Creating and implementing a keyword strategy can seem intimidating at first glance, but it doesn’t have to be! Keywords can help you rank higher and ensure that your message reaches the right professionals who are searching for it. In this blog we’ve taken all the guesswork out of keywords so that you can craft the keyword strategy that will drive awareness through the roof.
Choosing Keywords
Keywords are at the heart of every SEO campaign and convey your intent, so it’s beyond crucial to choose the right ones. So where do you even start? It’s not as simple as picking a few words to feature throughout your content. Luckily, there are tools that are available to show you which keywords within your niche are relevant and trending. When choosing keywords you should also look to your audience and identify their pain points so that you can center your campaign around addressing that pain point and how your company solves it.
Tools like Google Keyword Planner pull keywords based off of the frequency in which they appear in searches within a given period, which makes them a great way to speak directly to your audience. After you’ve decided on your main keyword, you should also choose 4-7 similar keywords to help you create your content library.
Another term that might sound familiar when talking about keywords is “longtail keywords.” Longtail phrases have a minimum of three words, compared to a generic keyword, which only has one or two. These phrases may be used by your competitors, but they are important because longtail keywords also act as filtering agents and help to highlight the serious buyers as opposed to those who are just there to browse.
When and Where to Use Keywords
The next piece of the keyword strategy puzzle is knowing when and where to use them. Your first instinct may be to reference your keywords as many times as you can, hoping that it will increase your ranking, but doing so has the opposite effect and can result in penalization by Google and other search engines. Some areas to pay extra attention to include:
- The title of your article
- Your subheadings
- The body
Once upon a time the rule of thumb when it came to keyword usage was 10%, meaning for every 1,000 word article you can repeat the keyword 10 times. Now, algorithms have become so sophisticated that repetition is no longer a factor in ranking. In fact, the over-repetition of your keyword can actually do more harm than good, in that it can cause your content to come across as stilted and uneven. You want to make sure that your use of keywords comes off as natural instead of forced, as it can alienate readers. When utilized correctly, keywords work behind the scenes to give companies the little boost of visibility and brand awareness they need to reach their audience and can be a huge asset.
If you would like to learn more about keywords and how to implement them into your strategy, click on the banner below to schedule your free 30-minute consultation with us today!
