Let’s admit it, a “Content is King” technique without a clearly defined strategy is a waste of time and energy. As such, every webmaster needs to understand and please both their targeted audience as well as Google and its indexation techniques if they’re to make the most out of their content strategy. While it’s exciting to start creating blog posts immediately after you’ve defined your brand’s voice, it is imperative that you first give a thought to the keywords you deem right to target and use in your content. This is the first crucial step in your Search Engine Optimization process and an excellent way to get off your content marketing strategy on the right foot.
So, Why are Keywords Important and Which Ones Should You Target?
Perhaps the main benefit that keywords offer to your content strategy is in guiding SEO. Search engines use these keywords to understand the purpose and define the relevancy of your content. Thus, using certain keywords wisely helps these engines determine who to direct to your site (potential clients) which is arguably the key objective of your content strategy.
Getting the right keywords for your search engine optimization can be a challenging task. However, this doesn’t always have to be the case especially with the numerous valuable tools and information we can easily access today.
How to Determine the Perfect Keywords for You
The first step to kicking off this process entails brainstorming about the general topics you’d want to rank for depending on your content needs and strategy. This may mean coming up with about 5-10 broad topics you presume to be relevant to your business. It is from these topics that you can define specific keywords to use later in the process.
The next step involves coming up with random keywords based on what you’d want to rank for in the SERPs. These are words and phrases you think your potential clients are searching for on search engines. This, therefore, means incorporating them into your content and creating resourceful information around them helps them (clients) find you and want to read your content.
The final and perhaps the most important step is coming up with your final list of high potential keywords. This is the step where tools such as Google’s Keyword Planner, Google Trends, and SEMrush are introduced in your keyword research to help narrow down your preferred keyword list. The Keyword Planner, for example, helps you estimate the amount of traffic and search volume your preferred keyword is getting. Google Trend, on the other hand, helps you determine the various terms and keywords that are trending upwards. SEMrush helps you figure out the specific terms your closest competitors are using and ranking for successfully. Relying on these tools and others of your choice assist you get the most appropriate keywords to use in your content strategy.
How to Include Keywords in Your Content
We’ll keep this very simple only showing you the right places where your keywords should feature in your digital content.
- Page title
- URL
- Meta description
- Headline
- Image Description
- A few times in the main content body including use in subheadings
With search engines bots becoming smarter every day, you no longer have to jam the keyword, especially when trying to force words in long-tail keywords to remain in the exact order as they appear. This allows your content flow well for the sake of your readers who are the most important part of your business.
Conclusion
Search Engine Optimization doesn’t necessarily have to be complicated. Rather, you’ll only need to be keener on your keywords research and selection, follow the guidelines outlined in this post and voila! Your content marketing strategy is up and running smoothly. Sure, there may be many other things to complement this process, but it is a great starting point for a successful on-site SEO campaign.
For information on how 92 West can help you with your Digital Marketing and Search Engine Optimization needs please contact us by calling 402.620.2633 or by requesting a FREE search engine optimization quote.
92 West also has SEO 101 Training courses available weekly! Call 92 West and ask for Jamie for additional details!
