Writing for SEO/SEV

[Cassiopeia]

When I was talking to my channel manager last week he made a point of telling me that 75% of our hits come from searches...and the rest from family, friends, and social networking.

So, I'd like to learn how to write my articles to grab that search engine and get more readership.

It gets a bit discouraging after 20+ articles to only have $18.98 accrued.

Suggestions? Helpful hints. I've noticed the controversial topics get picked up a lot but sometimes, it requires a title that might be misleading and there's nothing more that I hate then clicking on a link to find it unrelated.

Thanks for your help.

Kim

[TemlynWriting]

Just to clarify, are you referring to Examiner? Since this sub-forum is for all content and blog networks, I just wanted to be sure that's what you were referring to.

Thanks! :)

[Cassiopeia]

I'm referring to any writing that requires we snag the attention from the search engines. It could even be for a website you are building.

A very good friend of mine is a web developer and he is pushing hard for those who provide the written content on a site to be written for Search Engine Optimization or as he calls it, Search Engine Visibility.

But yes, to answer your question, we have a lot of examiners who need help with this skill. Perhaps I assume too much but I did have the channel manager over me bring home the point that 75% of our hits are a result of searches to google and other SE.

Recently, I've been told that google trends is really helpful for keywords to write articles on but I'll be hanged if it applies to my topic or the websites I'm developing.

So any help would be awesome! :)

Kim

[Medievalist]

The best advice I can give you is to use basic principles of good writing:

1. Be specific.

2. Cut excess text; particularly be aware of prepositional phrases.

3. Use exactly the best word for a given circumstance; if one word will do instead of three, use that word.

4. Be very aware of your audience. Who are you writing to in general? Who are you writing to in a specific piece? What language will those readers find most persuasive? That language will usually help put your posts higher in the search engine ranking.

5. Bots spider looking for particular kinds of words; one of the reasons to write concisely is that in English writing concisely usually means more verbs, nouns, and adjectives, fewer prepositions and adverbs. I'm not saying "avoid them," I'm saying, look at each piece of writing and ask yourself where can I tighten my prose? Where can I be more specific?

[blueobsidian]

Do you use the Google Keyword Tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) any? When I write, I like to enter my keywords and see if they offer alternatives or variations that may be useful. You don't want to jam your article completely full of keywords, but having some solid, searchable phrases will help. Before I write an article I typically ask myself, "What I would type into Google if I wanted this information?" Focusing on that questions helps me phrase things in a way that is useful.

Having a site that is linked to by other webpages will also help your SEV.

[Multimastery]

Yes as the blueobsidian suggested the Google Adwords keyword tool is good for finding a variety of keywords and phrases that can be related to your content. There are also more advanced tools available that can reveal to you your actual competition for a particular keyword. This way you don't have to guess about which keywords you really have a chance to rank on the first page of Google and other engines for. You can find out more about the world of keyword/seo by following my link below.

Keyword-rich Content can definitely bring you lots of free search engine traffic. About 90% of my traffic comes from search engines Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask and a few others.

[Cassiopeia]

I haven't tried google adwords keyword tools. I will be sure to have a look at them.

I really appreciate the information and help. It is really important to me that I get this right.

[Sheila33]

The best is to do keyword research then you can focus your writing on terms that are actively being searched and increase your readership. But you also have to know which terms can actually lead to ranking. There's no point writing one article on tvs and hoping it ranks for that you need to research easy niches.

[JenNipps]

First of all, let me say that I do think writers can use SEO as one of many tools available. I do not, however, think it should be used exclusively. Nor do I think it should be more important than good writing. As has been rehashed before, good writing will naturally include SEO.

That said, here are some definitions that I've been looking up.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization): "the process of increasing the amount of visitors to a Web site by ranking high in the search results of a search engine" (from Webopedia (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/SEO.html)).

MarketingTerms.com (http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/search_engine_optimization/) defines SEO as "The process of choosing targeted keyword phrases related to a site, and ensuring that the site places well when those keyword phrases are part of a Web search."

Here's the Google search (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22definition%22%2B%22search+engine+optim ization%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a) I did. There are a lot of places that define SEO. The definitions are basically similar though sometimes worded differently.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing): "used to describe acts associated with researching, submitting and positioning a Web site within search engines to achieve maximum exposure of your Web site" (from Webopedia (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/SEM.html)).

It goes on to say that part of SEM is SEO, which possibly muddies the waters as far as we're concerned on this board.

Here's the Google search (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=W0x&q=%22definition%22%2B%22search+engine+marketing%22&btnG=Search) on SEM. It overlaps a lot with the SEO search.

I started to search for SEV (Search Engine Visibility), but it strikes me as being the same thing as SEO, just phrased differently. I could be wrong, though.

Contributions are welcome. Please provide links to where you find your information.

[herdon]

SERPs: Search Engine Result Pages. Often used in connection with how well a piece of content is performing. "I thought I'd done a good job of it but it came up low in the SERPs."

