It’s been another week of fast news and big buzz. Bruce Clay, Michael Terry and Virginia Nussey start the show by giving their takes on some of the headlines. First, Google announced that by the end of the year the canonical tag would include cross-sub-domain support. Furthermore, Google proposed a new standard that could make AJAX spiderable and indexable by search engines. However, both Bruce and Michael have some misgivings about the proposed system, adding that perhaps existing accessibility technologies could work just as well without the barrier of user adoption.


Virginia then talks to Heather Lloyd-Martin, president and CEO of Success Works, specializing in content marketing and SEO copywriting. Heather talks to Virginia about how psychology of a target audience should be considered when creating persuasive copy. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs can help marketers and writers pinpoint the needs that on-page content should speak to. If the goal is to sell home insurance, the need for safety can be addressed. If the goal is to sell a vacation home, the needs of esteem and self-actualization can be leveraged. Heather has recently launched a robust SEO copywriting training program and a new edition of her book Successful SEO Copywriting, a low-cost, hands-on option to learn the methods and tactics employed by Success Works.

Bruce and Michael add their two cents to the SEO copywriting discussion, considering how on-page content is the lifeblood of a Web site. They also raise questions about Yahoo!’s recent announcement that the search engine hasn’t used the Meta Keywords tag in months. While Google, Yahoo! and Bing may not factor the Meta Keywords tag into rankings, the Meta data contained therein is valuable. The Meta Keywords tag is a useful place to include keyword misspellings and it serves a project management purpose as a reliable list of the keywords targeted on a page.

This week the hosts offer a holistic viewpoint of the SEO copywriting process and keyword research. Bruce, Robert and Susan kick off the conversation with a look at tips and procedures to keep in mind when researching keywords. From keyword suggestion tools to keyword metrics and effectiveness indicators, the research involved in targeting the most productive words and phrases for any campaign must be approached with adequate care and resources.

Virginia then speaks with Carolyn Shelby. Carolyn authors cshel.com, her personal search marketing blog, and is also a host of fellow WebmasterRadio show SEO 101. She has more than a decade of experience writing content for the Web and offers a number of suggestions for where to find fresh content ideas and how to create optimized page copy and press releases.

Susan and Virginia finish up the discussion from the writer’s viewpoint of crafting optimized copy. Aim for a natural and direct writing style, keep in mind what the audience is looking for, and focus on a limited number of targeted phrases that don’t appear overtly stuffed when distributed throughout the copy.