something to Do With TrustRank)“:
With this post I decided to go after a keyword that my
competitors wouldn’t bother targeting…
…even though it gets a decent amount of searches.
What was the keyword?
“Google hates my site”
Believe it or not, I didn’t pull this keyword out of thin air.
I chose this keyword because I saw A LOT of people in SEO forums
saying things like this:
And if people post something in a forum, you can bet your butt
that they also search for the same thing in Google.
So I decided to use a variation of that keyword in my post:
Today, besides ranking #2 for my target keyword (“TrustRank”)…
…when someone searches for “Google hates my site”, I show up in
the top spot:
How can you use this technique to get more traffic?
First, optimize your page just
like you normally would (If you need a hand, check out these
14 advanced on-page SEO strategies).
But before you hit “publish”, scan forums for words and phrases
people tend to use around your topic.
For example, let’s say your target keyword was “organic
vegetable gardening”.
You’d search in Google with inurl:forum + “organic vegetable
gardening”:
This will bring up a bunch forum threads around the topic of
vegetable gardening:
Skim the first few threads that you find.
When you see a phrase that seems like a good fit…
…search for forum + “phrase” in Google:
If a lot of results pop up (like with this example), add those
words and phrases to your post.
And you’re good to go.
Here’s the deal:
Sure, social sharing buttons help you get more shares…
…but in most cases, they’re
not enough.
Instead, I recommend tapping into a copywriter’s best friend:
A call to action.
Let me explain.
A few months back I published a
post called “17
Insanely Actionable List Building Strategies That Will Generate More
Subscribers Today“:
To maximize the amount of shares this post got, I included a
“click to tweet” button underneath each item on the list:
To date, my post has over 2600 tweets…
…and a good chunk of those 2600 tweets came from my “click to
tweet” buttons:
Here’s how you can do the same thing:
First, find a super actionable tip or strategy from your post.
Turn your actionable tip into a tweet:
Then, click on “Generate new link”.
Grab the link…
…and pop the link into your post.
You can use buttons like I did. But plain-text links also work
great:
Whether you use a button or a plain link, definitely add at
least one “click to tweet” call to action in your next post.
Here’s something we can both agree on:
The higher you rank, the more
clicks you get, right?
Well…not really.
I’ll explain.
Right now Backlinko ranks #1 in Google for two different
keywords: “how to do CPA marketing” and “how to find long tail keywords” :
(Obviously I rank #1 for more than just those two keywords.
These are just 2 examples )
Both keywords are “how-to” keywords.
Both keywords have ads above the organic results.
Yet the click through rate for
“how to do CPA marketing” is 49% higher than “how to find long
tail keywords”:
Wait, what?!
Here’s the dead simple
explanation:
My Google listing for “how to do CPA marketing” looks WAY better
than “how to find long tail keywords”.
Just look at how clean and enticing this looks:
It’s got a clear title and compelling description copy.
On the other hand, my long tail keyword listing is a big mess.
The title tag is cut off and the description tag is a random
snippet from the page. Not good.
Now:
I’ll have another powerful technique to boost your organic click
through rate later in this post…
…but for now, follow
these 2 simple steps:
First, make sure you write your own description tag for every
important page on your site.
If you don’t, Google will sometimes write funky descriptions for
you.
So pop open your SEO plugin of choice. Then, write a unique
description tag for each important page on your site.
Next, tweak your title and
description so that it emphasizes the here
and now.
When someone does a Google search they want answers…FAST.
And when you show them that you’ll give them a quick win, you
get more clicks.
For example, here’s the Google result for my list building post:
See how my title and description emphasize fast results not
once…but twice?
That’s exactly what you want to do.
Once you’ve finished that 2-step process, it’s time for SEO
copywriting secret #8.
With giants like Amazon littering the first page, it’s not easy
running an ecommerce site today.
Despite that fact, I still see a lot of small ecommerce sites
beat the odds.
Their secret?
They target long tail
keywords that most of their competitors don’t know about.
Here’s how they do it (and how you can do the same thing):
First, search for a product that you sell on Amazon.
For example, let’s say you ran an ecommerce site that sold
organic dog food.
You’d search for “organic dog food” in Amazon:
But don’t hit enter!
If you wait a second, Amazon will show you long tail keywords
related to that keyword (just like Google Suggest):
Grab one of those keywords and pop it into Google.
