If you write online, there’s a good chance a client or website will require you to know basic hypertext markup language, or HTML. It’s the most common markup language used on webpages to customize or add content (such as this text I bolded, which you can do by using HTML).

For SEO writers, knowing the basics of HTML has several distinct advantages:

• Some HTML can actually increase the SEO of your article (such as bolding or underlining text).
• Clients prefer SEO writers who know HTML because it saves them time–they won’t have to convert the content to HTML when posting it on their website.
• Using toolbars to customize text won’t always work, and can cause text to display incorrectly. Enhancing it instead with HTML avoids this problem.

So now that we know why it’s important for SEO writing, let’s start learning it.

HTML Basics: Bolding, Italicizing and Underlining

You’re probably familiar with these three basic HTML commands–they help enhance a keyword or keyphrase. Bolding a keyword or keyphrase draws attention to it; italicizing adds emphasis to it. Underlining can do both, depending on how you use it.

Here’s how to use HTML to make words bold, italic or underlined.

BOLD: <b>This sentence is bold.</b>

ITALIC: <i>Feel the wrath of this italicized sentence!</i>

UNDERLINED: <u>I’m underlined, but not understated.</u>

In all three examples, the < and > start the beginning of the HTML code. To stop the code, insert a slash after the <, but never after the letter. </b> works, but <b/> won’t.

This is how all three sentences will appear on a standard webpage: This sentence is bold. Feel the wrath of this italicized sentence! I’m underlined, but not understated.

Let’s move on to the HTML basics of creating a link.

HTML Basics: Create a Link

If you’re a SEO writer, learning how to link is a must, especially if you are required to credit sources. Here’s how to do it.

CODE: <a href=”http://www.yourlinkgoeshere.com”>Text Description of Link</a>

Insert the web address of the link in between the ” and “. Insert the words you want linked in between the > and <. Close it out with </a> to stop the HTML code.

The example above would look like this: Text Description of Link

Let’s move onto the last part of the HTML Basics for SEO Writers tutorial.

HTML Basics: Display an Image

Ah, images. No SEO article is complete without one. Images are great for getting the attention of Internet browsers, explaining concepts visually, or just as a tool to make people go “Ooh, pretty!”. It’s also a great way to keep people focused on your article, even during the bleak stretch of road called the “article midsection”.

To have a picture display in your SEO article, enter this HTML code:

<img src=”http://www.examplewebsite/linktoimage.jpg” height=”pixels” width=”pixels”>

Now here’s where it gets tricky. The link to the picture needs to be its exact location, not the location of the webpage where it is displayed.

To find the exact URL for the picture, go to the webpage where it is located and right click on it. For Google Chrome users, click “Open Image in New Tab/Window”. For Mozilla Firefox users, click “View Image”. Internet Explorer users should right click on the image and select “Properties” (it displays  to the right of “Address (URL)”).

To get the picture to display properly, you need to input its height and width in pixels. You’ll find this under the picture’s properties. In Google Chrome, right click the image and select “Inspect Element” to find it. In Mozilla Firefox, right click and select “View Image Info”. For Internet Explorer users, this is also found under “Properties”.

As an example, let’s say I want to use a picture of my cat Sephy, which is already uploaded to WJR’s database. This is the code I’ll use to make it display: <img src=”http://writingjobresource.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/a10.jpg” height=”100″ width=”150″>

And this is how it should display on any webpage:

Pretty simple, huh? Although HTML can be a tricky thing to learn, the basics of it aren’t hard at all. Keep on practicing to get better at it.

---

DOWNLOAD THIS TUTORIAL
You may also want to download the HTML Basics for SEO Writers printable cheat sheet. It’s in PDF form and summarizes these codes in an even easier-to-learn format. Click the image to begin downloading.