Typography

How to Write Copy that Google Loves

2019/02/21/0 Comments/in Frontpage Article, Marketing, SEO, Typography, WordPress/by Bruce Quiroz

Erin Huebscher | February 1, 2019 BY: Namecheap.com

93% of online experiences begin with a search engine.

This statistic isn’t meant for shock value. Rather, it’s meant to emphasize just how much our everyday lives rely on search engines such as Google to supply us with useful and relevant content.

And, because Google’s entire existence is built around creating an index of all the world’s information and making it accessible to all, it’s no wonder why they value content that real people (aka their customers) are looking for.

As a writer, however, the question remains: how do you write copy that Google loves—or put another way, how do you optimize it for search engines?

An SEO Refresher

Search Engine Optimization, aka SEO, is that ubiquitous term people in the industry just love to throw around.

“It’s just not SEO-friendly enough…”

“I think we need more SEO.”

“Are you taking into consideration SEO?”

Without getting too technical, Moz describes SEO as the practice of increasing the quality and quantity of traffic to your website through organic search page results (SERPs). And when we say “organic,” we don’t mean Whole Foods-organic. Organic traffic simply refers to any sort of traffic that you don’t have to pay for. Meaning? That traffic comes naturally.

In order to receive this “natural” traffic, your copy needs to be optimized. In fact, the better optimized your website copy is, the better Google ranks your website in their organic search page results. So, using SEO means you’re doing everything you can to make sure that your website ranks higher on that neverending list of page results.

But why does optimizing your copy actually matter? Because you’ll receive more clicks, more shares, more likes, more engagement, and you guessed it, more conversions.

SEO Copywriting v. “Normal” Copywriting

Make no mistake, writing copy for the web is nothing short of an art form; an art that undoubtedly requires talent but most importantly, the ability to write optimized content that resonates with users. Remember, even if you’ve written fantastic copy, if no one can find your website, then all those beautiful words of yours will be hidden from view.

To clarify the difference between SEO copywriting and “normal” copywriting, Namecheap’s Senior SEO Content Manager Kevin Church eloquently sums it up:

“With ‘normal’ copywriting for an article or print ad, you’ve probably already got the audience’s attention in some way or another—it’s in a magazine they read, there’s an attractive image, etc.—but with SEO copywriting, you have to think about how they’re going to find your piece through Google or another search engine. You’ll want to do keyword research and create a strong outline based on actual interest versus what you think readers want.”

More on keywords later but in essence, SEO copywriting is primarily driven by metrics, meaning you’re specifically creating content to attract search engine traffic while at the same time appealing to your users.

As Liam Barrett, Namecheap’s On-Page SEO Specialist, explains:

“The best copywriters use the best of both worlds. For example, ‘normal’ copywriting can tell a great story and keep a user engaged, but may not reach the correct audience. By adding SEO research into your content, you can refine your content to get more visibility.”

Prioritize Keyword Research

If you really want the copy you write to rank well in Google, you’ll have to roll up your sleeves and do a little research—keyword research.

Think of it sort of like preparing for a first date with someone you really like. You tend to do your homework before meeting them, don’t you? It’s the same rationale with keywords. Knowing which ones will pique your audience’s (ahem, date’s) interest and take notice of you.

Proper keyword research ultimately means understanding your audience. More specifically, it’s knowing what they need and/or what particular problems they’re they looking to solve. When doing keyword research you may notice that people describe their problems in a variety of ways.

For example, let’s say you’re looking for an inexpensive hotel in Italy. While you may type in, “cheap Italian hotels” others may search for, “inexpensive places to stay in Italy” or “affordable accommodation in Tuscany.”

If you can begin to understand and anticipate which words/phrases your readers are most likely to use to describe their problems or queries, you’re well on your way to writing more compelling copy (and ranking higher in Google). Quicksprout, an online marketing resource, does a great job of identifying what keyword research can reveal to you.

Now that you know the importance of keyword research, it’s time to make keyword research tools your best friend.

