Ready to get your SEO campaign underway? You’ve come to the right place. To kick things off, it’s time to focus on one of the most important aspects of any SEO campaign – the use of keywords.
What’s the big deal about keywords? Quite simply, they make your website well-optimised and improve your chances of being highly ranked by search engines over your competitors. So, customers will find it easier to seek you out when they’re on the lookout for a product or service related to your industry.
These keywords (otherwise known as ‘search queries’) are purposefully placed within your web pages and blog content to help your website get discovered by search engines.
Find the best keywords for your website
First thing’s first is to create a list of the best keywords that are closely related to your trade and most importantly, the products and services you offer. Say you’re a hairdresser – words that may relate to your service include hair design, kids’ haircuts, hair stylist, women’s haircuts.
You get the drift.
It’s well worth researching as much as you can about which keywords would be most successful for your SEO campaign.
If you’re serious about nailing it as a marketing professional, keyword research should be your main focus. Check out a keyword search tool to spot the most searched-for keywords within your industry to integrate within your content.
Here’s a top tip for you!
Don’t target keywords that are extremely popular with competitors, or you run the risk of being overlooked in a crowded market.
Long-tail keywords are your best friend. They may help you beat off the competition and stand out. They usually feature three words or more to create a phrase and are targeted towards your audience’s needs and wants.
What’s more, standard singular keywords are a bit vague and could steer your customers in the wrong direction. On the other hand, long-tail keywords can be specific to the company. For example, instead of just using the keyword ‘hairdresser’, you could use the phrase ‘best hairdressers in London’.
Making keywords work for you
Now you’ve got your list of keywords, it’s time to move to the next step – knowing how to use them.
It is recommended that they are included:
- Within the title of the web page
- Within the URL
- Within the meta tags
- Throughout the page content
- Within the image alt texts
- Anchor texts that link to other pages on your site
Another tip!
The relevance of the keyword will be more effective than how many times stuff them into your content.
Don’t become a keyword stuffer
No one likes a keyword stuffer. It’s great you’ve found hundreds of great keywords for your online content, but packing them in wherever you can isn’t the way forward.
Trust us…
Keyword ‘stuffing’ can give Google the impression that your website is nothing more than a spam site which could affect your website’s ranking – and affect user experience. After all, who wants to read pages of disjointed content crammed with repetitive phrases?
Not us – or anyone else for that matter.
Create a content strategy
Got a blog idea in mind but don’t know how to include keywords within the content? We’ve all been there. Sometimes, working backward can be the way forward. The keywords you’ve come up with could help you create a content strategy.
A content keyword map could come in useful. This tool will guide you in making sure your existing content and new content is impactful and communicates the right message to your audience.
You may find it useful to create a database with target keywords in one column and add separate columns which outline the keyword search quantity, the user traffic it has stimulated, and page authority to see which keywords are most effective.
Need more advice?
This keyword guide may be short and sweet, but there’s plenty more advice we can offer.
Speak to our friendly team about how you can boost your B2B SEO campaign.
The Chester Weekender at The Moxy