Are you writing articles for the Web? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is fundamental -- here are four tips which will help you to learn this skill.
Firstly, let's look at why SEO is important: SEO helps your articles to be found. People looking for information use the Web search engines, which are basically indexing software.
Therefore, you need to include the search terms -- the keywords -- for which people are searching in your articles to ensure that the articles are found.
1. Choose Your Primary Keyword With Care
If you're writing Web articles for a buyer, you'll usually be given a set of keywords to target (include) in your articles.
But what if you're writing articles for yourself? In this case, you need to create your own keyword list. For each article, choose a primary keyword. (Only one.) You'll include this keyword in the article title, as well as in the first paragraph of the article.
You can also choose a secondary keyword if you wish. However, once you've chosen your primary keyword, just focus on writing an excellent article.
2. Write an Excellent Article -- Be Original
You must also remember your article's readers. So your article must not only be original, it should also provide useful information. While keywords are a primary tool of SEO, links are equally important. An article will only be linked to from other sites and blogs if the information is great.
Strive to make your articles "linkworthy". The more links any article collects, the more likely it is to be found by searchers.
3. Avoid Keyword Stuffing
As a Web writer, you'll often work with buyers of your writing who are unfamiliar with the Web, and they may use terms like "keyword density".
Years ago, when the search engines were less powerful than they are now, having keywords appear several times in an article was important. Nowadays, repeating keywords is more likely to get an article labelled as Web spam. Using a keyword too often is known as "keyword stuffing": avoid it.
Use keywords naturally -- once you've placed a keyword in an article title, and again in the first paragraph, it's not necessary to repeat it again, unless you're doing it naturally in the flow of writing.
4. Great Keywords Lead to Great Articles: Keyword Ideas
Because keywords are so essential to ensuring that content is found on the Web, it's vital to use those search terms which are used by Web searchers. Often they're keywords you wouldn't use yourself.
Therefore, when you're writing articles for others, ask to see customers' communications and questions, and also any lists the buyer has of search terms from the site's Web logs.
These sources will often give you great keyword ideas for articles, and the better your keywords, the more effective your articles will be.
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