Rand Fishkin over at Moz gives an excellent tutorial on how discover and prioritize the best keywords. His advice? Don’t limit yourself to one source when searching for keywords. His top picks on the best online keyword tools are: Adwords, Google Suggest, SEMrush, and KeywordTool.io.

Once you’ve got your prioritized list of chosen keywords, try to avoid “stuffing” those keywords throughout your copy. To keep your keywords in check, Barrett recommends wordcounter.net, which is a helpful tool to ensure you’re not over or under optimizing your written content.

Headlines Count

“When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”
–David Ogilvy

Headlines should always be what attracts your users’ attention, encouraging them to click and read more. A mediocre headline, accompanied by stellar copy, unfortunately, does very little for your click-through-rate (CTR).

This is why successful SEO copywriters write their headlines before writing the rest of their content. As a general rule of thumb, if your headline is clickable, attractive, and under 72 characters, you’ve got yourself a keeper. (Exceeding 72 characters sends the hint to Google that you’re only writing for search-engine purposes, not your users.)

According to Conversion XL, headlines with numbers always work. So, if a numerical figure applies to what you’re writing about, go ahead and include that number in your headline. And, if you happen to use WordPress, Yoast SEOis a fantastic plugin that helps with optimizing your website copy so you’ve got content that not only ranks high in Google but also attracts clicks from potential users.

Write Quality Meta Descriptions

Contrary to popular belief, meta descriptions—snippets of copy that summarize a page’s content in less than 155 characters—are not used for Google rankings. They are, however, used by readers like you to help better understand what topic a website is about.

Using our previous search example regarding cheap hotels in Italy, here’s what a well-written meta description might be written like:

Discover affordable and charming hotels, right in the heart of central Italy. Search and book your inexpensive Italian accommodation with us today!

When you see a meta description that includes the words and phrases you’ve already been searching for, you’re far more likely to click on it since you assume it’s relevant to your search query. And, although there’s no direct correlation between meta descriptions and Google rankings, Google will indirectly reward websites with a high click-through-rate.

What does this mean, exactly? Well, the more people who click on your search result (and read your relevant meta description), the more Google considers your page to be “good,” subsequently moving your position up their ranks. Not a bad deal.

Link It Up

Consider links, both internal and external, as the basic building blocks of your website.

When you link out to other useful sites and pages (including your own), this sends the signal to Google that you value content others create. Doing so aligns with Google’s aforementioned mission of making content accessible to everyone, everywhere.

Church wholeheartedly agrees, especially when it comes to internal linking.“You’ll want to make sure that you link to your new page from other pages on your website.” Meanwhile, Barrett recommends “linking/referencing other articles on your site (with relevant keywords)” and not being “afraid” of adding in some external links.

Thanks to the folks over at Boostability.com, here’s how to recognize what makes a good link.

The Takeaways

As any SEO pro would advise, the best kind of website copy follows the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle.

This doesn’t necessarily mean your copy has to always be short and sweet. In fact, according to Barrett, lengthy content is encouraged. His advice, however? “Try cutting unnecessary words or sentences and focus on a simple goal or set of keywords.” A helpful tool Church likes to recommend for constructing those easy-to-read sentences and paragraphs is the Hemingway editor.

Writing great SEO copy, Church explains, should ultimately be “invisible,” and naturally incorporates the terms that people type into their search engines, making it both readable and informative.

So, what have we just learned? That the best type of copy resonates andincludes SEO, keyword research is not just a suggestion—it’s mandatory, headlines under 72 characters always score, meta descriptions must be relevant, and linking means you care about awesome content.

Whew. Now, are you ready to make Google fall in love with your words?

The science behind fonts (and how they make you feel)

2013/12/31/0 Comments/in Typography/by Bruce Quiroz

By Mikael Cho, Monday, 23 Dec ’13 , 06:25pm || http://thenextweb.com

Mikael Cho is the co-founder of ooomf, a network that connects short-term software projects with handpicked developers and designers. Mikael writes about psychology, startups, and product marketing over on the ooomf blog.

I’ve noticed how seemingly small things like font and the spacing between letters can impact how I feel when reading online.

