One of the biggest reasons clients decided to create content and hire a freelance content marketing writer is to increase their Google Search ranking to reach new potential customers. Companies hire people like us to create content that their target audience will find while searching. But it is also essential that each piece of content use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies. Yes, I know that SEO is almost a dirty word to writers that conjures up images of content mills and key word stuffing.  But with the change in the Google algorithm last year, those practices are pretty much no longer used since Google penalizes companies for trying to trick the search engine.

SEO is important to content marketing writers because clients are more likely to continue to give you work if the content you produce brings them the results that they are looking for – page views and ultimately new clients. And that isn’t going to happen if readers never find your page, even if you write the world’s most interesting and engaging piece of content. So, all of this to say that it is still essential that content marketing writers understand the basics of SEO and use these strategies effectively in each piece of content.

Here are five things you need to know about SEO to make you clients thrilled with your work:

1. Identify the keywords that your audience most commonly uses for searches. I am going to devote an entire post in the coming weeks to this topic to provide a guide on how to help your client determine target keywords.  In the meantime, check out this great post by Mike Murray on Content Marketing Institute about selecting keywords.  But even with the new algorithm, it is essential to know what words your audience will search for when determining topics for content. This goes along with my theory that the most effective pieces of content solve problems and these days when someone has a problem they head to Google for answers. So if you know what information your target audience is searching for and create content based on this information, then you will most likely be creating useful and relevant content.

2.Have a target keyword for each piece of content and then use the keyword in the content organically.  I find that having a single target keyword when creating the topic, but not on it during the writing creates keyword useage organically and typically results in high SEO. There is a ton of advice out there about how many uses are too many and where the keywords should be in the post.  But I have found that the overwhelming advice is that authority and knowledgeable content is the way to go. I use this strategy for my own website, which has been the number one unpaid ranking for the search term Content Marketing Writer on Google for the past year because of this blog. So, when I am done with the piece I will look back over the content with keywords in mind and will sometimes make a few changes, but I don’t make keywords my goal when writing a piece. I place the highest priority on creating effective content and almost always if I do that based on topic related to a highly searched keyword, then the rest falls into place.

3. Make sure the Title Tag in the HTML editor uses the keywords.  The title tag is really important and carries high weight by Google. This field is located in the HTML text or in the tool used to create the webpage, such as WordPress or another editor. Verify that the client is filling out this field and provide them with a title tag that uses the keyword for the post.

4. Write a meta description that uses the keywords. This is the text that appears on the reader’s browser after a search and is also located in the HTML code. Google places high priority on this text so it is important to use the keyword in this text. It is also essential that this text be related to the content on the post or Google will penalize the piece of content. If you are not posting the content yourself on the website, I highly recommend writing this text yourself and providing it to your client to include in the field for the page of the blog post, article, whitepaper or other content. Hubspot has a fantastic article that explains the meta description and gives specific guidelines for crafting effective descriptions.

5. Quality links to the content can increase the SEO of the page.  Google looks at the links TO the piece of content and will increase the SEO of the page if other websites deemed as quality websites link to the page. The fact that I have links to this blog from Entrepreneur.com, American Express OPENForum and other high traffic websites have played a large role in my high search ranking. Talk with your client about ways that they can increase links to the website, such as guest posts on popular blogs, being featured in trade publications as a source with a link and being included in association databases, etc. You should also include links to the new piece of content FROM older pieces of content on the website since this will also increase the ranking of the new page.Even if you are not posting the content yourself, make sure to communicate these strategies to the client to increase the results they see of the piece of content.

Here are three resources for SEO that I have found especially interesting and helpful as I learn more about SEO:
MOZ Beginners Guide to SEO

Copyblogger SEO E-book

The Ultimate SEO Checklist

What information about SEO have you found to be important to understand as a content marketing writer? Have you had success in gaining repeat clients through employing these strategies? Any other SEO tips or resources you want to share?