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The inalienable relationship between copywriting and SEO

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Copywriting isn’t just about writing ads these days. When we are writing copy for websites and blogs, it goes beyond selling stuff, although, I must admit that selling stuff is one of the most important functions of copywriting.

As a copywriter writing for websites and blogs, you need to pay close attention to the SEO aspect of writing. Of late I have been repeatedly stressing that you shouldn’t allow your SEO to dominate your writing, but it doesn’t mean you completely ignore it. There is a complete branch called SEO copywriting.

Is there even a separate field called SEO copywriting? It depends. There are many writers on the web who call themselves SEO copywriters but mostly it’s about striking a balance between writing compelling copy and writing in a manner that improves the website’s search engine rankings.

On day-to-day basis, there are very few clients who understand the difference between a content writer and copywriter. When you are writing for a business website, for example for a homepage or for services page, you’re not writing content, you are writing copy, copy that is intended to “sell”. Clients want that from you. Whenever you are writing to sell and not just to inform and educate, you’re being a copywriter and not a content writer.

At the same time they also give you a list of keywords you need to optimize the content for. Therefore, you’re not merely selling through your writing, you are also incorporating keywords to improve search engine rankings. Whether it actually improves your rankings or not is another issue, but this is what you call SEO copywriting.

Why do I say there is an inalienable relationship between copywriting & SEO?
Because the line is blurred. The content writer is also a copywriter when writing for the main website and since as a content writer one of your primary jobs is to improve search engine rankings, even as a copywriter you are trying to achieve the same.

Of course, this is difficult to explain to the clients and personally I feel even if they can make a difference, they won’t accept it because a copywriter charges more than a content writer. A different topic for a different day.

How to hire the best SEO content writer to improve your rankings

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How to hire an SEO content writer to improve your rankings

How to hire an SEO content writer to improve your rankings

Here is an interesting and informative post on Moz.com titled “How to screen and recruit the best SEO content writers“.

As someone who provides professional content writing services, SEO content writing and online copywriting, on daily basis I am dealing with clients who are looking for a writer for their website or for their blog.

I’m sure you may say that I’m targeting the wrong audience and hence I’m attracting wrong clients, but most of the clients first want to know how much my SEO content writing services are going to cost.

Hence, cost is a major worry for them.

Do they want quality?

They claim that they do, but I can understand by the way they talk they think that writers are available “a dime a dozen”, and I don’t blame them.

Nonetheless, when you are hiring a content writer seriously, and by seriously, I mean that you know that you will have to pay money to a good SEO content writer, the suggestions listed in the above link are good.

I am rehashing some of them below.

Why do you need an SEO content writer?

SEO-friendly content writing

SEO-friendly content writing

Personally, I believe you need a good content writer or a good writer who understands your topic and understands what your readers are looking for.

If your writer can take care of these two aspects, he or she is a good SEO content writer.

Anyway, you need an experienced writer to improve your search engine rankings because ranking these days is not as easy as it used to be.

There are many reasons.

Millions of pieces of content are being added to the web on daily basis.

In the beginning of the Internet there weren’t many people vying for the top positions.

To add to the difficulty, Google is also constantly improving its ranking algorithm.

In the past decade, three major algorithm updates done by Google are Panda, RankBrain and “Fred”.

There was also a Penguin update which the article hasn’t mentioned.

A long time back I wrote a blog post on it for Content Marketing Institute, titled, “How to survive the Google Penguin update with effective content writing“.

Panda was a major reshuffle in the early parts of the previous decade and it annihilated the rankings of many websites.

RankBrain uses searchers’ intent to decide your rankings.

A related blog post: Do you know how Google actually ranks your content? ()

Fred weeds out content pieces that don’t add any value.

So, basically, Google is trying its best to keep your content away from top rankings if your content is not of good quality and doesn’t provide any value.

This is why you need an SEO content writer.

An SEO content writer can take care of three things simultaneously:

  1. Write high-quality content.
  2. Write content according to your keywords and key phrases.
  3. Write content that is relevant to your readers.

What to look for in an SEO content writer when you are hiring one?

This is, what is explained in the above Moz.com link.

Here are a few things to consider when hiring an SEO content writer:

Knowledge of on-page SEO and writing optimized content

Although I have written above that it basically takes a good writer to help you improve your rankings, certain on-page SEO factors are important when writing content.

Can your SEO content writer

  • Write content based on your keywords and key phrases?
  • Come up with optimized titles knowing that your title plays a crucial role in deciding your rankings?
  • Utilise internal linking?
  • Write longform content of 2000+ words, if need be?
  • Write web friendly and mobile friendly content?
  • Show a good track record of ranking content for important keywords?

On my website you can find all this information even before having to contact me.

There is a great chance that you have come on this blog post through Google or another search engine.

You can also see plenty of interlinks on my blog and on my website.

All my blog post and web page titles are completely optimized.

Although I use important keywords to write my content, I don’t needlessly stuff them.

Knowledge of user experience and authoritative content

Your SEO content writer must know the importance of writing and publishing authoritative content.

Authoritative content is very crucial for your search engine rankings because it tells Google that your content can be trusted and valued.

Also, the SEO content writer that you hire must be able to write search friendly content.

It means, the content must be arranged under appropriate headings, subheadings, bullet points, and sentences and paragraphs.

Learn to value a good and experienced SEO content writer

Improving your SEO is a two-pronged process: just as an SEO content writer is supposed to understand your needs and the needs of your customers and clients, you must also understand the value of a good and experienced SEO content writer.

It’s true, you can find content writers a dime a dozen, but it is very difficult to find SEO content writers who can really deliver.

The fault lies on both the ends of the spectrum: content writers started offering their services dirt cheap and now most of the clients expect them to deliver their services dirt cheap, heavily compromising the quality in the process.

Hence, the first step towards hiring a capable SEO content writer is recognizing the fact that just like any other service, you will have to pay for high-quality content.