January 4th, 2010
‘ve been reading O’Reilly’s The Art of SEO on my iPhone, and am picking up lots of useful tips – both new and half-forgotten.
The book has a very short section on effective online copywriting. In essence, it advises readers to show their ‘content creators’ the significance of keywords (and how to research them) and how to use title tags. That way “you are well on your way to empowering your content creators to perform solid SEO”.
Fair enough. But I think a better solution is to have online copywriters who really understand the mechanics of websites, and of SEO. That’s why I’m reading the book. And that’s one reason why I’ve developed my knowledge of HTML, CSS and other web technologies over the last 12 years.
Copywriters and SEO experts
If copywriters and SEO experts or internet marketers can work together, and share a greater body of knowledge, then the results are likely to be much better. It’s common sense.
But what happens when the copywriter knows more about the nuts and bolts of SEO than a web designer (and it’s more common than you might think)? More than once or twice I’ve produced online copy for sites that have already been built, and are poorly optimised for the web – often neglecting title tags and sometimes relying on tables instead of the <div> tag and CSS.
In each case I’ve explained that SEO relies on more than just content. But in most cases I’ve been loth to give free SEO advice (I have some expertise, but I am far from being an expert) – and have instead tried to point them in the direction of an internet marketing agency.
But I find it a dilemma. If you’re hired to produce SEO copy, then surely you have a duty to point out the shortcomings of site design and structure that will hinder attempts to rank highly in the search engines? And if you do that, surely there’s a danger you’ll lose future work to the less scrupulous or competent? Or sour your relationship with the web agency you have to work with?
It’s a tricky one – because the companies that design the site first and think about SEO and content later are the ones that need all the help they can get.
SEO: what’s the copywriter’s role?
5:54 pm. Filed under: Blog, copywriting, seo.
Author: Ben Locker.
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10 Responses to “SEO: what’s the copywriter’s role?”
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ben Locker, Bellingham SEO. Bellingham SEO said: SEO: what's the copywriter's role? | Copywriting Blog … http://ow.ly/16gtOV [...]
Interesting…I want to write good content and integrate workable SEO with it, but as there are people who do solely SEO-optimization out there for a living, I’m not sure how to compete with them. Do I try to know what they know, to do it all? Am I fair in calling myself SEO-capable when there’s a guy doing solely SEO-optimization for $1000/hour next click over?
But then again, I also have to wonder about the efficacy of SEO anyway. I understand that SEO principles are an obvious source for demand for copywriting (optimized blog posts, minisites, etc.), but I’m not certain how much traffic really results from it.
Guess I should read the book!
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@Dree I don’t think you need to compete. Ideally an online copywriter will be able to get on with producing optimised content, knowing that the experts are doing their bit to optimise the site structure etc. The problem comes when you are asked to provide SEO copy on a badly optimised site – you can do your best, but your work won’t be as effective as it would be when posted on a properly optimised site. Clients need to know that.
My point was that, if you are a copywriter with some technical knowledge, you can advise a client that there are other issues that need to be addressed. The drawback is that, if you do so, you might lose the job.
The other month I was asked to provide a page of copy for SEO purposes. I could have charged a one-off fee, taken the money and not worried that the new page made little or no difference. Instead I pointed out that one page of copy would make little difference because the site had duplicate content across about 6 domains, used javascript navigation that couldn’t be crawled, and a whole list of other major issues. (Actually, one page of copy does not make an SEO strategy!) Needless to say I didn’t get the job, and I doubt they followed my suggestion of consulting an SEO agency.
On the plus side, not getting involved in near hopeless causes does preserve your reputation. So maybe it’s for the best.
This is a very tricky question. I too am often asked to produce SEO copy for situations where it wouldn’t do much good. So I try to guide the client through the basics of keyword selection etc as best I can, although I often get bogged down in explaining SEO from first principles, which is difficult. Normally, I can tell whether this educative process is going to be worthwhile or not fairly quickly.
