There are dozens of ways to refer to someone who writes for a website:
- SEO writer
- SEO content writer
- SEO copywriter
The list goes on. But the difference isn’t so much what you call a person who writes SEO content, it’s in the services they provide.
So how to we differentiate between an SEO writer and an SEO content provider?
To truly understand the difference in the services people offer, it’s important to know what each does.
SEO Writers
SEO writers typically write keyword-rich articles, press releases, blogs, case studies and static web pages for themselves or clients. Their value is great – learning what an SEO content writer has learned could take months away from your core business if you tried to do it yourself. If the SEO writer is good, they are generally always worth the money you spend. The good SEO writers have trained and gained valuable experience in writing based on keywords and what clients want visitors to see on the page.
The SEO Content Writer Difference
SEO content writers are typically great SEO writers, but offer certain services “off the page” that SEO writers simply can’t. In addition to being a good SEO writer, SEO content writers:
- Take into account URLs and meta tags, writing them if necessary, to increase page performance
- Research SEO strategies of a client’s competition, and create content accordingly
- Integrate different content types (articles, press releases, blogs, websites) to gain maximum SEO
- Find and suggest new content subject ideas and areas that create relevance and and increase visibility and ranking
I think the best way to compare SEO writers to SEO content writers is to say that content writers look at more than just keywords before they sit down and write, hence the “off the page” reference above.
Here’s an example of how an SEO writer and an SEO content writer might handle the same press release:
SEO Writer:
- Research keywords, write release with appropriate keyword density
Note: This is all great, but when it comes time to place this release on the client’s website, someone, probably a web designer, will have to create a title, description, insert links, create a unique page URL, etc. If your designer isn’t as skilled at SEO as they could be, you might not get as powerful a page.
SEO Content Writer:
- Research keywords, research similar releases (and keywords) created by competition, write release with appropriate keyword density, create links to other relevant content using correct linking techniques, create a title and description for the page, create an SEO-friendly URL, research other pages on client site that should link to release, suggest distribution sites for release.
Some people don’t need or want an SEO content writer. They feel that optimized copy on their pages written by an SEO writer is enough. They’ll settle for a great article, even if it means having a page title like “Article 7″ and a description of “Article on our product.”
It doesn’t cost much more to hire an SEO content writer, but you’ll really get your money’s worth when you realize the importance of things like research, titles, linking, URLs and descriptions.
Jason Pedley is a professional SEO content copywriter based near Raleigh, North Carolina. Need SEO content that improves your online presence? Contact Jason Pedley today – mail@jasonpedley.com or (860) 886-3455.
Comments on this entry are closed.