Have you ever searched for something online then a number of options appear all related to the topic you were searching for? For example, when you search ‘How to Start a Blog’ the probability of what you wrote down on the search bar appearing is close to 90% as the top most option. Other options will also appear as well which will include words like ‘blogging’, ‘starting a blog’ or ‘tips for beginners’ all from similar or different sources. The topics or words; whether a long phrase or just one word, are what is referred to as Keywords.
What are keywords? Keywords are terms that encapsulate the essence of your text. They are how the search engines know what a website or social media profile is all about and whom they should send to that specific site. Keywords determine whether your blog will appear on the first page of search results or the ‘other’ pages. They are also able to reach a certain target audience, especially when using Ads by Google or other analytical concepts. Keywords are very important and are the basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Good content, therefore, does not become as good anymore when only a few people get to read or view it. A well-written article becomes relevant when it is able to effortlessly incorporate the relevant keywords needed to rank.
Hence, how can one use keywords to improve a blog’s visibility by increasing the number of users who visit the site?
Choose your Keywords
There are a number of online tools and plugins, which one can use to search for keywords for blog posts. These keywords are sourced from already existing content and will ensure your post is ranked.
While searching for keywords, place yourself in the mind of the user. Keywords can be short, or long. Most keywords are actually two to five-word phrases.
In this article, the keywords could include the following: keywords, most searched keywords SEO, blogging, keyword research, keyword analysis and keyword service.
Optimize your Blog Post
Writing an article for your blog using random words might not rank well in the search engines. In some instances, what a user is searching for might be long and complex and could be probably be found in a sentence or phrase within your blog post.
However, the concentration of your chosen keywords in your article shouldn’t limit you from writing creatively and concisely. The idea is to use the keywords you searched for within your article.
According to Skillstream.net, Google uses LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) to process online information. Therefore, when you focus too much on your chosen keywords to the point of ignoring synonyms of chosen keywords, (that search engines such as Google now expect to see in your article) your article may be deemed to not be as relevant or as high quality and might as well result to keyword spamming as discussed here.
It is also important to internally link your other blog posts within your content where relevant.
Other Places where Keywords can be used in the blog post include; the title, images, and the URL or permalink. Using the keyword search results, optimize your title in a way that will be able to attract an audience as discussed here. Images also need optimization, not just featured images, as seen here, but all other images that will be included in the post. The main keyword should be in the URL of the blog post. It should be short, reflect on the title and stick to the target audience.
Through ensuring your blog posts have appropriate keywords, you are basically indicating to Google that this web page is the most relevant to the user’s search inquiry.