- \n
- Why are keywords important<\/li>\n
- Examples of SEO keywords<\/li>\n
- Different types of SEO keywords<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- How to choose keywords for SEO<\/a><\/li>\n
- How to use SEO Keywords in your Content<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
What are SEO Keywords?<\/h2>\n
Let\u2019s start with a definition. SEO Keywords are words or phrases (search terms) that people use when searching for information through a search engine.<\/p>\n
By adding those keywords in your content, you increase your chances of appearing in the search results for those terms.<\/p>\n
SEO Keywords make it easier for search engines to understand what your content is all about and help users find the information they need.<\/p>\n
Why are keywords important?<\/h3>\n
As you might have already guessed, keywords are very important for SEO.<\/p>\n
Without using the right SEO keywords in your content, search engines have a hard time understanding the meaning of your content. And this diminishes your chances of getting organic traffic to your website.<\/p>\n
The way search engines work<\/strong><\/a> is by matching<\/em> the user search queries with pages available in their index.<\/p>\n
During the crawling and indexing phase, search engine crawlers visit a webpage. They extract the information they need and add it to their index. They use this information later during the \u2018matching\u2019 process (also referred to as the ranking process).<\/p>\n
Part of the information they extract is the keywords a web page is associated with.<\/p>\n
If during this process your website is associated with the wrong<\/em> keywords, then you have no chances of appearing high in the results for the keywords that matter<\/em> for your website.<\/p>\n
Let me give you an example to understand this better.<\/strong><\/p>\n
Let\u2019s say you want to rank for [electric bicycles]. You create a page and showcase your products (product name, images of the products, etc.).<\/p>\n
Unless you mention on the page that they are electric<\/em>, Google will most probably associate your page with bicycles<\/em> and this not what you want.<\/p>\n
What you should do instead is to find out which keywords people use as search terms<\/em> when they look for electric bicycles<\/em> and make sure that these keywords are part of your content.<\/p>\n
Different types of SEO keywords<\/h3>\n
Keywords are classified in two categories: head keywords and long tail keywords.<\/p>\n
Head keywords (also known as seed keywords) usually consist of one or two words and have a high search volume.<\/p>\n
Long tail keywords<\/a><\/strong> consist of more words, have less search volume compared to head keywords but make up 70% of all searches.<\/p>\n
![\"Long](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/long-tail-keywords-search-curve.png\")
Long Tail Keywords – Search Curve<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n What is important to understand at this point is that head keywords may have more search volume but they are also highly competitive<\/em>.<\/p>\n
This means that thousands of websites are competing for one of the top positions in the SERPS and this makes it almost impossible for new websites (or small businesses) to rank for these terms.<\/p>\n
The solution is to focus on long-tail keywords.<\/p>\n
They have less search volume but with the right SEO plan<\/a><\/strong>, it is possible<\/em> to rank in the top positions of Google and get targeted organic traffic to your website.<\/p>\n
How to choose keywords for SEO<\/h2>\n
Let\u2019s see how to choose the \u201cright\u201d SEO keywords to use in your content.<\/p>\n
This process is known in SEO as keyword research<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n
Step 1: Decide for which \u2018search terms\u2019 you want to be known for<\/h3>\n
Your first step is to spend some time thinking about the following:<\/p>\n
- \n
- For which search terms do you want to be known for online<\/li>\n
- What words or search phrases people might use in the search engines to find you<\/li>\n
- Which words best describe your products or services<\/li>\n
- Which words describe your niche better<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The outcome of the above exercise should be a list of phrases that we\u2019ll use to turn into a keyword list in the next step.<\/p>\n
Step 2: Create a Keyword list<\/h3>\n
To create a keyword list, you need to take the list created above and associate it with the actual keywords people type in the search box i.e. SEO Keywords.<\/p>\n
To do that we need the help of keyword research tools. There are a lot of tools you can use but my recommended tools are the Google Keyword Planner<\/strong><\/a> (Free) and SEMRUSH (Paid).<\/p>\n
Google keyword Planner<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Google Keyword Planner is part of Google Ads<\/em> and it\u2019s offered by Google for free for the Google Ads customers.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, it\u2019s a great keyword research tool and you can use it to find your SEO keywords.<\/p>\n
