SEO Content Development - Where do unicorns live?
-
A great web page (for organic search) needs more than great copy. Tons of articles tell us how important it is construct a web page. Others beat the drum of content, content, content. Who are these unicorns who understand on-page SEO and are great writers to boot?
I'm imagining a "content developer", or I might call it a "technical SEO writer. Neither really captures the need. I don't need a copywriter to deliver some text, nor an SEO who can't write their way out of the paper sack. I need an "SEO content specialist" who can craft an on-page experience; someone who thinks about things like SERP features and understands the concepts of semantic content.
The problem is that I have no idea how to find this person. "Content Marketing" is the buzz right now, but that's not it either. I'm not talking about a blogs and social media. I'm talking about building great, core web pages.
Does anyone else have this challenge? How have you been successful? Where do unicorns live?
-
Very stressful as the full-size decline in ratings coincides direct with this, and it does look like a computer virus. Let's give Rand and the Moz comm the heads up on this Subscribe button with icon youtube PNG. If he factors it out you can wager that it is going to be noticed by means of the powers up pinnacle!
-
The content, both text and images, must be absolutely unique and not exist anywhere else in printed or digital form. Content that has bee rewritten, paraphrased or complied from existing sources will not be accepted. All rights to the content will be assigned to us and it may not be resold or used to produce derivative works.
-
Great conversion. I appreciate hearing other peoples' experiences. For this project I came up with the following (after spending several hours reading about the numerous and varied disciplines that fall under the "content marketing" umbrella).
We are seeking a content development professional to produce core website content for our agency clients. The job is to flesh out existing assets and create new copy and content with the goals of attracting and engaging customers, driving leads, and meeting client business objectives. This person should understand how copy, content, and high-quality user experiences contribute to search engine performance.
We need 10 core web pages averaging between 800 and 1,500 words each, to be completed before June 1.
There are two essential characteristics that will make this project successful:
1) Develop compelling copy. This will require you to independently research the client, products/services, audience/customers, and market. We will provide briefs and support, but quality content comes from topical familiarity.
2) Develop and outline content tactics with an up-to-date understanding of SEO and the interplay of text, styling, layout, supporting assets and their impact on Google search and user experience.
-
If you have the ability to do this you can make a small profit by "selling the service", but a very much larger profit by "running the website".
-
Jason,
I sure do have this problem. I am a web designer who retains clients by selling content marketing packages after their sites are completed. I have a team of content writers of vary degrees of expertise. I found the best way to make it work is to cultivate the writer within a niche and constant training and development meetings. Run your ship like a newspaper. Your writers need to pitch the concept to you. Then guide them how you want the content formulated.
Understand a first draft is not necessarily a completed piece of content. You should be editor in chief and know how to mine for great content and develop those concepts into your own ideas.
The process is long but with practice the gears start turning and you can make a great living. The hardest thing is finding good writers who are willing to put the work in, meet deadlines, and accept your payment offer.
-
The problem is when the writer thinks that he knows about hydraulic jacks, but he doesn't know that he doesn't know enough to impress the people who might link to his work.
-
I think you need a content area expert and a qualified editor who knows just a little about SEO.
-
Show me someone who can define "semantic content", explain how to optimize for SERP features, and name two SEO posts they've read in the last month, then write 1,000 coherent words on, well, anything, and I'll hire them tomorrow.
You don't need to be an expert in the topic. Far too many experts can't express their expertise in writing. You just have to be smart and curious. Oh, also you have to be able to write. So, this unicorn is someone who operates between fluffy "copywriters", bs marketers, and incoherent / overly cerebral experts. Bonus point: If a candidate can explain Rank Brain I'll boost their starting wage 10%.
You're exactly right, "clients need you to even create the content". Ergo, being an expert is not even a possibility. If they could do it they would have already done it! The client wants OUR expertise. That's why they hire us! A good journalist can do their research and write a reasonable article. What's wrong with asking a copywriter to do the same?
-
Thanks James - If I were starting out today I would very seriously consider the role I've described as a career path. You don't have to know everything. You just need to know enough. As an old dog myself I see my role (of many) as mentoring and getting across the finish line. I would be thrilled to have someone who can deliver B+ web content. We have specialists to handle the tech side, the dev, the UX. An apt wordsmith who reads SEO blogs could be looking at a six figure salary in short order.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Will I have duplicate content on my own website?
Hello Moz community, We are an agency providing services to various industries, and among them the hair salon industry. On our website, we have our different service pages in the main menu, as usual. These service pages are general information and apply to any industry.We also have a page on the website that is only intended for the hair salon industry. On this page, we would like to link new service pages: they will be the same services as our “general” services, but specialized for hair salons. My questions relate to duplicate content: Do we have to make the new individual service pages for hair salons with completely different text, even though it’s the same service, in order to avoid having duplicate content? Can we just change a few words from the “general service” page to specifically target hair salons, and somehow avoid Google seeing it as duplicate content? Reminder that these pages will be internal links inside of the hair salon industry page. Thank you in advance for your answers, Gaël
On-Page Optimization | | Gael_Regnault0 -
How to organise subpages for good SEO content without duplicate text?
We are working on many subpages for our services. We have original content for each page however there are few text which we need to always duplicate like: Contact sales window, why to choose us window, supported files etc. What's the best way to do this so it's not consider as duplicated text. Should we redirected it or add it as a picture and always change name of the picture? Thank you Lukas
On-Page Optimization | | Lukas-ST0 -
Duplicate content because of member only restrictions on a forum.
Our website's Community Forum links to the membership profile pages, which by default are blocked for non-members. https://www.foodbloggerpro.com/community/ https://www.foodbloggerpro.com/community/member/1301/ We're getting warnings in Moz for duplicate content (and errors) on these member profile pages. Any ideas for how we can creatively solve this problem? Should we redirect those pages or just beef them up with more content? Just ignore it and assume that search spiders will be smart enough to figure it out? See attached video for further explanation. Community_Area.mp4
On-Page Optimization | | Bjork0 -
Left Nav / SEO
We are in the middle of a redesign and would love to get rid of our left navigation. It's currently full of SEO rich categories and has been the same for 10+ years. Our programmers think removing the left navigation will have no impact on our SEO. As SEO's, do you agree with this?
On-Page Optimization | | EileenCleary0 -
Modal Windows SEO
The new company site is almost finished, and I've just learned that instead of the home page linking to a few internal pages (it's a tiny site), they are just using modal windows instead of deeper pages. Is that bad for SEO and what can I do to optimize with this setup?
On-Page Optimization | | UnaRealidad0 -
Howdy, do curse words on your content article hurt SEO in any way or form?
howdy, do curse words on your content article hurt SEO in any way or form? and if so is there a "list" of registered curse keywords that should be avoided?
On-Page Optimization | | david3050 -
Duplicate content problem
I am having an issue with duplicate content that I can't seem to figure out. I got rid of the www.mydomain.com by modifying the htaccess file but I can't figure out how to fix theproblem of mydomain.com/ and mydomain.com
On-Page Optimization | | ayetti0 -
Duplicate Product BUT Unique Content -- any issues?
We have the situation where a group of products fit into 2 different categories and also serve different purposes (to the customer). Essentially, we want to have the same product duplicated on the site, but with unique content and it would even have a slightly different product name. Some specifications would be redundant, but the core content would be different. Any issues?
On-Page Optimization | | SEOPA1