subject: The Importance of Onpage Copy for SEO [print this page] The Importance of Onpage Copy for SEO The Importance of Onpage Copy for SEO
Like me, you may read a lot of articles about SEO discussing different ranking factors such as keywords in the page title, back-links, anchor text, keywords in heading tags & alt tags etc, etc...
We all know how to target our best achieving keywords, however, often the hundreds of long tail key phrases that each send a minimal amount of traffic to your website combine to make up a huge proportion of the traffic coming to your site traffic that you don't want to miss out on!
Getting found for the multiple variations of long tail key phrases is often overlooked in SEO strategy. So, how do you go about it? The answer is simple; descriptive on page copy. Long tail key phrases are much easier to achieve than competitive, highly searched search terms, so simply mentioning the words on the page is often enough.
Describing the contents of each page will provide content that will be picked up by search engines and used to match your page to long tail search phrases. For example, if you sell clothing; on your jeans page describe the different types of jeans that are available. Mention if they are men's, women's or children's jeans, the materials used such as denim or corduroy, the colours available to choose from, the styles; skinny jeans, flared jeans, straight leg jeans, cropped jeans etc... Are they high end quality jeans or cheap value jeans? Remember to include different variations of words with the same meaning such as ladies and women's or jackets and coats where appropriate.
Make it sound natural, you haven't got to think of as many different variations of long tail searches that you can and list them all, often just having the words on the page will be enough, the order doesn't matter.
If I'm struggling for content, I often use Google's keyword tool to find words that are commonly searched around the theme that I'm writing copy for.
Example Copy:
"Extensive collection of fashionable ladies jeans from [company name]. Our jeans for women come in a number of different styles including skinny jeans, flared jeans, straight leg jeans, boot cut jeans, cropped jeans, smart jeans and more we aim to supply women's jeans for every imaginable occasion!
Colours & looks include light bleached denim, distressed denim, dark denim and black so whether you're after a smart of casual look, there should be something to match your style.
We've negotiated great deals with our suppliers allowing us to bring you quality fashionable ladies jeans at discounted cheap prices."
Now you've described the products on your page in detail, those words will drive many variations of long tail search engine queries to your site. The copy above aims to achieve traffic from many variations of long tail key phrases such as:
Boot cut jeans for women
Cheap fashionable ladies cropped jeans
Women's straight leg distressed jeans
I could go on, but the list of variations of searches that are appropriate to this page is endless.
Obviously this SEO strategy will not work in isolation, but it's worth considering as part of your strategy.
