There’s money in SEO writing. If you can do it right, you can make a killing. Understanding the inner workings of search engines, knowing the right keywords to pick and being able to insert them into your writing is a valued skill.
If you write on the Internet at all, chances are you do at least some SEO. If you surf the Internet at all (who doesn’t) you’ve seen perfectly-optimized SEO pages.
You’ve probably also noticed that, in many cases, perfectly-optimized SEO pages suck. The writing is contrived, sentence structure is awkward and those keywords – usually in various formats – are repeated ad nauseum. In other words, good SEO is often terrible writing.
Now, this isn’t always the case. You can optimize a page without having to make the SEO so in-your-face noticeable. (If you want to know more, go to SEO School. Naomi will tell you all there is to know about good SEO.)
What happens, though, when your client wants the SEO to be so thick you can cut it with a knife?
You have two choices: take the gig or don’t.
If you take the gig, you’re going to have to get pretty damn creative. Chances are you’re still going to wind up with a piece of work that’s less than stellar, at least in terms of its readability. But, hey, you’re not an artist, right? You run a business, and businesses need to make money. Besides, if you don’t write it, someone else will.
If you don’t take the gig, you can go on with your own writing integrity. You can take satisfaction in the fact that you’re not contributing to the wealth of crappy writing on the Internet. By keeping your high standards, you help raise the overall quality of information on the Internet.
A few months ago, I took a gig that had some very specific SEO requirements. The keyword density was very high, so much so that I’m pretty sure Google won’t catch the page on those keywords (although MSN or Yahoo search might). I went along my merry way, wrote the article, and sent it to the client.
The client loved the article. Unfortunately, I hadn’t hit the SEO requirements, so the client bounced it back to me for a revision.
I realized, as I began writing the revision, just how intense these SEO requirements were. The client wanted specific word pairings that just didn’t work linguistically. (A similar example would be the keyword, “Tobacco Virginia.”)
At this point, though, I didn’t have much of a choice. I reworked the article, trying to preserve the quality as best I could. The result wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great either.
After finishing the work, it occurred to me: there was a third option I’d missed. I could have challenged the client’s requirements from the start. I could have pointed out the difficulty of the awkward word pairings, and offer other suggestions. Maybe the client would have taken the suggestions and let me do the work, maybe not.
I’m not an ar-teest, not by any stretch of the imagination. However, I do believe that great writing matters online. Just because we web writers don’t have the kind of editorial gatekeepers that print writers have doesn’t mean we can just let quality go. There has to be some kind of middle ground between using the tools we need (like SEO) and creating something that’s readable, clear and correctly uses the language.
Today, I’m hesitant to work gigs with more than just basic SEO.
What do you think? Am I being a snob here? Am I being unrealistic? Or is it sometimes worth it to sacrifice a sale in favor of the quality writing principle?
12 comments ↓
I have a love-hate relationship with SEO writing. If a client just has a few keyword requirements, I’m more likely to take the assignment. If it’s keyword dense, I hesitate.
I find that keyword dense writing limits my creativity. The keyword requirements often don’t work together, are grammatically poor, etc.
Perhaps if writers become more proactive about educating clients about the limits of SEO writing, we can work together to resolve these issues.
Thanks for the link on SEO school. I am definitely checking that out.
Deborah Johnsons last blog post..The Friday Four
Thanks for the SEO school lonk. I am always trying to improve on that subject. I had clients that loved my SEo articles and never had a problem. At least that is what I thought. A few months ago – my last SEO article – I had a client that wanted 90 percent of article with keywords and some keywords were, well, stupid. I wrote the article and he published it. I found the article on his blog and I came across comments of readers saying that the article were filled with keywords and links that they could not understand the article. To me this was heart breaking because I pride myself to write articles that people can understand. The next time I challenge the client and he got upset and I lost his business. I stop writing ever since then and only worked on my own. But I am going to get back on my writing business and will not let anything or no one stop me from writing a good article.
Alexanders last blog post..The Ten Commandments
@Deborah – In my mind, keyword requirements should never trump good writing. Does it cost business? Sure. But I think the search engines are becoming smarter, too. Too many keywords will kill you in Google these days.
@Alexander – Don’t let one client ruin your business or your self-image. Focus on what you know to be the right way to do things, and you’ll be all right in the long run.
