Why you need to learn SEO

It appears in more and more of the job postings. Along with the regular job description, under skills, it says ‘SEO’. Search Engine Optimization. The buyers want it.

Because I am a commercial writer, it’s up to me to provide what my customers want.

This article isn’t a tutorial on SEO. You can find a tutorial here- seo tutorial. That’s where I’m learning it now. I don’t intend to become an expert, but I do want to learn enough to pass the SEO test on oDesk. I want that skill to show up in my profile.

If buyers are requesting it, I’m darn sure going to provide it. I’m suggesting that you do the same.

What’s SEO all about?

SEO used to be called ’search engine friendly writing’. It means you shape your article or blog posting in a way that a computer program likes.

The purpose of a search engine like Google is to index the Internet so that users can find relevant sites. It does this by sorting web pages based on several factors; the characteristic of most concern to us is keywords.

So far, this article has used the keyword SEO six times. Six uses in those 200 words means I have a keyword density of 3% for SEO. That isn’t too bad. A computer-indexing program would categorize this article and rank it based on that percentage.

Where your writing talent comes in.

The reason I could write something readable and still have a 3% keyword density is that I was writing about SEO specifically. I was able to match what I wanted to say to that keyword. I’m going to call this an organic usage of a keyword. It means using the word in it’s natural context.

An artificial usage is when you are forced to use a keyword or phrase that doesn’t fit well with the tone and content of your article.

That’s a real problem. When a buyer wants you to use keywords that don’t blend well with your subject, you end up with some pretty clunky writing. Sure, computer search engines will love it, but we want real people to eventually read it. Balancing these conflicting goals is exactly what we writers are supposed to be skilled at.

I have to admit I sometimes tell the client I can’t do it. I can’t work in the keyword ‘mange’ in an article about puppies if the title is, “Teaching your puppy not to bark”. Sometimes buyers are unreasonable (OK, they are often unreasonable).

Another nearly impossible request is when they have a list of keywords and they want all of them to appear at some pre-set percentage in the same short article. If you do it, I guarantee it will read like crap. We are trained to vary the nouns we use so that readers don’t burn out from overuse. SEO misapplied like that goes against our instincts because it requires excessive and even senseless repetition.

Let’s game the system.

Here’s an experiment we can try. I’m going to make up a word, a term that doesn’t yet exist in Google’s index. Freniculla. My invented word will mean: That point in a long blog post where the reader is enticed to click more to continue reading.

Here is the freniculla for this post-

Aha, you have followed me past the freniculla.

Now, if I use the word freniculla a few times and if Google does it’s job correctly, eventually a search on Google for the term freniculla will give a link to this blog posting. I’ll keep checking and post the results of the experiment. This will tell us how long it took Google to find and index this blog entry.

I’m writing this in WordPress, which has a nice feature. Before I post, I can see a list of suggested keywords. Our new word doesn’t show up on the list.

This means that although I have used freniculla enough times to be a keyword, WordPress doesn’t recognize it as a real word. Fortunately Google isn’t limited by a dictionary. Google will think this article is about frenicullas. It isn’t, not really, but computer programs are a bit on the stupid side.

The future of SEO.

There’s good news for writers. While SEO will always be around in some form, search engines are getting more sophisticated and rely on simple keywords less and less.

Google and other search sites know that website writers are influencing index placement with keyword density. They are now using other measures to better match their users with useful sites. As keyword density declines in value, we can get back to what we do best- writing clear, convincing prose that people, not computers, want to read.

For now though, you and I would do well to learn the techniques, take the oDesk test and give buyers what they want. You can click my name at the head of this article to see my oDesk profile. SEO testing should show up there within a week. You can see if I am practicing what I preach.

Addendum - This was posted on 2/26/08. My new word, freniculla appeared on Google on 2/27/08 and links to this blog posting. If you want to check, go to Google, pick ‘more’ under options, and search blogs for freniculla. Pretty neat, huh?

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