Article provided with permission by Rank Write Roundtable. © 2000 Rank Write Roundtable.

Writing Keyword-Rich Content By Heather Lloyd-Martin - August 11, 2000 (From the Rank Write Roundtable Newsletter) Copywriting Question of the Week: From: Sue Hi Jill and Heather- I've read your articles on the Rank Write site, and you both recommend "keyword-rich" text. What is "keyword-rich?" Won't my text sound funny if I'm repeating the same words over and over again? Will the search engines think I'm spamming them? Thanks for clearing this up! Sue ~~~Heather's Response~~~ Hi, Sue- Good question! The tricky thing about strong search engine optimization writing is that you're serving two masters - the search engines and your audience. For instance, check out this sentence: "Our extensive collection of cashmere sweaters means you can find any women's cashmere sweater or men's cashmere sweater for incredible cashmere sweater prices." Did that last sentence make you want to buy a cashmere sweater? Or, was the copy so boring and strange-sounding that you stopped after the first line? Unfortunately, there are some Web sites that sacrifice good, persuasive writing for stilted-sounding text (you can probably name some, too.) It does *absolutely* no good to drive traffic to your site if your copy sounds like a fill-in-the-blank laundry list. Sure, you can argue that the text is "keyphrase-rich" - but you run the strong risk of users getting lost with your copy and surfing to your competitor. Search engine optimization copywriting techniques are very similar to normal online copywriting. When you're writing your Web text, focus on the benefits (as you would for any other copy) and add keywords where appropriate. Because you (a) know what keyphrases you're going to focus on before you start writing and (b) are writing strong, persuasive content that's relevant to these keyphrases, adding keywords while keeping a good marketing flow is a snap. Some other things to consider to avoid any accidental engine-spamming: 1. If you're in doubt between keyword-rich and spam-arama, read your copy out loud. Strong marketing copy should have a natural flow and feel when you hear it. If the text sounds "bumpy" and the keyphrases stand out, revise your copy. 2. Don't end a sentence with a keyword and start the sentence with the same keyword. For instance, avoid sentences like "There's never been a better time to order our cashmere. Cashmere is an unforgettable luxury." This could easily be considered spam, so it's best to be safe and separate those keyphrases. 3. Don't include a huge keyword list as part of your copy. If huge blocks of your copy are nothing but your keyphrases separated by commas (like cashmere sweaters, cashmere scarves, cashmere men's clothing) tweak them into "real" sentences and rewrite. Thanks for your question! Keep 'em coming! - Heather ~~~Jill's unsolicited 2 cents~~~ Yes, yes! Once again, Heather is right on the money! I just wanted to clarify number 2 above. When you end a sentence with cashmere, and then start the next one with the same word, to the engines it appears that you're simply repeating a word twice (remember, search engines are basically dumb!). Since repeating words was a common spam technique of yore, it's been said that many search engines simply ignore any double (or triple!) words. So you could actually be hurting your chances of getting that word picked up, instead of helping. - Jill ~~~Send Us Your Questions~~~ If you have questions about online copywriting or search engine optimization (or both!), just zip us an email to questions@rankwrite.com. We've had some folks ask if their question was "too basic" to be printed - and you don't have to worry about that! There are no "stupid" search engine optimization or copywriting questions, so ask away!