Web Writing Tips: A Case Study

Here’s a practical example of writing for search engines or Search Engine Optimisation. This is taken from a presentation I gave to a group of webmasters from Internationella Engelska Skolan
NB! The Essay Competition mentioned here is purely fictitious.

The Not So Effective Draft

IEG SÖDERMALM STUDENTS WIN AWARD



Three students from the school have won the prestigious Dr Hansen Essay Competition. A staggering SEK 10,000 in prize money is to be split between the winners. 


The first prize of SEK 5000 goes to third year Aleks Kiluk for his essay on Nikolai Tessler. The runners up were Golshid Baghban and Richard Hermansson.



“We are extremely proud to see our students doing so well,” says principal Dr Margret Benedikz. 



“We place considerable emphasis on top writing skills and it’s gratifying to see the students’ hard work paying off.”

All students at IEG are taught how to write a university-level essay in accordance with the guidelines set out by the Modern Language Association (MLA).



“Many of our staff have previously taught at university so we know just how important it is that students are adept at academic writing. We run writing workshops, surgeries and bring in guest lecturers to ensure our students are equipped with excellent writing skills,” says teacher Mr Joe Hemingway. 



The winning essays will be published in a collection of student work later this year.

The trouble with this first version is that it doesn’t target enough of the keywords Internationella Engelska Skolan (Gymnasiet) need to use. Words like Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet Södermalm, Natural Science, Student, English, IEGS, Stockholm, Students , Allhelgonagatan 4 all need to be used in the next to improve its SEO capabilities.

The More Effective Version

IEG SÖDERMALM STUDENTS WIN AWARD



Three students from Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet Södermalm have won the prestigious Dr Hansen Essay Competition. A staggering SEK 10,000 in prize money is to be split between the winners. 



The first prize of SEK 5000 goes to third year Natural Science student Aleks Kiluk for his English essay on Nikolai Tessler. The runners up were Golshid Baghban and Richard Hermansson.


“We are extremely proud to see our students doing so well,” says Dr Margret Benedikz, principal of IEG Södermalm. 



“We place considerable emphasis on top writing skills and it’s gratifying to see the students’ hard work paying off.”



All students at IEGS, which is located at Allhelgonagatan 4 in the heart of Stockholm, are taught how to write a university-level essay in accordance with the guidelines set out by the Modern Language Association (MLA).



“So many of our staff have previously taught at university so we know just how important it is that students are adept at academic writing. We run writing workshops, surgeries and bring in guest lecturers at IEGS to ensure our students are equipped with excellent writing skills,” says Mr Joe Hemingway, head of English.



The winning essays will be published in a collection of student work later this year.

In this second version, keywords that the school is aiming to rank highly for in Google are naturally woven into the text. I’ve marked them in bold here to illustrate the targeted words. To make them even more effective, you can use bold, or italics or preferably links.