Keyword Basics Part 4: Using Keywords In Website Copywriting by Ken McGaffin, 4 April 2007
So you've done all your keyword research and you've found the best keywords for your website. How do you use these keywords to improve your website copywriting so that you rank well on the search engines and attract the type of customers that you are after?
Key points
- From the keyword lists you have chosen for your site, pick a primary and a secondary keyword that you’ll want to rank well for with the article.
- Write the title of the article making sure that you include the primary keyword in the title.
- Write the description tag using both the primary and secondary keywords.
- Write the first paragraph which should be a summary of the overall article and should include both primary and secondary keywords.
- Map out the structure of the article, writing headings and subheading that each contain keywords.
- Think about the internal and external links that you might point people to. The linking text should be keyword rich.
Example of good website copywriting
Well, let’s start with an example of a well-written and highly ranked website in a competitive sector – digital cameras. I’ll go to Google and do a search, say for “digital camera”: at the time of writing, here are the results:
See how the titles of the top organic searches all include the search term ‘digital camera’. The words that appear in the title are completely within your control: the title tag is the most important place to put your primary keyword.
So the top organic result comes from www.dpreview.com who have succeeded against 63 million competing pages – a great performance. So what can we learn by following the link?
Let’s have a look:
Look at how the keyword ‘digital camera’ has been used in the title, the heading, linking text and the body copy.
This is a well optimized page. But have a closer look at the title – it contains another important keyword, ‘digital photography’. This keyword is also used well in the website copy:
So how does this page perform for the search ‘digital photography’? Does the page rank as well as it did for ‘digital camera’?
Here are the results from Google:
Top again with over 24 million competing web pages. A very nice piece of work and one you should try to emulate. The person writing this copy really knew what they were doing.
Using keywords in your web copy
Here are the steps I’ll go through to create a piece of web copy.
- From the keyword lists you have chosen for your site, pick a primary and a secondary keyword that you’ll want to rank well for with the article.
- Write the title of the article making sure that you include the primary keyword in the title. You can also try to fit in the secondary phrase but if you find it hard to do so and still maintain good English, then don’t worry about the secondary keyword in your title. I try and keep the title to around 50 characters in length.
- Write the description tag using both the primary and secondary keywords. This should describe what the article is about and should be around 200-250 characters long.
- Write the first paragraph which should be a summary of the overall article and should include both primary and secondary keywords. If you’re not sure about how to do this, have a look at my first paragraph here or study good newspaper writing. You’ll find that journalists tend to summarize the story in the very first paragraph.
- Next, map out the structure of the article, writing headings and subheading that each contain keywords. Not only does this help you write good search engine copy, but it focuses your mind on what you really want to say and the quality of your writing will improve. In this article, for example, here’s the structure I’ve followed:
- Using keywords in website copywriting
- Example of good website copywriting
- Using keywords in your web copy – 6 steps
- Improving your website copywriting skills
- Internal and external resources to link to.
- Finally, think about the internal and external links that you might point people to. The linking text should be keyword rich.
Improving your website copywriting skills
This article has given you some tips and a step-by-step process to follow. However, you’ll get nowhere unless you put some of this advice into action and then see what happens to your search engine traffic. Then build on what works and discard what doesn’t.
My favorite definition of an expert is “someone who has made more mistakes than anyone else”. So don’t be afraid – get writing, get publishing, measure what happens – and then do it even better next time.
About Ken McGaffin
Ken McGaffin is an experienced internet marketing consultant. He has worked for major pharmaceutical companies, advertising agencies, government bodies and non-profit organizations.
85 comments
What makes you article good is the screen captures of a real example. Some articles I read have a long list things to follow. Breaking up your article with diagrams kept me reading to the end.
thanks
Thanks a lot for very informative piece of writing. I will certainly use ideas to improve my website.
I agree with Rudy Silva’s comment, “what makes you article good is the screen captures of a real example”. Looking forward to reading more of your articles Ken.
The underlying benefit of Mr. McGaffin’s article is that adopting this SEO system forces one to target web pages. Many times we see pages that are unfocused and provide confusion rather than pinpointed clarity of the message. The result of a combined focused message with increased page views equals success. Great article Ken.
George
This has really been informative for me ,but i must admi t that it takes a lot of hard work .I sed to think thant i only need to have a website designed then wait from money to flow in
I wish i read this before i started my business .I am going to use this so as to be a blessing for my future generations
Thank you for this article, it’s short and sweet. The real life examples are a great touch. I have the journalistic skills of a 2nd grader who was hit by the short bus. I’d like to find an article in this form on latent semantic linking.
