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

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1. 0:00Most people do SEO copywriting
2. 0:02completely wrong and the stakes are
3. 0:05[music] huge. People rank, they show up
4. 0:07on Google, but they do a bad job
5. 0:09converting those rankings. So, first,
6. 0:12they miss out on sales. Huge L right
7. 0:14there. Then, they actually start losing
8. 0:17rankings. Rankings continually go down
9. 0:19across pages with [music] this bad SEO
10. 0:22copywriting, you're throwing off tons of
11. 0:25poor user signals. This is making your
12. 0:27site less trustworthy and making it
13. 0:30harder for you to do any SEO. [music]
14. 0:32So, on this episode of the show, we're
15. 0:33going to share how to fix this. First,
16. 0:36the most important thing to focus on,
17. 0:38then how to use search intent to inform
18. 0:40your language with examples. It's going
19. 0:43to be a fun one. We got to address the
20. 0:45elephant in the room. You have to answer
21. 0:47your search intent right away. You have
22. 0:49to give people what they are looking for
23. 0:51right when they hit your page. No
24. 0:53scrolling required, they get there, they
25. 0:56see their answer immediately. The reason
26. 0:58that this is good is it stops people
27. 1:00from going back to the search results
28. 1:02and looking for an alternative website
29. 1:05to go into. This is called pogo
30. 1:06sticking. It's one of the worst things
31. 1:08to happen in SEO. This tells Google that
32. 1:11your content is not satisfying, so
33. 1:14Google will lower your rankings. But,
34. 1:16not only that, you have an opportunity
35. 1:18because you have the your searcher right
36. 1:19there in your content, you have an
37. 1:21opportunity to either convert them now
38. 1:23or move them down your funnel and you're
39. 1:24missing out on that opportunity. If it's
40. 1:27a bottom of funnel keyword with high
41. 1:29intent, you can get people to click on
42. 1:31your call to action right away. If it's
43. 1:33top of funnel with informational intent,
44. 1:36you can get people to go through the
45. 1:38rest of your content and then see your
46. 1:40call to actions, then move them into
47. 1:42your funnel. There's this post from the
48. 1:43SEO subreddit that I'm always sharing.
49. 1:45It's called how adding a too long,
50. 1:47didn't read boosted my conversions by
51. 1:4933%. This person, for just any article,
52. 1:53for like a top of funnel informational
53. 1:55article, added a short two to three
54. 1:57sentence summary at the top giving the
55. 1:59main points right away. If it was a
56. 2:01product page, this person wrote a quick
57. 2:03summary of the product's features and
58. 2:05benefits placed right under the title
59. 2:07and this increased conversions again by
60. 2:0933%. We're going to look at some
61. 2:12examples now and this is where it's
62. 2:14really going to make sense. It's going
63. 2:16to make sense from the perspective, "Oh
64. 2:18my gosh, doing it wrong would lead to
65. 2:21really missing out on a lot of sales and
66. 2:23would cause a searcher to go back to the
67. 2:26search results because it's not the
68. 2:28content that the searcher is looking
69. 2:30for. We're going to start with a top of
70. 2:31funnel example and then we're going to
71. 2:33give two bottom of funnel examples.
72. 2:35Again, top of funnel means it's
73. 2:36informational. The searcher is really
74. 2:39just looking for an answer and then to
75. 2:41go on their way. There's more volume at
76. 2:43the top of the funnel, but there's a lot
77. 2:45less intent to actually take any sort of
78. 2:48action. So, it's harder to turn top of
79. 2:50funnel people into customers or users or
80. 2:53leads, but you get more at bats because
81. 2:56there's a lot more searchers. So, the
82. 2:58keyword The keyword is just something
83. 3:00that people search in Google. The
84. 3:02keyword for top of funnel that we're
85. 3:04going to look at is "Why is my sink
86. 3:06draining slowly?" Somebody is searching,
87. 3:09"Why is my sink draining slowly?" A good
88. 3:11way to target this keyword is simply you
89. 3:14want to use the keyword at the beginning
90. 3:16of your first sentence. This immediately
91. 3:18tells the searcher that this content is
92. 3:20for them and then you want to answer it.
93. 3:22So, you would say, "If you're wondering
94. 3:24why your sink is draining slowly." And
95. 3:26by the way, notice that I said your
96. 3:27sink. If the keyword is long tail or
97. 3:30it's a fragment, so it's harder to work
98. 3:32that keyword into your text naturally.
