Texas First Hire

How to Hire an SEO Content Writer

By Jeremy Kenerson, Founder and CEO at DeskTeam360

Last updated . Every fact on this page was checked October 2, 2026.

You can hire an SEO content writer in three places: through a referral, on a job board or marketplace, or from an outside team that does writing. Wherever you look, ask for published samples, check them against Google's own guidance, and ask how the writer uses AI. If you searched "hire SEO content writer," this page covers where to look and the search side of the hire. Google says its ranking systems are built to favor helpful, reliable content made for people, not content made to game search rankings.

An SEO content writer writes pages meant to be found through search. Look for one who writes for your reader first and can explain the search basics in plain words.

Where do you find an SEO content writer for hire?

The three places to find an SEO content writer for hire are a referral, a job board or marketplace, and an outside team that does writing. In each place, ask for the same proof: live pages you can read, with the writer's name on them.

  • A referral. Ask another owner who wrote a page you found through a search. You start with work you've already read.
  • A job board or a marketplace. You post the job, and writers apply or send a rate. Ask each writer for links to published pages, and ask which searches each page was written for. Upwork is one marketplace with content writers on it.
  • An outside team. DeskTeam360, the company that runs this site, does SEO and content writing for agencies, under the agency's brand. On-page SEO is covered. Link building and outreach aren't. It doesn't write sales pages, cold email copy or ad copy. With any team, ask who writes the pages and whose name goes on them.

Wherever you look, the checks below stay the same. For pay and the general hiring steps, see hire content writer. If you hire the writer as an employee, the first-hire steps page lists each step in order, with the Texas office, form and deadline.

This page covers one role. For a social media manager, see hire social media manager. For a video editor, see hire video editor.

What should an SEO content writer know about Google's rules?

An SEO content writer should know that Google says its ranking systems favor helpful, reliable content made for people, not content made to game search rankings. Google's advice is to write for people first and not for search engines first.

Google suggests asking who, how and why about a page:

  • Who. Is it clear who wrote the page, and does it carry a byline where a reader would expect one?
  • How. Google says it's helpful for readers to know how a piece of content was produced. Where automation or AI was used, it asks whether that's clear to visitors.
  • Why. Google says the "why" should be that you're creating content primarily to help people.

A writer should also know the on-page basics in Google's SEO Starter Guide. The table has three of them. The sample checks further down cover titles, link words and repeated phrases.

Table: Three search basics from Google's SEO Starter Guide, and what each one looks like in a writer's work.
Part of the page What Google says What to look for in the writer's work
The description A good meta description is short, unique to one page, and includes the most relevant points of the page A summary of one or two sentences, written fresh for each page
The reader's words Think about the words a user might search for to find your content A writer who asks who your reader is and how that reader searches
Length The length of the content alone doesn't matter for ranking, and there's no magical word count target A page that answers the question, then stops

Ask the writer to explain these points in their own words. A writer who knows them can tell you who a page is for, what question it answers, and whose name goes on it.

The same guide says there are no secrets that will automatically rank a site first in Google. It says content that people find compelling and useful will likely influence a site's presence in search results more than any of its other suggestions.

If you'd rather hand writing and on-page SEO to a team, a call with DeskTeam360 is where you find out whether it fits your agency.

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Can an SEO content writer use AI?

An SEO content writer can use AI, and Google says generative AI can help with research and with adding structure to original content. It also says that using AI tools to make many pages that add no value for users may break its spam policy on scaled content abuse.

So the useful question is how the writer uses AI, and what they add on top of it. Ask these four things:

  • Which parts of your process use AI?
  • What do you check by hand before a page goes out?
  • Where do the facts in your pages come from?
  • Whose name goes on the page as the author?

Google asks much the same of a page: is the use of AI clear to visitors, and does the page give background on how it was used?

A clear answer to each one tells you how the work gets made. A vague answer is a reason to ask for a paid test.

How do you check an SEO content writer's samples?

To check an SEO content writer's samples, ask for two or three published pages and read each one the way a customer would. Then hold each page up to Google's own guidance, one check at a time.

Table: Six checks for a writing sample, with the Google guidance behind each.
What to check How to check it The Google guidance behind it
Does the page help the reader? Read it start to finish. Ask whether it answers the question in its title Google says its ranking systems are built to favor helpful, reliable content made for people
Was it written for people or for rankings? Read it out loud. Listen for a phrase that repeats until it sounds forced. Google calls that keyword stuffing Google's spam policies define keyword stuffing as filling a web page with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate rankings in Google Search results. One example Google gives is repeating the same words or phrases so often that it sounds unnatural
Does the title fit the page? Read the title, then the page. See whether the page delivers what the title says Google says a good title is unique to the page, clear and concise, and accurately describes the contents of the page
Do the links say where they go? Read only the link words. See whether you can tell what each link opens Google says link text tells users and Google something about the page you're linking to
Is it clear who wrote it? Look for the author's name on the page Google asks whether it's clear who wrote a page, and whether it has a byline where a reader would expect one
How was AI used? Ask which parts used AI and what the writer added Google says AI can help with research and structure. It says using AI to make many pages that add no value for users may break its spam policy

Here's a score sheet you can copy. Mark each line pass or fail for every writer, then compare the sheets.

  • Helps the reader: pass or fail
  • Reads well out loud, with no stuffed phrases: pass or fail
  • Title fits the page: pass or fail
  • Link words say where they go: pass or fail
  • Author is named: pass or fail
  • Clear answer on AI use: pass or fail

These checks show whether a writer works the way Google's guidance describes. They can't promise a ranking.

After the samples, pay for one short test page aimed at a search your customers make. Run it through the same six checks, and see how the writer handles your notes.

More on first hires for an agency

DeskTeam360 does its writing work for agencies, under the agency's brand. A call shows whether that fits yours.

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Sources

All checked October 2, 2026.

This site isn't connected to the State of Texas or any government agency.

What changed

  • October 2, 2026: First version of this page.