Is there a happy medium between writing for SEO and writing well?

[Bartholomew]

The title says it all. A lot of SEO articles I've looked at are basically word-spam. The sentences are so obviously designed for Google instead of humans that it is almost insulting to read them. But the people who want these articles seem happy enough to pay for them, despite the fact that they make their blogs and websites look unprofessional.

SEO articles with less keyword density are more readable, especially when the author is a hobbyist for that specific topic -- but do the search engines still love them? Do crappy, uninformative, and banal articles always get page one? Will Google prefer a keyword in every sentence over a keyword once every paragraph?

[MamaLou]

I'm not what you would call an SEO writer. I'm like you, I don't like to force the SEO into the article. I also don't have a whole lot of trouble showing up in search engines like Google.

I put the SEO in the title of each thing, for me right now (though I've done some freelance SEO) each title of each article for Examiner includes, "Tucson Day Trip" or some derivative of that...

I might put it a couple three, four times in the article, but usually not. Last time I "googled" Tucson Day Trips, I came up sixth in the search listing.

[blueobsidian]

If you stuff too many keywords into your article, it will actually count against you. Google can see keyword spam as well as we can. The Google spiders are constantly being modified as people try to figure out what works in SEO. You have to have good keywords in your article, but forcing them isn't going to help your rankings.

[Bartholomew]

If you stuff too many keywords into your article, it will actually count against you. Google can see keyword spam as well as we can. The Google spiders are constantly being modified as people try to figure out what works in SEO. You have to have good keywords in your article, but forcing them isn't going to help your rankings.

Thank god.

[JenNipps]

The other day, either veinglory or medievalist (they were both in that particular discussion, so I can't remember exactly who it was) said the heart of SEO writing is good writing. If you have good writing, the key words will come naturally.

I've found that to be true with the articles I've been writing for TutorialBlog. Yes, they're basically SEO. On the first one, they gave me a list (of about 3 or 4) key word phrases that needed to be included. To me, it felt forced but I guess it read OK.

With the others, I've been on my own as far as key words go. I guess those have been doing OK too. :) I don't try to force SEO or it sounds stilted.

I think the best way to achieve that happy medium (are there any content psychics around here? ;) ) is to write a good article and let the SEO phrases fall where they may.

[Medievalist]

SEO really truly doesn't work. Good writing works. The algorithm that look at site data compare the results with internally generated samples written by people at Google/for Google, among other things. One of the problems with SEO writing is that it's written for the lowest common denominator, and it tends to score "below human."

Smart, understandable real writing works really really well. Linking to other smart well-written pages helps, too, as does the inverse.

One of the basic problems I have with SEO as a concept is that if it works you get the eyeballs of readers for mere seconds before they click away.

We want real readers who are repeat readers, who link to us, and tell their friends, and leave posts.

We want to create communities.

[Button]

Hi all,

I'm still around, just not quite so active. :)

I wanted to mention, there's a whole slew of people working on your side to boost high quality content and to get rid of the junk articles.

Google does hire quality raters, you may have heard of them. They check out various search terms and thumb up or down websites based on relevancy, quality, etc.

Other search engines are catching on. I was approached recently by a similar company that handles search engine result relevance. They have such strict guidelines and a through method of rating websites based on relevancy to a search term.

The system is regulated so they don't have people showing up to work who might be hired out by spammers. A worker would get evaluated on the quality.

So there's hope for those who are hired to write quality articles and content. While junk content will consistently be a nuisance, I think many will find it will be on a down trend. So keep up the good work! :D

[SouthernFriedJulie]

I ghost write a lot of SEO articles. In writing them, I only use keywords that make sense. I also refuse to work for low-low rates on SEO articles these days and the last two gigs I landed were based on explaining the points you all have already pointed out here.

It feels good to see that clients who would have taken low quality junk can be educated. Not every prospective client can be swayed, but by including ideas in your application or cover letter like in these posts, we can help enrich sites that otherwise would read like an illiterate alligator wrote it.

[solankie]

What is the benefit of a blog for SEO purposes?i don't quite get the benefit of a blog for SEO. Is there something about blogs that would boost the rankings of my website? please explain the SEO benefits. thanks

[AngelRoseDarke]

I write tutorials, and I don't focus much on key words. I just write, and the key words fall into place naturally. I've seen the ones where they try to force it, and good grief, those articles are a nightmare!

[JenNipps]

What is the benefit of a blog for SEO purposes?i don't quite get the benefit of a blog for SEO. Is there something about blogs that would boost the rankings of my website? please explain the SEO benefits. thanks

The benefit of SEO is for search engines to pick up the articles/posts quicker/better. It stands for "Search Engine Optimization."

There is some debate as to whether or not it works or if it interferes with good writing. Either way, if it's a personal blog that you're not being paid to write, I wouldn't worry about SEO.