99. 3:35For example, "Why is my sink draining
100. 3:37slowly?" And that keyword isn't
101. 3:39competitive, meaning lots of other
102. 3:40websites aren't targeting it, then you
103. 3:42really don't have to use it exactly. If
104. 3:45you were to use it exactly, you would
105. 3:46probably say something like, "If you're
106. 3:48wondering" and then in quotations, "Why
107. 3:50is my sink draining slowly?" But, what I
108. 3:53have is close enough to the original
109. 3:55keyword that there will still be a lot
110. 3:56of relevance with my content. So, I'll
111. 3:58do, if you're wondering why your sink is
112. 4:01draining slowly, it's probably because
113. 4:03of a build-up somewhere in the pipe. The
114. 4:05most common causes are hair, grease,
115. 4:07soap scum, food particles, or mineral
116. 4:09deposits restricting water flow. The
117. 4:11easiest fix for these problems is
118. 4:13usually flushing the drain with hot
119. 4:15water, using a plunger, or running a
120. 4:17small drain snake through the pipe to
121. 4:20clean the blockage. So, notice, it gives
122. 4:22the answer right away. It explains why
123. 4:25is my sink draining slowly. Explains it
124. 4:27right away. Probably there's a build-up
125. 4:29somewhere in the pipe. It says the most
126. 4:31common causes, and then it says the
127. 4:33easiest fix. You could even cut that
128. 4:36second sentence and use it later on, and
129. 4:39just say what the common cause is, and
130. 4:42give the easiest fix, and it's only two
131. 4:44sentences. But, either way, this
132. 4:46introduction, it uses the keyword or a
133. 4:49very close variation of the keyword. It
134. 4:51gives the answer right away, and then it
135. 4:53gives a solution. That is what searchers
136. 4:56want. And then, now the searcher trusts
137. 4:58you, you can go deeper into the most
138. 5:01common causes, hair, grease, soap scum,
139. 5:04food particles, mineral deposits. You
140. 5:06can go deeper into these, discuss them
141. 5:08more thoroughly, move people deeper into
142. 5:11your content where you move them further
143. 5:13into your funnel. Now, as they keep
144. 5:15reading, they're trusting you more
145. 5:16because you are writing for them, you
146. 5:19are giving them what they want. They're
147. 5:20trusting you more, you can move them
148. 5:22into a lead magnet, a newsletter, sell
149. 5:25them products, sell them services.
150. 5:27That's how to do it for top of funnel.
151. 5:29Bottom of funnel with high intent, this
152. 5:31is bottom of funnel is people they know
153. 5:34what they want, so they are searching
154. 5:36because they know what they want, and
155. 5:37they don't know the brand that is going
156. 5:39to give them what they want. Very high
157. 5:41intent. Bottom of funnel actually trips
158. 5:43up more people than top of funnel. You
159. 5:46see more SEO copywriting mistakes with
160. 5:49bottom of funnel. So, the example, I
161. 5:51have two examples. First example is
162. 5:5324-hour plumber Hoboken. We're sticking
163. 5:55with the plumbing example. The first
164. 5:57one, the top of funnel was why is my
165. 5:59sink draining slowly? This one is
166. 6:0124-hour plumber Hoboken. First is what
167. 6:04not to do. So, this is an example of
168. 6:06what not to do. 24-hour plumber Hoboken
169. 6:09services are designed to handle
170. 6:11emergency plumbing problems like burst
171. 6:13pipes, clogged drains, overflowing
172. 6:15toilets, and sudden leaks anytime of day
173. 6:17so homeowners can prevent water damage
174. 6:19and restore their plumbing quickly even
175. 6:21when most companies are closed. Now,
176. 6:23before I tell you why that's bad, try to
177. 6:25guess. Just think about it for a second
178. 6:27while I'm talking. Why was this first
179. 6:29sentence so bad? Okay, the reason that
180. 6:31the first sentence was so bad is because
181. 6:34it explains what the keyword is, what it
182. 6:38means, but the person searching that
183. 6:40keyword already knows. The person
184. 6:42searching 24-hour plumber Hoboken, they
185. 6:44know what they want. They know what this
186. 6:46means. They don't need to hear it again.
187. 6:48So, now, what would be better? What
188. 6:51should the SEOs out there write instead
189. 6:53to target 24-hour plumber Hoboken? This
190. 6:56is a good first sentence for SEO. We are
191. 6:59a 24-hour plumber Hoboken homeowners
192. 7:02rely on for fast emergency repairs to
193. 7:05leaks, burst pipes, clogged drains, and
194. 7:08water heater issues so you can prevent
195. 7:10costly water damage and restore your
196. 7:13plumbing quickly even when other
197. 7:15plumbers are closed. Notice it works the
198. 7:17keyword in naturally. We're a 24-hour
199. 7:19plumber Hoboken homeowners rely on. Now,
200. 7:22the first example, the bad example that
201. 7:24I gave, it was written in an
202. 7:26informational way even though the
203. 7:29keyword was bottom of funnel. It was
204. 7:31written in a top of funnel way even
205. 7:32though the keyword was bottom of funnel.
206. 7:34Whereas the second example, the good
207. 7:35one, it judges the intent properly. It
208. 7:38gives the searcher what they want. The
209. 7:40second one creates confidence. Instead
210. 7:43of just explaining what the service
211. 7:45category is, it creates confidence in
212. 7:48you being the plumber to satisfy the
213. 7:50searchers intent to be a good 24-hour
214. 7:53plumber. So, the second is going to
215. 7:54convert a lot more and it's going to
216. 7:57keep searchers on the page. The first
217. 7:59one will result in more people leaving
218. 8:01the page or like, "No, no, no. I'm not
219. 8:03looking for a Wikipedia entry to explain
220. 8:06this to me. I'm looking for a plumber to
221. 8:08do what I want. I'm going to go back to
222. 8:09the search results and try to find
223. 8:10somebody who's going to do what I want."
