Most SEO Copywriting Is Killing Your Rankings (And Costing You Sales)

Most people do SEO copywriting completely wrong and the stakes are [music] huge. People rank, they show up on Google, but they do a bad job converting those rankings. So, first, they miss out on sales. Huge L right there. Then, they actually start losing rankings. Rankings continually go down across pages with [music] this bad SEO copywriting, you're throwing off tons of poor user signals. This is making your site less trustworthy and making it harder for you to do any SEO. [music] So, on this episode of the show, we're going to share how to fix this. First, the most important thing to focus on, then how to use search intent to inform your language with examples. It's going to be a fun one. We got to address the elephant in the room. You have to answer your search intent right away. You have to give people what they are looking for right when they hit your page. No scrolling required, they get there, they see their answer immediately. The reason that this is good is it stops people from going back to the search results and looking for an alternative website to go into. This is called pogo sticking. It's one of the worst things to happen in SEO. This tells Google that your content is not satisfying, so Google will lower your rankings. But, not only that, you have an opportunity because you have the your searcher right there in your content, you have an opportunity to either convert them now or move them down your funnel and you're missing out on that opportunity. If it's a bottom of funnel keyword with high intent, you can get people to click on your call to action right away. If it's top of funnel with informational intent, you can get people to go through the rest of your content and then see your call to actions, then move them into your funnel. There's this post from the SEO subreddit that I'm always sharing. It's called how adding a too long, didn't read boosted my conversions by 33%. This person, for just any article, for like a top of funnel informational article, added a short two to three sentence summary at the top giving the main points right away. If it was a product page, this person wrote a quick summary of the product's features and benefits placed right under the title and this increased conversions again by 33%. We're going to look at some examples now and this is where it's really going to make sense. It's going to make sense from the perspective, "Oh my gosh, doing it wrong would lead to really missing out on a lot of sales and would cause a searcher to go back to the search results because it's not the content that the searcher is looking for. We're going to start with a top of funnel example and then we're going to give two bottom of funnel examples. Again, top of funnel means it's informational. The searcher is really just looking for an answer and then to go on their way. There's more volume at the top of the funnel, but there's a lot less intent to actually take any sort of action. So, it's harder to turn top of funnel people into customers or users or leads, but you get more at bats because there's a lot more searchers. So, the keyword The keyword is just something that people search in Google. The keyword for top of funnel that we're going to look at is "Why is my sink draining slowly?" Somebody is searching, "Why is my sink draining slowly?" A good way to target this keyword is simply you want to use the keyword at the beginning of your first sentence. This immediately tells the searcher that this content is for them and then you want to answer it. So, you would say, "If you're wondering why your sink is draining slowly." And by the way, notice that I said your sink. If the keyword is long tail or it's a fragment, so it's harder to work that keyword into your text naturally. For example, "Why is my sink draining slowly?" And that keyword isn't competitive, meaning lots of other websites aren't targeting it, then you really don't have to use it exactly. If you were to use it exactly, you would probably say something like, "If you're wondering" and then in quotations, "Why is my sink draining slowly?" But, what I have is close enough to the original keyword that there will still be a lot of relevance with my content. So, I'll do, if you're wondering why your sink is draining slowly, it's probably because of a build-up somewhere in the pipe. The most common causes are hair, grease, soap scum, food particles, or mineral deposits restricting water flow. The easiest fix for these problems is usually flushing the drain with hot water, using a plunger, or running a small drain snake through the pipe to clean the blockage. So, notice, it gives the answer right away. It explains why is my sink draining slowly. Explains it right away. Probably there's a build-up somewhere in the pipe. It says the most common causes, and then it says the easiest fix. You could even cut that second sentence and use it later on, and just say what the common cause is, and give the easiest fix, and it's only two sentences. But, either way, this introduction, it uses the keyword or a very close variation of the keyword. It gives the answer right away, and then it gives a solution. That is what searchers want. And then, now the searcher trusts you, you can go deeper into the most common causes, hair, grease, soap scum, food particles, mineral deposits. You can go deeper into these, discuss them more thoroughly, move people deeper into your content where you move them further into your funnel. Now, as they keep reading, they're trusting you more because you are writing for them, you are giving them what they want. They're trusting you more, you can move them into a lead magnet, a newsletter, sell them products, sell them services. That's how to do it for top of funnel. Bottom of funnel with high intent, this is bottom of funnel is people they know what they want, so they are searching because they know what they want, and they don't know the brand that is going to give them what they want. Very high intent. Bottom of funnel actually trips up more people than top of funnel. You see more SEO copywriting mistakes with bottom of funnel. So, the example, I have two examples. First example is 24-hour plumber Hoboken. We're sticking with the plumbing example. The first one, the top of funnel was