If you’re looking to make money from home in Canada through freelance writing, it’s important to understand the role of SEO (search engine optimisation) in creating effective online content.
By incorporating keywords into your writing, you can ensure your work performs well on search engines and attracts more traffic. These tips will help you seamlessly integrate SEO practices into your freelance writing projects.
1. Utilize keywords within your copy
One easy way to incorporate SEO into any freelance writing job is by incorporating keywords strategically within the copy.
To do this, first, identify potential keywords related to the topic you are writing about. Tools like Google Keyword Planner will allow you to see the search volume for different phrases and suggest related keywords.
Once you’ve done your keyword research and have a list, determine one keyword phrase to act as your primary keyword. This phrase should ideally appear in the title of your copy, one of the headings and a couple of times in the body.
The additional keywords you have looked up should then be incorporated in the copy, called secondary keywords. If a keyword will not fit naturally, then do not include it.
Having keyword-enhanced copy will make your work more easily picked up by Google and, in turn, support your desire to make money from home in Canada.
Choosing keyword phrases is also a better choice than a single word. Not only are these phrases often more specific in terms of search intent, but they are also often easier to rank for.
2. Consider your linking strategy
Links are an important factor to consider when writing for SEO purposes. Including internal links or links from the website on which this copy will be published is meant to improve the user’s experience and allow them to more easily navigate the website.
External links often act as a way for websites to indicate sources or external parties where the reader can find more information about the subject.
3. Consider your copy layout
The layout of your copy is becoming increasingly important. Many readers find large blocks of text to be a bit intimidating to read and can often result in a quick bounce off the website.
This is why it is important to incorporate subheadings within your copy. You should also consider writing shorter paragraphs to increase the amount of white space within your copy.
Other layout tricks you can try include utilizing bullet points, including bolding and italics, to draw attention to important parts within the copy. Remember that people often scan copy when they read, so making your copy easier to scan not only makes it more reader-friendly but can also encourage search engines to rank your copy more favourably.
4. Consider search intent when selecting keywords
We have already discussed keywords, but another factor to consider when choosing your keywords is the search intent behind them.
This is especially important when it comes to acronyms and industry terms. Before deciding on using a specific keyword, always do a quick incognito mode search for that keyword and make sure the results you are looking at aligns with the audience you want.
For example, the Major Component Replacement program at the Ontario-based nuclear facility Bruce Power is often shortened to MCR. So, if you were writing an article about this project, you might be tempted to set one of your keywords to MCR. However, if you do a quick search for this, you will quickly see that this is not an industry-owned term, and instead, the band My Chemical Romance will show up.
5. Do not forget your meta title and description
You might be surprised by how often writing a meta title and description is forgotten.
The meta title is important if you want your copy to perform well online. Not only can this improve your content performance, but it also acts as a mini advertisement for your webpage on Google. It is the first thing someone sees when looking at their Google results to determine which page they select.
So, your meta title and description must be informative and persuasive, but stay true to the website copy and not promise something that is not on the page.
While your meta title may sometimes match your webpage title, it should almost always include your primary keyword. Likewise, your meta description should include some form of call-to-action while also including your primary keyword.
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