Writer Chat

I thought I'd create a thread for writers to come and discuss things. Whether it's annoying people asking far too much for far too little, the lack of writing work available or a simple question you want to ask, I don't think there's any harm in writing it here.

But please don't mention the name of your annoying clients!

So I'll start this off by asking:

Does anyone else feel the need to insert keywords into verbal speech? I find that if I've been doing a lot of 'keyword articles' in one day, I start picking out keywords in my sentences and feeling the need to do 'verbal SEO'.

Am I crazy?

 

I only think about keywords when my clients require them. The ideal density is 2-3% max, but some of my clients consider it high whereas I've also seen people who think it's too low.
As far as I know, stuffing your content with too many keywords kills its naturalness, flow and reader-oriented value. Think about it - Who are you writing the content ultimately for? It's readers who are humans like you and me and not the bots/spiders/crawlers. When I see my readers are reading my words as I'm writing them, the whole perception changes. It's almost like I'm interacting with other people through the words I'm putting down.
From the SEO point of view, they're definitely important but reasonable limits must be put on their usage.

 

Oh lucky you. You don't think about work outside of work.