Writers and SEO
Content Strategy

Most writers aren’t SEO Specialists. But why not?

by Dusten Carlson
January 3, 2021

Writers that neglect SEO are leaving money on the table.

Here’s what you need to know to feel confident that your SEO knowledge is up-to-date and competitive in the freelance writing market.

I recently saw a job post on reddit. “Looking for an SEO expert and copywriter,” it said.

Though the OP admitted they weren’t sure whether they were in the right place, the post went on to list some pretty standard competencies: native english speaking, ability to write blog posts, and “expert in SEO.”

Imagine the OP’s disappointment when they read the top response, which begins, emphasis theirs:

An SEO Expert/Specialist is rarely a writer.

Looking at the title of this blog post, you might be thinking I’m going to pick a fight with this responder.

Not at all. This response is 100% correct.

The responder correctly identifies an “SEO expert” as a distinct role from that of a writer. This is an individual with skills in keyword research, technical SEO, and link building, among other things.

In that same response, the author also clarifies that a lot of writers market themselves as “SEO experts.” The problem is, their skills are outdated or questionable. Knowing how to keyword stuff content isn’t exactly a valuable skill, and it’s definitely not good SEO.

So far an SEO expert is not a writer, and writers are not SEO experts. Check. Agreed so far.

But what I want to do in this blog post is expand on something that the responder briefly mentioned, because I think there’s more to say there.

“A copywriter with a background in SEO, or skilled in keyword placement, usually has only a bit of knowledge about the above.”

This is also true.

But it just brings me to a question.

Why?

Why don’t writers know more about SEO?

And what should writers know about SEO?

(Okay, that was three questions. Bear with me.)

If a writer wanted to, they certainly could become an SEO expert. There are a lot of courses on the web that will teach you skills like technical SEO review, link building, and keyword strategy. As the responder notes, SEO Specialists charge a pretty penny for their services, too.

But that’s not for everybody.

Still, SEO is an in-demand skill that factors into a lot of freelance writing jobs. It’s mentioned as a preferred skill in most gigs we curate at our own jobs board.

And while we don’t have exact numbers on the freelance writing industry as a whole, we can give you a sense of perspective.

There are nearly 40,000 writing jobs on ZipRecruiter right now that ask for some kind of SEO competency.

That means there’s an opportunity here, and most writers are missing it. 

Don’t just shrug those shoulders and go “SEO isn’t for me.” Every professional writer has to know something about SEO in 2021 and beyond. 

So, what do you need to know?

Step one: Know more than your clients

As someone who runs a digital content agency, let me assure you:

Most clients who say they want SEO writers don’t understand how SEO works.

Some think it’s a magic formula that will make them “go viral.” Most of them understand it’s something they have to do, even if they’re not sure why. They just hear that it creates success, and they’ve heard it enough that there must be something to it.

Precious few know anything about SEO, and even in that group, most of their knowledge is out of date.

This is just one reason why I’m extremely critical of “learn as you go” advice for freelance writers. When I hire writers, a good chunk that sell themselves as “SEO writers” are full of outdated SEO “hacks” at best, or black hat tactics at worst.

These writers aren’t actually trying to trick anyone, either. They think they learned SEO on the job. But their SEO “knowledge” is the result of a bad game of telephone between themselves and low-pay, know-nothing clients that hasn’t changed since 2013.

To recap:

  • Most clients don’t know much about SEO
  • Most writers know bad or outdated SEO
  • This is a vicious, mutually-reinforcing cycle.

This is one reason why the SEO Specialist role that the reddit responder invoked is a real thing.

But as they mentioned, an SEO Specialist isn’t really a writer. It’s a more holistic role. They look at a website’s infrastructure, loading time, user experience, and a bunch of other checkpoints that have nothing to do with writing.

Insofar as they touch content, it’s mostly the look, the formatting, and the readability they care about. They might not know how to create great SEO content, but they know bad content when they see it.

Also, while an SEO Specialist is a real and vital role, it’s an expensive one. And it’s often out of the budgetary reach of a lot of small-to-medium-sized businesses, which make up the bulk of employers of freelance writers.

So what’s the solution for writers?

Know more about SEO than your clients do.

Don’t worry about becoming an SEO Specialist, but you should be the content expert in the client/freelancer relationship

There is nothing more empowering than knowing more about content than your client does.

So many writers look to their clients for instructions on how to do their own job.

This is a byproduct of the “learn as you go” model.

Skip that model. It has only lead to burnout and heartbreak for both clients and writers in the freelance market. You don’t need it.

Does this mean we’re telling you to become SEO Specialists?

