5 Things an SEO Copywriting Agency Should Do

An SEO copywriting agency achieves 2 things: writing content that people love to read, and crafting content that search engines understand.

Good SEO copywriting is informative, engaging, and packed with valuable keywords to get noticed by search engines and claim Google featured snippets.

If you’re hiring an SEO copywriting agency like CopyDash, you should walk in with 5 core expectations:

1. Expert keyword targeting. Content marketing starts with targeted keyword research. Your SEO agency should analyze keywords for 4 factors: relevance, popularity, competition and interest.
2. Ethical research and use of AI. Your SEO copywriter should conduct thorough, ethical research to fully understand your industry and desired topic. A quality SEO content writer never copies and pastes from generative AI sources.
3. Trusted SEO content writing tools. Every good SEO copywriting agency has top-flight content writing and analysis tools in their arsenal. Look for agencies that use tools like MarketMuse, Semrush, Ahrefs and Google Search Console.
4. Search engine optimized images and video. The best SEO content writing service understands the value of optimizing videos and images for SEO. Experienced SEO services utilize image and video tags to attract the attention of search engines.
5. Capturing featured snippets. Did you know 99% of featured snippets appear as the top organic search result on Google? Capturing Google featured snippets is a vital part of SEO strategy for digital marketing.

Schedule a complimentary strategy session with our founder — it takes less than 90 seconds to get started!

Let’s cover the 5 copywriting services an SEO agency should provide in greater detail.

Targeted Keyword Research for SEO Content Creation

Targeted keyword research is the first step in content creation. Focus keywords define topics of interest within your SEO copy that tell Google and other search engines what your article is about.

TLDR: SEO keywords are “what you type into Google when you search”.

Optimizing each page, blog post or piece of your website copywriting around a primary keyword is the best way to ensure quality content creation.

4 Criteria for SEO Keyword Research and Selection

An SEO copywriting service should use 4 core criteria to develop and select keywords for your digital content marketing strategy:

1. Relevance. Is your primary keyword relevant to your website copy? Choose a focus keyword that directly reflects the content you’re optimizing for search engines — otherwise, Google won’t find it as valuable.
2. Popularity. If no one is searching for your primary keyword, no one will find your content! Ask your website copywriting service which keyword research tools it uses to obtain monthly keyword search data. We like tools like Neil Patel’s Answer the Public, Ahrefs and Semrush.
3. Competition. Too much popularity can be detrimental to small businesses, startups and new websites. Ask your SEO writing team to focus on keywords with mid-level popularity but low competition. The less people competing for your keyword, the better chance your content has to rank well.
4. Interest. Does your target audience actually care?

Why Long-Tail Keywords are Important

Long-tail keywords are search phrases of 4+ words that define the user’s intent in greater detail. Instead of “website traffic”, a long-tail keyword user may search “how to improve website traffic”. This search tells us that a user doesn’t simply want information about traffic — they want details on how to drive more clicks to their website.

Long-tail keywords offer valuable information about user demographics, location, and pain points. An SEO expert should utilize long-tail keywords in website content development — they help an SEO copywriting agency craft content that directly addresses specific user queries. 

Plus, they’re generally easier to rank for on search engine results pages (SERPs)!

Want more information about long-tail keywords? Check out why these longer, specific keywords are pure SEO gold.

Ethical Research & AI Use in Content Strategy

We don’t see many SEO copywriting agency articles addressing the importance of ethical research — and they should. 

Recent Google search updates reflect an even greater shift towards valuing unique, informational digital content. SEO writers must take great care to thoroughly fact-check all sources, cited materials and research. 

Ask potential SEO copywriting agencies to disclose their guidelines for ethical research and citations. They should provide a detailed explanation of how (and where) their copywriters research content for website copy and blog posts.

Current SEO Best Practice for AI Use

At CopyDash, we utilize a 4-step process to ensure ethical AI use in copywriting and SEO content creation:

1. Never copy, never paste. All generated AI copy comes from a collection of sources — there isn’t any “net new” content coming from ChatGPT, Gemini or other conversational AI platforms. If you copy and paste directly from these platforms, there’s a high risk for accidental plagiarism. Good SEO agencies don’t copy and paste from AI.
2. Research and citations. If you use AI in your content creation process, get citations for any fact-based or data-based research. Then, cross-reference those citations using a non-AI source. Independent verification matters!
3.  Summaries of existing assets. Generative AI is a great tool to quickly summarize any existing assets and media you already own. This includes transcripts, interviews and existing content. If it’s in-house, you already know it’s trustworthy.
4. No verification = no use. We’ll say it twice because it’s doubly important. If CopyDash content writers can’t independently verify information obtained from generative AI, we don’t include it in our content. 

