Have you watched The Usual Suspects? You must know it, the film with the twist to end all twists. It's an absolute classic. Kevin Spacey plays weakling wall flower Verbal Kint and spends most of the film in a police station being questioned about a drug deal shoot out. Gabriel Byrne's in it too and the brilliant Pete Postlethwaite. Well anyhow, there's a point when Verbal tells the agent interviewing him:
'The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.'
Just like an SEO copywriter. For not quite as diabolical reasons, a skilled SEO copywriter is also adept at merging into the background, blending with the page and concealing their true identity. Those that really understand SEO copywriting are almost like spirits. A good web copywriter barely even exists.
1. The search engines are all about relevance. They exist to deliver the very best, the cleanest, most useful and most meaningful search returns on user queries. The better they are at doing this, the more people use them and the more money they make. Relevant search returns equals increased profits. Relevance is the currency, the capital of the search engines. The second they think you are manipulating their returns you are history. Good thing too. Does anyone want Google or Bing jammed up with spam sites? A good SEO copywriter knows that the engines want relevant copy and will quietly and carefully develop copy relevant to the target audience.
2. There's much more to a copywriter's job than helping achieve top rankings. Once at the site the copy MUST engage. It must inform, it must interest, entertain and most of all, through appropriate calls to action, it must work to modify the behaviour of the person reading it. That's what it exists for. Your copy isn't there just to look pretty. It's there to get stuff done. The thing is, in most cases loud, in your face or overtly salesy copy fails. Why? People hate, absolutely hate feeling like they're being sold to. If you keyword-spam a message or bend it so far out of shape that it condescends not only do you turn off the engines but your readers will also throw themselves off your site just to get away from you.
We're hit with thousands of media messages every day, many of which are loaded with the sole intention of parting us from our cash. At best you can just shrug them off. Bounce from a web site for example. At worst they are a real annoyance.
People aren't stupid. You see the signs and develop ways of counteracting the pitches, largely by ignoring them and trying to manoeuvre to less irritating environments. Advertisers aren't stupid either. They'll do anything to get their messages close to you often by infiltrating your trust zone. That applies to search engines too. As an SEO copywriter if you want to be in the sweet spot, you'd better be soft, frictionless and subtle about it, or your message will soon be thrown out. A creative copywriter can entertain, and empathise with wit, wisdom and civility; they can influence you without detection - it's almost as if they never existed.
Because an SEO copywriter knows that what they write isn't about them at all. It's all about YOU. You - the reader - are the only reason that this copy even exists. It's your needs, your desires and your motivations that the search copywriter is working to engage. And of course, any copywriter worth the money is going to be good at telling stories, just like Keyser Soze.
In the unlikely event that you haven't seen the film, check it out. You're in for a great ride. And if you have? Then you'll know very well... all is not as it seems.
'The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.'
Just like an SEO copywriter. For not quite as diabolical reasons, a skilled SEO copywriter is also adept at merging into the background, blending with the page and concealing their true identity. Those that really understand SEO copywriting are almost like spirits. A good web copywriter barely even exists.
1. The search engines are all about relevance. They exist to deliver the very best, the cleanest, most useful and most meaningful search returns on user queries. The better they are at doing this, the more people use them and the more money they make. Relevant search returns equals increased profits. Relevance is the currency, the capital of the search engines. The second they think you are manipulating their returns you are history. Good thing too. Does anyone want Google or Bing jammed up with spam sites? A good SEO copywriter knows that the engines want relevant copy and will quietly and carefully develop copy relevant to the target audience.
2. There's much more to a copywriter's job than helping achieve top rankings. Once at the site the copy MUST engage. It must inform, it must interest, entertain and most of all, through appropriate calls to action, it must work to modify the behaviour of the person reading it. That's what it exists for. Your copy isn't there just to look pretty. It's there to get stuff done. The thing is, in most cases loud, in your face or overtly salesy copy fails. Why? People hate, absolutely hate feeling like they're being sold to. If you keyword-spam a message or bend it so far out of shape that it condescends not only do you turn off the engines but your readers will also throw themselves off your site just to get away from you.
We're hit with thousands of media messages every day, many of which are loaded with the sole intention of parting us from our cash. At best you can just shrug them off. Bounce from a web site for example. At worst they are a real annoyance.
People aren't stupid. You see the signs and develop ways of counteracting the pitches, largely by ignoring them and trying to manoeuvre to less irritating environments. Advertisers aren't stupid either. They'll do anything to get their messages close to you often by infiltrating your trust zone. That applies to search engines too. As an SEO copywriter if you want to be in the sweet spot, you'd better be soft, frictionless and subtle about it, or your message will soon be thrown out. A creative copywriter can entertain, and empathise with wit, wisdom and civility; they can influence you without detection - it's almost as if they never existed.
Because an SEO copywriter knows that what they write isn't about them at all. It's all about YOU. You - the reader - are the only reason that this copy even exists. It's your needs, your desires and your motivations that the search copywriter is working to engage. And of course, any copywriter worth the money is going to be good at telling stories, just like Keyser Soze.
In the unlikely event that you haven't seen the film, check it out. You're in for a great ride. And if you have? Then you'll know very well... all is not as it seems.
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