Before I begin, have a second look at the title. I didn’t say how to write FOR keywords but WITH keywords. And here is the one out of the one hundred and one, your goal should never be to write for a particular keyword. Your goal should be to incorporate it in a meaningful way in meaningful content. As a freelancer offering SEO copywriting services, acquiring the skill of mastering the art of writing with odd keywords is a must. Here is how I do it.
Why Are There Odd Keywords in the First Place?
Let’s get to the bottom of it
Although it may seem like search engines are your biggest rivals in the world of content creation and optimization, when you get a writing assignment with strange keywords, it is not them to blame. All keywords originate from people’s search queries, and if you have an odd one, that is because a significant number of people are using it to find what you or your client are offering.
The thing is, just because you know the industry jargon/terminology, it doesn’t mean users do, too.
It applies to doctors, and it applies to plumbers.
You may be a leading orthopedic surgeon specializing in pelvic arthroplasty, but you are still going to get traffic coming to your site from terms like “I need a new hip” or “hip doctor.” Same with plumbing — you may call it plumbing repair, but people might see it as “broken plumbing.” It’s a bitter pill to swallow as it is against all your proper grammar instincts but as an SEO copywriting professional, your services must extend to working your way around a strange keyword. In other words, be a tough cookie.
Prepare Yourself Mentally
Odd keywords offer a precious insight
Strange keywords are a valuable insight into the minds of the people you are trying to target with your content. It shows you how they think, how much they know about the topic, and what kind of language they use. It also signals what kind of text they will understand and what will be too complicated or simple to them.
If you have doubts about your ability to tackle the assignment, my colleague at 411Writers, Vicky, wrote a brilliant piece about overcoming self-doubt. You might find it useful for your preparation.
Let’s Look at Examples
Because I love doctors and plumbing…
If you have been in the field of SEO copywriting services as long as I have, you know that users and writers see the same thing and call it differently. If you have a keyword like “I need a new hip,” this signals you need to use a more simple, explanatory text rather than one rich in terminology. As for “broken plumbing,” you can get creative and open it with something along the lines of:
“A lot of what our clients call “broken plumbing” are actually small faucet leaks and aged flushing devices.”
This here directly clicks with the mindset and jargon of users. They like you because you used their language. They trust you because you “listened” to their queries. Search engines rank you because you gave them food to snack on. Everyone goes home happy.
Think Outside the B̶o̶x̶ Keyword
A little reminder you can play around with it
Moreover, search engines are quite smart, and things like semantics get to them, too. This means you don’t have to use an exact match of your strange keyword all the time. You can play around with it and get a good idea or two out of the conundrum — “Do you fear your garbage disposal unit might be broken? Our plumbing team will come to the rescue!” Suddenly, it is not so difficult to handle odd keywords, is it?
Of course, it all depends on the kind of text you are writing. There is a world difference between creative blogs, informative and enticing landing pages, and just about any other type of content. If you still find your assignment too difficult for you to handle, you can always turn to our team at 411Writers, and let our SEO copywriting services help you save the day!
What are some examples of the odd keywords you had to deal with? Let me know in the comment section below, I’d really like to see how I’d manage with them!
