Although search engine optimization (SEO) is not a new concept, it is always changing and evolving. What might have worked 5-10 years ago, doesn’t work anymore. Now is the time to develop a solid strategy for SEO because having your website appear in the first few pages of search results can bring a lot of traffic to your business.
To properly optimize your website, you must first find relevant keywords, both branded and non-branded. There are many free tools online such as Google Keyword Planner that can help you along the way. Also with the rise in popularity of voice search, you should also include long-tail keywords that imitate real speech. Consider these to be whole phrases or questions that someone may ask in casual conversation.
To help your keyword optimization, we’ve included some important factors to pay attention to when optimizing your website for keywords.
- Placement and Distribution of Keywords
Your rankings may suffer from keyword cannibalization if you optimize your articles for similar keywords. In essence you’ll be annihilating your own chances to rank on Google! It’s likely that your content may start competing with itself as your site grows which is why it’s important to pick and choose your keyword placement wisely.
- Analyze your Competition
Analyzing your competition is an effective method to do keyword research because a competitor that is on page one of Google has already done all the hard work to get there. Using a free version of SEMrush, you can look at all the keywords they’re targeting and then simply choose the ones that are relevant to your website and niche.
- Find a Balance Between Search Volume and Competition for Keywords
While it’s natural to want to target high-volume keywords, you must also consider the competition. It will be more difficult to rank high for the same keywords if multiple competitors are also trying to rank for those keywords.
- Keep your Users Search Intent in Mind
Most search terms fall under four different intent categories: informational, navigational, commercial and transactional. You can usually figure out Search Intent based on the keyword itself. For example “Best SEO Practices in 2022” is an informational keyword because the user hopes to find information about the best SEO practices in 2022. But a keyword like “Best SEO Service in Reseda” would be considered commercial or transactional because the browser is most likely looking for the best service provider and ready to make a purchase after completing their research.
The aim of keyword optimization is to make sure that the keywords you choose are effective at generating the correct traffic to your site and that your site is ranking high enough for that traffic to find it easily. The keywords should tell search engine algorithms what your content is about so the search engines can provide the most relevant information to users. Keyword optimization is a continuous effort because search algorithms get updated all the time. As the use of search terms evolves and new articles and content enter the scene, the keyword combination that previously improved your search status may change. It’s possible that you’ll need to utilize different keywords than before.
