By now most freelancers have learned to deal with, or at least cooperate with, search engine optimization (SEO). The task of using keywords in a density and a manner suited for garnering website traffic in an increasingly competitive setting has fallen to those with a sensitivity towards grammar and flow of thought. The process can be a clunky experiment in English usage and an even more tedious task of phrasing and rephrasing titles, subtitles, and metatags. Writing simply to put across an idea or the facts has turned into a technical feat requiring practice, feedback, and patience.

Writing Around A Keyword Phrase
One such method of generating web content is to begin with a keyword phrase. A general combination of two or three words is used as the driving force behind a focused 400 word article. Repetition of the phrase and use of synonyms is the key to achieving keyword density. However, too much repetition will lead to search engine rejection. The accepted norm for the use of a single word or phrase is roughly five times, or 5-10% density. A thesaurus is a handy resource for this task. Should a writer ever run into the unfortunate instance of having limited synonyms, rephrasing with the use of antonyms or other turns of phrase can be beneficial.

Also helpful when producing content in this manner is to draw the writing out. A limited topic can be drawn out to the appropriate word count by using additional adjectives, adverbs, all possible articles and prepositions rather than leaning on the implied usage so common in graceful grammar. This results in a clunky, technical sounding article, but serves its purpose. When writing on the same topic for multiple articles, as is the case for most keyword phrase-directed content, drawing out is extremely beneficial, especially since it can also assist in rewriting the same fact or material in different ways.

Tips For SEO Compatibility
Several months of writing for editorial approved web content lead this author to an extensive review of her articles to date. The critique overwhelmingly insisted the need to learn keyword usage in her established, and appreciated, writing style. The main focus of such methods are the title, subtitles, section heads, and metatags. Using powerful word combinations is extremely important. The trick is to think of what people searching for that type of article would type into the search bar.

• The title should be a stand-alone draw into the article. It has to stand out from all of the other choices. Any subtitle should include more information about the article's content and ideally not repeat any word from the title. This allows for more keywords to be exposed in the titling.
• Section headings should follow a similar thought process. Use keywords that describe the content that follows and that are synonyms to what is in the title. Use section headings when transitioning to a new tact or approach to the material.
  
• If adding hyperlinks, anchor them to keyword phrases. Outside links to a webpage increase its search ranking as do links coming into it. The accepted norm for this is also approximately five, to prevent overkill and potential search engine rejection.
• Metatags should be proper nouns, locations, and specific keywords and phrases from the article. This guarantees that they are picked up by the web spiders. Using broad terms that may be found on any other site dealing with the spectrum of the topic may reduce the targeting of the article to the audience that is looking for it.
  

How To Write For Search Engine Optimization
The best advice this writer can give for web content is to stay focused when writing. Keep articles to within a certain word count, usually 400-800 words. If the subject matter requires more space, then think about dividing the information into more than one article. Have only a few keyword phrases in mind and use derivatives of them. Most importantly though is to not give up. Keep practicing and seeking feedback on the new writing techniques to which you are adapting. Eventually the traffic will come.