Copywriter versus SEO Expert

Who do you assign the task of content optimization, should you use a copywriter or an SEO expert? 

Building search engine friendly content is messy businesses, you need to have some solid know-how on how a search engine works, what the search engine likes to see and how are pages ranked for specific keywords. In essence, you probably need to be a full-blown SEO expert.

But most SEO experts out there are rarely writers and vice-versa. I'm not talking about freelancers here, most digital freelancers are multi-specialized and are capable of doing the small and simple tasks on pretty much any digital skill. I'm talking about full-blown, full-time SEO experts and Content Writers, you will rarely find someone that can do both of them very well. Why? Because one job reflects pure creativity and one is more technical and analytical in nature.  

So which one is better at optimizing content?

In my opinion, you would need both of them! But if I would have to choose one, I'd go the SEO expert.

Using them both is the best part, you can let the content writer go wild with creativity without having to worry much about keywords and a strict content structure. You can have the SEO expert optimize everything later making sure it haves all the needed keywords as well as follow an SEO friendly structure. Even here the SEO experts needs to be part content writer, if you have an SEO expert that doesn't want to create content at all, you will need to have the SEO expert give instructions to the copywriter first and inform him/her on what keywords to use and what kind of overall structure is needed, how many words, bullet points, headings, etc. 

Using only the SEO experts that are also capable of creating content. 
From my experience, the content that does best from an organic traffic point of view is the content that was written exclusively by an SEO expert or a content writer that can also work as an SEO.  It also takes a lot less time to write because you won't need to go back and forth between the copywriter and the SEO expert. 

A good SEO also haves a content architecture in mind that is usually based on user experience and how people that come from Google will interact with your content. This is highly important stuff that only an experienced SEO will know. 
What I hate most about content writers that have zero SEO skills is their general idea that people love to read: NO MOST PEOPLE ON THE INTERNET DON'T LOVE READING.

This is why we need an easy to follow structure: bold text, bullet points, numbers, straight to the point answers, etc - if people can't easily follow you content they'll abandon the page, Google will take notice on how users interact with your content and will rank you accordingly. It is all closely related!

Bottom line is: SEOs need to learn how to create content themselves OR content writers need to start learning some basic content SEO. I don't see any other practical solution, using both of them while hoping they'll somehow "complete" one another is just inneficient.