SEO copywriting for professional services: 8 tips to get you started

Everyone is online, almost all the time. About 70% of the global population, if we’re getting specific. In theory, it’s never been easier to get your products and services in front of potential customers, but in reality, there are hundreds (probably thousands) of brands out there jostling for attention from those same people every single day. Enter, SEO copywriting.  

Crafting your copy with SEO in mind doesn’t just help your businesses climb up those search engine rankings—it increases the chances of engaging and converting your target audience.

Why? Because you’re using real search data from hundreds of thousands of people who fit your ideal customer profile to inform the content you plan, write, and share online. 

In this article, we'll take a whistle-stop tour of the world of SEO copywriting for professional service businesses, with a few practical tips to help you get started with your own keyword research to help you craft content that works.

What is SEO copywriting?

On a basic level, SEO copywriting involves creating written content that isn’t just valuable and informative to a human reader, but is also optimised so that search engines like Google can find (‘crawl’) and serve it on its results pages, also known as SERPs.

To do that, you’ll need to include certain words and phrases that people (your ideal reader or customer) are using to search for products, services, and resources related to your business. 

These specific phrases are called keywords, and ‘keyword research’ is the research and planning that goes into figuring out what’s trending, which keywords to include, and where your opportunities to engage potential customers might be. 

Back in the day, you might have gotten away with stuffing a page with barely coherent keywords in the name of ranking on the first page of Google, but we—and the algorithm— have evolved way past that. Instead, you now need to prioritise authentic (i.e. not AI-generated) content that keeps users on your page and, ideally, keeps them coming back for seconds and thirds because what you’re serving them is just that insightful or helpful.

A word about PPC (Pay Per Click) and paid media. While quality organic content is crucial, putting some budget behind your target keywords and your best content can give you a nice boost across social media and Google Display ads. You can find out more about paid media for professional services in one of our previous articles if you’re curious.

Today, writing an SEO-optimised piece of content means being strategic about how you incorporate relevant keywords, using your URLs, metadata, and meta descriptions effectively (we’ll get into that later), and tailoring your content for readability and a slick user experience.

Keyword research: The 1-2-3s of SEO copywriting

SEO is a highly specialised field, and there are super-skilled professionals—and entire teams!—out there dedicated entirely to the art of search engine optimisation. They’re kind of a combination of spreadsheet geniuses and search engine whisperers. 

But don’t worry; if you don’t have the budget for that in-house, you can either outsource it or, if you’re in a pinch, conduct some basic research and planning yourself.  

1. Find your primary keyword

Keyword research forms the foundation of a good content plan. But first, you need to identify your primary keyword. This should be a keyword or set of keywords that are highly relevant to your business and have a good amount of search volume (average monthly searches of that keyword).

It also shouldn’t be too difficult for you to rank for—check ‘Keyword Difficulty’ or ‘KD%’ for understand how hard it might be to compete for it. 

Combined with secondary and long tail keywords (longer, more specific phrases with lower search volume), you’ll have everything you need to create a piece of content tailored to your target audience.

2. Answer questions

You can use Google to find out what your intended audience wants to know. Type a question into the search bar and you’ll be rewarded with ideas before you’ve even hit enter.

An example of the suggested searches you can use to inform your content strategy.

Once you’re on the results page, it might be worth looking at ‘People also asked’ for extra inspiration. If you craft great content that answers these questions, your audience will remember you gave them valuable, no-strings advice, building trust and keeping you top of mind when they’re ready to buy.

3. Write compelling, human copy

Once you have your keywords identified, it's time to craft compelling content that incorporates them naturally. 

Remember, quality always trumps quantity. Focus on creating content that addresses the needs and pain points of your target audience, providing valuable insights and solutions to their problems.

Oh, and in the age of generative AI, it’s worth remembering that Google will probably be able to detect if you’re generating and posting entire articles by ChatGPT, so proceed with caution. And if you do use AI tools (which can be great for inspiration and creating outlines!), edit extensively.

4. Formatting matters

Let’s say you’ve got a fantastic blog post (like this one) published and shared on social—but for some reason, people aren’t spending that much time on the page. What’s going on? 

It might be the way it’s formatted. If you give readers a big, chunky piece of text, with no visual breaks, headings, or images, it’s really easy for them to lose interest and wander off your page. 

So, once you’ve created that valuable content, do it justice by laying it out nicely on your page. Here are some quick tips to help you format your content:

• Break up long paragraphs into easier-to-handle pieces, around 4-5 lines tops.

• Use headings, subheadings, and bullet lists to make it more readable. 

• Add relevant images (which you’ve got permission to use) to the blog for visual appeal.

5. Use meta tags and meta descriptions

Meta tags and descriptions play a crucial role in how your content appears in search engine results. You’ll have seen meta descriptions show up when you’re looking something up on Google:

The smaller, grey text is the meta description.

Craft compelling meta titles and descriptions that accurately reflect the content of your page while also incorporating relevant keywords. Keep them concise and engaging to encourage users to click through to your website.

6. Place internal and external links

Internal linking helps search engines understand the structure of your website and establishes connections between different pages. 

Place internal links throughout your copy to point users to related articles, resources, or pages elsewhere on your site. On top of that, external links (linking to third-party sites that have authority) add more credibility and value to your content. There’s also a chance that the sites you link to will offer a link back to your site (called backlinks) in return, if relevant. Win-win. 

7. Optimise your URL

Before you hit ‘publish’, check your URL and try to optimise that too. URLs (the links at the top of your browser) are also crawled for keywords, so this quick bit of work can have a big impact on how a page performs. For example:

• Not-optimised: https://www.examplelawfirm.com/blog/article?id=123456789

• Optimised: https://www.examplelawfirm.com/blog/employment-law-guide-redundancy-process

In the first URL, it isn’t really clear what the post is about. There’s a random string of numbers, and it looks a bit messy. Neither Google nor your reader know what it’s about via the link alone.

Let’s turn to the optimised URL. It’s got it all: keywords that clearly indicate what’s on the page, in this case, an employment law guide to the redundancy process. Much better! This URL is more user-friendly, concise, and helps search engines understand the relevance of the page to a particular topic.

8. Don’t be afraid to test and learn

SEO copywriting is not a one-time task; it's an ongoing process of monitoring, analyzing, and iterating. Regularly monitor the performance of your content using analytics tools like Google Analytics and Search Console.

Pay attention to metrics like organic traffic, bounce rate, and time on page to identify areas for improvement and refine your content and SEO copywriting strategy accordingly.

Final thoughts on SEO copywriting for professional services

There you have it! By doing some keyword research, writing good-quality content, using meta tags and descriptions, and focusing on user experience, you can make a significant impact and resonate more closely with your target audience. 

Of course, having support from professionals dedicated entirely to creating content that generates leads and, ultimately, revenue, will always help supercharge your efforts. But it can never hurt to dip your toes in yourself and see what it all entails—as a famous supermarket (with great SEO) once said, ‘every little helps’.