Like we said above, you can if you want! But that’s not what we’re prescribing here.

Instead, your goal as a freelance writer should be understanding more about how SEO works (and your role in it as the writer) than your client does.

Being a content expert is about calling balls and strikes when your client asks you for questionable deliverables or to implement sketchy strategies.

If a client asks you for some reassurance that the content you’re writing them will “trend” or “rank,” you should feel confident saying something like this:

“Well, SEO success for you is going to have a lot more to do with things like continually publishing SEO-optimized content, your domain authority, the amount of backlinks you get over time, your site optimization, and a bunch of other stuff a writer doesn’t do. It’s not 2013 anymore, writers can’t really promise instant success. Google is too smart. What I can promise is the SEO-optimized content part, based on your SEO strategy. The rest, you might have to consult an SEO Specialist or do a little homework on.”

You, as the writer, should know how to write SEO-optimized content.

But there are no quick wins anymore. SEO requires a holistic, consistent approach.

As the content expert, knowing SEO in 2021 and beyond is about knowing what you’re responsible for and what you’re not responsible for.

Good SEO requires good content. You, as the writer, are a critical part of that and cannot be replaced.

But it’s time to change the paradigm in the freelance market:

  • Clients need to be educated on the difference between good SEO and bad SEO.
  • Writers need to understand what they are and are not responsible for in SEO, and help educate clients.
  • And, writers need to write the killer SEO-optimized content that helps clients succeed.

What do writers need to know about SEO?

If you want to upgrade your profile as a freelance writer and beat out all the schmucks selling SEO snake oil, I have two pieces of advice for you:

  1. Understand how SEO works holistically (so you can confidently explain what you are and are not responsible for).
  2. Learn how to write SEO-optimized content (you’ll be much more impressive to employers if you can format and optimize your own content).

Learning technical SEO might not be your cup of tea. I get it.

But anyone can understand how Google works, what is involved in SEO, and who’s responsible for what.

You don’t need to design keyword strategies and identify ranking opportunities. That’s a different job.

But you should know best practices around using keywords, headline optimization, web readability, and formatting.

Those aren’t mystical digital skills you can’t learn. They’re basically the same principles of copywriting that professional writers have used since the dawn of time.

Don’t promise anything you can’t deliver. Be honest with clients. The only way to climb the ranks in Google Search is with high-quality content over time. 

But that assumes the client’s site is SEO-optimized (read: NOT your job). If it isn’t, that will hold them back, but that’s not your responsibility.

If your client has a bad content strategy for ranking pages, that’s also not your responsibility (unless you’re being paid to design the content strategy).

Being a content expert isn’t about knowing everything there is to know about SEO. But it is knowing enough about how it works to understand the writer’s role within it, and where to advise your client to help them succeed as they improve their overall SEO.

If you want to learn more about SEO, and the writer’s role in it, you can check out our paywalled guide here. We’re also rolling out a course that covers SEO writing in more depth in a few months. You can sign up to be notified when it’s available here. 

If You Are A Writer ProWriter Featured
Content Strategy

Are you a writer? Then you need to learn content strategy

by Dusten Carlson
July 27, 2020

 

Your client should be able to explain what they want. Many can’t. If this happens to you, what should you do?

Every writer should know enough about content strategy to fill in the gaps and educate their clients if necessary.

We’ve all had clients who have funny ideas about what makes content successful.

How often have you seen a job post that says something vague like “we’re looking for writers with proven success” or talked with a potential client who wanted “sticky content that goes viral”?

Proven success? What does that even mean?

What are you supposed to say when you apply for that job? That you can drive huge amounts of traffic to their website? That you can get a lot of shares on Twitter? That you can write content that ranks highly on Google?

That’s probably what they want to hear, but it’s just lip service.

Ranking content in Google is a complicated, long-term endeavor of which good writing is only a part.

Shares on Twitter don’t automatically translate to clickthroughs to the site.

A huge amount of traffic doesn’t automatically mean huge sales.

And yet, so many clients have vague metrics for writer success and are convinced by superficial promises of “big wins.” They don’t think they’re hiring freelance writers, they think they’re hiring magicians who can turn a few hundred bucks into quarterly sales records.

Why do they think things like this?

I’ll tell you who you usually can’t tell you why: Your client.

Because there’s a big problem with the dialogue between freelance writers and their clients.

“Gee, only one?”

Alright, there are many. But one problem at a time, okay?

Today let’s talk about one that’s particularly hard to put your finger on — Figuring out who is responsible for content strategy.

