What Does SEO Stand For?

SEO for Associated Content and Helium

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Basically, SEO is the use of certain techniques that writers use to get their sites ranked higher by search engines. Higher ranking with the search engines drives in more traffic. So, as a beginning freelancer, what should SEO mean to you?

SEO can be quite complex for many webmasters as the algorithms used by search engines change frequently. However, for the beginning freelancer SEO can be as simple as using the right keywords frequently. If you are starting out submitting articles to ad revenue sharing sites, most of the more complex SEO work has been done for you.

Ad revenue sites such as Helium and Associated Content already have a decent page ranking with search engines. For this reason, these sites allow beginning freelancers to develop their SEO skills in the content they write without worrying about improving the page rank of the site itself. This eliminates some of the more complex and time consuming aspects of SEO.

To put it simply, keywords are the key to SEO when writing for ad revenue sharing sites. Content needs to be rich in keywords. Starting with the title of your article and all the way to the end, keywords should be used to reflect the topic of the article. This makes your content search engine friendly.

What are keywords and what keywords should you use? Key words are a set of words and phrases that an individual may search for when seeking information. If you are writing an article about making your own easter basket, some key words may be "easter basket", "easter baskets for boys", "cheap easter basket ideas", "make your own easter basket", or "where to buy easter baskets". When deciding which key words to use, think about what words someone would use if they wanted to read your article.

Establishing which keywords to use before you begin writing may be useful, or use a more natural approach:

1. Write the article.
2. Copy and paste the article into a text analysis tool such as Textalyzer.
3. Edit the article for keywords based on the text analysis.