6 Tips to Keep Your Copywriting Lean, Focused and SEO-Friendly

As with any creative process, copywriting often generates a significant amount of content which doesn’t make it into the finished copy. After all, most topics have more depth than can fit into the average word count of a piece of copy. What gets left out is decided by a number of factors, including the format being used, and the reason it’s being written for. However, in all cases, this leaves us with the question of what gets included, what is focused copywriting, and what copy doesn’t make it.

In my experience, this is a trickier question to answer when I’m writing about a topic which interests me. There will always be interesting facts that I want to share with the audience, even if they’re not directly relevant to the question the piece is aiming to answer. While not as bad as missing out information which should be included, this can have tangible SEO consequences. This is because Google prioritizes user experience; so, a blog post which smoothly answers the user’s enquiry will rank higher for relevant keyword searches than one which waffles on.

So, in the interests of not becoming the very thing I swore to destroy, let’s move on to 6 ways to keep your copywriting lean and focused.

Remember the Purpose of the Piece of Copy

To start very basically, filter everything you consider including through the lens of the following: ‘How does this help me provide the answer the reader will be looking for?’ This doesn’t mean that you can’t include anything not directly related to the critical path of the copy; providing context and building reader engagement are important things to consider. But if something you’ve added halts the flow of the writing to go off on a tangent, get rid of it. Which brings us, rather neatly, to the second point we must consider.

Edit Ruthlessly

Writers tend to put a lot of ourselves into our writing, so it’s easy to become very resistant and defensive during the editing process. However, edit we must, because the ‘perfect first draft’ is something which should be categorized alongside unicorns and a decent-looking passport photo. If you like a particular fact, or turn of phrase, which doesn’t quite fit, save it for another piece and remove it. Some inclusions, which seemed like a good idea at the time, can be seen as mistakes with the benefit of hindsight, so be sure to take a break before you go back to edit it.

Consider the Audience, as Well as the Subject

Context is, as we’ve mentioned, important to consider. And the context for answering a question is who you’re answering it for. What are the demographics which regularly visit the site you’re writing the piece for? Is the platform a specialist for the topic you’re covering? Then you’ll likely need to go into a reasonable amount of depth. But if you’re writing for an audience not expected to have a significant amount of knowledge of your topic, you need to simplify things to a more basic level.

What structure are you going to use?

When clients or employers ask you to do some copywriting for them, it’s rare for them to want you to simply deliver a block of text, no matter how well researched and written it is. A good structure, meanwhile, has a number of benefits beyond improving readability. A blog like this one (or ‘6 Ways to Make your Copywriting Lean and Focused’), which organizes the copy into a structured list, is a great example of this. It can help you focus on the major points of what you’re trying to say, making it easier to say what you’re trying to say inside the word count. And it has SEO benefits as well, as streamlined user experience is favoured by Google.

Prioritize Readability Over Cleverness

Writers work with words, so it’s not a surprise that we tend to have a broad selection of them. After all, the right words can bring a piece of writing to life, as well as help avoid reusing the same word too often. However, there is a time to use ‘mastication’ and there is a time to use ‘chewing’. Writing should flow and sound educated, but copywriting intended for a broad audience needs to account for that. Not everyone will have as extensive a vocabulary as you. This is another reason why editing after a break is important, as we all have a default writing style which we need to alter for the project at hand. So, it’s very easy for things like this to slip through.

Ask Questions Sooner Rather than Later

As a copywriter, there is often the temptation to avoid asking questions. This can be especially strong when you’re just starting out. You want to present yourself as competent and efficient as possible to your client. Yet, there are times when you need to ask questions upfront to save time later. If you’re not sure about something in the instructions you’ve been given, ask. If you’re unsure about their standard tone of voice in a certain circumstance, ask. It’ll ensure that what your writing is on target for what they want from the word go.

Ultimately, copywriting is a deep and constantly changing field, governed by a range of different factors including language, cultural trends and SEO. Hopefully, if you’re starting out as a copywriter, you’ll find the advice here useful.