Just like how location matters the most for the success of a shop or establishment, it is very important for your content to appear in the very first page of any search engine result. And unless that happens, the traffic to your blog will always be limited to just your social circles.
Also Read – Top 50+ Blogging Tools Bloggers Can Use (Expert Guide)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is in simple words what helps you make that happen.
IMPORTANCE OF KEYWORDS IN SEO OF YOUR BLOG
Better SEO gives your blog a better search ranking and ignoring the importance of keywords in SEO of your blog is a rookie mistake you shouldn’t make.
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No matter how good your content is, you can’t climb up that rankings ladder unless you find and use the right keywords.
It is these keywords that decide whether your blog will be found by users searching for related content.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT KEYWORDS
Now that you have understood the importance of keywords in SEO of your blog, the next big challenge is choosing the right keywords most appropriate for your blog.
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There are a bunch of things to keep in your mind while you do so –
- KEYWORD POPULARITY vs COMPETITION BATTLE
Choosing popular and commonly searched words as keywords could help you get a better ranking but it also has a downside to it.
The popularity of such keywords makes it highly competitive with a large number of sites using it. You would find it really hard to beat the rankings of well-established sites.
Keywords that are too unpopular also pose a risk as users seldom search for it. Thus, finding the right balance between the two is what is important here.
- USE LONG PHRASE KEYWORDS / LONG TAIL KEYWORDS
Using a more specific longer phrase of the commonly used keywords also called long tail keywords could yield you better results. This would help reduce the competition and effectively improve your rankings.
For example, instead of using a keyword like “SEO keywords” it is better to use something like “how keywords help with SEO”. The latter is what you should be optimizing for and not the former.
- CATCHY BLOG POST TITLES vs COMMON TITLES
A catchy post title surely makes the article attractive and attention grabbing but could result in a lower search ranking as it isn’t the words the user will be searching for in the search bar.
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Hence, it is very important to add related keywords in the blog post title otherwise limit your catchy titles to just sub-headings and keep the main title as simple and straight-forward as possible.
- THE KEYWORD SELECTION PROCESS
Compile an initial list of keywords, prepare a list of related terms by running it through the Google Keyword Selection Tool and choose the best based on its popularity and competition.
- TAKE ALL THE HELP YOU CAN GET
You could also take assistance of experts to help you with finding the best keywords. There are softwares available that could assist you with the same based on conditions and details input by you.
Wordstream’s Keyword tool, KeywordTool and Soovle are free software’s that you should definitely check out.
Ubersuggest is another such tool that helps you find out different variations of the original keyword.
SEMrush, Twinword Ideas are paid software’s for the same are the ones I consider to be the best in business.
PLACING THE CHOSEN KEYWORDS INTO THE BLOG
The importance of keywords in the SEO of your blog does not end with just choosing the best ones. Placement of the same is almost as important as choosing itself.
The keywords could be implemented into the blog through the following elements in a blog –
- TITLE
Try and blend whole or part of the keywords into the Post Title. But be extra sure that the title still remains very relevant to the content and doesn’t confuse viewers.
- WITHIN THE CONTENT
Keywords chosen and used should be relevant to the content and wedged into the narrative naturally. It is important to make sure that it doesn’t stick out as a sore thumb.
Also Read – Top 8 Ways to get Free Targeted Organic Traffic for your Blog
The recent google updates make sure that the oldest SEO trick of stuffing the content with keywords does not work anymore.
Artificial inclusion of the keywords will be detected by the search engines and your blog might end up getting a lower ranking.
- ANCHOR TEXT OF LINKS
Adding links to your blog and its contents and using suitable keywords in the anchor text of those links is another effective method to place the keywords.
It will help boost your rankings provided the links are relevant to the content and blog.
- LABELING IMAGES
Most people upload images into the blog with default file names like image001.jpg and their likes.
But now that you understand the importance of keywords in SEO of your blog, make sure that you rename them with keywords relevant to both the image and the respective blog content. A valid file name should look like this – “importance-of-keywords.jpg”.
This would boost the rankings in ‘google images’ searches and could ultimately lead to more traffic to your blog.
- INTERNAL LINKS AND NAVIGATION BUTTONS
Keywords could also be used in internal links and navigation buttons of the blog. This should be done at the designing stage of the blog.
- URLS
Keywords could be included in the page’s URL too. This has proven to one of the most effective SEO methods lately.
TOO MANY COOKS SPOIL THE BROTH
Do not choose too many keywords. Five or less could be termed as an apt number. What is important here is that you should focus on optimizing those few chosen keywords.
To SUM UP
The undeniable importance of keywords in SEO of your blog makes it fitting to say that keywords hold the key to making an article SEO friendly.
Only an SEO friendly blog can attract some decent traffic. And traffic is to your blog what customers are to a trading concern. Without it, the time, effort and money you invest into your blog become pointless.
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