Search engine optimization is something every webmaster should invest their time, in order to market their contents well. There are various processes associated with it and one among them is keyword optimization. Web pages which appear on the first page of the search engine results will get better traffic.
So, to bring your website content on to the first page of search engine result, you should concentrate more on keyword optimization of your contents. This is the first thing every content marketer should know about when they start to market their contents. These keywords have the potential to bring your contents to the top position of SERP.
Keywords are those words that internet users are highly searching related to a topic. If you have been running a website for a while you might have noticed that you are getting traffic from a few of your contents. The reason behind that traffic could be many.
One of the most relevant reason could be those keywords you included in the content. It has the power to bring many users to your website and thereby increase your website ranking.
Google is creating new algorithms to help users to get the best answers for their questions. This is a guide for beginners to get a clear idea about keywords and implementing them on your contents in the right way.
SEO Keywords Types:
Keywords are the specific term that can drive more traffic to a specific URL. There are two types of keywords.
- Short-tail keywords which contain 1-3 words
- Long-tail keywords which contain more than 3 words.
Long-tail keywords are current trend and if you can include this in your contents it can change your content performance in a positive way.
Keywords and SEO:
Keywords are very important if you are looking to rank your website higher. Using SEO keywords in content provides exact results, what users are looking for.
For example, if you are dealing with a website that helps bloggers to optimize contents for search engine then you need to concentrate on the keyword SEO to make it appear on the search result. No one will go to the second page of search result if they can find the solution to their query from the first page itself. Including keyword is the best way to attract more traffic towards your website. Google values such website that can provide a better solution for its users through their content.
How to do your SEO Keywords Research?
In order to know the popular keywords that can be used in your content first, you need to spend some time on research. By finding keywords you can create your content strategy around that particular keyword. First, you need to know what your customers want to know about your field. You can consider the language they use, style of talking and particular terms they could be using while searching on Google search engine.
You can type a term in the search tab and see the suggestions by Google by scrolling down the page. It will show you all related questions users search for the term you entered. Create a list of keywords using this technique and also get help from tools such as Google Keyword Planner and SEMrush to know the volume of that particular keywords. After finding profitable keywords from these tools, you can create your article with those keywords. You can create contents based on keywords or include these keywords in your content. Both are useful when it comes to keyword optimization.
How to use Google Keyword Planner:
Google keyword planner is a free tool that can be used for keyword research. You can log in to this using an account and explore more about keywords. Google keyword planner can be used for keyword research and also get search volume and forecasts. Both are useful for your keyword planning and implementation.
Keyword Research:
You can do your keyword research by entering the related phrase, URL or any words related to your niche or content. Then Google will show you a lot of results related to your search. For each suggestion, there will be Avg monthly searches, competition, low and high range of top of the page bid. If you are entering related phrases to the keyword, it will also show you the result accordingly. You can enter 3 phrases in the search tab to get keyword suggestions and also can enter phases and URLs at the same time. The tool is very simple to use if you know how to interpret the result.
Search volume and forecasts:
This part is mainly useful for webmasters who want to monetize their keywords. Go to that tab and paste your search in the tab. You can see the detailed result where it shows the clicks and impressions you can expect for each keyword. Also, it will show the CPC, CPR and estimated costs for each keyword. If you search on the historical page you can see the 12-month search volume for the keywords you entered. You can plan the use of a keyword in your content according to these results.
How to use SEMrush for Keyword Search:
SEMrush is also a good option to use for researching keywords. It can help you to find suitable keywords that can be used in your content for better ranking and the ranking position for existing keywords in your content.
Login to the site and go to SEO toolkit>> Organic search positions, you can see a search box where you can type the URL name. It will show you keywords in your contents and its ranking in Google. You can see the keywords that are ranked between 3-10 and optimize these keywords to bring it to the top 3 positions.
To get keyword suggestions you can go to content marketing tool kit and type in your keywords. It will show you the exact result of the keyword that you can target to optimize your content for SEO. After getting these keywords you can optimize your content for them and see the better performance of your website. In the next section, you will get an idea on where to use these keywords in your content
Where can I use these SEO Keywords for Better Results?
