July 2021 I part three

SEO Keywords: What They Are and How to Use Them for Traffic

Uncover the mysteries of keywords, why you need to use them, and how they can help your blog posts rank on the search engine results pages.

Before we get into what SEO focus keywords are, let’s first take a look at some of the basics about these types of words or phrases. Keywords are things people type into google to find information. They may be general or very specific but the best part is that you can find out EXACTLY what people are searching for by using tools like Google Trends or SEMRush. In this article, we’ll uncover the mysteries of keywords, why you need to use them, and how they can help your blog posts rank on the search engine results pages.

If you’re running a local business then you should include location-specific keywords on all pages of your website.

What are SEO focus keywords?

These are the words or phrases that you use to better optimize your content for SEO. Your SEO focus keyword is the main keyword that you target in your blog post or article — it’s the most relevant to your content.

The goal of SEO focus keywords, in general, is just to make sure people find content about a certain topic when they search using those words or phrases. This will increase the chances of them reading and sharing your post on their social media feeds, which can boost traffic back to your site as well as improve rankings.

How to find your focus keyword

Keyword research is important! Without it, you may risk writing content no one will ever see! Finding keywords your audience is actually searching for will help you have more impact with your content marketing.

How to do keyword research:

- Brainstorm. List relevant keywords that you think people will use on search engines.
- Use a keyword tool such as SEMrush to find popular keywords. These tools will also give you information about how competitive keywords are.
- Choose your focus keyword based on relevance, how many people search and low competition.

Your focus keyword isn’t the only one you should use

When writing an article around one key term, don’t forget other relevant terms too — even synonyms can help broaden potential. Think about it — do you want your post to just appear in a search for ‘seasonal wedding flowers’ or do you want it to appear for other related terms as well?

These extra terms are called secondary keywords. These are words or phrases that either mean the same thing or are related to your focus keyword.

Here’s an example: Focus keyword = wedding flowers by seasons / Secondary keywords = seasonal wedding flowers, fall wedding flowers, summer wedding flowers, winter wedding flowers, spring wedding flowers, march wedding flowers, etc.

If you’re running a local business, it’s important that your Google My Business listing is accurate and up-to-date.

How to write your article around a focus keyword

Once you have found your focus keyword, it’s time to start writing your content. Begin by writing an introduction that will include your focus keyword. For example, if you are writing a post about seasonal wedding flowers and the words “wedding flowers by seasons” is your focus keyword, then it would make sense to start off with something like:

“Wedding Flowers by Seasons: Choosing your wedding flowers by seasons is a wonderful way to ensure your bouquet, tables and venue have a spectacular impact. Having seasonal flowers on your big day is sure to be something your guests won’t forget.”

Once you have a solid introduction, simply write the headings for each section of your article to create the structure. Use your focus keyword and synonyms throughout your content and include related keywords to give your post higher reach.

How to optimize for your SEO focus keywords

Ensuring your content is properly optimised is key. Now that you have found your focus keyword you’ll want to make sure you use it!

Place your keyword, synonyms and secondary keywords in your content:

Title I Headings I Paragraph content I Meta title I Meta description I Image file names I Image alt (if relevant, make these descriptive) I Image titles

Be sure to include plenty of images in your content. To find out how many, look through the first 5 posts that come up when searching for your keyword on Google and note how many pics each one has.

Pro tip for better on-site SEO

Listen up! This is the most important piece of SEO advice you will hear for onsite content. Make your article better than the content that already appears in search results. Sure, there are plenty of factors that affect your search engine visibility but one thing stays true: search engines want to show the best possible content. If you want to be at the top, start by creating the best article possible on your chosen topic.

Combined with a well-optimised website and some relevant directory listings, traditional link building can have a huge impact on your SEO.

What's next?

Local SEO is different from SEO in that it focuses on ranking pages for local searches. This means your keywords should be more specific to the region you’re in, rather than generic.Our Local SEO Roadmap is perfect for you if you want to rank high in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for local searches.

Grace Built Co.