Q&A for SEO Copywriting: Sept. 1, 2009

Question: My biggest competitor ranks higher than I do although my site is professionally written and has a better design. Maybe it is all his links that are boosting him above others and me, but then again he’s had 20 years worth of link building. Why do you think he’s ranking higher?

Answer: You’re looking at it one element at a time.  Just the copy or just the links, etc. Google doesn’t see the pages on the [the competitor’s] site one element at a time.  The way I understand it, Google’s algo is a series of “if/then” equations.  If this equals that then give x number of points.  If this other thing equals this then take away x number of points.  Best guesses estimate that there are hundreds of elements in Google’s algo. In order to be successful, you need to cover the complete SEO picture: copy, architecture, links and coding.  You’ll never be able to figure out how he’s ranking higher than you in all likelihood.  You certainly can’t do it by evaluating one element at a time 🙂  That’d take you forever – lol.

I’d stop driving yourself nuts comparing your site to his since nobody but Google knows what the algo consists of.  Instead, focus on building and promoting a site that continues to offer great, original content that others want to link to.  It may take some more time, but I think you’ll see improvements in the end.

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Question: I’ve held the number one position for [this keyphrase] since I first came online in 1999. Now, all of the sudden, I’ve dropped for all my search terms… to #7 or #22 or just disappeared. Do you think new copy will help?

Answer: Since you don’t have much copy on your home page, copy will very likely help with conversions. But your rankings bouncing all around are probably due to changes in Google. Right now, Google is in the process of implementing a new update called Caffeine. Sites are reportedly bouncing all over the place… including my own.

From the searches I’ve done, my sites and others are showing up in searches that aren’t very relevant. At the same time, they are not showing up in searches that are highly relevant. One day they are there, the next the practically vanish.  Like yours, these sites have traditionally ranked very well.

It may be – with the changes in the new update – that you’ll require better copy to gain back your rankings. However, I’d wait a few weeks and see where everything lands. Otherwise, you won’t have any way to tell whether the improvement happened on its own or was caused by the newly written copy.

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Question: I’m not sure how all this keyword research stuff works. My intent is to attract media and marketing buyers with products and services that would work well with the [products] I have.  So should I have [Media Buyers] or [Media Marketing] as my keywords since those are the people I want to attract?

Keyword research is a process of finding which exact words and phrases people who want to buy what you’re offering type into a search engine. Consider your own search habits. If you wanted to find a local dentist, would you type in [New York City dentist] or [dental patient]? You’d type in what you’re in search of, not who you are. Your web page is not about media buyers or media marketing.  It’s about [your products] so stick to that subject matter in your keyword research.

Have a question about SEO copywriting? Post it in the comments section for Karon to read.

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