The right font choice along with the absence of sidebars and popups makes everything feel easier and better to read.

Websites like Medium, Signal vs. Noise, and Zen Habits are like yoga studios for content. Their presentation of content puts me at peace while reading, allowing me to fully focus on the stories without distraction.

Just look at the difference between Medium and Cracked:

Exhibit A) Medium.com

Exhibit B) Cracked.com

When you compare the two, it’s obvious which one makes you feel like crud.

The Cracked layout is painful to look at. Your eyes squint and dart, constantly second-guessing what you’re reading now with what you should be reading next.

After experimenting with how we display content on the ooomf blog, I discovered there’s an element of science behind why we feel this way toward certain typefaces and layouts.

How we read

When we read, our eyes follow a natural pattern called a Scan Path.

We break sentences up into scans (saccades) and pauses (fixations). Here’s theScan Path for a typical reader:

Your eyes typically move across a page for between 7 to 9 letters before needing to pause to process what you’re reading. As you scan a sentence, no useful visual processing is happening in your brain. Visual processing is completely dependent upon the information taken in when you pause.

So why does this matter? Understanding the way we read is important for designing how words look because you can directly impact someone’s connection to your writing with the right font and layout.

Why the right font layout makes you feel good

When I set out to write this post, I wasn’t sure I’d find scientific backing for why we feel a certain way toward certain fonts.

I thought choosing font was mostly art, with a sprinkle of science.

That was until I came across a study by psychologist Kevin Larson. Larson has spent his career researching typefaces and recently conducted a landmark study at MIT about how font and layout affect our emotions.

In the study, 20 volunteers – half men and half women – were separated into two groups. Each group was shown a separate version of The New Yorker – one where the image placement, font, and layout were designed well and one where the layout was designed poorly:

The researchers found that readers felt bad while reading the poorly designed layout. Sometimes, this feeling would be expressed physically with a frown.

The corrugator supercilii facial muscles that help produce a frown have been linked to the amygdala, an area of your brain responsible for emotion.

Meanwhile, the participants who read content from the good reading layout, felt like it took less time to read and felt better.

People exposed to the well-designed layout were found to have higher cognitive focus, more efficient mental processes, and a stronger sense of clarity.

The researchers concluded that well-designed reading environments don’t necessarily help you understand what you’re reading better, but they do make you feel good, causing you to feel inspired and more likely to take action.

Culture impacts your preference for fonts

One explanation for why some fonts make you feel a certain way is because of deep links in culture.

For instance, Courier fonts were designed to resemble old memos written on type writers:

Many people relate Helvetica with the US Government because it’s used in tax forms.

These associations are difficult to remove and should be considered when deciding on a font choice. Here’s how Bank of America’s website would look with the Impact font associated with News headlines:

Original Bank of America website:

Bank of America website with Impact font (associated with newspaper headlines):

When the fonts are changed to Impact, Bank of America doesn’t exactly seem trustworthy.

Because fonts are designed by humans, there is usually some meaning attached to them. You don’t want to choose a font that is easily associated with something in our culture that’s markedly different than the vibe you’re trying to give off.

How to design better content

The quality of your content is the most important thing but how you present that content by choosing the right font and layout still has it’s place.

As French poet Paul Claudel put it, “The secret of type is that it speaks.”

So how can you design your words to help elicit positive feelings in people? Here’s a few techniques from typography experts that you might find useful:

1. Choose an anchor font

Type designer Jessica Hische recommends first selecting a typeface for the content that is most prevalent in your project (most likely your body copy).

This will be the typeface that you base your other font decisions on like headlines and subheads.

There’s four main categories of fonts to choose from:

Serif Fonts – Letters with short lines coming off the edges. Viewed as more formal and traditional. Best suited for print.

Sans-serif Fonts – Letters without serifs. Viewed as informal and playful. Best suited for digital.
Script Fonts – Resembles handwriting and often used in formal invitations. Not ideal for body copy.
Decorative Fonts – Informal fonts viewed as original. Best suited for headlines but not body copy.

