How to Write Search Engine Optimized (SEO) Articles

Your articles must be optimized for the search engines. In the internet, content is king and keyword rich-article is the most powerful way to generate content and traffic. Article is like an open book for all to read. Content is not just king, the search engines also love fresh and original, and focused content.

Many article authors are afraid of keyword SPAMMING but what I found out is that a lot of articles are not optimized for the search engines as such lose their relevance to surfers who are searching for information or solution to their problems and challenges. As an article author, you have to reprogram your mind to write SEO article not just another regular article. For instance, if the keyword you are targeting is meditation, instead of writing articles I should be specific by writing meditation articles

The heart and soul of SEO article writing is keyword research. Without relevant keyword or key phrases, your articles will lose focus and will not benefit your surfers, web traffic or ranking. Keyword-rich and relevant articles are win-win both for the web surfers, you the author of the articles and your search engine ranking. This is because the search engines treat your article as an individualized web page. If your articles are not search engine optimized, people will not find your site and you will not rank high, generate traffic or make money. Note that every article is a soft sell or subtle advertising for the article writer who is positioning himself as an expert or problem solver in a target niche.

However, do not position yourself as an article author; position yourself as an information marketer. Why? Because SEO article writing is a powerful strategy for your search engine marketing, traffic attraction, lead generation and monetization. Yes, most info-marketers make money; most authors have empty pockets.

Choose one or two keyword to optimize in your SEO article writing. The rest should be synonyms of the key phrases you are optimizing for the search engines. The search engines dont only look for your keyword but also the keyword popularity, keyword density, as well as on-page placement of keywords in your SEO articles.

Generally, SEO (keyword-rich and focused) articles should be between 350 to 700 words. Search engines love focused content and great attention must be paid to targeted keywords to enable web surfers find what they are looking for.

Within the body of the SEO articles, a lot of work and attention should be paid to the headlines (nicknamed titles when it comes to articles). Search engines pick on headlines first. Work hard to craft your headlines with one or two of your targeted keywords. Try as much as possible to remove stop phrases like a, and, the, of, and because. These are called stop words and most search engines do not index them. The title font should be H1 tag-- fancy way of saying that the title should contain the biggest letters.

The next biggest header type is H2 tags reserved for subheading or subtitles found inside the body an SEO article. Some people call these set of tags scan or paragraph breakers because majority of people scan instead of reading for lack of time. This is the case with especially long articles.

In the body of the SEO article, the first two sentences in the paragraph should also contain your keyword or key phrases if those articles must be relevant for the search engines.

The next thing you must bear at the back of your mind is that every subsequent paragraphs in an SEO article should have at least one keyword. Dont over do it by writing more than two keywords in a paragraph. In my case, I try to use synonyms (keywords that are similar in meaning) for variety. It makes you dynamic, creative and more natural.

Your conclusion or summary towards the end is also where search engines look at for keyword relevance. Incorporate this in your SEO article writing.

Generally your keyword density for an SEO article should be about 10% or less of your total word count (350-700 words).

Your SEO article resource box may be the most powerful part of your unique selling proposition and search engine marketing promotions.. Make good use of your author's bio for your search engine relevance and ranking. Thats also the spot for your call to action. It is also the only place where Ezine Articles.Com and other article directories allow you to insert your URL of the SEO article. Make sure you use anchor text instead of direct URL. Anchor text tells search engine more about your keyword relevance and direction. If you want deep links, place the articles in your blog first before submitting it to article directories for distribution.

Uzo is business strategist, platinum article author and copywriter. His passion is in the psychology of sales and human behavior. For more information about common sense copywriting, subscribe to his Web Copywriting Tips--FREE.