In my experience, this simple role misunderstanding causes nothing but headaches for clients and freelance writers both.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s the fastest way to ensure a new relationship with a client ends before it begins, with everyone leaving the table disappointed.

Why does this keep happening, and who’s responsible for fixing it?

Let me tell you a quick story.

I recently got coffee with an entrepreneur who wanted to pick my brain about content. He runs one of those box delivery startups and is beginning to see some real traction.

He has a few thousand followers on his social channels, and from all outside appearances, his marketing efforts online look like they’re successful.

But he runs a small team, and a lot of his content is whipped up on the fly and with no real strategy behind it. He’s on the cusp of a big business break and he has heard that blogging is a successful marketing tactic. But he’s skeptical.

“It’s just such an investment,” he said. “If I pay a writer a few hundred bucks for a blog post and it doesn’t go viral, then it was a waste of money. A sunk cost. Writers just don’t understand this.”

Is this your expression right now?

Mine too. Let’s talk about it.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”‘There’s a big problem with the dialogue between freelance writers and their clients — figuring out who’s responsible for content strategy.’ #writingcommunity #freelancewriter” quote=”‘There’s a big problem with the dialogue between freelance writers and their clients — figuring out who’s responsible for content strategy.'”]

Just from hearing him say this, I could tell we had a handful of misunderstandings on the horizon when it comes to expectations. Putting my content strategist hat on, there are a few things I’d advise him on at this point.

Problem #1, he assumes going viral = success. If he were running a business that depends primarily on advertising revenue, like a publication or a blog, then going viral would indeed be the right strategy.

But his revenue model is based on products he sends customers in the mail. Is going viral really the right way to go?

Maybe. If he has a lot of money to put into content creation. But, Problem #2, he has a small budget for content. 

This means top-tier freelance writers are probably out of his range. He’ll need to hire first-year freelancers who are still cutting their teeth and building their portfolios.

There’s nothing wrong with those writers of course, but they probably don’t have enough content strategy experience to explain why “going viral” is a bad strategy for him, or what he should do instead.

Which leads to Problem #3, he implicitly assumes that success or failure is on the writer.

At that level of pay and experience, freelance writers should pretty much only be expected to do a job and collect their check, not feel pressured to guarantee results for a strategy they didn’t design and don’t have any input on.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”‘Many clients don’t seem to think they’re hiring freelance writers — they think they’re hiring magicians who can turn a few hundred bucks into quarterly sales records.’ #writingcommunity #writelife” quote=”‘Many clients don’t seem to think they’re hiring freelance writers — they think they’re hiring magicians who can turn a few hundred bucks into quarterly sales records.'”]

If he can’t afford top-tier, experienced freelance writers, then all of the content strategy is on him, and the success or failure of the content is his as well.

So, if we’re keeping track, this client misunderstands:

  • What it means for content to be a success for his business
  • How much investment it takes to succeed with content
  • Who is responsible for the success of his content

The saddest part of this story? Running into clients like this is not uncommon for freelancers.

This is you right now, right?

If you’re the first-year novice writer this guy was able to afford, this puts you in an awkward situation.

First, it’s possible that you just don’t know enough about content strategy yet to explain to the client where he’s wrong, even though you probably intuit that he’s wrong.

Second, even if you do know he’s wrong, and even know some of the reasons that he’s wrong, you might feel that it’s not your place to educate your client, or you might lack the confidence to do so.

Whatever the reason, the client now assumes that you know enough about content strategy to make this one piece of content an absolute, unqualified success for him, and you assume he knows something you don’t, or just hope that the content you put together does what he wants it to do.

You’re both now co-pilots in a project headed for disaster.

And to think, it could have been avoided.

Who is responsible for content strategy?

What does all of this mean for writers, especially ones that are earlier in their careers?

First: In an ideal world, your client is responsible for content strategy. And you’re well within your rights to expect that of them.

They should know things like:

  • Exactly what kind of content they need produced
  • What it should look like
  • Which channel(s) it should be optimized for
  • What topics they want to cover
  • What keywords (if any) they want to target, and
  • Have a realistic idea of what success looks like.

Simply put, if you’re not being paid to do so, your role isn’t to create a strategy. Your role is to execute their strategy.

Sure, maybe you can advise them here or there on technical stuff they might be missing, like headlines.

Let’s say you hire someone to paint your living room. They show up at the address, but it’s just an empty lot. They call you, confused. “Where’s your house?” Just as confused, you retort “well, you have to build it.”

No.

No no no.

This is not how it will go.

Writing is a skill, just like painting a house. It doesn’t mean that a house painter can also build a house. Similarly, a writer isn’t necessarily a content strategist.