Check to see if the first page for the long tail keyword is less
competitive than the one you’re currently targeting.
Usually, it will be:
And because Amazon Suggest keywords are so laser-targeted, they
tend to convert GREAT.
Finally, sprinkle those keywords into your product and category
page copy (and in your title and description tags):
As soon as you’ve added long tail copy to your product and
category pages, move onto the next SEO copywriting secret on the list.
You probably already know that subheadings make your content
MUCH easier to read.
For example, here are two screenshots from two different posts:
Which would you rather read?Thought so.But what you may not know
is that the copy that you use
in your subheaders is a BIG deal.You see, most people use random
subheaders like this:
Sure, that breaks up the content alright.
But random subheaders won’t make a visitor say “wow,
there’s a ton of value here”.
Fortunately, there’s a quick fix for that:
Include benefits in your
subheaders.
For example, in my
post on building an email list, I include benefit-rich copy in
most of my subheadings.
Instead of a bland subheading like “Focus On Your Thank You
Page”, I put the BENEFIT front and center:
See the difference?
Here’s the action step:
Include a benefit in AT LEAST 25% of the subheadings in your
next post.
When you do — BAM! — you’ll instantly boost the perceived value
of your content.
If you want more traffic from long tail keywords, the solution
is simple:
Add “modifiers” to your
title tag.
What are “modifiers”?
Modifiers are words that you add to your title tag…
…words that get your site in front of more long tail searchers.
Here’s little case study
of this strategy in action:
And the title tag I used was simply the name of the guide:
At the time, I thought to myself:
“This title tag is short and sweet. It also includes my target
keyword. This is a great title tag.”
But I was wrong.
I quickly realized that I could get MORE traffic to that page if
I added a modifier.
So I added the keyword “SEO” to my title tag:
Thanks to that simple tweak, my page ranks for keywords that I
wouldn’t have NEVER thought to optimize around…
…like “SEO link building” (480 searches/month):
And “link building SEO” (90 searches/month):
According to GWT, those two
keywords bring in 139 targeted visitors
per month.
All from (literally) 28 seconds of work.
How can you do the same thing?
First, find a page on your site that has a short title tag
(between 25-40 characters):
Add a word or two to your title tag that you think your audience
might use when they search for your target keyword:
If you’re not sure what modifier to include, pick one from this
list:
§
2015
§
“How to…”
§
Review
§
Best
§
Fast
§
Checklist
§
Guide
§
Tips
§
Easy
§ Simple
You won’t be able to predict exactly what keywords these
modifiers bring in…
…but you’ll get more search engine traffic than you would
without them.
And that’s what really matters
As you saw earlier, Backlinko rocks an above-average Avg. Time
on Page:
I already told you that Bucket Brigades were a big part of the
story.
And now I want to show you another technique that makes Google
searchers stick to my site like superglue:
One of my battle-tested
blog post introduction templates.
And today I’m going to share one of my favorites:
The APP Method.
Here’s what it looks like:
As you can see in the graphic,
“APP” stands for: Agree, Promise, and Preview.
Let’s break each element down:
First, we have Agree.
Start your introduction off with an idea or concept that a
Google searcher will agree with.
This shows them that you understand their problem.
That’s something people searching for my target keyword
(“squeeze page”) know to be true.
Now that you’ve got them
nodding their head in agreement, it’s time for the Promise.
The Promise is where you give them a peek into a better world.
Here’s an example from my Social Squeeze Page Post:
Finally, hit them with
The Preview.
Don’t beat around the bush. Just
tell them exactly what you have in store
for them.
Once you put the finishing touches on The Preview, you’re set.
You now have an intro that keeps Google readers on your site…
…and a page that Google will want to show to more people.
Remember:
Like I mentioned in item #3 from this list — the more LSI
keywords you embed into your content — the better Google understands what your
page is about.
Now I’ve got a mini case study
that will show you how to reveal even more LSI keywords that you
can use.
A while back I wanted to add a
few LSI keywords to my post, “On-Page
SEO: Anatomy of a Perfectly Optimized Page“.
First, I searched for my target keyword (“on page SEO”) in
Google:
Next, I scrolled to the bottom of the first page. This is where
Google shows you “searches related to…” keywords:
These are PERFECT LSI keywords to include in your content.
I grabbed any LSI keywords that made sense and popped them into
my content.
For example:
And I was good to go.
