The Blank Sheet Of Paper Test: SEO Copywriting 101

The one rule you need to know for ANY great copywriting happens to be an SEO superpower: The Blank Sheet Of Paper Test.

Transcript

1. The Blank Sheet Of Paper Test Writing SEO-Ready Copy That Doesn’t Suck Ian Lurie @ianlurie
2. I am an SEO nerd writer gamer cyclist
3. Copywriting is not about SEO. “ ”
4. Copywriting is not about SEO. “ ”
5. You can do SEO without trashing your writing.
6. But you still have to do it
7. Where the algorithm’s going
8. Expertise Authority Trustworthiness
9. SEOs “EAT!”
10. If E-A-T is news, you are s-c-r-e-w-e-d
11. BERT
12. Say “optimize for stop words” and she (?) shows up at your door
13. No-click SERP features
14. 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
15. Let’s get practical, shall we?
16. Search engines deliver chunks of content based on searcher requests.
17. 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?
18. 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?
19. We need to make their job easy.
20. The Blank Sheet Of Paper Test
21. The Blank Sheet Of Paper Test
22. The Blank Sheet Of Paper Test
23. BSOPT Pronounced “BEEE-SAH-P-T”
24. Will this content, shown on a blank sheet of paper, make sense to a stranger?
25. Clarity above all else
26. The Problem Is Context
27. “Happy office people”
28. “Creepy somewhat racially-balanced company of attractive people ready to cook you with fava beans.”
29. The Wall Comes Tumbling Down
32. Clarity out of context > Gold
33. Lack of clarity = Cringe
34. “Supreme Court Tries Sodomy”
35. “Supreme Court Tries Sodomy Case”
36. If you write to pass the blank sheet of paper test, you write optimized copy
37. Will this content, shown on a blank sheet of paper, make sense to a stranger? What does this stranger want???
38. Blank Sheet Of Paper Test Rule #1 Know what the stranger wants. Look at searcher intent.
39. Capybara has two meanings Photo by Dušan Smetana
40. We’re not sure what strangers want when they search for capybara food
41. We know what they want when they search for capybara nutrition
42. Capybara food includes squash, lettuce, popsicles and french fries. For best nutrition, give them more lettuce and fewer popsicles.
43. 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.
44. People searching for “capybara” want information. Fill their blank sheet of paper with knowledge content.
45. 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.
46. Transactional Informational Hybrid intent
47. Create a recipe page Transactional Informational
48. Fill the blank sheet of paper with answers to their questions
49. Moz
50. Quora
51. Will this content, shown on a blank sheet of paper, make sense to a stranger? What should I write?
52. Blank Sheet Of Paper Test Rule #2 F—k the funnel Get to the point
53. You sell capybara food…
54. 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
55. BSOPT
57. Fill the blank sheet of paper with content that you know the reader will want.
58. Fill the blank sheet of paper with content directly related to your offering that you know the reader will want.
59. Capybara food Capybara Capybara health Nutrition Cute capybara Write about this Then this If you run out of ideas No Never
60. Will this content, shown on a blank sheet of paper, make sense to a stranger? What is the stranger’s vocabulary?
61. Blank Sheet Of Paper Test Rule #3 Speak their language. Use the keywords.
62. Don’t avoid the keyphrase* *sorry Haggar love you guys
63. Not sure? Look at Google Trends
64. Check search features People are confused!
65. Check out our denim pants!!!!
66. Check out our denim pants!!!! BSOPT: You sell pants made of denim. Not jeans, sweatpants or anything else.
67. Use their word These pants are more than jeans. They’re denim. Check it out. Now use yours
68. Use their word We offer digital workflow made better by process automation Now use yours
69. Use their phrase Capybara are the world’s largest rodent. 140 pounds. I wouldn’t joke about this. Now use yours
70. Will this content, shown on a blank sheet of paper, make sense to a stranger? How can I make this content make sense?
71. Blank Sheet Of Paper Test Rule #4 Control context. Structure your content for clarity.
72. Put keywords where they matter
73. Yeah, it’s still a thing
74. Title/headline/first paragraph etc. etc.
75. Get to the point
76. Yay!!!!
77. But first, The History Of Bicycle Tires
78. And the anatomy of a bicycle tire
79. Now, finally, how to install
80. BSOPT: I’m going to read about the history of bicycle tires. Eventually. Maybe.
81. Bet they could be #1…
82. Better. This section, near the top of the page, passes the BSOPT with flying colors.
83. Lookitthat
84. (Cat on keyboard)
85. No answer box But #1 organic
86. We must ask ourselves, “Why?”
87. Where are the stretches?!!!! Way the heck down here
88. No indication of a list
89. Heading same size as/smaller than copy
90. I think maybe I’m going to see this thing call sun salutation. Not sure why.
91. i think that’s supposed to be a list of useful information wow. Total BSOPT fail.
92. Use headings and numbering
93. Numbered subheading
94. I’m going to see a list of stretches. This stretch is “calf stretch into wall”
95. That’s what I’m talkin’ about. I know exactly what I’m going to get. Perfect.
96. Not a coincidence
97. 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?
98. Blank Sheet Of Paper Rule #5 Do the plumbing
99. Behold…
100. Title tag, but you already knew that Title tag
101. Title tag
102. ALT attribute
103. Ah HAH
104. Editing the ALT attribute in Wordpress
105. The SERPS are your first blank sheet of paper
106. Make sure your result passes the BSOPT
107. Description tag: Optimize for clickthru by passing the BSOPT
108. Test using PPC
109. Random: URL permanence
110. capybarakingdom.com/annual-report/ /annual-report/2017 /annual-report/2018 Never change the current URL
111. capybarakingdom.com/annual-report/ /annual-report/2017 /annual-report/2018 In 2019, the 2019 report lives here
112. 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
113. Random: Link if it makes sense
114. Onsite Offsite
115. In Conclusion…
116. Always more. schema
117. BSOPT Pronounced “BEEE-SAH-P-T”
118. Will this text, written on a blank sheet of paper, make sense to a stranger?
119. Apply this everywhere, and you’re writing optimized copy.
120. That’s It @ianlurie ianjlurie@gmail.com Look at that face!!!!!