Fantastic is all I can say. keep this posting up always
Excellent use of visual aids to make the point, well thought out and presented information.
Great information, as always. It looks so simple, and I guess it is if you know what you are doing.
Ken, what’s your opinion of the Live Keyword Analysis Tool at live-keyword-analysis.com ?
I like this because it shows you the percentage of keyword density for up to three keywords or keyword phrases. I can also rewrite the copy within the big window and watch the percentages on the right side magically increase or decrease.
And is it true that we should be shooting for a keyword density of from 2 to 8 percent?
Writing keyword rich articles or blog entries and incorporating your sites subject is the goal. But as i am finding out, there are alot of (keyword research tools) online, which is the best for my type of blog and also which is geared towards online marketing noobs?
The best search engine placement specialist can blend art and science to direct the engines like baiting an animal with a breadcrumb trail. It is important to note that no two search engines work exactly the same way. Each company beats their chest with great pride touting the BEST mathmatical formulas to deliver the most relevant stuff. An old school way to lure great placement was by using the keywords, over and over on the page. This evolved to repetitious words but using the same font color as the background (i.e; white font on white background). This renders the words invisible but would trick the indexers. Sounds great, right? Wrong! Most engines know what you are up to and disqualify your page. You’re out! Greg Ventresca
I really enjoyed reading this article. I’d think twice before I start another website copy.
Information well presented and easily understood by a newbie like myself. Much Appreciated!
Great list of things to think about. This post is required reading for all of our client’s who think they should write their own copy.
iam really thankful to u sir, for giving me responce. I need help in traffic ranking and what does it do.
thanking u
great article. short and easy to understand. thanks.
merci cu billet..
Where have you been all my life? In less than 1000 words you’ve rendered obsolete everything I’ve ever tried to learn from so many other false prophets.
Can’t wait to read the other articles.
Many thanks and perhaps I can now move my site into google (it ranks well at the other majors but does nothing at google - which renders all other rankings almost worthless).
How many of those words were purchased?
Just came across your site and found this article on Google. Very well written and look forward to reading more.
One question I do have is whether to get ranked well on “Google.com” rather than country specific sites like “Google.co.uk”, are there any additional techniques you can suggest - as obviously you are competing against more pages.
i’m satisfied thank you.
I like your articles very much. Would you agree if I’ll use it on my site?
Maya
The use of screen captures is terrific. This is immediately useful. Thanks.
Many thanks for this. I will try and put it all in to practice. I’ll let you know.
Eddie
Thanks for your article, it is clear and straight to the point.
Great advice I must say.
Very well written! Search engine optimization is easy if well all know the proper steps to do.
Keep up the good articles, looking forward to seeing many more.
Thanks Ken! It was really worth reading your article. Your way of representation especially with screen shots and stressing about the usage of primary and secondary keywords will really be helpful for beginners like me. Once again thanks ken….hope to get useful tips like these from you.
Thanks for a very informative read,I believe that I actually learned something today. Keep up the great writing,I’ll be back. Thanks again.
Thank you Ken for your great article. It’s very pin-point & concise on stressing quality content for the human reader as well the search engine.
This site provides a good short summary of keyword optimisation to boost online ranking and visibility. This is samething we provide for clients and also at our seminars.
Excellent information. Thanks for sharing! I wish I could get this through to my clients and even my friends!!!!
Thanks for your info I will try on my blog to improve my blog rank in search engine
Excellent piece of information. I'll pass this on and to folks where ever I can..
Hi Ken,
I wish I know this information long time ago. Anyway, better late than never. You are laying out very clear and concise information here.
Thanks so much Suwandi Chow
Thank you so much for helping me understand the importance of keywords in web copy and articles. My goal this week is the understand keywords and you just opened my eyes to so much more. You are a blessing and thank you once again.
I never paid much attention to keywords in the past. This article will definitely change how I write in the future. Thanks for the tips!
the digital photography word is catching,key and touching word.there is no substitute
I hope your suggestions also hold true for Gallery pages. I have been working on a Ron Paul videos site that now has over 500 videos, but I have had trouble attracting attention to it.
Your article was like a blunt instrument to the head for me, because I realized that I needed to work on the basics of SEO and keywords with my copywriting.
Before reading your article, my Gallery merely said "This is the main page of your gallery." So, I took your suggestions and edited the headings and such and hope that this will improve my page ranks. Thanks.
