I recently attended the ICC where one of the best sessions I attended was about writing for SEO. This is what I do for my job so I admit, I have been less than diligent about posting on my own blog. So what is my motivation? I am reading a new book called “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing”. I’m not that far into it, but the theme can be applied to writing style as much as to organizing a closet. So the topic for today is: Are you writing for SEO or Streaming of Consciousness? How to stay relevant to search without getting messy or too wordy and how to tidy up your act.

SEO or Streaming ~ What is Your Writing Style?

If you are writing for SEO, you want to make use of search phrases. However, you don’t want to just stuff the same key words into one paragraph. That is akin to putting all your clothes in a bundle on your floor.

The act of tidying is a series of simple actions in which objects are moved from one place to another. It involves putting things away where they belong ~ Marie Kondo

I found, ironically, that the few first paragraphs of this book are cluttered. Repetitious. I’m not disparaging it. For a novel, stream of consciousness writing is acceptable. If you don’t like the author’s style, you don’t have to read the book. Arguably, if you are writing for a website, your goal is two fold: write for the audience, and write for the spiders. Some repetition is necessary although keeping it spaced out is a better option. Akin to hanging your white blouses on separate hangers.

Cleaning up your act: Writing with style and SEO in Mind

Writing for content generation is a layering process. 

You have the visible layer that you readers see, and the text that is woven through to ensure that your brilliant penmanship is not buried on google like the proverbial heap of clothing on your floor.

Cleaning up your act may involve:

• Determining your search phrase
• Organizing your thoughts: having a beginning, a middle and an end
• Categorizing your posts/pages so they are easier to access in search
• Expressing  your key words in a variety of ways (don’t be too repetitious)

If you use stream of consciousness you have to balance that with the art of tidying up.

freelance writing key words organization search phrases seo tips writing