The term SEO or “search engine optimization” as it stands for may sound like a scary concept to most people that are starting out as freelance writers, but the fact of the matter is that it’s not really that scary of an idea. All that SEO means is that you are working hard to make sure your page makes it to the front page of Google.
Have you ever wondered how all those geocities web pages made it to the first page when they had nothing to do with your Google search? SEO, baby– they are good. This means that they took the time to write content that used a keyword or phrase enough times that the more people searched for it, the higher their page climbed. You and I know that you were actually looking to purchase a new My Little Pony for your daughter, not view a thousand pages of photos of somebody’s collection. But the term “My Little Pony” was a popular one, and it landed you in someone’s homemade site looking at pictures of their collection. Now you feel like the new date forced to sit on the couch and see all the bathtub pictures of your date from when he was three. That’s what you are doing with SEO.
Basic SEO for freelance writers is to repeat things. Most of the time, in 300 words, you are aiming for a keyword density of 2-3% meaning that you would use a given phrase no more than three times. Sometimes the keyword will be misspelled. That’s cool, often times, companies purposely misspell things because it’s a common typo. If people spell it that way then there will be things that pop up. Sure, Google will ask if you really meant something else, but, hey, it’s your search! Spell it how you want to.
