I am writing about writing for search engine optimization or SEO for the next couple of weeks because I have a new client and that’s what I will be doing – writing for SEO. My client also hired a webmaster who also sets up websites and blogs for SEO. I’m writing the content.
In fact it was the webmaster who referred me to the client which is exactly how networking is supposed to happen. I’ve also used the webmaster myself for a few projects and introduced him to a client but that didn’t work out. At any rate we’re working together again and both knee deep in SEO.
The fact is I work with several local clients and provide them with keyword content for their blogs and websites. They both use another webmaster who set up their sites for Search Engine Marketing. I referred this other webmaster to one of my clients and it’s still working although they’ve had their ups and downs.
The first question I always ask myself when I start on a project for a client is am I writing for visitors or am I writing for Google, the king of SEO, THE BOSS. The bottom line is if I don’t please Google then I won’t get any visitors with my content because my client’s name will be on page 210 of 500 pages relating to interior designers.
What Is SEO Writing?
SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization. The term describes the methodology that is used to boost a website’s rating when a keyword is searched for on an Internet search engine. As a result of the search reaching your website, the page rank you receive moves closer to the top, to page 1, relative to other websites. This ranking is achieved through web or blog content, articles enriched with keywords, meta tags in the structure of the webpage, social networking and the use of special plug ins for SEO.
Why is SEO Important
When you’re searching for a topic, let’s say ice fishing in Wisconsin, and you’re shown a dozen possible websites with that keyword phrase on the first page of Google, if you’re like most people looking for information, you don’t go any further; you don’t go to page 2 of Google. The fact is most people searching don’t go past the first page of their search, which is why the higher a website is ranked for a given keyword or phrase, the better the chances are of bringing in new customers. It’s not just how you browse. Recent research showed that most users only click the top 5 or top 10 results. Google, Yahoos, Firefox, and MSN account for close to 80 percent of all search engine traffic on the Internet which explains why SEO is important.
Keywords and Keyword Phrases
Keywords or keyword phrases are what the user types in when they want to know more about a particular topic. For instance, this past week-end I clicked onand locate Staples, and my local store so I could find out what their hours were.
The purpose of search engines is to provide users with relevant results for their keyword searches. To provide search engine users with the results which match most to the request , the major search engines send out spiders to crawl web pages and blogs. These spiders evaluate several distinct elements of a web page and then index and rank the web page based on the analyses of their search engine.
The web spiders read the content of the web pages categorize the subject matter and decide whether the web page should be ranked for any search query using those key words. Web page leveraging keyword-rich content that is informative , well organized and relevant to the topic being searched, the search engines send their spiders to these sites. Once on the website the spiders evaluate the webpage and then index and rank the web page based on the analysis of the content. Web pages that are short and have vague content seldom receive good rankings because the spider can’t find the image. Even content that uses the greatest graphics isn’t going to influence how the webpage is ranked because the spiders can’t see the image.
This is where I come in as a writer.
Writing search engine friendly content.
When I write I want to achieve a balance between keyword density and positioning and content. If I’m overdoing the use of the keywords, the search engines will have nothing to do with me if I’m not providing the content and being informative. What I write has to be informative to the user or I’m off the ‘A’ list.
More on writing for search engines in my next post.
Until then you can go it on your own and look up more information about writing for search engines and get a better understanding of keywords. Above all just write really good content about whatever topic you are covering.
Much success in your website ratings.
Ruthan
Ruthan Brodsky
Content Creator & copywriter
Business Writer
Health Writer