This technique has a bonus benefit:
“Searches related to…”
keywords help you rank for long tail keywords that may not show up in the
Google Keyword Planner:
That means more traffic for you.
It’s funny:
Me? I
think they’re geniuses.
Their meteoric growth speaks for itself…
Besides, it’s hard NOT to love headlines like these:
And they’ve proven that their headline formulas grab people by
the eyeballs.
For example, item #9 from this post may have caught your eye:
The idea for that subheader came from a post on BuzzFeed:
And you can do the same thing.
Just check out some recent posts on BuzzFeed and ViralNova…
…and adapt them for your blog post titles and subheadings.
Obviously, some of their headlines are over the top.
So I’ve put together a few Buzzfeed-style headline templates
that grab attention…without going overboard:
§
25 ___ That Will Change The Way You ___
§
I Tried ___. And Even I Was Surprised About What Happened Next
§
This ___ Makes ___ 10x Better
§
Here Are 11 ___ That ____. And They’re Backed By Science
§
Use These 20 Simple Hacks For More ____. #5 Is Awesome
§ When You Learn About ___
You’ll Never ____ Again
Everyone and their mom knows that subheadings make online
content easier to read.
To illustrate how much subheadings help, here’s the example I
showed earlier in this post:
If you’re human, you prefer the post on the left.
Now:
Subheadings are just ONE way to break up your content.
Magazines use dozens of different techniques to break up walls
of text.
Here’s an example from an Inc. magazine I have lying around my
apartment:
And when you use the 3 magazine-inspired techniques I’m about to
show you, you’ll stop “serial skimmers” in their tracks.
Technique #1: Quote
Boxes
Whenever you quote someone, put that quote in a box. Here’s an
example from Backlinko:
Technique #2: Sidebar
Callouts
This is another magazine staple.
Whenever you have content that complements your post, put it in
a callout box.
I use these quite a bit at Backlinko.
Technique #3: Section
Banners
This technique a bit more involved…
…but it’ll make your content
look ΓΌber professional.
Just add a custom banner underneath each subheading, like this:
See how nice that looks?
Now it’s time to show you another proven strategy for attracting
more clicks to your site.
Let me show you how it works with a real life example.
Here’s what the listing for one of my posts USED to look like:
Because I was in a rush to get this post out in time, I forgot
to write my own title and description tag…
…so Google wrote it for me.
And as you can see, it ain’t pretty.
The title tag was cut off…
and the description tag made no sense:
Here’s what I did to turn things around:
I included words and
phrases from Adwords ads into my title and description tag.
Think about it:
Adwords ads have one goal…to generate clicks.
And through thousands of split tests, the ads you see are
(usually) proven click magnets.
For example:
I noticed that most of the Adwords ads for the keyword “list
building” had the words “email list” or “email lists”.
So I made sure to pop the phase “email list” into my description
tag:
A lot of the Adwords ads
I saw also used words like “build” and “grow”:
So I added the word “build” to my description tag too:
And just like that I had a search result that’s MUCH more likely
to attract clicks.
When a journalist needs a source for a story, he or she sends
out a query:
If you reply to a query with top-notch info, you can land
mentions from some pretty baller sites.
But that’s not what we’re going to use HARO for today.
Instead, we’re going to use HARO queries to make our copywriting
more compelling…
…and attract more long tail traffic.
Here’s how:
First, sign up as a source (it’s free):
Next, choose the HARO
lists that fit your business:
You’ll start to get HARO emails from reporters and bloggers
looking for sources:
Give each email a once over. Keep an eye out for any topics that
you tend to cover on your blog.
When you find one, pay
attention to how the journalist phrases the topic.
For example, let’s say that you run a career blog.
And one day you come across this HARO query:
9 times out of 10, the journalist chooses an angle like this
because there’s growing interest in that topic.
In other words: people
are searching for that topic in Google more and more.
So right off the bat you’ve got a great topic (“Cover Letter
Best Practices”) handed to you on silver platter.
But don’t stop there.
Pay close attention to the words and phrases the journalist uses
in the query:
Make sure to include similar words and phrases in your content:
And just like that you have a post built to gobble up more long
tail traffic.
Now It’s Your Turn…
Now that I’ve shared my favorite
SEO copywriting secrets with you today, I want to turn
it over to you.
Which technique from this list do you want to use first?
For example, your comment might look like this:
I run a site about ____. I’m going to use ____ first.
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below right now.