And if a writer is a content strategist, then they, like the house painter, wouldn’t build the house for the same cost as it takes to paint the living room.

Here’s the reality check…

Between you and me, as the freelance writer, you’re completely justified in expecting that your client has already figured out exactly what they want.

But…

… it’s probably not going work out that way every time.

Heck, most times.

All too often, the client doesn’t actually have a strategy (or doesn’t understand what they should actually want) which means that many are setting themselves up for disappointing results.

And who are they going to blame? They’re going to blame you.

Even though it’s 100% their fault.

Here’s what writers should do.

Yes, in a perfect world, you’re not supposed to be the content strategist (unless you’re being paid for that).

But you can’t wait for clients to become the content strategist. If they are, that’s awesome. If they aren’t, you have to step in and educate them.

This means:

If you’re a writer, you’re also a teacher. Your students are your clients.

Understand a simple reality: Most clients you’ll be working with on a freelance basis aren’t content people.

They don’t know the ins and outs of your skillset. That’s why they’re hiring you. You’re the content person.

Most small business owners spend their days wrapped up in product and sales and payroll. Ultimately, they just want to be successful.

Most of them know that good content can be a big advantage over their competitors.

They just don’t know what success actually looks like, when to expect it, and what kind of content gets you there.

So what are we telling you to do, really?

We’re not advocating that you offer free content strategy services to your clients. Anything but.

We are saying that writers at all levels, but especially early on, need to prioritize learning content strategy.

If you’re a first-year writer and have one takeaway from this post, that’s it.

Start learning content strategy today. 

And don’t stop learning content strategy.

Make it part of your professional development.

Read marketing blogs and subscribe to marketing newsletters.

Learn, learn, learn.

Every writer picks up content strategy over the course of their careers.

But they do it haphazardly. They learn from experience.

We’re saying start the process now. Do it on purpose.

So you can offer free content strategy advice to clients?

No.

So you can recognize red flags your clients throw your way about content strategy.

So you can understand what you’re getting into.

So you can help manage expectations.

So you can push people who hire writers to set tangible, realistic goals for you.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”‘If you’re a writer, you’re also a teacher. Your students are your clients.’ #writingcommunity #strategy” quote=”‘If you’re a writer, you’re also a teacher. Your students are your clients.'”]

You can’t define your client’s goals for them, but you should ask what their goals are and be able to chime in if you think they’re unrealistic.

And if your client is lost and doesn’t know what their strategy should be, offer to create one for them (for pay, of course).

When it comes to the dialogue between freelance writers and their clients, we need to lead a paradigm shift.

Study after study after study after study after study shows that good content is a major driver of business growth and success. Every client who wants to hire a freelance writer already knows this.

But it takes time. It is an investment. Most clients don’t know this part.

That’s the expectations gap. That’s why clients think one blog post will set quarterly sales records.

The only way to fix this problem and hit the reset button on client expectations is to normalize conversations like this:

Client: “I want content to go viral.”

Writer: “Are you sure that going viral is the right strategy for you? What’s your ultimate goal?”

Client: “To sell more stuff, obviously.”

Writer: “Okay, well, going viral isn’t necessarily the best way to do that because [insert XYZ reasons].”

Client: “Oh. Well, what do you think we should do?”

Writer: “It sounds like you need to spend some time thinking about content strategy, or hire a content strategist. It just so happens, I could offer my services…”

That means you need to collect all of the knowledge about content strategy you can, as soon as you can.

Okay, sold. How do I learn more about content strategy?

There aren’t a lot of good resources out there that are specifically geared toward writers. You’ll have to mostly stay away from freelance writing blogs and look for resources in marketing, PR, digital media, and more, depending on what lane you’re trying to steer into as a freelance writer.

Even if you’re getting your start writing listicles for a viral website, you can learn things about stuff like headlines and readability that will benefit you when working with a B2C blog.

Even if you want to become a master blogger, there are things you can learn about email subject lines and social media advertising that translate over.

Good copywriting habits are good copywriting habits.

Also, ProWriter is, in part, an attempt to bridge the divides we’re talking about.

That’s why this blog exists, and why we publish content like this on our social channels:

We publish content every day in an effort to help writers, especially those earlier in their careers, increase their knowledge of content strategy.

That way you can coach your clients instead of letting them set both of you up for failure.

Needless to say, happier clients means more jobs for you which means a happier you!

If you have any suggestions for topics you think we should cover, feel free to email us directly at [email protected]. Or, start a conversation with me on LinkedIn.

