What SEO Writing Can Do for You

While it is true that social networking and quality back links go a long way toward increasing search ranking, search engines such as Google also place high importance on the relevance of actual content. Although there have been some changes since the advent of Google Panda, the emphasis on quality content has not diminished. In fact, it is now more important than ever.

The content of your website and those articles you submit to directories should always be search engine optimized. SEO writing can make a huge difference in terms of search engine results. While I have followed links on StumbleUpon, Twitter, and Facebook and linking from those obviously works, many of the sites I visit do not rank high in search engine results. They are missing out on targeted traffic by neglecting SEO in their content.

Search engine optimized writing refers to writing that is clear, concise, and written around specific keywords the search engines love. SEO writing could be the reason your competitors rank higher than you do or the reason you don't have any rankings at all. I have witnessed it with web masters and business owners I work with, and have experienced it for myself in my various online projects.

It doesn't matter what type of site you have; you must promote the product through SEO writing if you want the best results.

Place keyword phrasing in the title and headings on your page and follow up with phrasing in your content. Search engines look at the headings to determine the importance of the keywords on your page, but the content must be relevant to the headings.

Another important factor in writing for SEO is the amount of text on each individual page. It is a good idea to keep the text between 500 and 1,000 words and use your keyword phrases at the beginning, several times throughout the article, and at the end.

The trick is in finding search terms that are not so popular that you'll end up spending a fortune to be found. Weight loss is a big topic, but if you use any of the typical phrases, such as "how to lose weight", you are guaranteed to have big competition. Narrower phrasing works best. Using Google's Adwords keyword tool, you can find several keyword phrases that will pull in several hundred to a few thousand visitors a piece. Yes, I know that "hundreds" is a low number, but if you use the phrases correctly (in titles of pages, file names, throughout the articles....), you will find that the phrases you use can add up to thousands of visitors per month, per page or post!

Use one main keyword per page or blog post, and be sure to incorporate associated phrasing throughout. For example, "lose weight with kettle bell" [ I am not suggesting a phrase. I have not researched that particular keyword], may be associated with exercise equipment or free weights. A word of caution about using LSI tools. These often relate words that have nothing to do your topic. Some choose to use those phrases anyway, but the quality of the content suffers. Quality matters most. Associated phrasing should be natural.

Count the number of words in your content and multiply by .02. The number you come up with is the number of times your primary keyword phrase should appear in your article if your target is 2 percent keyword density. Some site owners choose to go much higher than that, but this is very hard to do without looking obvious and messy. A one percent or slightly more primary keyword density may be all you need. Start small and incorporate more if you do not see a change in the search engine results.

Aside from the 2 percent density of primary keyword phrases, use secondary keywords. Secondary phrases are keyword phrases that may not be searched as often, but can increase traffic by virtue of alternative searches and relevance to search engines. Make sure these do have relevance in search engine searches and you will have a recipe for solid organic results. Each secondary phrase should be used once every 200 words or so.

Don't "stuff" your pages with keywords. Use them where you can, but keep it natural. Keeping it real will keep visitors coming back for more.

Search engines love updated content.

If you want to stay popular, you must freshen your content on a regular basis. Not only does fresh content encourage repeat visits from prospective customers, it is one more way to keep the search engines happily indexing your website.

In regards to article submissions, using keywords will assist in getting more visitors through "indirect" search engine indexing. When a site uses your article with your do follow link at the bottom, their visitors can follow the link and when they are indexed, the search engine will follow and index your site as well. It is a form of "piggybacking" or "You scratch my back; I'll scratch yours". Even no follow links can be useful for traffic, but for the best results, submit to directories with high quality requirements. Quality sites want the best quality content and will look for articles on reputable directories.