Thanks for your info I will try on my blog.
An excellent article which gives a very good insight into the effective use of keywords on webpages. Anyone who follows Ken's advice will be optimising their webpages for higher rankings in the search engines.
Keyword density is important, we should be cautious however. It can be considered as an abuse is mis-used.
Wow, wow, wow! This article is simply informative, comprehensive and concise. I love it. I always have problem getting started on an article. Now I know how to start with your suggested framework.
Keep this article on. I will come back and verify my article against your proposed steps.
You are awesome!
Hi sir,
your article was simple yet touching all the important points. i am web text writer. i was not aware of the points you had mentioned in the article.
however, i will take into considerations the points when i write.
It's nice to see the real life examples accompanied by a simple step-by-step method of implementing on page ethical optimisation. Thanks - Ewan Kennedy
Hi
You sure know what you're talking about...:) Thank's..good article, very informative.
Its a complete version of everything required for website copywriting and SEO. Step by step instructions are good to follow and understand. I've been doing something called optimizing website with keywords and contents but now I'll follow your step by step advice and do it as you've told. I believe this is really the best method as here we are just concentrating on two keywords right from the beginning. I didn't knew the importance of first paragraph in a webpage, hope to implement it this way. Thanks & Regards
Hi Ken McGaffin,
What are some basic key words pointed that will help promote and online pharmacy. Just generally if you will.
Charlie
thanks so much for this post nice site
thanx great post
Great article! Yes the screen shots made it ultra-easy to understand the article keywords placement.
We have been using the similar method in all our website copywriting & it definitely helps us in getting the top rankings in search engines.
Rgds, Fione http://www.eOneNet.com
Some very simple tips even a newbie like me can understand, I'll change my title tag now, thanks for sharing!
An excellent article which gives a very good insight into the effective use of keywords on webpages. Anyone who follows Ken's advice will be optimising their webpages for higher rankings in the search engines.
An interesting article which beginners to pro's will appreciate.
This was a really helpful article and helped us to get a better grasp of keywords. Many Thanks.
An excellent and informative read that is sure to enable those looking at the workings of keywords and keyword analysis a helping hand. Good Job.
I wish i read this before i started my business .I am going to use this so as to be a blessing for my future generations. Nice post!
Good and very valuable reports are in above article that may be usefull for somebody.
Good Introduction
Good information about the keyword placement in the pages. thanks a lot.
Yes that's right, but what about spamming with all those repeted keywords in one page?
Yeah,No doubt it is a good and informative article for web writers. But i want to know the all skills and technicals for content writing. Can any body help me out?
wow.. good information.i bookmarked this.thank you so much
Good information about the keyword placement in the pages. thanks a lot.
goodest this.thanks a lot information.
keyword meta tag
Can you recommend any seo courses
good post ı like this good information.good point.
Thanks for helping a "green bean" like myself, understand. Thank you! Chris
Dear Ken your articles are very interesting. I like the way you teach to general public.
Can I have these articles emailed to me in pdf format so that I could print them. I'll be obliged to you. Thank You Very Very Much! Jack
Took your advise and my County pages already hitting page one - mostly because of your keyword info!
hi, your article is true description of primary and secondary keywords. This is really usefull to me and every webmaster.
It's not often that I actually find an article straight forward and interesting enough to read it from start to finish. Thanks to Ken's logical approach to the use of keywords within the different areas of the web page, this time I did. Using real-life examples brought it all to life.
I will certainly employ his methods.
Nice information. Let me use this idea to improve my websites. :) Thanks anyway.
I never paid much attention to keywords in the past. This article will definitely change how I write in the future. Thanks for the tips
thanks
Fantastic is all I can say. keep this posting up always
Thank you
Thank you
I have to agree with several of the above posters, this article is short, sweet and to the point - very informational and an excellent example to follow.
Thank you very much!
A good clear article which explains exactly how it should be done.Their is so much more to building a website than just creating a pretty design.Well placed, researched keywords and web copy certainly make a huge impact on your website traffic.So it's something worth taking the extra time and effort to get it right.
This is indeed a fantastic article about using primary & secondary keywords. I'd also love your statement that an expert is “someone who has made more mistakes than anyone else”... truly an inspiration.
“someone who has made more mistakes than anyone" very very good definition for expert peoples.
Honestly, most of what I've got to say has been said in the previous comments. Aside from being full of great material here, the article is broken down into readable and very enjoyable chunks.
This site is now officially bookmarked. :-)