When writing for the Web, Search engine optimization (SEO) is only one part of the equation. Yes, SEO gets search engines to index and rank your site to help you get found, but then you have to do two more things: you have to get people to click on that search result to go to your Web page, and you have to keep them there once they land there.
Jakob Nielsen this week had great advice about the first task: A copywriter must go against conventional wisdom and use (gasp) passive voice when writing the descriptions a user sees on a search results page. As he points out, users only read the first two words, so you want those words to be the ones that get the user’s attention and get them to keep reading and/or therefore get them to click through.
His explanation is great, see it at http://www.useit.com/alertbox/passive-voice.html. And his explanation of active and passive voice is better than what most of us learned in school, as my copywriting cohort Marina pointed out!
But most importantly remember that writing for the Web is not just writing for Google (or Yahoo or MSN). Ultimately your copywriting should move beyond getting your site listed well to getting it converting well.
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