As an author who has just started his/her online journey, the first question that comes to in mind is What is SEO for Authors? It is the technique to rank your website on search engines so that when people search for terms like Top Articles on AI, Best Article on the stock market, Best Article on mental health, Best Article on women empowerment, Best Article on Science, or Best Article on Time management, your website or book shows up at the top of the search engine.

Your target query can be any topic that your audience searches for, but for an effective SEO for writers, you have to put keywords only that are relevant to your content. 

Suppose you write articles on a particular niche, so your target potential market will mostly search for:

• Top Things to Read for [your niche]

• Top Books in 2023

• Best Books for [your niche]

• Top Books on [your niche]

• Top Books on [your niche] [year]

• Best Book on  [your niche] problems

Suppose for example, you are an author and write mental health books, you could include keywords like: “Best book to read for beginners, Top mental growth books in 2023, Best books for mental health of students, Best books to improve mental health, and Best mental health books for teenagers”. These are a few terms searched by users when they are looking for a book on mental health issues. 

You can attract more website customers by practicing a few SEO strategies. But the first thing you need to check is whether the content you provide is interesting or not. Check if the users are interested in it. 

Here we will learn about other SEO tips and tricks for authors, writers and articles:

• Competitor Research & Analysis for authors, writers
• Keyword Planning for authors and writers SEO
• Local SEO for authors, writers
• Build quality content for SEO for authors and writers
• On-Page SEO for authors and writers
• Off Page SEO for authors and writers
• Other SEO strategies for authors, writers, and articles
• Social media Optimisation for authors, writers, and articles

Competitor Research & Analysis for authors and writers

Before you start doing deep keyword research, you need to be clear about one thing: what you want to achieve with your content. Ask yourself, what is your goal? 

Just Remember, that your goal should align with your customers’ needs. 

Sometimes, the best way to find out what to do is probably by finding out what your competitors are doing. Analyze: What keywords are they using? How are they optimizing their websites and what tactics are they using? Ask yourself what does your business provide? What solution do customers want from your business? And then search for related key terms that the audience might use and then apply them to your content.

So let’s see which particular things you could analyze do to conduct your Competitor Research: 

• Research what keywords they are using.
• Take a look at the content they are providing.
• Analyze their website design.
• Notice how they are engaging with the audience.

Keyword Planning for authors and writers

Think about the words readers/audience would use to search for your content. Those words are your targeted keywords. You can even think about the terms you would search for to get content like the one you provide. Those can be your keywords too. For example: If you provide articles about Mental Health, then your keywords could look like this:

• why is mental health important

• mental health awareness

• mental health examples

• mental health: definition pdf

• mental health articles

• mental health issues

• causes of mental health

Do keyword research to find the relevant targeted keyword. don’t ever use common keywords like other content providers, or else your articles will get lost in the crowd. Instead of that use very specific long-tail keywords, that would be beneficial for your website content.

So let’s just point out the things you could do to plan for keywords for SEO tips for authors:

• Research for keywords related to your business.
• You can use Google Keyword Planner, Semrush, and other keyword planning tools to do that.

• Collect all the relevant keywords to your domain, whether it be short or long tail.
• Use it in your content thoughtfully.

Or you can just search for Top Keywords for [your niche] or Top Keywords for [your niche] books on Google and surf through all the Keywords and find out which to use.

Here are a few more examples of what other keywords you can target if you are a mental health writer:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy
• Depression
• Anxiety disorders
• Schizophrenia
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Bipolar disorder
• Autistic Spectrum Disorders
• Mental disorders
• Social stigma
• Behavior therapy

Local SEO for authors and writers

Local SEO is a very important factor in establishing your business so that people around you can find you. Suppose a user searches “Best author based in [your location]” or “Best writer in [your location]” then your website can rank up for these local keywords.

Let’s find out every step that we can use to rank locally:

• First, establish your business on Google My Business, if you are a content writer then you can add your business in that way and also put a description about your business.
• Use local keywords for your content. For example: “Affordable content writing service in [your location].”
• Ask customers/users for their reviews on your website and other listings.
• Use those reviews in trust-building and image-building for your website.
• Write content about local things which are happening around you, that might attract a bit more users.
• Another way to get backlinks is to link up with your local businesses around you who are not in direct competition with you. 
• Conduct writing workshops for local people.
• Use proper Meta Descriptions incorporated with local phrases and keywords. 
• Focus on link-building with the local network.

