OBW MarCom instructor Sarah Manning suggests that the rules of Search Engine Optimization have increased the value of 1,000 words. Marketing content text is today worth more than any picture!

As a content writer, I frequently have to convey complex ideas in a specific number of words – sometimes in a short headline and often in a long article. If I am working with a graphic designer on a brochure, flyer or presentation, there is often a conflict between the ideal number of words that they want to include, and the quantity of copy that I need in order to convey all the necessary information. We sometimes debate the idea that “a picture is worth a thousand words” when the designer wants to use larger pictures and cut down the text, while I maintain that pictures rarely convey the entire message.

So, let’s deconstruct this idea. A few minutes of Google research reveals that the expression was made up by an advertising executive in the 1920s. Fred R. Barnard claimed that it was an ancient Japanese proverb. How lucky we are today to have Google to help us debunk such myths!

Google is one of the reasons that a picture is no longer worth 1,000 words. If you want your online content to be found using search engines, you need more words not less. If you place your text within images, charts and info-graphics, Google will not index those words. They will not help to attract search traffic to your masterpiece. Google’s algorithm checks the quantity and quality of the text on any web page, and considers longer articles more credible and valuable than shorter pieces of text.

The Value of Words

The science of search engine optimization used to focus on how many times your keyword appeared on each page. Most SEO advice (for example, from Yoast and Search Engine Journal) recommends that a blog article should contain at least 1,000 words (and optimally 1,500 words) if you want Google to take it seriously. However, the number of words is irrelevant if the article is not well-written.

The new AI Google algorithm looks at how informative and relevant your text is, rather than how many times your keyword is mentioned. Nevertheless, it is important that the keyword phrase you have chosen to optimize each page for search appears in the heading, in the page URL, and several times within the page text. You can also please Google by varying your text to use synonyms for your keywords that Google recognizes, because that is a more natural and sophisticated way to write than repeating the same phrases multiple times.

The Value of Pictures

Of course, Google also values images. Search engine results typically include relevant images, but the Google spider usually identifies which images are relevant according to the ‘metatext’ that accompanies each image. When uploading images to the internet to accompany a story or to illustrate a page, it is crucial to optimize your pictures for search. This includes giving the photo a title that is a helpful search phrase, and adding a description and ‘alt text’, which is the text that shows up when a picture is blocked. It is also helpful to give your image a relevant name before you upload it to the website, because this cannot be changed later. Photos that are only identified by the string of numbers allocated by the camera or phone on which they were taken will remain anonymous on the internet.

Optimizing your images can help to bring searchers to your content. If the image is interesting and correctly titled and tagged, it can attract attention more quickly than the non-pictorial search engine results on the page. It helps that Google often shows relevant images in a prominent position on the search engine results page, and there is no denying that people’s eyes are drawn toward images on a page full of text.

Too Long: Didn’t Read

So, going back to our question, if you are writing copy for a brochure, flyer or presentation, graphics and images may be worth more, and your word count should be kept to a minimum. But when you are writing promotional content for the internet, words still count for more! Quality is as important as quantity, and you need to write engaging content to keep the interest of the reader who found your content.

One of my least-favorite expressions these days is TL:DR – too long, didn’t read. This dismissive expression is thought to indicate that an article was too long to be worth reading, but I think it says more about the reader! We are all pressed for time, and it is important to respect your reader, not least because there are many other things they could be doing instead of reading your content. However, as long as your long article is interesting and contains valuable information, it should contribute to their understanding of your offering and enhance the reputation of your brand. Trust the reader to decide whether your article is worth reading! Articles shared on LinkedIn are helpfully tagged with notes telling you how many minutes the article will take to read, to help surfers decide if they want to stop and click or scroll on by.

Learning Content Writing

As a copy and content writer, I always take into consideration the context and the market that I am writing for. If I am writing text for an ad campaign, the copy needs to be concise and each word carefully chosen for maximum impact. If I am writing a website or blog articles, it’s still important to write short, punchy headlines, but I also need to write plenty of clear, relevant text that explains everything that the client wants to say about their company and their products. The keyword phrase should be inserted from time to time to ensure that Google gets the message, but without ‘keyword stuffing’ or alienating the reader by repeating the same phrase multiple times in an unnatural way.

The joy of marketing writing, for me, is the opportunity to use different skills to create marketing content of different types. One day I may be crafting a promotional email, where the subject line and call to action texts are the most critical, and the next I may be writing a brochure. The same client will need an impressive summary of their activities for their website home page, and also more specific articles for their blog which convey their expertise in different aspects of their business.

The Creativity of Marcom 

I chose to become a marketing writer because I love the creativity of marketing communications. That includes choosing good images to accompany the words, and indeed the creative process sometimes starts with searching for images that will help to convey the same message as the words I need to write. In the golden age of advertising, a copywriter would work with a graphic artist to come up with the visuals and the text for an ad campaign. Today, you may be asked to do both. Marketing communications involves using words creatively and persuasively, in ways that will persuade Google and the consumer that your subject is interesting and relevant.

So, in case you are wondering what keyword phrase this article is optimized for, it isn’t! I decided that for once I would write what I wanted to say, and share thoughts that I hope will be helpful to people who are considering training for a career in marketing communications. This time, I’m not writing for Google. This time I’m writing for you!

To find out more about becoming a MarCom Writer, click here.