© IDM Academy 2008 Writing to be found by search engines Catherine Toole

© IDM Academy 2008 About Sticky Content Incorporated in 1997 Digital writing specialists for more than a decade Journalists, editors, marketers, copywriters

© IDM Academy 2008 Five ways we help our clients… 1. Audit and benchmark their digital content 2. Produce tone of voice/language guidelines 3. Develop best-practice formats and samples 4. Write, edit and optimise web copy 5. Train in writing for the web, search, …

© IDM Academy 2008 In April 2008 we’re working for… AXA PPP BERR (former DTI) Big Lottery Fund Capgemini Deloitte & Touche Energy Saving Trust John Lewis Partnership London Business School Nokia Siemens Networks ODEON Cinemas Oxfam Yell.com

© IDM Academy 2008 New ‘findability’ trend in web copywriting “We want to be found by search engines but we can’t do that to the detriment of our brand. We need to get people from Google to our site but we also need them to want to stay when they get there”. “We do want to drive search engine traffic, yes, but we want targeted traffic. So we invest in clear messaging which helps us get the right users through.”

© IDM Academy 2008 How to write to be found How do the words you write affect your organic rankings? Five key findability factors for all web copywriters Can web writing be creative and still search friendly?

Organic search

© IDM Academy 2008 How do search engines work? 1.Indexing 2.The search 3.The results page

Why ranking matters: typical share of clicks 40% 10% 8% 6% 5% Top 10 results: ≈ 90% of clicks

© IDM Academy 2008 Five key findability factors all web copywriters should know Keyword use in title tag Links to your site from other sites (popularity and relevance of the site, relevance of link text) Keyword use in body copy Links to your page from within your site Relevant links from your page to other pages and external sites Source: SEOMoz “Search Engine Ranking Factors 2007” (April 2007)

© IDM Academy 2008 Headlines and links should be self-explanatory Copy should include key words where possible Writing findable copy: example

© IDM Academy 2008 Headlines and links should be self-explanatory Copy should include key words where possible Writing findable copy: example Link text should be descriptive Headlines should be meaningful and self- contained No description means no clue to the subject Title the search engine sees Good idea – but why would I?

© IDM Academy 2008 Keywords “As a vital ingredient in the online search process, keywords have become part of our everyday experience. We feed keywords into Google, Yahoo!, MSN, eBay and Amazon. We search for news products, people, used furniture and music. And words are the key to our success.” Peter Morville, Ambient Findability

© IDM Academy 2008 Keywords in copy: write for people first ‘No one wants to read a sentence like: “this site is all about Buffy so if you like Buffy you should come to this site and read about Buffy episodes and download Buffy wallpaper and Buffy screensavers and Buffy ecards and other things about Buffy.” Even I don’t want to read that and you won’t find a bigger Buffy fan than me.’ – Vanessa Fox

© IDM Academy 2008 Keywords in titles

© IDM Academy 2008 Meanwhile on page 7 of Google results…

© IDM Academy 2008 A print headline: different rules

© IDM Academy 2008 Are these headlines ‘findable’?

© IDM Academy 2008 Links

© IDM Academy 2008 Links Inbound links –Important in search engine rankings –Links from community sites mean targeted readers Outbound links –Search engines use targets and anchor text –Links to other pages add value to readers

© IDM Academy 2008 Headlines and links should be self-explanatory Copy should include key words where possible The power of inbound links

© IDM Academy 2008 Building links to your content How can you encourage linking? Provide useful, usable content Publicise new material (RSS, ) Connect to special interest communities

© IDM Academy 2008 What makes good linkbait? Quality content by knowledgeable writers Landing pages Interactivity: competitions, surveys, web tools Strong, scannable formats: beginners’ guides, award shortlists, top tens…

© IDM Academy 2008 Links out from your content A good link is: findable: contains a target keyword an active instruction at the end of a sentence scannable, self-contained and meaningful informative about its destination and similarly titled not too long

© IDM Academy 2008 Exercise: writing anchor text To suggest a new travel discussion topic please click here. Click here to log in or register for the travel forum. How England overcame the Aussie rugby machine. Read more

© IDM Academy 2008 Exercise: writing anchor text To suggest a new travel discussion topic please click here. Suggest a new travel topic Click here to log in or register for the travel forum. Join the travel forum How England overcame the Aussie rugby machine. Read more The secrets of England’s rugby triumph over Australia.

© IDM Academy 2008 Landing pages

© IDM Academy 2008 Landing pages

© IDM Academy 2008 Can you be both creative and findable?

© IDM Academy 2008 Can you be both creative and findable?

© IDM Academy 2008 Can you be both creative and findable?

© IDM Academy 2008 Can you be both creative and findable?

© IDM Academy 2008 Writing for search: a checklist 1.Is my title searchable? 2.Are my links effective? 3.Is my copy original, engaging and linkable? 4.Have I used the right keywords? 5.Does my standfirst tell people what to expect? 6.Is my copy well structured? 7.Have I written for people first?

© IDM Academy 2008 What the experts say “Much of the best SEO is common sense... coming up with useful content or services that has the words that people search for” Matt Cutts, Google “The top linguistic SEO guideline? Speak the user’s language. Users type queries using their own vocabulary.” Jakob Nielsen, Prioritizing Web Usability

© IDM Academy 2008 Any questions?