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If you're one of the millions trying to make some cash on the side as a freelance writer, you have almost certainly encountered the phrase "SEO Copy." Does it intimidate? Make you turn away quickly?

What about 'effective SEO copy'? Does that phrase make your boots quake?

Never fear, writer-man is here to allay your fears and guide you to freelance success. If you pay close attention to the practical tips and guidance given in this article, you too will be able, with practice, to master the techniques for writing effective SEO copy.

First, let's start with some definitions, easy ones first.

Copy means content or text in this context. It doesn't mean using a Xerox. So anything that is in text form can be referred to as copy.

Next we have that wonderful code word: SEO. This stands for Search Engine Optimized (or Optimization). When copy is search engine optimized, the words it contains are controlled so that search engines will find the articles better. Here's how that works:

To use a search engine, we type key words into the search field. If I want to find out about what Scarlett Johannssen is doing of late, I will type her lengthy name into the search engine search field and then the search engine will look for websites that match my key word.

Essentially, search engines such as Google send out crawlers to scan the words on a website, searching for those key words. If Google finds a site that mentions the lovely Scarlett, it will add that site to its list of results. However, if the website only mentions her once or twice, it will show up very low on that lists of results. Conversely, if a website mentions her lots, Google will put that website high on its results list.

Now think about this: When you search for something, how far down the list of results do you scroll? Probably the average person doesn't get past the first page. Thus, websites who want loads of hits will make sure their sites mention popular key words plenty. This is called SEO, or search engine optimization.

So it falls to good, fearless freelance writers to write effective SEO copy. This is done by writing articles that use a certain key word, or set of key words, lots. Usually, webmasters who know their stuff will ask for an article, let's say on when to fertilize your yard, with a certain key-word density. This means that they want a certain percentage of the words in the article you write for them to BE the keyword.

For example, we might have the assignment mentioned above. Our main key phrase is

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