 

Content Strategy

Most Recent Google Update Favors Original Content

by Dave Polykoff
February 10, 2020

Content marketers avidly follow every adjustment Google makes to its algorithm, and one of the most notable changes they saw most recently is that the algorithm favors original content. Content that’s an easy rehashing of what’s found in other places won’t work as well.

How this impacts content marketing strategy

For many content marketers, this change encourages a shift in how they pitch, develop, and publish content. They’re now looking to see what they can add to what’s already out there and to be more unique.

What does this mean from a tactical perspective?

It means that smart content marketers are developing entirely new stories, an original angle on an existing trend, or commentary on work that’s already out there.

They’re also looking for new statistical research to include, or they’re conducting a unique interview that adds to their narrative.

If marketers come across an article from another source, can they still use it? They can pass it on to their readers as long as they attribute it to the original source with links. That action also helps build credibility.

The impact on keywords

At this point, keyword strategy is also changing for content marketers. Keyword stuffing – adding as many keywords as possible into an article so they’re flagged by the search engine – doesn’t do the job as well as it once did.

Instead, writers are encouraged to add keywords into an article as they make sense and relate to the copy. Original articles with natural keywords are the goal.

This change is ultimately a good thing

There are a few reasons why Google is making these changes. At the top of the list is the fact that they believed the way the previous algorithm worked encouraged content that was less valuable to readers.

They’re likely hoping that this will ultimately provide higher quality information. When that happens, everyone wins.

Content Strategy

How many times should I use a keyword in a blog post in 2020?

by Dave Polykoff
January 6, 2020

Trying to figure out how many times to use a keyword in an article isn’t always easy.

Use a keyword too frequently and your search rankings will fall. The same is true if you don’t use a keyword enough.

In other words, your visibility will suffer.

Inserting keywords into your content requires careful balance. The general rule is to keep it to 5 times in a standard post.

Why Keyword Stuffing Can Hurt You

Did you know that Google will penalize you for “keyword stuffing”?

Keyword stuffing is using the keyword repeatedly throughout the content. Basically, using the same word so often that your original content does not read as “natural prose”.

When you do overuse a keyword, Google will lower your rankings so your post is not as visible as you might like.

Lower rankings equates to fewer visitors to your site and this means a loss in potential revenue.

Avoiding Keyword Stuffing

Keyword stuffing can be easily avoided.

It is worth your time to learn how. If you are overstuffing your content with keywords, you lessen the chances of being ranked at the top of a Google search. This makes it harder for potential customers to read your content.

Avoiding keyword stuffing isn’t hard.

You just need to create content that meets the needs of your target audience.

Keywords should be included within the context of the post, without disrupting the post’s flow.

In other words, include your keywords, generally around 5 per post. Make sure that they read naturally.

Keywords And SEO

SEO is an important part of content writing. You don’t want to overload the post but you also don’t want to have too few.

It is a delicate balance.

Just remember, you want the post to read naturally. You don’t want excess keywords cluttering up the post to the point where readers miss the idea you are trying to get across.

Content Strategy

2020 Writing Trend: More Content

by Dusten Carlson
November 7, 2019

By their nature, trends come and go and are rarely permanent. For freelancers, there’s one trend currently in play that may be here to stay: the trend towards longer-form, higher-quality content.

This is content that starts at approximately 1,200 words and can range to as many as 10,000 words. It is, polished, nuanced, creative and likely to stick around because it can offer some great benefits to brands, consumers, and freelance writers.

Brand benefit: Better SEO, more leadership positioning

The first benefit of longer content for brands is fairly straightforward: more length allows for more space to include keywords that give content a higher search engine ranking. Ideally, that translates to a higher number of eyeballs and elevated attention for a product or service.

What kind of keyword frequency increase are we talking about?

Depending on how it is written, a smaller article may have a handful of keywords while something longer can include a keyword as much as 15 to 20 times.

The second benefit of longer content is that it allows brands to place themselves in a leadership position within their industry. The added length allows them to highlight their expertise as they present their knowledge on a subject in detail.

Audience benefit: More information on a given topic

One of the biggest benefits to longer-form content is the opportunity to provide an increased amount of information on any given topic to audiences.

With added pages for an article, writers can include an additional story or statistic that they wouldn’t have had the room to place in a shorter-form piece. This allows the audience to gain more knowledge and to more deeply understand the nuances of an issue.

Writer benefit: Deeper storytelling

For freelance writers, a longer requirement for content is like a deeper sandbox where they have the chance to use a range of “toys” to help audiences understand something in a new way.

They can play around with descriptions and examples, use creative metaphors to make a point, and experiment with word choice a bit.

They can also weave in quotes and information from experts that contribute to a fuller development of their story.