I don’t advertise myself as an SEO specialist, but I’m often asked if I can write SEO copy. The answer is that of course I can – but then, so can any good copywriter.

SEO copywriting isn’t a particularly difficult skill if you already have some copywriting ability. It is, after all, simply a case of getting the right keywords, to the right density, in the right places in the text.

The hardest part is getting the keywords right. That’s not such a big problem for me, as clients that want optimised copy usually have a very clear idea of the keywords that need to be included. Keyword research is an expert skill, and not one that I’d claim to have in any great measure.

But once the keywords are chosen, writing the copy is pretty straightforward - and it has become much more so since Google has increased the sophistication of its algorithms over the last couple of years. I aim for a natural keyword density and try to ensure that the two main keywords are prominent in the first and last paragraphs of copy on the page.

The hard part, sometimes, is writing SEO copy that flows naturally. This kind of problem arises because web users often structure their search strings in a way that doesn’t fit smoothly into copy.

For example, if I were website copywriting for the luxury hotel down the road from me, I might discover that the most important keyword string is:

luxury hotel north wales

As you can see, that’s not the kind of word order that would fit neatly into a sentence (though plenty of people try it: “come to the Eryl Mor for luxury hotels North Wales” – yuck). But it’s the key phrase that I, the SEO copywriter, have to work with.

The trick here is to use punctuation to break up keyword groups. Search engines don’t ‘see’ stops, commas, dashes and the like. So if I wanted to work my example into some copy, I might write something like this (I’ve added the emphasis):

The Eryl Mor is one of Bangor’s finest luxury hotels. North Wales is a popular destination with travellers from all over the world, and we pride ourselves on the quality of service that we offer our guests.

Sometimes I wind up chewing the end of a pencil for ten minutes trying to figure out the best way to make combinations like that fit. It’s not always easy, but it’s usually possible.

SEO copywriting isn’t an arcane art. If you’re a reasonable online copywriter it’s something you should be able to pick up very quickly.