SEO, Oh No! Repetition Can Cause Writers Shame

October 28, 2009 — Editing, SEO, Word Usage, Writing

My blog piece on ridding your writing of repetition has made the rounds, appearing on several other blogs and social media sites. So you’d think I know how to follow my own tips and spot words I overuse.

Or not.

Out of curiosity, I recently ran my blog through a website grader, which also included an SEO analysis. Really, it was a graph of the words appearing most frequently here. There were the usual suspects, like writing, reading and freelancing. But there was one shocking four-letter word that appeared in the top 10. I’m using it again here and then never again. Ready?

Just.

Of the thousands upon thousands of words here, how could I have used that one so frequently and not caught it?

If you’re a writer who does any self-editing at all, you know the tricks for avoiding mistakes in a single post. But how do you catch yourself over months—or years—of writing?

Well, obviously, you can use a website grade that measures SEO and screen for overused words. You could also randomly pick a batch of posts and ask someone you trust to give you direct feedback to read them.

You can also ask your readers for feedback, like this:

Readers, have you noticed words I use too frequently? Don’t be shy! Tell me in the comments.