I saw a thread on a blog the other day that really made me mad. It was talking about how SEO copywriting was the worst invention ever. That this person would rather pay for PPC ads or other means to drive traffic to his site than to have "that repetitive, grade-school type of copy" on his site.

I understand what he's talking about. I've seen it too many times to count. People assume that SEO copywriting means just shoving keyphrases into the copy wherever they might even make the slightest bit of sense.

DON'T DO THIS!

That's NOT SEO copywriting. That's "repetitive, grade-school type of copy" like the site owner above was talking about.

SEO copywriting is about making your visitor's experience wonderful. About taking them from the point of entry to the point of action while at the same time giving the engines what they need to boost your rankings. Truth be known, the visitor should not be able to tell (or barely be able to tell) what phrases you've optimized your page for. They should just think they are reading great copy.

I can't stand to see copy that looks something like this:

We are a Mexico cruise vacation agency that offers the best Mexico cruise vacation packages to tropical Mexico cruise vacation destinations. Check with our qualified Mexico cruise vacation agents to get the best deals on Mexico cruise vacation trips today!

Oh give me a break!

That's what's taking over the Web, too. No wonder that guy thought SEO copy was always awful. It just hate to see that mess stuck up on Web pages all over the place and called SEO copywriting when all it really is is shoving keywords every where they can think of.

<end of rant!>

Yep, there is definitely a difference between what is obviously "forced copy" trying to target keywords and well written copy that "represents" chosen keywords. But to throw the baby out with the bathwater and say that all SEO copywriting is no good shows lack of intelligence and even worse, lack of common sense.

I feel your rant, Karon. ;)

I guess that's all he's seeing... the badly written stuff. Maybe that's why he feels that way.

It's just getting to be so commonplace now. That's what's disappointing... that people think that type of copy actually IS SEO copywriting. Grrrrrr!

Some people even talk that way.

(On September 17, 1994, Alabama's Heather Whitestone was selected as Miss America 1995.)

Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?

Answer: "I would not live forever, because we should not
live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever,
then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever,
which is why I would not live forever."

--Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest.

:laughing:

"I would not live forever, because we should not
live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever,
then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever,
which is why I would not live forever."

That quote is a classic quote. It's a quote that I have never heard quoted before but I will definitely quote that quote in the future, at all possible quoting opportunities. This is, of course, if I'm allowed to quote that quote that has already been quoted.

Good things search engines are getting smarter... 'cause we're not. :confused:

LOLOLOLOL :abovehead

That is funny, David, and I think it brings up a good point. Writing elegant copy, like public speaking, is difficult for most people.

SEO copywriting is about making your visitor's experience wonderful. About taking them from the point of entry to the point of action while at the same time giving the engines what they need to boost your rankings.
Understanding that concept and successfully putting it into action are two different things. (Unless you have experience.) Three things to do to help learn this and get some real life examples (super helpful)...

1. Read all the articles you can about SEO copywriting from respected authors. There are a ton of free ones here...

Karon Thackston's Articles at Search Engine Guide (http://www.searchengineguide.com/thackston/)

...and here:

Copywriting Articles at Small Business Brief (http://www.smallbusinessbrief.com/articles/copywriting_and_website_content/index.html) - There are a number of Karon's articles here as well.

2. Spend the money and purchase SEO copywriting ebooks from reputable authors.

3. Hire a reputable SEO copywriter. Even if you have a really small budget, this is still an option. Just hire the copywriter to rewrite one page on your site. Seeing how your copy is transformed can result in "Oh, now I see!" moments.

Thanks, Robert. But I don't want this to be the Karon Thackston show :) There are others out there who can offer good advice/articles, etc. as well.

But you're right about experience... get it then use it.

If you read your copy out loud (or if someone who has no idea what your site is about reads it) and wonders why those one or two phrases keep repeating themselves over and over and over and over, you're not doing it right. :laughing:

I'm too lazy to look up other examples. :p

How much wood would a wood chuck chuck if wood chuck could chuck wood?

Perhaps he is not seeing the other types of SEO copy because they are written well (especially the ones written by Karon). Only the ugly phrases stand out.
I sometimes hear businesses stress their way is the only way, when in fact putting a site together requires a lot of work to bring in all elements. Code, markup symantics, web standards, browser compatibility, SEO, SE Rank, usability, accessibility, portability, modularity, reusability, and advertising.

The more I learn the more I realize there is more to learn. If in fact I am able to learn more than I have already learned.

I can tell you one thing, there is certainly more than one way to write copy. You can give 5 copywriters the same information and they'll come back with 5 very different pieces of copy. They all might very well work, too!

Web develop overall is way more art than science.