crystal bridal jewelry Article

Search Engine Optimisation Copywriting - The Top Ten Pitfalls
By Peter Wise, Sat Dec 10th

In the last few years, search engine optimisation copywriting inthe UK and around the world has changed beyond recognition, ashas the way sites are optimised by their design, coding andlinks. However, the biggest changes have been with SEOcopywriting. Some of the same old mistakes are being made, andwith all the changes to the ways search engines rank sites,fresh pitfalls are appearing. This article looks at some of themost common mistakes and omissions in SEO copywriting - and howto avoid them.

1. Too much time on the look, not enough on the content.If, like me, you're in the business of SEO copywriting, this isa perennial bugbear. The content of your website is moreimportant than its design, and it's going to be even more key inthe future. Search engines rank websites for what's in them.You're almost certainly paying your site design people a greatdeal of money - but you're wasting it if your copy is anafterthought and few people visit your website. Invest time andmoney in copywriting. Better still, talk to your copywriterwhile the site is being designed, rather than ask him or her tofill in the empty spaces afterwards.

2. Lack of keywords. Keyword selection is the mostcritical single factor in search engine optimisation. Yet alltoo often businesses ignore it. If you're a blue chip company itrarely matters - people are going to come to your site anyway.But any small or mid-size company ignores it at their peril. Ifyour site isn't optimised in the way it's written (not just inthe way it's coded) then you're losing out on customers - bigtime.

3. Optimising keywords that no-one is searching for.Your company may pride itself on its great service, but it'spointless to optimise 'great service' or anything along thoselines, as no-one will be searching for it. (In fact it can bepositively counter-productive, as some search engines treat'service' as a stop word and mark down accordingly.) You canfind a free search engine query tool at www.overture.com, or youcan pay for a more detailed and comprehensive one atwww.wordtracker.com. These will tell you which terms have beensearched for recently and how often.

4. Optimising keywords that everyone is searching for.You need to be specific in what you optimise. If you're sellingjewelry (or 'jewellery', as it's spelled in the UK), then it'sno use simply optimising for the word 'jewelry'. Be morespecific. Even phrases like 'antique jewelry' or 'beadedjewelry' are searched for many thousands of times a month. Findout what people are searching for and see what you're up againstby going to a couple of search engines and entering those terms.If your competitors are all optimising for a specific term, it'sprobably best to avoid it if you can find an alternative thatwill still bring in the traffic.

4. Alternate spellings and endings. Think laterally,think creatively, think how others would spell or termsomething. Are you going to optimise for 'jewelry' or'jewellery' - or both? How about 'website' or 'web site'? - bothversions are common. And so on. Don't try and cover all thebases - but do try and check them against what's being searchedfor and how many times and in what context you'll find thatkeyword on the internet. That way you're more likely to make thebest choices.

5. Keyword density. The general rule of thumb is to tryand get them in headings or subheads, and early on in the copy.Two to five times overall on a page, with an absolute maximum ofthree

different keywords per page is what to aim for. Somepundits recommend keyword density of up to 5%. This is almostcertainly too much, and some search engines will actuallypenalise you for it.

6. Clumsy use of keywords. Beware of your copy becomingawkward if you try and repeat your keywords too often:

"If you're looking for wonderful widgets, this is the bestplace for wonderful widgets. Our wonderful widgets are betterthan any other wonderful widgets you've heard of..."

Copy like that puts off anyone reading your website. Andnowadays, when keywords are crowded in like that, it's puttingoff the search engines as well.

7. The amount of text. Opinions vary as to exactly howlong a page should be. Your homepage should be no longer thanaround 250 - 300 words, but you can easily double that if needsbe for other pages. All pages should have clear headings,subheads, and short paragraphs. A page could be as little as 100words. What it won't be, if it's optimised correctly, is asingle paragraph of 30 -50 words.

8. Missing the extras. Text links within your site andanchor text pointing to it are important elements of searchengine optimisation copywriting. Text links between pages inyour site make it easier for search engine spiders to travelacross the whole site. You should therefore always look toinclude them within your site, unless your site is too complexfor it to be practicable, in which case your site needs ahierarchical structure. Anchor text is the visible text in ahyperlink - as in the following:

"Effective searchengine optimisation copywriting is essential forgetting the most out of your website."

Of course, the anchor text that helps your site up the rankingsis actually on a hyperlink from an outside site - but goodanchor text is text that's written in the right way, with thecorrect keyword. So get your copywriter to suggest anchor textwith which outside sites can link to yours.

9. Doorway pages that aren't proper pages. Doorway pagesare - or were - simply pages within your site that wereoptimised so that very often they were the first pages thatvisitors reached. However, the phrase 'doorway page' nowadaystends to refer a page that has very little to do with a site,but is merely optimised for a couple of key phrases and aims toimmediately redirect the visitor to the site proper. There'snothing wrong with optimising several pages on your site - infact it's generally an excellent idea, as it allows you to covermany keywords. Just make sure that each optimised page hasoriginal content, is a genuine part of your site, and is shownon your sitemap.

10. Resting on your laurels. This is perhaps the mostcommon failing of all. A properly optimised site should get youup near the top of the rankings. But you'll need to keep workingon it if you want to stay there. Every day around 7 millionitems - documents, pages whatever - are added to the internet.Your competitors are going to be choosing keywords andoptimising websites of their own. One way to develop and keephigh rankings is with relevant links. Another is by addingoriginal content, such as articles or newsletters - so keep yourcopywriter busy.

About the author:Peter Wise is a freelance advertising copywriter, websitecopywriter and SEO copywriter based in London, UK. He alsowrites direct mail, brochures, newsletter articles and pressreleases. You can reach him at +44 (0) 7767 687524. For furtherinformation, please visit http://ideaswise.com/