Building backlinks for SEO for authors, and writers

Every website needs to build backlinks and here we will find a few tips and tricks to build organic backlinks for your website:

• Firstly, try to collaborate with other content writers and authors within your community.
• You can also conduct an online writing workshop that might interest people. Also, you can also contact the press for this, they will link you whenever they publish your content.
• Write guest posts on relevant high-domain authority websites. This will not only gain you more audience but also increase your authenticity as a good writer. 
• Post your article on guest blogging directories such as: MyBlogGuest, and Guestpost.com.

• Participate in a podcast and give an interview. 

Build quality content for authors and writers

Every business needs to maintain the quality of content they provide. That is the first thing in building a website and ranking it organically through SEO. 

If you don’t provide interesting content then firstly, Google won’t find your content different which will make it harder for your website to rank high on SERP. Secondly, even if you rank well on Google, people will visit your website, find boring content, and leave your website within seconds. This will indicate to Google that your content is not up to the mark and not worthy because no user is engaging in your website for more than 10- 15 seconds. So make your content accordingly and make sure that the content you provide is engaging and unique enough for potential customers/users.

How to build quality content for SEO for Authors and writers ?

Here are few SEO tips for authors, writers, and article:

• Firstly, write an SEO-friendly title and try to put keywords in the title. It could be easier to find because most people search for “best self-help books for young adults” or if it’s your article, the topic will vary accordingly. For example, if you are a mental health writer, your potential audience will search for  “Daily Habits for good mental health” and if you include these in your title then the chances of your content showing up in Google Search results increase.

• The first paragraph of your article should be catchy enough to attract users. People never read the full article at once. They go through the first part and the topics that have been covered in the article. It is then they decide if they want to continue reading your content or not. 
• Write short points and provide examples for each and everything. Long sentences can be boring and people might not even read it. And people want examples and experiences. Suppose you say “Eat Good food to stay healthy” in your article, then you should also provide an example of what to eat to stay healthy.
• Use compressed images in your websites. Using high-quality large file size images can take up much space and make your website slower, which is a big NO for readers. Nobody wants a slow website. So make sure to optimize your page loading speed.

On-page SEO for authors and writers

On-page SEO for authors, writers, or articles is very basic and you can do it easily for your website. It is basically like setting up a profile to show people. Here are some On page SEO tips for your articles or writings:

• Use proper title tags, metadata, URLs, and target keywords.
• Add the link of your website to Google Search Console.
• Improve your website with Google Analytics, analyze every activity, and act accordingly.
• Make sure your website’s images and content are compressed.
• Make sure the speed of your website is good. No user would want a slow website.

Other SEO strategies for authors and writers

Let’s discuss the simple yet main things that you need to keep in mind while doing SEO for authors, writer, and articles:

• Write for your audience:

Write content that interests your audience. Remember, every article should be about the things your audience is concerned about. It should solve their problems, they should get what they want from your article, the main solutions to their problem.

• Write catchy headlines:

When a user visits your website, you have 5 seconds to catch their attention. Therefore, write very catchy headlines, make them very clear and to the point. Plus, use keywords too. Make sure you don’t fail to capture their attention with your content.

• Write proper Meta Descriptions:

Make sure your Meta Descriptions are concise and attractive summary of your content because that is what shows up first when people search your website or something related to your niche and your website shows up.

• Include images:

People love pictures, they keep them hooked but, make sure to use compressed images so that your website doesn’t get slow.

Using social media for authors and writers

Social media has the power to spread your work in no time if you use it correctly. If you use proper SEO strategies for social media for your content, you can get organic traffic on your website.

How can you do social media optimization for your articles and stories ?

The relevant SEO tips for authors and writers are:

• Post what your audience likes: For this, notice what kind of content the audience prefers. Then, try to make that kind of content, and post it. 
• Always put the link to your website with your post. Whenever audiences like a post they usually shift to the website for more such content. Adding a link to your website will make it easier for your audience to reach you.
• Engage with your audience, build a community there, interact with them, run polls and quizzes, and you can also conduct online workshops. 
• Collaborate with influencers of the same niche, if you write articles on Mental health then collaborate with Mental health influencers such as Hannah Blum and Alexandra Elle. In this way, your content can reach a wider audience.

SEO Monitoring work for authors and writers on their website

Here are few tips and trick to monitor your SEO effort:

• Keep track of your work through Google Analytics. Monitor your page views, spending time, and everything else by using this tool – Google Analytics.
• You will get an overall review of your content through this. If the bounce rate is good, then you will know that your content is good and the audience is liking it. If not then, your website’s drop-off rate will be high.

This SEO guide for authors, writers and articles sums up every aspect of search engines and how you can rank your work to get more views and engagement. Lastly, if you want good organic traffic on your website, you just have to follow these SEO tips and tricks. And you will be good to go.