For reading on the Web, it’s best to stay away from script or decorative typefaces. Most Script and Decorative fonts have low legibility which slows down your reading because you are busy trying to figure out what letters are.

You don’t want your readers asking, “was that an ‘a’ or an ‘e’” every word.

If you’re scrunching your eyes trying to figure out a word that’s a signal that your brain is dedicating unnecessary energy to identifying words.

Decorative typefaces should be used for content that is meant to be seen at a glance, like in a logo, rather than read as multiple paragraphs in body text.

When choosing a font for body text, it’s usually best to stick with a Serif font or Sans-serif font.

Some typography experts recommend sans-serif fonts for reading online because the quality of screen resolutions is less than in print. But, as screen resolutions dramatically improve, Serif fonts are becoming easier to read on the Web. Content-heavy websites like Medium use a Serif font (probably to give off the vibe of a print editorial).

The most important thing with choosing a font is to make sure the letters are easily decipherable from one another so your readers don’t have to spend precious mental energy identifying letters.

There’s a trick that Hische uses to make sure your font choice is a good one. She recommends that you make your fonts pass the Il1 test:

2. Pick a font size bigger than 12pt

In 1929, a study was conducted called the “Hygiene of reading.” One thing researchers were trying to determine was which font size would be best for reading. The study looked at 6pt, 8pt, 10pt, 12pt, and 14pt type sizes.

The researchers concluded that a font size of 10pt font is the most efficient for reading but a lot has changed in how we consume content today compared to the 1920s.

However, as more reading shifts to digital and screen resolutions improve, the way we read content is changing. Many designers mention that 16pt font is the new 12pt font. A recent study has also shown that larger font sizes can elicit a stronger emotional connection.

Medium has one of my favorite reading environments online and they use a 22pt font size. Several of my other favorite websites have adopted a font size over 20pt for their content:

Medium – 22pt
37Signals: Signal vs. Noise – 22pt
Zen Habits – 21pt

While having a huge font over 30pt most likely wouldn’t make sense, many blogs have font in the 10pt-12pt range. Try increasing your font size. If you’re using 12pt font, try increasing to 16pt font. If you’re using 18pt font increase to 22pt.

You can feel the difference.

3. Watch your line length

The line length is how far your sentences stretch across the page. The ideal line length should be between about 50 to 75 characters.

Here’s an example of the longest line length from Zen Habits. It’s 78 characters, about 6.5 inches:

This line length has been shown to be most effective in helping readers move through their Scan Path.

If the line length is too short, your reader’s rhythm will break because their eyes must travel back to the left of the page too often.

A line length that is too long makes it hard to find where lines of text start and end. It can make it difficult for your reader to get to the next line without accidentally jumping to the wrong place.

Research shows that your subconscious mind gets a boost of energy when jumping to a new line (as long as it doesn’t happen too often) but this energy dwindles as you read over the duration of the line.

Here’s the line lengths from the sites mentioned above:

Medium – 75 characters
37Signals: Signal vs. Noise – 76 characters
Zen Habits – 78 characters

4. Mind your spacing

Adequate spacing between letters is important for your readers to be able to move through sentences fluidly. The tighter your letters are together, the harder it is for people to identify the shapes that make up different letterforms.

Take a look at another example from Jessica Hische of the readability of Helvetica versus Avenir. Hische recommends Avenir because of its more open spacing:

Proper spacing makes your readers feel good. Here’s 5 recommended font combinations from Google Web Fonts that have good spacing for reading long blocks of content.

I decided to put these tips into practice with our ooomf email newsletter campaign. Here’s a comparison between our original campaign and our new design:

By changing the font and increasing it’s size, our email content felt much better.

Packaging content the right way is important and knowing why we feel the way we do about the look of content will hopefully help next time you design content for a project. As Aarron Walter, author of Designing for Emotion, writes,

“People will forgive shortcomings, follow your lead, and sing your praises if you reward them with positive emotion.”

It’s important to remember that while there is a science connected to how your words are designed, no amount of good design can save bad content.

Write well first. Design well second.