With over 4 million blog posts published on the internet every day, it’s no wonder that online businesses struggle to write content that’s of interest to their audiences and gets picked up on Google.
So, how do you get your blog noticed?
Using keywords in your blog posts is a clever way of telling search engines what your content is about. They’re also great at giving you an idea of what your audience is searching for, what they want to know and what questions they are asking.
If you’re wondering how to use keywords to improve your blog content, read on for our top tips!
What are keywords and why are they important?
Put simply, keywords are the search terms your audience is typing into search engines. There are two types of keywords; short-tail (general search queries) and long-tail (three or more words).
While content is king, it has to be strategic. There’s no point in writing blog posts if no one is going to read them and they’re going to vanish into the ether. That’s why using keywords in your blog posts is super important if you want your blog to rank high in search engine result pages (SERPs), and if you want your audience to read them.
Are long tail keywords better?
Long-tail keywords can give you a better understanding of what questions your audience is asking. These long-tail keywords can then help you to write blogs that answer your audience’s questions and ensure you come up on top of the SERPs for these search queries.
How to find the best keyword for your blog posts
There are many online keyword tools that you can use, which will give you a basic list of keywords you should consider including in your blog posts. Choose keywords that are relevant to your audience and match your product offering – you don’t want to rank for ‘how to fix a washing machine’ if you don’t sell washing machines! Look at the search volume for each keyword, as this will give you an idea of how many people are typing this search query into their search engines.
How to use keywords in your blog posts
To ensure you’re creating content that delivers, you can base your blog strategy around the chosen keywords you wish to rank for. Each blog post should serve a purpose, and keywords can help you to stay on track by creating content that is of interest and provides a solution to your audience.
When developing your blogging strategy, think about how you can utilise these keywords in your mix of evergreen and seasonal content.
FAQ pages are also a great way of including long-tail keywords and answering your audience’s search queries.
In SEO elements on the page
Include your keyword in the URL – search engines look at your URL to find out what the blog post is about. It should then appear in the page title, meta description (this gives searchers an idea of what the link is about and helps them to decide whether they should click or not), and subheadings, as these are what search engines will crawl first.
In page copy
Make sure the keyword is in the first paragraph and repeat it throughout the body copy but don’t overuse the keyword as you could be penalised for keyword stuffing. Instead, only use it when it feels natural and don’t force it into sentences where they won’t make sense.
If you’re looking for help with your onsite SEO and blogging strategy, get in touch today to speak to one of our experts!