6 Points To Consider When Copywriting For Panda 2.5
Any self-respecting SEO consultant will know the true value of informative, vibrant content. It seems that Google is placing more importance on this kind of copy now, too. While there has been a lot of speculation surrounding the latest algorithm change from Google HQ, nicknamed ‘Panda 2.5’ by serial bloggers, it seems that the developers behind the search engine are incredibly keen to penalise any sites that could be considered content farms or are seen as completely irrelevant altogether.
This is nothing new, but it seems that if you’re going to step up the pace and stay one step ahead as far as the SERPs are concerned, it may be time to take a step back and remember the bare necessities of good, quality copywriting and their relevance to the modernised Google that we’ve come to both love and hate (depending on your stake in the SEO industry!).
Whether you’re writing for your own site or work as a professional copywriter, here are some points that you may need to bear in mind while writing for today’s contemporary web pages.
- Simplify your aims. If you’re working for a client, speak to them about their mission as a business and look to incorporate two or three key ideas into your main chunks of content. From a human user point of view, consumers don’t want to be put off by a load of waffle and want a concise, clear description of what the particular site is offering. And for the bots, you need to make sure that your intentions are clear, otherwise search engines will have trouble determining the relevancy of your website and it will rank lower as a consequence.
- Choose your keywords carefully as part of an intelligent SEO campaign. And if you’re keeping an eye on your keyword density, aim somewhere between 1.5 – 3.5%. Gone are the days when keyword stuffing went by unnoticed. These numbers aren’t set in stone and it’ll be interesting to see how Google approaches this density figure with regards to future updates.
- Make sure your content and meta data matches up. Eradicate any keywords in your titles, headers and descriptions that might be misleading. Promising users something that you can’t deliver will result in low SERPs!
- Write content that users will want to share amongst themselves. You should already have the main social networks integrated into your page, so make sure that you’re continually writing copy that people will want to read. Now that your content is so readily available, you’re essentially advertising your site every time you write. Take a look at your homepage – is the content written for your audience, about your audience or to benefit your audience? If it does neither of these things it’s time for change. The same principal can be applied to internal pages.
- Make sure that there is more text on your page than HTML code. This is a common error that’s often overlooked by web designers getting ahead of themselves. Although the actual percentage is more or less irrelevant, the amount of HTML on your page will affect load speed, which is an important factor.
- Video has allegedly fared well this time around so look to spice up your text with either an informative presentation or a comedy sketch that emphasises your point – anything that will engage the reader and offer up something a little different from the norm.
SEO consultants are barely getting to grips with one Panda update before another comes along and shakes up the system even further. So what’s the best advice for DIY copywriters? Keep yourself (and your clients) up to date with the latest opinions and suggestions from some of the world’s leading search engine optimisation bloggers and monitor the impact that your modified content is having on your site in the next few weeks or months. If your sites experience a SERP drop, don’t be afraid to re-draft until you start seeing an improvement.
This article was written by Lewis Austin who is the social media marketer for SEO Positive, if you would like more info on SEO Positive, make sure you follow their blog and Twitter
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10 Responses to “6 Points To Consider When Copywriting For Panda 2.5”
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Thanks for a good post, Lewis. Relevant Videos in posts are also good when wanting a higher time on site, hence boosting quality. What to do about Panda? well a post just posted by Ryan Jones here on SEJ, make a good point “Stop Chasing Algorithms and Start Making Your Site More Useful”.
These six points are definetly a good guideline for doing this.
/Michael
Indeed, a great post. Curious to get your and readers’ thoughts on length? Still getting requests for 1,000-word articles. As a former journalist who specializes in SEO and social content, there are so many reasons why word count should take a back seat.
Your take?
The tough part is contributing something unique. Even though I do write about topics that are already well documented I try to contribute something – even something small – that may be unique. It’s hard.
But the part about focus each page is so important now.
Well! thanks for sharing this information. Good informative post.
Interesting about keyword density. I had heard that at least 5% was still the norm. Good to hear that cramming in keywords is the going the way of the dodo bird.
Great info. I think the point about creating content that people want to share is key: that gets you vital links and creates brand loyalty.
Very interesting points are suggested. I hope these are more helpful in writing webpages.
Even though the changes come faster than one can digest they at least have a clear direction: usefulness of content.
This is a good thing done by Google and it even makes life easier for SEO copywriters and clients who prefer writing the copy themselves as the rules start to come down to one central point: Be Useful!
While it does indeed increase the benchmark for quality it also allows (increasingly requires) to write what’s interesting and good to read. Quite often
Stephan Reply:
November 1st, 2011 at 10:57 pm
(got interrupted by a bloody button
… I still see copy with great content gone down the drain by overdone attempts to please bots rather than users.
Panda is a good step in the right direction!
These points are very good for bloggers. It is important to ensure that you have very good content in order to satisfy both Google and the visitors to your site. The keywords you chose should be relevant to the content you are writing because irrelevant content may lead to a site ranking lower.