And, since you both mention it: Yes, SEO School is a must-have for any web writer. If you don’t have it, get it. And sooner, rather than later.
I’m afraid I’ve gone the lazy or principled path. I ignore SEO and mostly just concentrate on quality. I hope this is enough to get readers. Occasionally I use the same word instead of synonyms – that’s about as far as I’ve gone.
I hope that the search engines get smarter and that social bookmarking sites encourage good writing.
Evans last blog post..What Do The Whitehall Studies Mean to You?
Some of those SEO jobs can be…challenging…to say the least. “I want you to target the phrase ‘orange bandage columbus’.” I want to say, “Why? WHY?” Instead, I say, “Okay” and have a go. One of the best ways to make these types of tasks a bit easier is to drop punctuation in the terms. “…orange bandage. Columbus…” is the same as far as Google is concerned–though convincing the client can sometimes bring its own challenge.
Honestly, I’m looking forward to moving away from having to take on jobs like this to focus on work I find more interesting and fulfilling. Not quite there yet, though.
If writing a dense SEO article would not compromise your reputation – I don’t see a problem.
The person hiring you should know that by having such high demands for so much SEO – the article will not turn out its best.
I think it’s short sighted on the client’s end. But – maybe they know something I don’t.
Bamboo Forest – PunIntendeds last blog post..7 Things People Say that Sound Like One Thing – yet Say Quite Another
Oh, and thanks for the link… I’ve heard of it before, but am more inclined to purchase it now. I have a lot of reading ahead of me.
Bamboo Forest – PunIntendeds last blog post..7 Things People Say that Sound Like One Thing – yet Say Quite Another
@ Evan – I think there’s some middle ground to be found. I don’t mind doing some SEO, but the minute it interferes with good writing, I’m likely to err on the side of good writing.
@ Matt – Oh, I know there are ways to write “orange bandage Columbus.” But can you, truly, insert it eight times in a 350 word article? That is where it gets screwy.
You raise a good point, too. Part of success as a writer means you can be more selective in regard to the gigs you choose.
I’m just on the other side of that equation; I’ve got writers working for me now, and so I can be selective on which gigs I write myself and which ones I give out.
@ Bamboo – The problem I have isn’t reputation. The problem I have is quality. There is so much garbage online, and much of it is there because of weird SEO requirements. I hate to add to it.
The problem with those types of articles is that if they do get any rank, people are just going to click away – they’re so unreadable! Google doesn’t like it much when you overstuff your keywords, so I would probably advise my clients on that point. As for my services – I explain clearly that I provide well-written SEO, and part of that means you can’t sacrifice readability for keywords. If that’s a problem, then get two articles instead of one
Melissa Donovans last blog post..Holiday Fiction (Writing Exercise)
Being a SEO Copywriter for almost a year now makes me extremely happy. I love my work – both copywriting and SEO ofcourse. At first, I was having a hard time incorporating SEO to my style of writing. But eventually, I get used to it. I must say, there is nothing wrong if you want to turn down SEO Copywriting projects. But, I suggest that you study more about SEO so that you will have ample background on how this kind of writing is done in a less-complicated manner. Trust me, it works.
@ Coursework -
It isn’t about whether or not I enjoy writing SEO.
It also isnt’ about the difficulty.
It sure as heck isn’t about the background or knowledge. I don’t need to “study more” (or hire your company to do my studying for me.)
It’s about SEO turning writing into something less than grand. It’s about destroying the language. It’s about producing low-quality writing for the sake of appealing to search engines.
SEO has, in many ways, had a negative impact on the quality of Internet writing.
It’s my opinion that “SEO copywriting” is really a big waste of time. The density of keywords in the content matters so little now… it’d have been infinitely more beneficial for you to build links instead.
And this is especially true is for the sake of SEO, you compromise the quality of your writing.
Because at the end of the day, the one you are trying to attract, the one you trying to impress and the one you’re trying to sell to… is your customers and readers! Not the search engines. Search engines are but one the many sources of traffic.
This is of course speaking from the point of view of buyers of copywriting services. As a writer, I’d take up the job in a flash if I needed it, so as long as they don’t show my name! Lucky for me, it hasn’t come to that yet!
So more power to you for hesitating to take up SEO copywriting gigs. I admire people who stand on principle.
Andre Thomass last blog post..The Number 1 Way To Build Trust
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