Optimising your text with keywords
Many business owners need to write online for and about their business. So how do we write for our human customers and make our content show up online? We use search engine optimisation, or SEO. (Exciting for me; not for everyone.) It’s all about keywords: special words and phrases that internet users are typing into search engines like Google to find things. Like “dog toys for strong dogs”, or “pre-loved clothing”. You then pop them into your text naturally. Quite often keywords come out of your pen or keyboard intuitively. I mean, if they’re coming out of users’ searching fingertips organically, then they’re coming out of writers' typing fingertips organically too, right?
A blog about dog toys for strong dogs should include all sorts of juicy keywords that can be found in a tool from one or more primary keywords. You can use keyword tools that tell you what’s trending like Ahrefs, Semrush, Ubersuggest, Twinword, etc. Below is an example from Ubersuggest:
User intents – they’re not that intense
Now — interestingly (again; for me, not for everyone), a blog, for example, needs a different type of keyword than a landing page does. Think carefully about exactly what you’re writing. When it comes to online material, it’s important to think about what your reader wants and where their head’s at when they’re typing into their search bar. If you're writing a landing page, you know your customer is ready to buy your product or service. If you're writing a blog, you know they are searching for information, or they might want some advice — they're not buying yet. Or maybe they're just browsing, thinking they might buy something, but they're not sure what ... Once you’ve decided why they are searching, you have their intentions nailed. And you understand their ‘user intent’. Now you can use the right sort of keywords — and keyword filters — in the text you’re writing.
Using filters to write for copy type and customer type
Blogs and articles
Now for the exciting bit: filters. Everyone loves a filter, well everyone on Snapchat does anyway. So, for writing a blog, on the keyword tool I use, I set my User Intent Filter to 'know some info', because that’s what blogs are about. Educating, staying connected, not selling directly. There’s nothing that gives customers the ick more than a salesy article when they’re not ready to buy. Chill. A blog or article reader needs information. Their intent is therefore called INFORMATIONAL INTENT.
Below are the first 10 keywords I got when the filter was set to 'know some info' on Twinword:
Landing pages and eCommerce sites
When writing for an eCommerce website or a landing page for, let's say, an online dog equipment site's seasonal sale, I'd set the filter to 'buy or do something'. There are two potential 'user intents' here: a) COMMERCIAL INVESTIGATION INTENT, when the user isn't quite sure what they want yet but know they want something and they love a browse; and b) TRANSACTIONAL INTENT, describing users who are searching for a specific item. For example, someone who has date for collecting their new Staffy puppy (very strong) which they know is going to chew a lot while teething. They’re ready to spend some dollar. You can pitch your text and your keywords to suit their ‘ready-to-spend’ mindset.
Below are the first 10 keywords I got when the filter was set to 'buy or do something' on Twinword:
Plus we have NAVIGATIONAL INTENT, for when the user has a specific website in mind, and that’s what they type into the browser. For customers who already know about BarkBox and their Super Chewers. So we have: - informational intent - commercial investigation intent - transactional intent - navigational intent
- There's local search intent! Restaurants near me, petrol stations near me, dog washes near me, etc.
So ... when writing, be aware of where your customer is in their buying journey or ‘sales funnel’ and what they might be thinking. We're not all mind readers, but we can put ourselves in our customers' shoes when we're writing a particular type of text.
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