Sometimes I have provided advice but been instructed to ‘just do it’, in which case I think it’s OK to draw a boundary around your responsibility and deliver what’s been requested. After all, a client might impair the effectiveness of your copy in any number of ways, from rewriting it themselves (!) to using it in a poor design (online or otherwise). It’s not really your problem!
I’m currently working with a client whose site has been produced by a proper creative agency, but with no regard for SEO at all. It’s hard to talk SEO without criticising their work. But in this day and age, I do think digital marketers of every size have a responsibility to explain the implications of what they’re doing (or not doing). If I’m writing online copy that’s just ‘brochureware’, i.e. with no SEO angle, I do explain that to the client.
@Ben I know what you mean! If I had a dollar for every time I talked myself OUT of a job by being honest about it…
I’ve had similar problems with atrocious website design. For example, I’ve often run across the problem where someone calls in and tells me their website isn’t working and they need new copy. Now, usually, I try to work with what I’ve got, but sometimes the website itself is just so incredibly bad (made by their 20 year old when he was in college 10 years ago — complete with scrolling graphics, blue text, and tacky wallpaper). In those cases, I look at their website, and I have to honestly tell them that new copy might help somewhat, but that it really won’t be very effective without a new design.
Or, sometimes people pick the entirely wrong website page for me to rewrite. A common one, for some reason, seems to be companies that are overly concerned with their About Us page. They’ll write the entire site (badly) in-house, including the home page and all the service pages, but then want to hire a copywriter to do the About Us. In these cases, I always honestly (and as tactfully as possible) tell them, that I’d be happy to do the About Us page, but that if they really want to make a difference on their website it makes much more sense for them to let me rewrite the homepage, or at least product page that they’ve got some PPCs going to…
It’s rough because, in many cases, I can tell that they just don’t want to hear that, and that they’ve probably moved on to hire a copywriter that would just do what they were told without providing unsolicited advice. On the other hand, I feel wrong doing what they ask when I honestly feel like they are throwing their money away.
I’m glad to have some knowledge of SEO–but it IS a mixed blessing for copywriters,
More often than not I work with clients who know very little about it (“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”). They don’t want to pay the high prices that expert keyword research requires. And they frequently fall prey to lower-priced SEO sharks.
A recent client is typical. Bursting with pride over her newly designed–and sadly, all-Flash–site, she wanted optimized copy. In her mind, SEO copy was the icing on the cake–not an ingredient incorporated from the beggining.
When I told her it was useless to optimize copy destined for Flash, she refused to believe me. She kept repeating she had hired “top of the line” SEOs.
The only optimization was meta keywords tags–and they were totally generic.
What a waste of her money–and my prospective fee. Naturally, I did not get the job.
Great post, as per.
The main problem I have as a copywriter who knows about SEO, is that web developers and designers like to see their arse if it looks like I know as much (or more) than they do.
If you’re just the fop with a pencil, then it can be threatening when you turn to a dev and explain that they really need to tighten up bits of code, rethink the linking structure and so forth.
Still, I’d rather know enough to help a client than know so little that it helps keep a web developer sweet.
Hey all
I try and have as much input as possible and insist on writing all page titles and description tags (not for SEO purposes but for ‘clickability’). And I’ll liaise with the web designer re design, internal links etc. But I do make sure I include all this malarkey in the estimate. Is it a pain if you get dragged into an SEO consultant’s role and end up educating the designer and the client – and not getting paid for it.
I always say that to get real results there needs to be full keyword research done and a link campaign (neither of which I do but I work with an SEO bod who does.) But it’s depressing how many clients say ‘we know what our customers are searching for’. Or you get called in right at the end to optimise the site and it’s all in Flash as Lorraine says.
Much like Tom, if the client or design agency poo-poohs the whole SEO thing I actually write on the estimate ‘Keyword research and optimised copy has not been requested and consequently this website is unlikely to perform well in the search engine results.’ And then I get them to sign it!
This is a very interesting topic and an issue that I have experienced too. I spent a year working as an SEO consultant and copywriter at an internet marketing agency and find it hard to ignore obvious problems with client’s sites.
I work with a few freelance web designers and have had to educate them on the importance of meta data and H1, H2 tags etc which isn’t really my job.