Go to Google Ads<\/a><\/strong> and create an account. Follow the steps to create a draft campaign so that the system will allow you to access the Keyword Planner.<\/p>\n
Once you are done with the draft campaign, select TOOLS > KEYWORD PLANNER.<\/p>\n
![\"Google](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/keyword-planner-menu.png\")
Access the Google Keyword Planner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Click on FIND NEW KEYWORDS<\/p>\n
For the sake of this example, let\u2019s say that you are a dog trainer selling an online course teaching people how to train their dogs.<\/p>\n
If you enter the relevant keywords in the keyword planner, you will be present with a list of keywords ideas matching your selected topics.<\/p>\n
![\"Keyword](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/find-keyword-ideas.png\")
How to Find SEO Keywords using the Keyword Planner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Notice that besides the keywords, the tool has a few more columns.<\/p>\n
The \u2018Average Monthly Searches\u2019 shows you how many searches are performed on Google per month for that term and the \u2018Competition\u2019 gives you an idea of how competitive a keyword is.<\/p>\n
By \u2018competitive\u2019 we mean how many people are bidding to advertise for that keyword on Google Ads.<\/p>\n
Remember that the keyword planner is a tool for Google PPC Ads and not for SEO search results.<\/p>\n
Select some of the keywords that are highly relevant to your website and products, both \u2018head\u2019 and \u2018long-tail keywords\u2019, add them to a spreadsheet and move on to the next step.<\/p>\n
Step 3: Find Semantic SEO Keywords<\/h3>\n
The next step is to find keywords related <\/em>to your target keywords. These keywords are known as semantic keywords or LSI keywords.<\/p>\n
A semantic keyword is a keyword that is strongly related with another keyword.<\/p>\n
The reason you want to do this is because Google no longer ranks pages that target individual keywords but it\u2019s more targeted to topics.<\/p>\n
So, by finding LSI keywords for your main keywords and including them in your content, you help Google get a better understanding about your content and this translates to higher rankings.<\/p>\n
The best way to find LSI keywords is to use the LSI Keyword Generator and Google search.<\/p>\n
LSI Keyword Generator<\/strong><\/p>\n
Go to LSI Graph<\/a><\/strong> and your head keywords and click search. Take note of the keywords and add them in a second column in your spreadsheet.<\/p>\n
![\"LSI](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/semantic-seo-keywords.png\")
How to Find Semantic SEO Keywords<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Google Search<\/strong><\/p>\n
When you search for a keyword in Google, there are 2 ways to find out what Google considers to be the related keywords<\/em> for a given search term.<\/p>\n
The first one is to look at the \u201cPeople also ask\u201d section.<\/p>\n
![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/find-relevant-keywords.png\")
People Also Ask – Keyword Ideas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n And the second one is the \u201cSearches related to\u2026\u201d section.<\/p>\n
![\"Google](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/find-related-keywords.png\")
Google Related Searches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n SEMRUSH<\/strong><\/p>\n
SEMRUSH<\/strong><\/a> is my favorite keyword research tool.<\/p>\n
Among many other useful features, it has\u00a0 two very powerful tools for keyword research.<\/p>\n
The first is the \u201cKeyword Magic Tool\u201d and the second one is the \u201cTopic Research\u201d.<\/p>\n
With SEMRUSH, you don\u2019t have to go through the process of creating an account with the Google Keyword Planner or going to LSIGraph and Google search to find related keywords.<\/p>\n
Everything is done within SEMRUSH.<\/p>\n
Keyword Magic Tool<\/strong><\/p>\n
The first step is to create an account <\/strong><\/a>(there is a 7 Day Free Trial).<\/p>\n
Then select KEYWORD MAGIC TOOL under KEYWORD ANALYTICS.<\/p>\n
Type in your head keyword and click SEARCH.<\/p>\n
![\"semrush](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/semrush-keyword-magic.png\")
Find SEO keywords with the Keyword Magic Tool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n SEMRUSH will group related keywords together.<\/p>\n
Sort the keywords by volume and KD (Keyword Difficulty). Unlike the Google Keyword Planner, KD refers to how difficult to RANK for a particular keyword in Google.<\/p>\n
A metric very useful since what you want is to pick the right SEO keywords that have higher search volume and lower KD score.<\/p>\n
Topic Research<\/strong><\/p>\n
Remember what I mentioned above that Google now ranks websites based on Topics<\/em> and not just keywords?<\/p>\n
The Topic Research tool will help you find long-tail keywords related to a topic.<\/p>\n
