SEO and Content Writing (Especially SEO Content and Copywriting)
Why it’s hot: Content remains king for marketing, and discoverability via search engines is crucial. Thus, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) skills and content creation are highly sought. Even with AI writing tools emerging, human writers who can produce quality, optimized content and copy that converts are in demand. Upwork’s top Marketing category includes Email Marketing (#3), which intersects with copywriting, and SEO is not explicitly listed there but anecdotally remains a huge market.
Specific in-demand sub-skills: - SEO Content Writers: These freelancers write blog posts, articles, and website content optimized for search rankings. They do keyword research, use proper formatting (headings, meta tags), and aim to provide genuinely useful content that ranks. The NY Weekly Journal listed “SEO Content Writing” at #4, emphasizing well-researched, AI-assisted writing that ranks is more valuable than ever. Writers who can combine use of AI tools for efficiency with their own expertise to ensure quality and originality have an edge. - Copywriters & Conversion Copy: Crafting copy for ads, landing pages, sales funnels, etc. – text that persuades. As more businesses go online and fight for attention, skilled copy (product descriptions, ad slogans, email sequences) is a key differentiator. Forbes highlighted digital marketing and “social selling, personal branding, professional communication” as vital skills for 2025, which ties into having strong copywriting to convey brand and sell. - Technical Writing: On the flip side, documentation, technical guides, and whitepapers – especially in fields like software, finance, or healthcare – need knowledgeable writers. If you have domain expertise, technical writing pays well and is often in demand as companies outsource docs and manuals. - Editing/Proofreading: With the surge of content (some of it drafted by AI), good editors are needed to polish content, ensure factual accuracy, tone, and flow. This might not be as glamorous as writing from scratch, but plenty of freelancers get consistent work reviewing and improving content written by others (or by machines).
Example: A startup might hire an SEO writer to produce a series of blog posts targeting keywords their audience searches (e.g., “how to improve remote team productivity”). The writer researches, writes ~1500-word pieces and optimizes them. Simultaneously, the startup might need a copywriter to revamp their homepage and product pages with compelling, benefit-driven copy to increase signups – that’s another specialized gig.
Skill level & pay: Content writing has a wide range. Many beginner SEO writers might charge $0.10-$0.20/word or lower, but experienced ones go much higher. Great copywriters, especially those with proven conversion results, can charge premium – hundreds of dollars for a single page or email campaign, or $50-$150/hr. There’s also huge volume demand: content marketing is a core strategy for most businesses now. Notably, the NY Journal list emphasizes that writers who can structure and optimize articles for SEO see consistent demand – meaning if you can pair writing talent with SEO knowledge, you’ll be busy. And with so much content out there, quality stands out – clients are learning that pumping out AI gibberish doesn’t cut it for rankings or brand, so skilled human writers remain crucial.