We’re coming to the end of our intro-level SEO series now and hope you’ve found this collection useful for firing up your digital marketing strategy.
Because, while there’s no denying SEO is a critical part of making sure your online efforts are rewarded with success, we know that from website speed to link building, blog posts to the design and structure of your website, there’s a lot to contend with here.
Hopefully our 10 point SEO checklist for beginners helped you in this department, as well as our posts on why you need a blog section on your website, as well as how to write the perfect blog post.
Now we’re moving things on a little however and getting a bit more technical (although don’t freak out this is still a beginner’s guide!) as we discuss the role of keywords in your SEO strategy, particularly in relation to those all important blog posts!
Related Posts
- Why It’s More Important Than Ever that Your Company Gives Back
- How to Easily Ensure Your Website is Legally Compliant
- Social Puffin: Who Are We?
This page contains affiliate links meaning Social Puffin may receive a small commission on any purchases at no extra cost to you.
What are Keywords?
So first up, we probably need to talk about what exactly keywords are.
Or more specifically, what longtail keywords are.
In essence, keywords are terms that people enter into search engines when they are looking to discover advice, tips, help, answers, solutions or information.
A keyword is typically just a word such as “apple”, while a longtail keyword is a phrase or series of words that people enter into search engines, such as “why are apples good for you?”
For the purposes of SEO, you will want to focus on longtail keywords and, in particular when it comes to writing blog posts, offering your audience content that revolves around common longtail keywords.
In other words, you want to base the articles that go on the blog section of your website around common phrases and questions that people are typing into search engines.
This is very beneficial for your SEO strategy, because the more common a longtail keyword, the more chance there is that someone will find and click on your article and website.
Just think, if you write an article that answers a question no one is asking, far fewer people are going to discover and or read your blog post.
If, instead, you target your blog post around a topical phrase many people are researching, there’s a much greater chance people will stumble across your website, and therefore also stumble upon your products and your services.
The caveat here is that if you already have a large website following of direct traffic – i.e. people who come directly to your website rather than through a search engine or social media, then keyword may be less important for you.
But if, like most of us, you want to rank better in search engine results to get more traffic to your website regardless (perhaps in addition to your already large direct traffic source) then making use of longtail keywords in the content you deliver is absolutely crucial.
Why Are they Important?
So we think we’ve basically outlined above why keywords are important.
In essence, they will help improve your SEO strategy, bumping you up search engine results and giving your website (and therefore products and services) a better chance of being discovered by new customers or clients.
But it’s not just SEO that keywords are important for, it’s also your existing audience in general.
Just think – if they are certain longtail keywords that are popular in your niche or industry i.e. let’s refer back to the apple example above and presume you have a nutritionist or health website, then the chances are your existing readers will also be interested in the answer to these questions and problems too.
In other words, the more common a longtail keyword (i.e. the more people across the internet that are searching those terms) the more likely your existing audience will be interested in them too.
Essentially, it’s a double whammy!
Where to Discover Keywords?
But how do I find these keywords we hear you cry?
How do we learn what these phrases that everyone is searching are?
Well the answer is quite simple.
It’s paid software.
Yes there are a number of free tools that give you rough data around the longtail keywords people across the internet are searching, but they do not give enough information to be of real value.
Trust us, if you want to accelerate your SEO and get your website ranking higher under search results, plus provide your audience with the answers and solutions they require, then you have to pay for software that gives you these stats.
But don’t freak out, the software is not expensive or hard to use.
And trust us, when your website is ranking better and you’re getting far more sales as a result, then you won’t consider paying for this software an outlay, but rather an investment.
So, what is this software called?
Well actually, there are several different ones on the market, and we’ve certainly tried a few on them across the years in our own individual businesses here at Social Puffin, which means we are in a strong position to recommend the best one.
And the best one we recommend is Keysearch.
Sign up to Keysearch here and you can start discovering what longtail keywords you need to be incorporating into your blog content to drive more visitors and sales today.
How to Implement Them?
When you log into Keysearch, you’ll discover a huge amount of information that you’ll be able to use to skyrocket your online business.
Take some time to explore all the different sections and resources by yourself or via their handy help section, or drop us a line to ask about our explanation tips and packages too.
In essence however, you’ll be able to search longtail keywords around a certain topic or theme, as well as discover the number of people searching these phrases and the likelihood of you being able to rank under them in search engine results too.
In general, you have to balance the benefits of many people searching that longtail keyword against the chances of ranking well under that term.
This is because higher search numbers tned to make those keywords harder to rank for.
Depending where you are in your SEO game and digital marketing strategy will entirely dictate what is a reasonable approach in this area.
Once you’ve taken all this information into account, it’s time to roll with your chosen keyword and get writing.
Putting the longtail keyword into the title of your blog post, as well the slug (i.e. the URL of your content) is absolutely crucial here.
You also want to include this important phrase in some of your subheadings, as well as several times in the body text too.
Don’t forget to name some of the images in your content with related keywords as well!
More generally, you want to make sure your whole article answers the question, query or problem perfectly, so do spend time crafting your response, ordering it logically and covering any side areas or additional FAQ’s that may be relevant.
Providing value to your audience and fully solving their problem, or answering their question in detail, is the best way to keep them on the page, showcase your authority and improve your SEO.
Keywords are a critical part of your SEO strategy and without signing up to software like Keysearch you’ll be missing out on this whole area, which has a massive potential to skyrocket your online presence.
As you can tell by now, success in this area is not just about discovering keywords, but also about how you implement them into your content strategically too.
Follow our points above and you’ll be well on your way!
PIN IT TO PINTEREST!
So there it is, our complete beginner’s guide to keywords and why they are so valuable for your SEO strategy.
We hope you found this blog post clear and helpful, but if you have any further questions, or want help with your SEO strategy, then don’t forget to shoot us an email over at [email protected]
