Writing For SEO – Freelance Writing Guide
SEO writing is a huge part of my freelancing business. I do it a lot and it isn’t really that hard either. For some reasons however most people fear writing for SEO because they have no clue on how to proceed. Writing for SEO is the next installment in my Freelance Writing Guide For New Freelancers to help you understand how easy it really is.
WordPress blogs have a very good advantage over traditional websites. They are ideal to rank well in search engines and it is relatively easy to style them for perfect on site SEO. But more importantly, if our blog posts aren’t written in an easy to understand language containing the necessary keywords, they will never rank well in Google, especially in a competitive market.
Google is the main search engine used by most Internet marketers all around the world and this post is written with Google in mind. Frankly, if you rank well in Google, you will make money. It’s a simple and complicated as that.
Over the years I have managed many times to snatch a top position in Google within days (sometimes hours) of writing a blog post. The trouble is, that unless our blog has many incoming links and is out of the sandbox (a whole topic for another post), the ranking will only stay there for a couple of days.
But this isn’t so much a problem because with consistent writing and getting more incoming links to our blogs, these SEO written posts will climb Google once again and stay there mostly indefinitely.
How to SEO your blog posts
It all starts with the blog title. The blog title needs to contain the main keyword you are targeting. Having the keyword in our post title goes a long way for SEO, given that the blog is set to the right permalinks. It is even better if your targeted keyword is contained within the actual domain name.
Now here is a secret many don’t know. To make your blog post more “people friendly†you can write a post with the keyword in it, but use the actual keyword as it should be in the post slug. You will find the post slug in the right hand side column in your WordPress editor. The post slug is what makes up the end part of the URL which preferably should be each of these keyword in each new post. If you don’t use the slug, then WordPress will pull the info from your blog title instead and this will diffuse your SEO.
First Paragraph: when writing your blog post you will need to write your main keyword in the first sentence of the first paragraph. Since the search engine bots spider web pages from the top left to bottom right, it makes sense to have your main keyword right at the beginning. The first paragraph should contains around 4-5 sentences and finish with the keyword in the last sentence again. This is the excerpt that is being shown on Google searches and if done correctly the keyword will show both in the title, twice in the paragraph and preferably in the URL.
Blog Post Main Body: the body again needs to have the keyword your target at least a couple of times more. Depending on the length of the article this varies but aiming at around 3% is a safe bet. You don’t want to overdo this otherwise it can have the opposite effect. Additionally you can also use bold text or italic text to highlight certain keywords.
You should also aim to supplement your targeted keyword with at least one other related keyword. More are better. Perhaps a shorter version of it. The more related keywords you use, the better it is for your search engine rankings. Also, most keyword related posts or articles range from 300 – 500 words.
Subheadings: To further your cause for a good strong SEO post or article, use subheadings with the keyword. This is done by using the h3 tags. This works well for lists too.
Last Paragraph: the last paragraph should be styled like the first one in terms of the keyword. Here it is most important to have your keyword in the last sentence as this is also often pulled from bots.
Tagging: tagging is very important in blogging as every tag we create will generate one incoming link from social bookmarking sites such as Technorati and Delicious. However, we should only use 10 tags at the most for every blog post we write and rephrase the keyword, use the blog main keyword in each post as a tag as well and use related keywords as tags.
If for example your post is about electrical guitars, then there is no point in using classical guitars as a tag for this particular post.
Interlinking: as you probably would have seen, I try to interlink all my blog posts and pages. Normally I use the main keyword to link back to the home page which is good for Page Rank debt when that kicks in.
That’s basically it for SEO in regards to writing blog posts. The same principle applies in writing keyword targeted articles that are being submitted to article data bases.
It is most important that these posts are readable to the human eye and actually make sense. With a bit of practice you’ll have this down pat in no time.
I can basically take any topic now and write a highly effective SEO post or article. If you wonder whether I do this here on Freelance Writing, no most often I don’t. I use this SEO technique mostly for niche marketing clients and for my own niche sites.
Naturally, this is only part of optimizing a blog to rank high in Google and other factors like previously mentioned link building, on page SEO and more factor into this whole equation. I can tell you this though. If you master SEO writing you can easily snatch up some work as a freelance writer on many of the job sites.
Monika
About the Author: I'm a passionate freelance writer and problogger. To further build my business I'm also in the process of building my own niche empire which pays me residual income.
Michael Martine | Jun 14, 2008 | Reply
I don’t want to detract from the writing aspect of what you wrote (which was succinct and very instructional–good stuff), but there is one thing anybody should do who cares at all about SEO with their WordPress blog.
Get the All-in-one SEO Pack plugin.
It lets you to create separate titles from the post headline (normally WordPress takes your post title and uses it word-for-word as the title tag content). It also lets you write a meta description for each post and page (WordPress does nothing with this at all).
The meta description becomes the text of of search result. Titles become the link you click on in a search result to visit the site.
Grizzly | Jun 14, 2008 | Reply
Monika writing about SEO… how far we have come. Does this mean I’m going to have to write about writing now? haha
Nicely done and I hope all is well down under Monika – haven’t chatted in ages but I have been checking in religiously – very high brow stuff which of course scares the crap out of me so I keep quiet. SEO – well I can always comment on that anyday!
