It’s a Google world and Google always keeps us on our toes with all the algorithm updates they keep rolling out. But one thing has been consistent for marketers who are looking to optimize their websites for search, and that is “Keywords”. Keyword research is very crucial if you want your page to rank on Google.
What are Keywords?
Keywords are the ideas or topics that define your content. In terms of SEO, keywords are defined as the words or phrases that searchers enter into the search engines to find relevant information.
Your ultimate goal for all the SEO practices is to rank on the search engine and drive organic traffic to your website. This organic traffic can be measured with Google Analytics. Keywords have been proven to be essential to every aspect of an SEO campaign. The keywords you choose to target determines what kind of traffic your website gets. To create content that drives visitors to your site, you need to understand the needs of these visitors and the type of content they are looking for.
Keyword Research
A starting point for using keywords for SEO is doing the keyword research. Brainstorm the terms that, according to you, your potential customers might search for. Then find other related terms by searching the keyword on Google. You can also use tools like Keyword Explorer to find the relevant keywords. The keyword research will give you a nice idea on how to find the right keywords for your page. It would also help you come up with a content strategy by creating content around the terms that you know your target audience is looking for.
How do you use keywords in your pages?
It is never a good idea to keep throwing keywords randomly on your page. The focus should be to create compelling content to provide real value for real people. Back in the time, people used to stuff a lot of keywords in their pages to rank in search engines. But let’s be real here, any content with a lot of the same keywords is not pleasant to read and Google finds it terrible too. That is why ranking in Google by stuffing a lot of keywords in your content is now considered a bad practice.
So what are the rules that need to be followed here?
First, it is extremely important that your content is easy to read. Of course, you should use your keywords in your content, but only till it makes sense and are well-distributed throughout your text. If 2% of all the words in a piece is your keyword, then it is acceptable. Also, putting all your keywords in the first paragraph itself won’t do the optimization for you but spreading them throughout the post will.
Where To Use Keywords For SEO?
- Page Titles
A page title describes the main idea of your page and pops up as the first line of search results to let both Google and searchers know what the page is about. Hence, it is the best place to insert your keyword in. When writing titles, use your keywords at the start of the page title to make it more relevant.
- Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions help Google determine how relevant your content is to what people are searching for. It also helps searchers decide whether to click a search result to see the full content. Hence, it is important to use the right, relevant keywords in a meta description.
- Subheadings
Subheadings make your content scannable and help visitors decide about the relevance of the content to their needs. The best practice is to use keywords in a couple of subheadings.
- Images
Images probably aren’t your first choice when it comes to using keywords, but you can’t afford to ignore them. Since images are indexed too, it creates another way for people to find your content. Also, images can help you handle content accessibility, which is useful for the millions of searchers.
Keywords can be used in the image titles (text that pops up when on hovering the mouse over the image) or in the alt text.
- URLs
A clean URL gives the visitors and Google a clue about what’s on the page. Hence, using keywords in the URL works well.
Final thoughts
When it comes to achieving SEO results with keywords, the key is to be patient and keep digging. The more you search, the more you’ll uncover. After you have your researched list, you can organize the keywords and develop an action plan. Optimize your site accordingly, and focus on outreach. Using these researched keywords, you’ll be able to drive your site in the right direction and increase the relevant traffic.
