In case you’ve been in a bunker hiding underground for the past decade, SEO means search engine optimization. It is a handy mechanism that has been used to by search engines to register websites by popularity. Words most commonly searched for by web users are triggers to rank websites. As the goal of any website is to get visitors, a war on the web ensued for webmasters and content writers have connived to find the perfect way to use SEO and keywords.
If you’ve ever searched for something only to find blog postings that come up in the search that have nothing to do with what you are looking for, then you’ve seen the problem. Many times you discover blogs that have keywords stuffed in them. For instance, you might have a blog post written about someone’s adventures in their local town that has the key phrase “ice cream stores” tossed in the mix a few times. The blog fits like an ill fitting pair of sneakers on race day, and you find nothing in way of actual information on ice cream stores. That is only one issue.
SEO blog writers make it their mission to write posts that are focused on the popular words and key phrases. Using programs like Latent Semantic Indexing they can find one-, two- and three-word phrases related to everything from the moon to breastfeeding that come up the most frequently in search engines. While this gives blog writers a definite advantage, readers have their limits.
Blog writing is supposed to engage an audience whether the audience is a group of homeschooling parents or potential customers to a car dealership. Blog postings get your attention by providing you with high value information related to the subject matter of the website. However, focusing on SEO to attract attention to your site cuts the message short. By writing blog posts based on keywords and popular phrases just to meet SEO needs, blog postings lose steam.
OK, so of course it is a good idea to be smart and get with the SEO program. Yet the smooth way to sneak in SEO without looking like a scammer is to balance SEO with information that is relevant and helpful. Potential customers who come to a blog looking for factual or valuable information only to find oddly worded sentences with random words squished in are not going to stick around. Keep this in mind when working with SEO blog writing. Find the balance between junk mail and responsible information, and your blog will be better for it.
Miranda B is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
