Despite what many Social Media people tell us, search isn’t dead. Search is the biggest activity online after email and here in the UK, google.co.uk provides 85% of search volume. It pays to know about SEO copywriting and on-page optimisation if you are writing your own content.
SEO copywriting is simply writing for the web, acknowledging that the search spiders need a bit of a nudge to know what you are writing about. In my last post about writing web content, I outlined some of the prompts that your web copy should give the search spiders.
I know that learning to write for the web can be confusing. It takes some getting used to and it’s easy to think that SEO copywriting is nothing more than ramming your keywords and phrases into your writing at every opportunity.
It isn’t
In fact, writing like that can not only alienate your readers, but get you ignored by the search engines too.
I have used the tools I outline below. If you’ve watched any of my videos with me chatting along inside this site, you’ll see them in my dashboard. Two are paid tools and if you click through my link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission. Now that’s out in the open and above board, let’s get cracking.
My Two Favourite Tools For SEO Copywriting
I actually use four tools on a fairly regular basis. It’s horses for courses, what you feel comfortable using and time you have to get things right. Do you need to use all four? Of course not!
To keep this post relatively short, I’ll outline my two favourite SEO copywriting tools. The other two I’ll cover tomorrow.
In at number 1 is a little piece of magic…
Scribe SEO
What makes Scribe so wonderful? Well you can stop counting keywords! Scribe SEO analyses your writing and tells you what it thinks you are writing about.
I love the analysis section. A quick look at what Scribe thinks my primary and important keywords are and that’s enough for me to do a quick edit to fix things. It also suggests changes too.
Scribe SEO analysis using the WordPress plugin
Really though, Scribe SEO is an all in one tool. It has keyword research, page analysis, page scoring, best practice tips, and link analysis. Basically, it has everything you need to tweak your on-page optimisation.
Is it perfect?
No, it’s a tool.
I found that it can be quite American and as a UK based person, it irritates me sometimes.
Be aware that the keyword research numbers are global and not UK based. That said, keyword research is more than just looking at the number of searches per month, so I wouldn’t use it as a primary research tool anyway.
Scribe is available as a stand-alone web platform, a WordPress, Joomla and Drupal plugin too. You get access to all of them and the plugins can be installed on multiple sites.
Scribe SEO is a monthly paid tool from the guys over at Copyblogger. They know a thing or two about writing for the web! It starts at $17 per month (around £11) and it soon pays for itself and more.
In at number 2…
Yoast WordPress SEO
One of the little known benefits of Yoast’s free WordPress plugin is the page analysis section – ideal for checking your SEO Copywriting skills.
Once installed you’ll find Yoast underneath each page or post as you are editing. The main section has a basic checklist that auto-completes as you include the main keyword requirements:
Checking your keywords with Yoast's WordPress SEO
- Page heading
- Page URL
- Headings
- Content
- Meta description
Save your page or post as draft and then click onto the page analysis and you’ll get a full run-down including areas to improve.
If I have installed your WordPress website for you, Yoast’s plugin will be there, it’s my number one recommended plugin ever…
Unfortunately, it’s a WordPress plugin only, which is why it is at number two here. I’ve also found the related keywords button to be sentimental and it rarely works.
It is a great quick way of checking you have your keywords in the right places though. And, it’s free!
Check out Yoast’s WordPress SEO plugin here or download it from your dashboard.
SEO copywriting is easy to take too far. Both the tools above will help you find a nice balance between writing for readers and writing for robots.
What tools do you use to help with your on-page optimisation?
SEO Copywriting - Great Tools To Help You Write For The Web by Jan Kearney
Hello Jan,
Thanks for stopping by my blog and commenting. It’s so appreciated. I like your two suggestions. I’ve been aware of Scribe Seo but never had a thought to commit to a monthly investment. Yoast, on the other hand, has me pondering. I know too many plugins can be a problem.
Hi Adalia, thanks for calling in here and commenting. I found your comment in spam 🙁 Rescued now, so all good!
I know what you’re saying about Scribe, I thought the same for a long time. Then I tried it – and it made such a difference, I have no issues recommending it to anyone new to writing for the web.
As for Yoast – it’s my top recommended plugin and is several plugins rolled into one. It organises the sitemap, does the usual SEO stuff like titles and meta description, has a section for inserting your links into RSS, strips out the unnecessary wp code from your header, sorts your breadcrumbs, and of course the post/page check too. It also imports settings from other SEO plugins like all-in-one SEO and Headspace2 for an easy change over.
I found I use less plugins using Yoast than I would if I didn’t have it installed – well apart from when I am trying new plugins out!