SERP: Search Engine Results Page.

Another silly acronym. Let’s all grrrrrrrrowl together. Don’t care to learn about it’s meaning? Ooh. Even sillier.

A SERP is what you’re served microseconds after you put something in Google. (Or Bing for the Microsoft faithful. Or Yahoo! for a few remaining dinosaurs.) Whaddaya’ see in a SERP? Website page titles and descriptions. You can take ‘em for granted if you want, but you only want that if you don’t place any value in the power of search (which drives upwards of 85% of all web traffic).

Bottom line, we’re talking about first impressions, so you might as well think of this as your neon sign online. Does it repel or attract traffic? Sounds simple, ‘eh?

Chances are, you’re clicking on the ones that look good, relevant, and worth your while. Chances are, they’re on page one, near the top. No? You tend to scroll down and click to page number 4,011 in your SERP?

Back to reality. Why are those results (the “R” in SERP) atop the list?

The answer is SEO.

Aw, crap. Another acronym? Well, you know this one by now. It means search engine optimization, which means ranking results, which means clicks, which means everything, unless those cold calls are making rain for you still.

How do you climb mighty Mount SERP? Carefully. Thoughfully. Strategically. Your sherpa should be a copywriter. But not just any copywriter. You need a copywriter that gets this SEO and SERP BS.

Can you learn the tricks of the trade on your own?

You can. Put in the time and practice and you could master the science of search. However, as a veteran copywriter, I want to tell you this: that thing many self-proclaimed experts call “SEO copywriting” appeals mostly to robots. What I mean is, the magnetism might be mighty for the search engines, but search engines don’t buy anything. Humans do. And the human that actually clicks could very well land at a highly ranked, highly appalling page full of algorithmic turds. Not good.

You want large numbers of the web surfing sector to not only click, but then, consume your site.

Simply said, you want readers.

You want professionals from both sides of the brain.

You need the skills the left-brainers can deliver for the mechanical part of the equation: SEO. Then, you need a little of that magic dust right-brainers can sprinkle upon your site called creative copywriting. Or, you need the help of an Einstein-meets-Shakespeare type that deems him or herself an “SEO copywriter.”

I’m not buying it. Are you?

It’s possible one professional brings you both. Babe Ruth was a great pitcher and hitter, but he won’t be available. So, perhaps I should offer some advice. If your goal is to capture good search results and then capture leads or sales, get yourself two experts who can make it happen. Sure, it’d be oh-so-excellent if your SEO pro understands copywriting for the web and your copywriter actually knows what SEO is. However, if you’re dead set on finding one person with a mastery of both crafts, simply search for “SEO copywriter” and be prepared to search high and low. I just tried it on Google. I got over 2.45 million results.

Holy SERP!