SEO has gone from a technical trade to being more marketing focussed. Joost & Marieke will talk about how to gain great rankings & satisfied visitors by writing quality content. Focussing on SEO copywriting has a major pitfall. We give examples and tips on how to write a post that is both readable as well as SEO-friendly.

1. Beyond SEO: Copywriting for professionals

2. Joost de Valk Marieke van de Rakt

3. Want our slides?
yoa.st/wceu-slides

6. Today: SEO copywriting

7. Google’s mission
To organize the world's information
and make it universally accessible
and useful.

8. What is SEO?
SEO aims to improve
a website’s position in the free
(or “organic”) search results.

9. No scorched earth tactics

10. We prefer sustainable SEO

11. Focus on all aspects
of website optimization.
Be the best result.

12. Holistic SEO

13. Quality content
Holistic SEO
Technical
excellence
Good
UX & UI
Flawless
security
Awesome
PR & Social

14. Why does quality content matter for SEO?

15. What does Google do with text?

16. Why doesn’t this work (anymore)?

17. Hummingbird

18. Quality content is also important, because:

19. 1. People understand your message

20. 2. Lower bounce rate

21. 3. More trust

22. 4. More attention on social media

23. So, how do you write quality content?

24. Research at Yoast

25. Read about in our
Come grab it at
our booth!

26. 1. Focus on the structure of your text

27. Clear paragraphs
• One idea per paragraph
• One core sentence
• Not too long
• Never randomly add whitespace within
paragraphs!

28. Transition words
Relation Examples of signal words
Enumeration first of all, also, another, furthermore, finally
Cause because, so, due to, for the reason that
Comparison/contrast similarly, likewise, rather, while, in contrast
Conclusion as a result, hence, consequently, therefore
Fuzzy signals seems like, maybe, probably, almost
Emphasis above all, most noteworthy, certainly, even more

29. 2. Use clear headings

30. 3. Make sure your text is easy to read

31. Short sentences, simple words
• No longer than 20 words per sentence
• Use simple words
• ≤ 3 syllables
• Keep your audience in mind: developers understand
‘pull request’

32. 4. Make sure your text is nice to read

33. Passive voice
Avoid when possible!
Passive voice Better alternative
This product can be bought in our
webshop.
Customers can buy this product in our
webshop.
The employees are informed about
their financial contribution.
The manager informs his employees
about their financial contribution.
All our posts are checked by a
colleague.
A colleague checks all our posts.

34. Mix it up!
• Use synonyms and don’t over-optimize!
• Mix sentence length
• Short and somewhat longer paragraphs
• Variation in word order

35. Yoast 3.3
We added readability analysis to our plugin.
(In our free plugin too!)

36. Yoast helps

37. Yoast highlights

38. Do you have questions?