Top 5 SEO Tips for Using Keywords

Search engine optimization is essential for any marketer, business or person looking to make money online. There are different forms of SEO – both on-page and off-page – to help a website or content reach the first page of Google and other search engines and using keywords in content is one.

When using keywords on your website, here are the top five tips to follow.

Do Your Keyword Research

Find out more about the keywords for your niche. What are people searching for and how competitive are those phrases? Google’s Keyword Tool is an excellent option and completed free of charge. You input the details of your niche and the tool will search for the keywords most commonly used in Google searches. It details the number of people searching for them and the number of people using them.

Don’t Keyword Stuff

Google released its Panda algorithm in February 2011 and since then keyword stuffing has become a big no-no. This entails using a specific keyword too much in an article or piece of web content. Six times in a 500 word piece is enough, with one of those instances being used in the description. Two of those six instances should be in subheadings and all instances should fit naturally.

Write for the Readers

Before the Panda algorithm, content writers, web marketers and business owners played the system by writing for the search engines. Awkward keyword phrases would be added to content without much thought to the readability. However, quality has now become essential and you need to write for your readers. This also means that the content must be relevant to the keyword phrases that the reader has searched for.

Use Synonyms of the Keywords

To avoid overusing a keyword, look for synonyms. For example, if you are writing about car insurance, use the words vehicle cover or auto insurance as synonyms. This also prevents the content being too repetitive for the reader and he or she is more likely to remain on the page, decreasing your bounce rating and improving your SEO score.

Have Secondary Keywords

Increase the likelihood of readers discovering your content by incorporating additional keyword phrases. Begin with a primary phrase, and then integrate secondary phrases into the article two or three times. It’s crucial to ensure that these secondary phrases blend seamlessly and align with the content’s nature. These secondary phrases are often known as Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) terms, and the research process for these terms should mirror that of the primary phrase.

Summary

Research is the most important thing when looking for keywords to use for on-page SEO. Your content will draw people in and directly affect the ranking of your website. Make sure that the content is unique and relevant to the keywords that you use. Avoid overusing the words and find synonyms where possible. Keyword stuffing will cause your website to lose its page ranking and drop further down the searches. While researching keywords, look into other forms of search engine optimization to help your website to its maximum potential.