The 5 Best SEO Copywriting Agency Tools

Without his utility belt, Batman’s just a rich guy doing cosplay. Every quality SEO company has its own utility belt of SEO content writing tools — some more renowned and respected than others.

Here are 5 trusted SEO tools we use for keyword research, content creation, digital marketing strategy, and SEO audit purposes:

1. MarketMuse. An excellent digital platform for keyword development and content creation. The ability to have a running “SEO scorecard” for content ensures we’re always writing valuable copy. 
2. Ahrefs. Great for marketing research, domain authority checks, competitor analysis, keyword gaps, and link building.
3. Semrush. A digital marketing platform that evaluates organic search traffic, social media marketing campaigns, and brand research. Their content marketing blog is one of the best in the business.
4. Google Search Console. Maintain, measure and update your website for free. If your SEO agency isn’t monitoring your Google Search Console performance, they aren’t doing their job.
5. Google Analytics. An invaluable tool to improve your brand’s ROI. Obtain and evaluate consumer data from website traffic, including how they interact with your website content.

Optimizing Video and Images for Search Engines

SEO writing involves more than the website copy you can see. Effective SEO includes optimized use of video and images in your article copy and website design.

Here are 4 examples of “hidden content” in video and images that help boost your SEO copy value:

1. Alt text
2. Captions
3. Video descriptions
4. Metadata (meta tags)

Using alt text, captions and video descriptions are simple ways to include SEO copy without writing extra on-page content. They should be a core offering of any content writing service.

Did you know? Google Search Console tracks and presents data regarding engagement and conversions from your video content.

5 Killer Stats About Video Content and SEO

Learn (and love) these 5 statistics about how video content plays a role in content marketing strategy:

1. ​82% of people bought a product a service because they watched an online video (Wyzowl).
2. Adding images to existing content and old blog posts boosts organic traffic up to 106% (Supple).
3. More 18- to 49-year-olds watch YouTube every week than every cable TV network combined (Google).
4. 62% of millennial and Gen Z users prefer image search to any other emerging technology (Supple).
5. 91% of consumers want to see more videos from the brands they like this year (Wyzowl).

Good SEO Writers Capture Google Featured Snippets

Featured snippets are the highlighted text boxes you see at the top of Google search engine results pages (SERPs). These snippets offer direct answers to search queries, and over 99% of them appear as the top Google SERP result.

Google explains the featured snippet selection process this way:

“Google’s automated systems determine whether a page would make a good featured snippet to highlight for a specific search request. Your feedback helps us improve our search algorithms and the quality of your search results.”

TLDR: If you want to be the first result on SERP, you don’t have to pay for it — just offer great information.

Quality SEO content writers capture Google featured snippets by blending excellent keyword strategy with valuable, highly informative copy. 

99% of Featured Snippets Rank #1 on Google

Here are 4 data-driven reasons why capturing Google featured snippets is so important:

• 79% of SERPs use the same featured snippet for desktop and mobile results (Semrush).
• 99.24% of featured snippets rank as the #1 organic result in Google SERP (Semrush).
• 99.58% of featured snippets show up on the first page of Google results (Ahrefs).
• Featured snippets garner over 35% of the click share in Google SERP (EngineScout).

Hire the Right SEO Copywriting Agency

Decided to outsource your next campaign to a content writing service? Make sure the SEO copywriting agency you choose meets the 5 criteria we discussed in this article:

1. Smart keyword targeting
2. Ethical research and AI use
3. Great SEO content writing tools
4. Search engine optimization for images and video
5. Focus on Google Analytics and featured snippets

At CopyDash, we don’t just meet those criteria — they’re the backbone of our content development workflow. Our process ensures your content is visible, optimized, and evergreen for SERP.

Oh, and we do it all at scale in 60 days or less*.

Schedule a complimentary strategy session with our founder — it takes less than 90 seconds to get started!