Can’t tell you how happy I am that you have done so well online – almost inspires me to not be so lazy… almost.
Don | Jun 14, 2008 | Reply
Monika , Now you tell me, J/K this is a keeper gal, I remember not to long ago chatting with a struggling, frustrated freelance writer, I make a link on my page pointing to this post , very good , very informative and something for everyone to learn
Jylan Wynne | Jun 14, 2008 | Reply
Yeah thanks Monika, nice post here. The only thing that I’d like to point out is that the post slug in WordPress is now is underneath the title input (well it appears underneath once you’ve typed the title and waited a bit, which I hate).
Sorry for not commenting very much BTW, I’m using the same excuse of Grizzly
.
Kathy | Jun 15, 2008 | Reply
Another “unspoken” SEO rule… write truly great instructional posts like this one. This post is SURE to garner TONS of incoming links for you. NICE JOB!
Rebecca Leigh | Jun 15, 2008 | Reply
I’ve said this before Monika – you do a great job of spelling out the basics for readers of all levels.
Too often authors will make tantalising references to strategies and methods without actually telling you *how* to change the url or just *where* to put that keyword.
You’ve really put a lot of effort into making the entire freelance writing guide solid with practical advice.
One question – you mention h3 tags. Would it be better to use h1 or h2 throughout because they are higher in the hierarchy? Or is there something about h3?
Thanks again!
Monika | Jun 16, 2008 | Reply
@ Michael: I totally agree and am happy you mentioned this Plugin. I was actually toying with the idea whether I should or should not include Plugins in the post and then decided against it because I also talk about article marketing here, not purely blog posts.
So I left it out, but you are right and it is an absolute essential. I use it myself. So thanks for adding this as a footnote.
Monika | Jun 16, 2008 | Reply
@ Grizzly: What can I say, you are one of the masters of SEO so not getting a slap from you by writing this means I must get something right. LOL.
You know, as far as I’m concerned you can write about anything, you are that good at it. Plus you are certainly not lazy my friend. I miss you too and would die for a long chat on skype again sometime.
Can’t believe you’re lazy either.
To hear that you are happy about my rise from the ashes makes me even more happy. Hehehe…Thank you so much for all you have done for me Griz, you are a true friend.
Monika | Jun 16, 2008 | Reply
@ Don: thanks buddy, I always appreciate links as we all do no doubt. Yeah, the struggle and frustration hits the best of us anytime. It’s more like managing time and getting properly organized than anything else for me.
Sometimes I am slack like Griz and don’t get moving like I should. Trouble is I pay the price we all do when that happens.
Monika | Jun 16, 2008 | Reply
@ Jylan: Don’t worry, I so understand. Thanks for clarifying the slug thingy too. Looks like somebody hasn’t upgrade just yet. Oops
Monika | Jun 16, 2008 | Reply
@ Kathy: Hehehe…bring them on (the links). The more the merrier for SEO purposes of course as we all know by now.
Thanks Cathy I appreciate your positive comment.
Monika | Jun 16, 2008 | Reply
@ Rebecca: You know, it makes me really happy to hear that others like you can take value from my Freelance Writing Guide. That was my foremost purpose when I started to write this and I hope it will help many more on their own quest to a freelance writing career.
In regards to the h3 tags and all the others you mentioned.
h1 tags are normally used once only and usually within the actual page template for titles only.
h2 tags could be used for bullets too, but general advice is not to since many blog templates use h2 tags in their sidebar and some even on the post templates too, I don’t and also learned that it is better to use these tags in descending order.
When you search on Google for tag info it will return many various options but the sites that matter to me like SEO Moz and others generally state to use h3 for sub titles within the post.
Hope this makes sense.
Barbara Swafford | Jun 16, 2008 | Reply
Hi Monika,
All we need to know about SEO in a nutshell. Great post with the facts. It doesn’t get any more simple than that, does it?
Monika | Jun 16, 2008 | Reply
@ Barbara: I suppose it doesn’t. SEO really isn’t that hard when we see the bigger picture. The hard part is to get to work and make it happen.
Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to comment here today.
Melissa Donovan | Jun 18, 2008 | Reply
People pay for this information. You know that, right? I thank you for these tips. I have starred this post in my reader and will refer back to it when I start working on my business blog.
Rebecca Leigh | Jun 18, 2008 | Reply
Great! Thanks for the extra info Monika
Monika | Jun 18, 2008 | Reply
@ Melissa: I know this, but I have always believed to help as many people without thinking about money. I know that if I help enough people succeed, they will help me too. I like to call it karma and pay it forward whenever I can.
I appreciate you stopped by and commented. It makes me really happy when I see others can benefit from my information.
Sean Revell | Jul 11, 2008 | Reply
Ace article, thanks for all the help
Monika | Jul 11, 2008 | Reply
@ Sean: No problems, you are very welcome. Now go and get them tiger.
Lynn (www.mamasays.us) | Mar 6, 2009 | Reply
Thank you for the great SEO tips and ideas.
Monika | Mar 6, 2009 | Reply
@ Lynn: I’m glad you enjoyed my SEO tips. How cool is your blog design? It makes me all hungry for pizza!
Might have to get a take-away tonight.