224. 8:12And even if they do stick around, you're
225. 8:14just going to have a harder time
226. 8:15converting them because you will have
227. 8:17lost their patience right away. Just
228. 8:19answer, right when you start, why choose
229. 8:22you? They already know they're they're
230. 8:24looking for a brand. Answer why choose
231. 8:26you. The first one only explains the
232. 8:27category. The second is
233. 8:29conversion-focused. The second sounds
234. 8:31like a real business homeowners rely on,
235. 8:34builds trust and authority. The second
236. 8:36has a clear subject we instead of just
237. 8:39an abstract service. It's sales
238. 8:41copywriting. Prevent costly water
239. 8:44damage. That's more emotionally
240. 8:45compelling than just prevent water
241. 8:47damage. By the way, notice that the
242. 8:49second one, it still explains what a
243. 8:5224-hour plumber Hoboken does, but it
244. 8:55explains it from the perspective of this
245. 8:57is what we do. It explains it from a
246. 8:59sales perspective because honestly, the
247. 9:02searcher is looking to be sold. Here's
248. 9:04another example. The keyword is room
249. 9:06planner app and you have a room planner
250. 9:09app tool. So, here's how not to write
251. 9:12the first sentence. Don't say, "Room
252. 9:14planner app tools help homeowners
253. 9:17measure spaces, create furniture
254. 9:18layouts, and visualize interior design
255. 9:21ideas more easily so they can plan
256. 9:23functional room designs and experiment
257. 9:25with different setups before moving or
258. 9:27buying furniture." Again, it's
259. 9:28misjudging the intent. It's explaining
260. 9:31what a room planner app is, but somebody
261. 9:33searching room planner app, they already
262. 9:35know what they want. So, instead, this
263. 9:38is what you should say. You say, "Our
264. 9:40room planner app uses AI to measure your
265. 9:43room and create furniture layouts
266. 9:45instantly from your photos." And then
267. 9:47you can keep moving them to your call to
268. 9:49action. "Simply upload two pictures of
269. 9:51your space and let the AI generate room
270. 9:54dimensions, furniture placement ideas,
271. 9:56and interior design layouts in minutes.
272. 9:59Use free with no sign up required." And
273. 10:01then you give a use now button. So, the
274. 10:03first misjudged the intent. It's going
275. 10:06to have higher pogo sticking. It's going
276. 10:07to have a harder time moving people to a
277. 10:10call to action button because right away
278. 10:12it's just written improperly. The second
279. 10:14says, "We're giving you exactly what you
280. 10:17want. It's really easy to use. Here's a
281. 10:20button to use it." And again, it's
282. 10:22really easy. The thing is, with the
283. 10:24second example, people don't even have
284. 10:26to read the rest of what's on the page.
285. 10:29That's really what you want. Within
286. 10:31those first couple of sentences, they're
287. 10:32like, "This is for me." That's going to
288. 10:34have way higher conversions. It's going
289. 10:37to retain so many more searches. And so,
290. 10:40it's going to be better for you to get
291. 10:42users, to get customers, and for Google
292. 10:45to trust your website, to rank more
293. 10:47pages. So again, the stakes of doing
294. 10:50this wrong are pretty big, pretty darn
295. 10:52big. You're missing out on a lot of
296. 10:54sales. You're hurting your rankings.
297. 10:56You're hurting your entire site. And
298. 10:58then when you do it right, and doing it
299. 11:00right, it's not that complex. And when
300. 11:02you do that right, well, everything
301. 11:04works out. And that is everything that I
302. 11:06got for you on this episode of the show.
303. 11:09If you want to go deeper into getting
304. 11:10customers, users, and warm leads with
305. 11:12search engine optimization, I have a 13
306. 11:14and 1/2 hour course that I spent a year
307. 11:17plus making. And I continue to update
308. 11:19this course at compactkeywords.com.
309. 11:22Again, it is about how to actually
310. 11:24convert with SEO cuz you're not doing
311. 11:27SEO to get vanity rankings. You are
312. 11:29doing SEO to make money. A a of people
313. 11:32don't even realize that you can do that.
314. 11:34Or people don't realize SEO isn't magic.
315. 11:36It's pretty simple, actually. And you
316. 11:38don't have to be a genius or a black hat
317. 11:41evil hacker to do it. You can be an
318. 11:43honest business owner just trying to
319. 11:46find the people who are looking for what
320. 11:48you offer. And then explaining why your
321. 11:50brand gives them that. So, if you want
322. 11:52to learn how to do that, again, that's a
323. 11:54compactkeywords.com. That's everything
324. 11:56for 1,051
325. 11:58of the AdWords Show, 1,051 days in a row
326. 12:01doing this podcast. If you watch this on
327. 12:04YouTube, thank you so much for watching.
328. 12:06If you listened on Spotify or Apple
329. 12:08Podcasts, thank you so much for
330. 12:10listening. And I will talk to you again
331. 12:12tomorrow. Bye now.