Every piece of copy you come across serves a purpose - whether it's to inform, persuade, or entertain. Copywriting has been around for ages and is a crucial part of marketing. But with the boom of digital media and SEO, a new kind of copywriting has emerged - SEO copywriting. So what is the difference between SEO Copywriting vs Traditional Copywriting?
Read this article as we explore the key differences between these two forms of writing and how they both play an essential role in creating effective content.
SEO Copywriting vs Traditional Copywriting
All types of copywriting have one main goal - to connect with the target audience and drive them toward a specific action. Both SEO copywriting and traditional copywriting aim to achieve this, but their methods and approaches differ slightly.
What Is Traditional Copywriting?
Traditional copywriting persuades your audience to take a specific action. The actions can include anything from signing up for a newsletter to filling out a contact form.
The goal of traditional copywriting is to capture attention, create desire, and motivate action. For example, if your company offers a new product, traditional copywriting will focus on highlighting the features and benefits of the product to persuade potential customers to purchase it.
The tone used in traditional copywriting is more sales-focused, with an emphasis on emotions and persuasion.
How to Master Traditional Copywriting
To start a piece of content, traditional copywriting needs a strong headline that grabs attention and hooks the reader. The body of the content should then focus on showcasing the benefits of your product or service in an engaging and persuasive way.
Here are some tips to master traditional copywriting:
- Know your audience: Understanding who you're writing for is crucial as it helps you tailor your message to resonate with them better. If your audience is older, more formal language may be appropriate. If your audience is younger, a more casual and conversational tone might work better.
- Create a sense of urgency: Traditional copywriting uses time-sensitive language to create a feeling of urgency in the reader. This can include limited-time offers or phrases like "act now" or "don't miss out."
- Use storytelling: Storytelling is a powerful tool in traditional copywriting as it helps create an emotional connection with the reader. By telling a story, you can highlight how your product or service has positively impacted someone's life, making it more relatable and compelling.
- Focus on benefits, not just features: While features are important to mention, the focus of traditional copywriting should be on how the product or service will benefit the reader. This means highlighting how it will solve a problem, improve their life, or make things easier for them.
- Include social proof: Traditional copywriting often includes testimonials or reviews from satisfied customers to build trust and credibility with potential buyers. These can be powerful tools in persuading someone to make a purchase.
Traditional copywriting is all about crafting a persuasive message!
What Is SEO Copywriting?
Recently, Google launched its "Helpful Content Update" - which states that content should be written by people, for people, in search results. SEO copywriting's primary goal is to write for search engine bots and rank well in search engine results pages (SERPs). But with this new update, SEO copywriting is now also about creating helpful and informative content that resonates well with human readers.
SEO-friendly copy, therefore, involves incorporating keywords and phrases into the text to improve search engine visibility while still providing valuable information for readers. This type of writing is commonly used in blog posts, product descriptions, and web pages.
How To Craft SEO-Friendly Copywriting
To start, here are some tips for creating effective SEO copywriting:
- Use relevant keywords and phrases: As mentioned before, incorporating keywords into your writing is crucial for SEO. However, it's essential to use them naturally and not over-stuff the content.
- Research your keywords: Before writing, research popular search terms related to your topic or product. This will help you choose the right keywords to include in your copy.
- Write for your audience: While keywords are essential, it's crucial not to sacrifice the quality of your writing. Your content should always be written for readers first and search engines second.
- Use headings and subheadings: Headings and subheadings not only make your content easier to read but also provide structure for search engine bots to crawl and index your page.
- Incorporate links: Including both internal and external links in your content helps improve search engine rankings. Internal links direct readers to other relevant pages on your website, while external links show search engines that you are connected to credible sources.
- Optimise meta descriptions and title tags: These elements appear in search engine results and should be optimised with keywords to improve click-through rates.
- Make use of images and videos: Visual content is highly engaging for readers and can also be optimised with relevant keywords in the alt text and captions.
- Keep your content fresh: Regularly updating your content shows search engines that your website is active, which can help improve rankings.
SEO copywriting is all about mastering on-page SEO techniques and including them in content pieces!
SEO Copywriting vs Traditional Copywriting: Do You Need Both?
The question of whether your business needs both SEO copywriting and traditional copywriting often arises. The answer is yes, you do.
While traditional copywriting focuses on persuading your readers to take a specific action, SEO copywriting goes beyond that. It involves using specific techniques and strategies to ensure your content ranks well in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Our SEO content and copywriting services in Pretoria offer a comprehensive approach that combines traditional copywriting with SEO techniques to produce high-quality content.
Reach out to us today for all your content needs.
Boost your online presence and climb the ranks with compelling, high-quality content.