An SEO writer is a professional writer who creates web content based on search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. Because SEO is really only relevant or possible online, an SEO writer is solely a web writer. Many SEO writers, however, have other writing jobs both online and offline, so it is best to consider this when beginning a career as a writer.
It is the responsibility of an SEO writer to incorporate a keyword, or number of keywords, into each written passage for a particular website. For instance, a website might give a writer the assignment to create an article or blog post about healthy vegetarian lasagna; the keyword in this instance might be "healthy vegetarian lasagna," which the writer will be expected to use a certain number of times within the passage. Certain other keywords or tag words might be provided that are related to the topic at hand, such as "vegetarian cooking," "vegetarian recipes," or "vegetable lasagna," just to name a few.
Then, when search engines are indexing the website to include it in search results for "healthy vegetarian lasagna," the website that uses SEO will likely be ranked higher in the results because it uses the keyword a high number of times. It is the job of the SEO writer to incorporate the keywords into each passage in a non-obvious way. The reader should, in a well written passage, not be able to tell that he or she is reading a post based on search engine optimization techniques.
An SEO writer may also be responsible for adding tags to the posts once they are written, which can also make the posts easier for search engines to find. These tags may be simple things like "recipes," "vegetarianism," or "cooking," etc. The more search keywords that can be incorporated into a post, the easier it will be for users to find. The companies that use SEO typically do it for advertising purposes; many companies use pay-per-click advertising where the company receives a certain percentage of income whenever a web user clicks onto their website, based on the ads they are displaying.
Typically, an SEO writer will submit his or her work to an editor. It is generally not the job of the writer to edit or proofread their own work, though it is expected that the work will be reasonably free of errors. Many SEO writers are freelancers, and it can be a great way to supplement income.