why is my sink draining slowly? This one is 24-hour plumber Hoboken. First is what not to do. So, this is an example of what not to do. 24-hour plumber Hoboken services are designed to handle emergency plumbing problems like burst pipes, clogged drains, overflowing toilets, and sudden leaks anytime of day so homeowners can prevent water damage and restore their plumbing quickly even when most companies are closed. Now, before I tell you why that's bad, try to guess. Just think about it for a second while I'm talking. Why was this first sentence so bad? Okay, the reason that the first sentence was so bad is because it explains what the keyword is, what it means, but the person searching that keyword already knows. The person searching 24-hour plumber Hoboken, they know what they want. They know what this means. They don't need to hear it again. So, now, what would be better? What should the SEOs out there write instead to target 24-hour plumber Hoboken? This is a good first sentence for SEO. We are a 24-hour plumber Hoboken homeowners rely on for fast emergency repairs to leaks, burst pipes, clogged drains, and water heater issues so you can prevent costly water damage and restore your plumbing quickly even when other plumbers are closed. Notice it works the keyword in naturally. We're a 24-hour plumber Hoboken homeowners rely on. Now, the first example, the bad example that I gave, it was written in an informational way even though the keyword was bottom of funnel. It was written in a top of funnel way even though the keyword was bottom of funnel. Whereas the second example, the good one, it judges the intent properly. It gives the searcher what they want. The second one creates confidence. Instead of just explaining what the service category is, it creates confidence in you being the plumber to satisfy the searchers intent to be a good 24-hour plumber. So, the second is going to convert a lot more and it's going to keep searchers on the page. The first one will result in more people leaving the page or like, "No, no, no. I'm not looking for a Wikipedia entry to explain this to me. I'm looking for a plumber to do what I want. I'm going to go back to the search results and try to find somebody who's going to do what I want." And even if they do stick around, you're just going to have a harder time converting them because you will have lost their patience right away. Just answer, right when you start, why choose you? They already know they're they're looking for a brand. Answer why choose you. The first one only explains the category. The second is conversion-focused. The second sounds like a real business homeowners rely on, builds trust and authority. The second has a clear subject we instead of just an abstract service. It's sales copywriting. Prevent costly water damage. That's more emotionally compelling than just prevent water damage. By the way, notice that the second one, it still explains what a 24-hour plumber Hoboken does, but it explains it from the perspective of this is what we do. It explains it from a sales perspective because honestly, the searcher is looking to be sold. Here's another example. The keyword is room planner app and you have a room planner app tool. So, here's how not to write the first sentence. Don't say, "Room planner app tools help homeowners measure spaces, create furniture layouts, and visualize interior design ideas more easily so they can plan functional room designs and experiment with different setups before moving or buying furniture." Again, it's misjudging the intent. It's explaining what a room planner app is, but somebody searching room planner app, they already know what they want. So, instead, this is what you should say. You say, "Our room planner app uses AI to measure your room and create furniture layouts instantly from your photos." And then you can keep moving them to your call to action. "Simply upload two pictures of your space and let the AI generate room dimensions, furniture placement ideas, and interior design layouts in minutes. Use free with no sign up required." And then you give a use now button. So, the first misjudged the intent. It's going to have higher pogo sticking. It's going to have a harder time moving people to a call to action button because right away it's just written improperly. The second says, "We're giving you exactly what you want. It's really easy to use. Here's a button to use it." And again, it's really easy. The thing is, with the second example, people don't even have to read the rest of what's on the page. That's really what you want. Within those first couple of sentences, they're like, "This is for me." That's going to have way higher conversions. It's going to retain so many more searches. And so, it's going to be better for you to get users, to get customers, and for Google to trust your website, to rank more pages. So again, the stakes of doing this wrong are pretty big, pretty darn big. You're missing out on a lot of sales. You're hurting your rankings. You're hurting your entire site. And then when you do it right, and doing it right, it's not that complex. And when you do that right, well, everything works out. And that is everything that I got for you on this episode of the show. If you want to go deeper into getting customers, users, and warm leads with search engine optimization, I have a 13 and 1/2 hour course that I spent a year plus making. And I continue to update this course at compactkeywords.com. Again, it is about how to actually convert with SEO cuz you're not doing SEO to get vanity rankings. You are doing SEO to make money. A a of people don't even realize that you can do that. Or people don't realize SEO isn't magic. It's pretty simple, actually. And you don't have to be a genius or a black hat evil hacker to do it. You can be an honest business owner just trying to find the people who are looking for what you offer. And then explaining why your brand gives them that. So, if you want to learn how to do that, again, that's a compactkeywords.com. That's everything for 1,051 of the AdWords Show, 1,051 days in a row doing this podcast. If you watch this on YouTube, thank you so much for watching. If you listened on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, thank you so much for listening. And I will talk to you again tomorrow. Bye now.