Just by finding suitable keyword your SEO won’t be complete. You also need to know where you can use these keywords for better ROI. For WordPress users, there are some plugins available to carry out SEO effectively. But when it comes to other website users, they need to have an idea about using keywords in the right place to avoid penalty from Google.
Page titles:
Page title tells users about the content of your article. Most people keep the same page title and headline for contents. It is acceptable for the search engine and gets ranked better if you can include keywords in the title. After searching keyword, you can find the most specific keywords that can be included in your page title. Use tools like Yoast SEO to get suitable titles that can help you to rank your content higher. If you can include these keywords in the starting of the title, it will be very helpful for your ranking.
Meta description:
This is the next part of your content where you can use keywords. The meta description is that part which you can see just below the title of the website. It gives a small explanation of the content in the article. If Google finds relevant keywords in meta description of the website it can help to list it when a user asks a similar query. Including the keyword in the meta description will not have any direct impact on SEO. But it can help the users to see the content of that website and they can decide whether to click on it or not.
Subheadings:
A Well structured content is always popular among the audience. If your content is divided into many parts with headings and subheading you can include some keywords in the subheadings. If you can set up structured data for your website there is a chance to get rich snippets for your website and it can show the list of subheading if it is relevant to user’s search. So, it is always good to include keywords at least two or three as subheadings of your content.
Content:
This is the main part where we can use keywords. Content is the main part of your website you can include specific keywords. It will increase your contents chance to get listed under the top position of SERP. But while using keywords in your content, you should be very careful. Unnecessary usage of keywords can lead your content to a bad place in search engine ranking.
Google is always against keyword stuffing. They want to provide relevant content to its users. So, they are very vigilant and check for contents that over stuff keywords and penalize them. Use LSI (Latent semantic indexing) than using exact keyword every time. You should write for humans than writing for machines. When you focus more on including keywords, the quality of the content will lower with it.
Images:
You can also tag images with keywords so that it will help to bring more traffic towards your website. They have the power to attract more users towards your content. Also, use relevant images in your content and give a relevant title for it. Add alt text within the image which can help it to access easier. Google also indexes image and you don’t want to miss this chance.
URL:
URL gives an option for webmasters to show the title of the content to its users. If you want to include keywords in URL, it is a good practice. No need to complicate it using the number and other symbols. Keep it short and easy to interpret for any users. Also, avoid overstuffing of keywords in your URL to avoid complications.
Link anchor text:
This is another point you need to know while including keywords. Links are known as a top-ranking factor for websites. You need to include proper link anchor text for internal and external links. By including the same anchor text for all your content can create issues for your content. Google may consider it as a black hat SEO technique for ranking and can also get penalized for what you do. Avoid such problems while including link anchor text in your website and use suitable keywords in it to aid with your ranking
Social media:
Using keywords in your social media posts can also help to attract more organic traffic towards your website. You can update your website on various social media platforms by including proper keywords in it. This can help your content to list on the top of search results in social media too. There are various methods such as hashtags to land into a relevant niche. Handle each platform accordingly and see the impact it can give to your content.
Geo-targeting:
If you want to get more local traffic to your keywords geo-targeting can help you. Include your website in local listings and Google my Business pages to get more local organic traffic towards your website. You can also include geo-specific keywords in it to get it listed while a user is searching a business related to yours. It can improve your CTR and online visibility too
Conclusion:
It is very easy to find keywords that can be used in content. But while you use these keywords you need to be extra careful to avoid repetition. You should optimize your content with keywords without affecting its quality. It should go with the content naturally. Most webmasters do a mistake of adding keywords unnecessarily in a content. It can affect your content credibility and Google may also penalize for using keywords unnecessarily in your content. There are many tools you can use to find the best keywords.
Other than using specific keywords give more focus on using long-tail keywords. It can help your content to get more organic traffic and good ranking. Are you ready to see some positive changes in your website by keyword optimization? Start immediately without wasting time.