Screen Capturing the SERPs

If you are an SEO writer, it can help to keep track of your wins. One way I do this is by taking screen captures of some rankings in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

The SERPs change all the time. In the case of Google, there are many different data centers serving up information. This means you could technically be seeing different results depending on which data center you are pinging. It also means if you win a good SERP position, it may likely be fleeting. So if you want to share this win with your bosses, you need to take the time to know some methods of capturing this information as it happens.

I have some SEO tools that automatically ping some terms for me and they create a spread sheet I can analyze every day. But no one else should have to look at this--they don't care about it on this minute level. This is why I am there--to care. What I do for them is to capture images of good things, and imbed them in an email.

How you do a simple screen capture of a SERP
I used Google and a PC for this example.

1. I perform the search. In this case, I used "Freelance seo copywriter tips"
   
2. The SERP appears, with my results in the top 2 positions. Hooray!
   
3. Since I have multiple screens, I use the mouse to make sure it is on the right screen by clicking in the background of the SERP. I then hit "Ctrl"-"Alt"-"Print Scrn". The "Print Scrn" button is located just over the insert button on the far right of the top level of this keyboard. This saves the screen capture to my computer's memory.
   
4. I open PhotoShop, and create a new image. It has a size of about 1200 by 1000, to acommodate the screen capture. If you don't have PhotoShop, you can use Paint...just start a new image in whatever program you prefer.
   
5. In my new image, I hit "Ctrl"-"V" which pastes the screen capture from my computer's memory into the image I am creating.

At this point, you have something that looks like this:

Now this is fine, but I like to highlight a little further what it is I want them to see.

So I crop it, and then use the paintbrush tool in PhotoShop to highlight the search term, the number of results, my position, and sometimes offer other information.

I typed in the date in the sample below to give you an idea:

I might have circled them or whatever--I use the paintbrush tool because I think it looks funny, and it is simply meant for a quick look at what I am doing. If it needs to be more formal, I can make the lines more definite and precise.

But see how easy it is to give them a little bite of what you are doing? If you want to keep them happy, every once in a while offer one of these for a competitive keyphrase.
If you can show a high rank for the same thing in Yahoo and Google, you are showing about 80% or more of the search volume out there.

Nothing makes as much sense as something that works.

Old Clients, New Work

I was reminded twice this week why as a freelance seo writer, I always try to keep relationships healthy.

I had two older clients come back to me this past week seeking long-term engagements. This is great--I can offer more detailed service and they get more work...which means more money!

But I didn't seek these new engagements--they found me. And I am doing SEO work for both, but have not done SEO work for either client before. They were both copywriting clients who learned of my specialty while I worked for them. When their needs came up, they remembered me positively, and I got the call.

I've said it before, but it is worth repeating. Freelancing is a lot about making and maintaining good relationships. You never know who is going to one day be in charge, and what that means to you.

So if you are just starting out in this field, make sure to keep your relationships solid. Meet your deadlines, and do your best to resist any weirdo tendencies. Keep your personal tweaks personal. I have lost some good relationships because I was too casual, and offered too much. I regret this, not just from a work standpoint but as a personal failure. It's fine, and all part of the learning curve--but I wish I would've been smart enough to be able to keep some relationships stronger.

And those are of course, the exception. As a rule, I make myself easy to find and easy to talk to...and my clients appreciate it. And they return, sometimes months or even years later. Which feels pretty cool.

SEO Copywriting Tip

Been a while since I have offered a genuine SEO writing tip, so ...

Synonyms and SEO
If you have been in SEO for any length of time, you can see algorithms trying to improve. And they do improve, but sometimes in weird, slow-moving ways.

Over time, one thing I have seen is contextual results becoming more and more important in search, and I see this only increasing as time rolls on. Using synonyms, variations of your main keywords (like plurals), and any related terms should help you build contextual domain strength for your root keywords.

It makes perfect sense.
You are selling widgets. So you, as an SEO writer, go after both the short tail and the long tail keyphrases for widgets. This will include many synonyms, plurals, related terms, and longer strings.

You research what you can about the searches being made. You create a master list of targeted keyphrases, search strings, synonyms, and any related terms that people associate with widgets. Map it all out before you start writing anything--it is much easier to make it flow naturally as you write if you know clearly what you "need" to say.

Nail Down the Short Tail and Grab the Long Tail
Answer to the short tail in navigation/informational architecture (when you can). So you might have a page titled "Widgets" with a main navigational link also named "widgets" leading into the page. This creates a solidly anchored link, making the main keyword an integral part of your site. Great!

Within the page itself, you'll of course want to add some depth to the widget information--you can't simply repeat widget a million times and expect it to work. But here is where your research and knowledge of long tail search habits, as well as your mastery of synonyms and contextual referencing comes into play.


Example: Let's say that "wuggles" is a synonym to widgets. In your widgets page, you can think of wuggles as a second-tier keyword. You'll want to infuse your primary and secondary keyphrases seamlessly into your body content. In addition to the main sentences you write, look at the metadata, the page titles, your headers, bullets, and ordered lists.

Switch back and forth between wuggles and widgets pretty liberally. Connect them to words that comprise potential long-tail searches, like "get a widget" "buying a wuggle" "finding a widget provider" "wuggle information" and so on. By using your main keywords alongside some related synonyms, you can create a deeper contextual meaning to your content.

This doesn't mean you should focus on wuggles opposed to widgets. It means that you should display your understanding that in talking about widgets, wuggles make sense. The user will appreciate it, because they also associate wuggles with widgets and will spend more time reading what you have to say. And, since the algorithms are getting smarter and will want to see wuggles mentioned on a widgets page, it will also make the engines happy...a win-win, as they say.

DON'T STUFF
I've said it before, and will always say it: don't cram keywords into a page. Make it flow naturally, or don't do it...stiff, forced content is hard to read, which goes against the number one rule for SEO writing. You are writing for a user, not a search engine. And over-saturating keywords makes your content crappy, your intentions transparent, and your SEO efforts much less likely to work. Synonyms are no exception.

But honestly, I find that the shifts in the algorithms are actually making it easier to write well. It may be a little tougher to get the rankings you want as quickly, but it is MUCH easier to write a good page and not have to sweat the keywords as much as the writing itself. I consider that progress.

As the engines try to find new ways to get the best content to the user, they are getting better at realizing that keyword density is not the best answer (thank GOD!). The best answer is content that flows well, and speaks authoritatively...content that liberally and naturally uses a variety of related, contextual words. So bust out the Thesaurus, know your topic, research, and write!