[herdon]

Suggestions? Helpful hints. I've noticed the controversial topics get picked up a lot but sometimes, it requires a title that might be misleading and there's nothing more that I hate then clicking on a link to find it unrelated.


Controversial titles usually aren't good SEO titles. Good SEO titles are precise and to the point, usually with the keyword phrase as close to the beginning as possible.

However, articles fall into two categories: Evergreen content and "newsy" content.

Evergreen content is that content that will be searched on for years to come -- like "how to clean your storm drains" and stuff like that. You always want to practice solid SEO with those articles.

"Newsy" articles would be "Patch 1.08.04 just killed World of Warcraft!" -- people aren't going to be searching for a particular patch two years from now, but if you post something like that on a social news site (Digg, etc) you could bring in a load of page views.

For long term writing on the web, Evergreen is always perferred. I would much rather have an article that gets 100 page views a day than one that get 3,000 on day one 2,000 on day two 500 on day three and nothing after that.

It's those 100 page views a day article that will provide the backbone of your pay.

[JenNipps]

Thanks for adding the bit about SERPs. I saw that referenced (and explained) in a couple of the links I posted but didn't think to include it.

[SouthernFriedJulie]

Cassiopeia:

A perfect example of BAD use of keywords is in an article I read yesterday in Denver- Denver Hay Bale Garden.

Denver hay bale garden was usded so many times it the article, that I could probably have put together a Denver hay bale garden, weeded my Denver hay bale garnden, and then even harvested my Denver hay bale garden in the time it took to read this article on Denver hay bale gardens!

If that happens to be anyone here- sorry, but that's not bad use of a keyword, that's the kidnap for ransom of a keyword.


Everything you read about SEO-meta tags, black hat, keyword stuffing- does no good. You will occasionally come across newer, up to date advice that tells you just what you've been hearing here:

Content is king.

Trust me, I do this on a professional level. Not just Examiner, I get paid to go in and create content that ranks high on Google. An example is one of my favorites from when I started doing SEO and had NO idea of keyword stuffing, I just tried to give good information, result? This article ranks #3 on the first page of Google search. Check on -cramping in pregnancy- when you see #3, Family Resource, that's me!.

Spiders/Bots are programmed now to index the page as a human would read. Overkill of a keyword gets a big ignore. Think of this- did the paragraph I intro'd with interest you? No, it either made you smile, sigh, or feel a tiny bit annoyed. Imagine reading 5 paragraphs like that! Your mind would skip over the overused word[s].

When you use keywords: use them correctly. Go to the next depth.

Get out your thesaurus and think, darn it.

Write like a READER, if you can get that.

Never use a keyword just to put it in.

Only use keywords that make sense.

Use a keyword a maximum of 4 times if it is an odd one.

Typical, everyday words that can be or DO work themselves in naturally can be used more.


This is not a definitive guide to the description of SEO. Don't use the content within as a way to say-but you said SEO is this!- no...this is how to effectively use your skills as a writer to make GOOD content/SEO articles.

Man, I should write an ebook and make my first mill, all while ridding the 'net of bad content.

[KEllis]

Here's just my opinion on the SEO topic...

Everything you write on the internet, you should have SEO in mind to some extent. After all, the majority of web traffic comes from internet searches. Therefore to garner the most page views possible, you need to improve your place in search engines. I don't think people should keyword stuff articles, but they should be aware of what keywords are being searched about a particular topic. You can use Google's keyword tool to identify the search volume of a particular word or phrase.

When using your chosen keywords, you should place them in several places in the article -- the title, the meta, the body (a number of times depending on the length of your piece), bolded text, subheaders, link anchors, image names/alt, etc.

However, your writing still needs to read naturally. It's obvious when an article is keyword stuffed. Write well. Make it interesting. Tighten up your word selection. Don't use passive voice. These are all general things that make an article good, whether it's for the internet or print.

Anyway, I don't write "SEO articles" per se (meaning I don't have a client that gives me a set of keywords and says to write an article using them). However, I keep SEO in mind for everything I write on the internet, whether it's blogging for a network, writing for About.com, blogging for a corporate client, writing for online magazines, or anything else.

[herdon]

Honestly, most places I've gone to read about SEO talk about how keyword stuffing and other similar 'black hat' techniques are bad. It's generally well known that keyword stuffing can have an adverse affect on your ranking as can being linked to from a link farm and other spammy techniques.

There is a lot of great information out there about SEO. Unfortunately, there is a lot of bad information as well -- like just about anything, you have to do your research on it.

The best advice for people new to SEO is simply to (1) pick a great keyword phrase, (2) use it in the title and (3) use it in the first paragraph. Just using those simple guidelines is enough to get most articles noticed by Google so long as the article itself is good.

If you can work it in more than that, great, so long as it flows well.

[mariad]

Haven't seen this picked up yet, but...tags are also a good way to get more keywords in. I always tag my posts with as many keywords as possible (that are relevant to the post, of course).