We’ve been writing SEO copy since 2003. In fact, our Managing Director, Glenn, even wrote a book on it.
We include all the right words in all the right places. More importantly, we do it without impacting your conversion rate.
SEO copy tells the search engines what you do. This determines what search results your website will appear in.
Done well, it’s just your sales message with a smattering of carefully positioned phrases – the phrases your customers are Googling.
Done poorly, it’s unreadable.
The term ‘SEO copy’ is thrown around a lot these days. Usually inappropriately. And quite often in combination with that dreaded concept, ‘keyword density’.
Keyword density is an overly-simplistic measure of the number of times you’ve used your target keywords. If you’re trying to rank in searches for “car hire Sydney” and you use the phrase “car hire Sydney” 10 times on a 100-word page, then your keyword density is said to be 10% (i.e. 10/100).
Unfortunately, a lot of so-called SEO copywriters think all they have to do is get a high keyword density, and they’re done. Complete rubbish! And here’s why…
Search engines don’t think that way at all. They use way more complicated mathematical algorithms to identify what your site’s about.
And even if they did use keyword density, can you imagine a 100-word page with 10 instances of “car hire Sydney”?! That’s a 3-word phrase. Use it 10 times, and you’ve used up 30 of your 100 words. Imagine how repetitive that would be. And how nonsensical… those 3 words don’t actually go comfortably in spoken or written English. Your page would be a complete shambles!
To make matters worse, a lot of SEO copywriters try to bamboozle clients with talk of things like “latent semantic indexing”, “probabilistic latent semantic indexing”, “the Semantic Web” and “Web 3.0”.
They probably don’t understand these terms any more than you do! And the truth is, these complex concepts simply aren’t relevant to most SEO copywriting jobs.
Don’t get me wrong; they’re valid concepts, and they ARE relevant if you’re writing SEO copy for a really big corporate site that needs to rank in an ultra-competitive search, like “computer”, “car” or “hotel”. For everyone else, however, SEO copywriting is a lot simpler to grasp.
A good SEO copywriter must:
In addition to the above sorts of best practices, you have to always remember that Google doesn’t buy anything. Visitors do.
A high ranking is just a means to an end. It’s not enough just to get visitors to your site. You want to make them buy! So you need to be very careful not to sacrifice readability for SEO.
It’s a delicate balance. We achieve this balance by writing the copy for your visitors first. At the page level, we actually completely ignore the search engines until the very end. We just make sure your copy appeals to readers. Only after you’ve approved the copy do we start to optimise for search engines.
Nonetheless, there are often conflicts between what Google wants, and what your visitors want. And those conflicts have to be addressed. Only by addressing these conflicts can your SEO copywriting appeal to both visitors and search engines.
Here are just a few of the more common conflicts we bear in mind as we write…
Take a look at the SEO copywriting samples below, or check out our full copywriting portfolio to see if we’re the SEO copywriters you’re after.
We needed to bring in a copywriter who could ramp up instantly and deliver high-quality web content very quickly. Silver Pistol did all that and more, in a very responsive, thoughtful and professional style. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them.
Mike Efron
Manager of Web and Marketing, SEEK Learning
I’ve worked with Glenn on a number of web content projects over a number of years. I haven’t regretted selecting Glenn as my web writer once. I’ve carried out extensive testing on Glenn’s copy and each time, real samples of the target audience find that Glenn’s copy flows, is engaging and speaks directly to them. I have also enjoyed reading Glenn’s articles that have been published in leading industry publications. I definitely wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Glenn.
Tim McQueen
Digital Manager, Macquarie University
We have partnered with Silver Pistol Copywriting for the last 3 years, with great results and responsiveness. They do our copywriting, search engine optimization (SEO), and Google AdWords campaign management. They provide first rate customer service, inspired copy, and trustworthy advice. Silver Pistol Copywriting remains our first choice when copywriting is required!
Chris McKay
Director, Classic Blue / IBM
Glenn, I really like it! You have hit the style on the head.
James Ward
CEO, Freestyle Media (Virgin's agency)
Silver Pistol have been our go-to guys for copy, web design and development, for 10 years. Their work alone has increased our conversion rate by 40%, and they’re great guys to work with too. We’d never want to go elsewhere.
Adam Szmerling
Owner, Bayside Psychotherapy
I think that’s a wrap. I must say this task was great and well executed by yourself.
Burim Ahmedi
Product Manager, Avery Products
It’s fantastic, thank you… it’s great working with someone who truly knows what they are doing. I was hoping for a 4% conversion – your copy got me 44%!
Sophie Constanti
Owner, SC Consulting
Great work Glenn, I feel that I should be making some suggestions, but I really can’t fault what you’ve written. The tone is spot on and it’s both imperative and easy to read at the same time. Thanks for vindicating my decision to take this job to the professional(s)!
Andrew Clark
National Online Marketing Manager
What you have done is great! We are excited about what you are doing.
Gary Williamson
Founder, Feedom Loans Australia
Did you know Silver Pistol also does web design and search-friendly web development? So your entire website will please both Google and users!
If you’re after an SEO copywriter who can write copy that works for Google and readers, email us for a quote.
