Keywords are words or phrases that a searcher inputs into a search engine when searching.
Choosing the right word can be a tiring especially when building an organic traffic for either your blog or your website. Often times, keywords are researched and they are done in a thoroughly because they have a role to play when it comes to ranking your article on a search engine.
Although, there are people or agencies that specialize in keyword research but then you can do it by yourself. There are tools one can use to research for keywords, examples are Ahrefs,
SEMRush, Buzzsome, Majestic etc.
Choosing the Right Keywords
1. Think like your customer or target market: When your customers are searching for what
you offer be it products or services, what set of words will they input in the search
engine, this will help you pin point your search. You can ask family and friends for their
opinions as regards this. This will help you a lot.
2. Learn about your competitors: Go to your competitors’ website or webpage and check
out the kind of keywords they use. How they use them in their content both content and
context. This will help you gather your thoughts and get direction. It broadens your
knowledge and give you more ideas.
3. Understanding Long Tail Keywords: These are words that describe or compliment your
primary keyword e.g. Nike women running shoes; ‘women running shoes’ is the long tail
word. They are located at the end of the SEO title. They have lower search volume but
higher relevant traffic.
4. Keyword Research Tools: We have mentioned some tools earlier which can be used to
gather data on the volume of usage of the keyword, trends, similar words. You can use
Google Ads can be used to research potential target keywords.
5. Analyze the Results: Monitor and analyze the results from the usage of your keyword.
Types of Keywords
1. Primary Keyword: This is the focus of the article; it is used mainly in the title of the article
and the content must reflect this.
2. Secondary Keyword: These are words used to compliment the primary keyword with slight
variations. It helps make the primary keyword make sense
3. Additional Keywords: These are any other related word spelt differently than the first two types of keywords. The long tail word is usually found here.
Where to Insert the Keywords
There are specific rules that guides the adding of keywords in content marketing. This will help make your SEO effort worthwhile.
The following are places where you can insert the keywords;
1. Meta Description: The meta description is simple summary of what your content is
about. It is about 160 characters i.e., 20 – 25 words of what your article is about. It is
essential you insert 1 – 2 keywords in this description. The meta description shows under the page name and URL. You can have a mix of your primary and secondary
keyword here.
2. SEO title Tag: It is also called the meta title tag. This is the name users will see on the
search engine result page. This is the what the user clicks on to access your webpage or
blog or article. It consists about 50 – 70 characters. Due to its limit with the number of
characters, you will have to be concise. Use your primary keyword here.
3. Article Title: Insert your keyword here in the title of your article.
4. First 200 words: It is believed that Google gives your first 200 words more weight than
the remaining part of the article. This is because the first 100 – 200 words is believed to
be where the writer introduces the topic and what the content is all about. Also, if the introduction is not catchy, it will be difficult for people to continue reading.
5. Throughout the Article: Let your keyword be uniformly distributed in the body of the
content, while doing this, don’t lose the readability, engagement of the article and the
information it is meant to pass.
6. Last 200 words: This will help improve ranking. The last 200 words are as important as
the first 200 words, so it is important to insert it there as well.
7. URL
8. Headings etc.
Note: Don’t overstuff your content with your keyword. It will make it lose its credibility. Also,
Google will penalize you and not index your content.
