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The Blank Sheet Of Paper Test
Writing SEO-Ready Copy That Doesn’t Suck
Ian Lurie
@ianlurie
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I am an SEO
nerd
writer
gamer
cyclist
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Copywriting is
not about SEO.
“
”
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Copywriting is
not about SEO.
“
”
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You can do SEO without
trashing your writing.
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But you still have to do it
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Where the algorithm’s going
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Expertise
Authority
Trustworthiness
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SEOs
“EAT!”
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If E-A-T is news, you are s-c-r-e-w-e-d
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BERT
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Say “optimize for stop words”
and she (?) shows up at your door
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No-click SERP features
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BERT binary representation of words
vectors entity recognition syntax
sentiment schema tokenization
stemming lemmatization latent
semantic indexing TFIDF POS tagging
bag of words reverse indexing Zipf’s
Law Levenshtein distance blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
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Let’s get practical, shall we?
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Search engines deliver chunks of
content based on searcher requests.
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They decide what to deliver by
comparing searcher intent to content.*
*Some search scientist is going to punch me in the face for this description, but it works for our purposes, OK?
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They set context using words,
language, and structure.*
*Some search scientist is going to punch me in the face for this description, but it works for our purposes, OK?
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We need to make their job easy.
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The Blank Sheet Of Paper Test
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The Blank Sheet
Of Paper Test
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The Blank Sheet
Of Paper Test
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BSOPT
Pronounced “BEEE-SAH-P-T”
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Will this content, shown on a
blank sheet of paper, make
sense to a stranger?
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Clarity above all else
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The Problem Is Context
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“Happy office people”
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“Creepy somewhat racially-balanced
company of attractive people ready
to cook you with fava beans.”
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The Wall Comes Tumbling Down
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No content
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No content
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Clarity out of context > Gold
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Lack of clarity = Cringe
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“Supreme Court Tries Sodomy”
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“Supreme Court Tries Sodomy Case”
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If you write to pass the blank sheet of
paper test, you write optimized copy
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Will this content, shown on a
blank sheet of paper, make
sense to a stranger?
What does this
stranger want???
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Blank Sheet Of Paper Test Rule #1
Know what the stranger wants.
Look at searcher intent.
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Capybara has
two meanings
Photo by Dušan Smetana
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We’re not sure what strangers
want when they search for
capybara food
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We know what they want
when they search for
capybara nutrition
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Capybara food includes squash,
lettuce, popsicles and french fries.
For best nutrition, give them more
lettuce and fewer popsicles.
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Capybara food includes squash,
lettuce, popsicles and french fries.
For best nutrition, give them more
lettuce and fewer popsicles.
BSOPT: You’re writing about
what Capybara eat.
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People searching for “capybara” want
information. Fill their blank sheet of
paper with knowledge content.
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People searching for “capybara
coat” want a product. Fill their
blank sheet of paper with horrible
twisted awful products that only
mean people would buy.
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Transactional
Informational
Hybrid intent
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Create a recipe page
Transactional
Informational
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Fill the blank sheet of
paper with answers to
their questions
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Moz
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Quora
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Will this content, shown on a
blank sheet of paper, make
sense to a stranger?
What should I write?
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Blank Sheet Of Paper Test Rule #2
F—k the funnel
Get to the point
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You sell capybara food…
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The traditional approach
Capybara mating habits
Capybara swimming
Cute capybara
Capybara food
I hugged a capybara. You should, too
Capybara with hats
Feral capybara
Capybara singers
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BSOPT
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No content
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Fill the blank sheet of paper with
content that you know the reader
will want.
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Fill the blank sheet of paper with content
directly related to your offering that
you know the reader will want.
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Capybara food
Capybara
Capybara health
Nutrition
Cute capybara
Write about this
Then this
If you run out of ideas
No
Never
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Will this content, shown on a
blank sheet of paper, make
sense to a stranger?
What is the stranger’s
vocabulary?
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Blank Sheet Of Paper Test Rule #3
Speak their language.
Use the keywords.
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Don’t avoid the keyphrase*
*sorry Haggar love you guys
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Not sure? Look
at Google Trends
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Check search features
People are confused!
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Check out our denim pants!!!!
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Check out our denim pants!!!!
BSOPT: You sell pants made of
denim. Not jeans, sweatpants
or anything else.
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Use their word
These pants are more than jeans.
They’re denim. Check it out.
Now use yours
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Use their word
We offer digital workflow made
better by process automation
Now use yours
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Use their phrase
Capybara are the world’s
largest rodent. 140 pounds. I
wouldn’t joke about this.
Now use yours
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Will this content, shown on a
blank sheet of paper, make
sense to a stranger?
How can I make this
content make sense?
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Blank Sheet Of Paper Test Rule #4
Control context.
Structure your content for clarity.
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Put keywords where they matter
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Yeah, it’s still a thing
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Title/headline/first paragraph etc. etc.
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Get to the point
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Yay!!!!
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But first, The History
Of Bicycle Tires
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And the anatomy
of a bicycle tire
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Now, finally,
how to install
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BSOPT: I’m going to read
about the history of bicycle
tires. Eventually. Maybe.
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Bet they could be #1…
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Better. This section, near the
top of the page, passes the
BSOPT with flying colors.
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Lookitthat
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(Cat on keyboard)
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No answer box
But #1 organic
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We must ask ourselves, “Why?”
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Where are the
stretches?!!!!
Way the heck down here
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No indication of a list
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Heading same size
as/smaller than copy
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I think maybe I’m going to see
this thing call sun salutation.
Not sure why.
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i think that’s
supposed to be a
list of useful
information
wow. Total BSOPT fail.
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Use headings and numbering
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Numbered
subheading
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I’m going to see a list of stretches. This
stretch is “calf stretch into wall”
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That’s what I’m
talkin’ about.
I know exactly
what I’m going to
get. Perfect.
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Not a coincidence
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Will this content, shown on a
blank sheet of paper, make
sense to a stranger?
How do I make sure I
get on the blank
sheet of paper?
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Blank Sheet Of Paper Rule #5
Do the plumbing
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Behold…
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Title tag, but you
already knew that
Title tag
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Title tag
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ALT attribute
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Ah HAH
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Editing the ALT
attribute in Wordpress
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The SERPS are your first
blank sheet of paper
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Make sure your result
passes the BSOPT
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Description tag:
Optimize for clickthru
by passing the BSOPT
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Test using PPC
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Random: URL permanence
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capybarakingdom.com/annual-report/
/annual-report/2017
/annual-report/2018
Never change the current URL
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capybarakingdom.com/annual-report/
/annual-report/2017
/annual-report/2018
In 2019, the 2019 report lives here
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capybarakingdom.com/annual-report/
/annual-report/2018
/annual-report/2019
/annual-report/2017
And the 2019
report lives here
In 2020, the 2020 report lives here
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Random: Link if it makes sense
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Onsite
Offsite
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In Conclusion…
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Always more.
schema
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BSOPT
Pronounced “BEEE-SAH-P-T”
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Will this text, written on a
blank sheet of paper, make
sense to a stranger?
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Apply this everywhere, and
you’re writing optimized copy.