Sarah Rock is Senior Marking Manager for AOL Living.

Follow these ten tips to become a real rockstar SEO writer:

1. Research keywords for your topic and pick 3-5 terms or phrases to target. No matter how well you think you know a topic, you need to research how people actually search for your topic. This is the foundation for your writing and cannot be skipped.

2. Look at the competition. Search for your target phrases on at least two search engines and see what content appears on the first page of search results in each. Strive to write something better or a unique perspective not found in any of the top ten search result.

3. Include your target search keywords in either the article title or article URL. If you can weave it into both the title and URL that is great, but don't force it. Clickable titles must be readable.4. Include your target keyword in the first paragraph of your article. Try to make sure it is in the first 150 characters of the article text.

5. Use the exact target keyword. If your target phrase is "bicep exercises" then use that exact phrase.

6. Use synonyms of your target keywords. This makes your article more readable and more relevant.

7. Make sure to provide "alt text" or short brief descriptions (less than 50 characters) of any images embedded in your articles.

8. Aim for 300 words of copy. It is certainly okay to go over 300 words and sometimes fewer words are appropriate for the topic. As Mark Twain wrote, "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead."

9. Add at least one relevant link. But don't go over 10 links for a 300 word article.

10. Pick your link text wisely. Don't use "click here" -- instead use contextual words that relate to or describe the destination link. Try to use words related to your target keywords if possible.

BONUS:

11. Write a 150 character summary of your article. Include your target search keyword and related words in this summary. Use this as your meta description.


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