Click TOPIC RESEARCH from the left menu and type in our main head keyword.<\/p>\n
![\"Topic](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/semrush-topic-research.png\")
Topic Research with SEMRUSH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n What you see on the right (under Interesting Questions), is questions related to your niche. It\u2019s similar to \u201cPeople also ask\u201d but more comprehensive since it includes questions from various sources.<\/p>\n
How can you take advantage of this?<\/strong><\/p>\n
These questions can help you build TOPIC RELEVANCY, which is what you want if your goal is to rank higher on Google<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n
How can you do this in practice? Optimize your homepage for your head keywords and then create content (through a blog) targeting each of the questions (which in essence it\u2019s the long tail keywords).<\/p>\n
Make sure that within your blogs, you link to your main pages.<\/p>\n
How to use SEO Keywords in your Content<\/h2>\n
Doing good keyword research and having a keyword list, is not enough.<\/p>\n
In order to benefit from this process, you need to know how to use those keywords in your content.<\/p>\n
This is known as SEO Content<\/strong><\/a>, which is a subset of On Page SEO<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n
Here are some tips to follow:<\/p>\n
Optimize your Homepage for your main keyword<\/h3>\n
Homepage SEO<\/a><\/strong> is very important. Search engines start the crawling process from the homepage and follow up any links from there.<\/p>\n
When it comes to keyword optimization, you should optimize your homepage for your main head keywords (even if their keyword difficulty is very high).<\/p>\n
The reason is that you want to make it clear to both crawlers and users, what your website is all about.<\/p>\n
Create a separate page for each of your main keywords<\/h3>\n
Let\u2019s say that your company sells services (like my company), you need to create a page for each of your services, each page to be optimized for a main keyword.<\/p>\n
Look at how my services page<\/a><\/strong> is organized.<\/p>\n
I have a summary page for all my services and individual pages for each of the services we offer. Each page is optimized for a specific keyword.<\/p>\n
Create pieces of content to target long-tail keywords<\/h3>\n
Once you are done with the main keywords, it\u2019s time to utilize the power of blogging and start creating content targeting long-tail keywords.<\/p>\n
You can use the results of topic research<\/em> to decide which keywords to target in your blog posts.<\/p>\n
Optimize your content with SEO keywords<\/h3>\n
When writing the content for both your pages and blog posts, you need to make sure that:<\/p>\n
Use keywords in the URL<\/strong> \u2013 you include your target keyword in the page URL.<\/p>\n
Use keywords in the page title<\/strong> \u2013 you include your target keyword in the page title.<\/p>\n
Use keywords in the H1 Tag<\/strong> \u2013 you include your target keyword (or close variations) is the h1 tag<\/p>\n
Use long-tail keywords as subheadings (h2, h3)<\/strong> \u2013 you include related<\/em> keywords in your subheadings<\/p>\n
Use LSI keywords in your content<\/strong> \u2013 you include LSI keywords within you copy.<\/p>\n
The following guides will help you understand this better:<\/p>\n
- \n
- How to create SEO Friendly URLS<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- How to Create SEO Friendly Titles<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- How to optimize the H1 tag<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- How to SEO your Blog Posts<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
SEO Keywords: Final Advice<\/h2>\n
Picking up the right keywords for your website is important.<\/p>\n
When choosing keywords, try to think outside the box and consider all possible search phrases<\/em> people might use in search engines to find your products.<\/p>\n
Add those keywords in a spreadsheet and take advantage of the data provided by the different keyword tools, to expand your keyword list as much as possible.<\/p>\n
Group your keywords into two categories. First are the keywords to use in your homepage and main website pages and second the keywords to use in your blog.<\/p>\n
Follow the on-page SEO tips outlined above to intelligently include keywords in your copy but always make sure that you pay special attention to the quality of the content.<\/p>\n
Publish content related to your target topics<\/em> to create content relevancy<\/em> and watch your rankings and traffic increase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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- How to Create SEO Friendly Titles<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- How to create SEO Friendly URLS<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- How to use SEO Keywords in your Content<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n