Strategizing Keywords for SEO - Why Not Everything Should Go Into Your Blog Posts?

When individuals type in a search query into Google or any other search engine, a list of top results appears for them to browse through. There are a variety of factors that influence ranking on search engines, however. Keywords play a tremendous role in ranking sites because they help establish relevance to the search query.

A common mistake made by website owners is ‘stuffing’ keywords. While there is no specific guideline on the number of keywords to include, most experts recommend using one keyword per 100 words of text. Remember, the keyword has to look ‘natural.’ These keywords are highlighted by Google when they match the searcher’s query.

Keyword stuffing can be quite detrimental to your SEO strategy and may ultimately lead to Google removing your website from search results. Besides, keyword stuffing can also ruin the entire visitor experience as it negatively impacts readability and will lead to higher bounce rates.

By using the right keyword research strategy, you can:

Several factors have to be taken into consideration while thinking about what potential customers might be searching for on search engines. It is crucial to fully understand your industry and consumers. By understanding them, you can position your content to fulfill all your customers' needs.

A customer persona helps website owners understand what type of content might resonate with their target customers. For instance, if your target audience consists of mostly young individuals, you would have to focus on creating content that is easy for them to understand. A customer persona consists of things such as age, gender, educational background, and much more.

A ‘seed’ keyword is used by keyword research tools to identify your niche and find other competitors. The seed keyword has to match what you believe your potential visitors would be searching for when looking for your site. For example, if your blog is about electronic appliance reviews, your seed keywords might be headphones, coffee makers, etc.

Enter a seed keyword in a search engine and begin reviewing results. Test out variations of different keywords to see what keywords your competitors are ranking for. Keyword research tools can also analyze your competitor’s site to give you a list of keywords that you can use.

There are several tools that you can utilize to conduct keyword research, however, it is important to remember not all of them are accurate.

By using reliable tools such as Serpstat, blog owners can identify what keywords their competitors are using. The tool also gives insights into what the search volume and search difficulty are for each keyword you enter. By identifying keywords that have high search volume and low difficulty, blogs can increase their search engine rankings.

These tools also provide a list of “related keywords” that helps users compare different options when selecting keywords for their site. All they need is a seed keyword to start with and they can start generating results instantly.

These Keyword Research statistics can also be segmented according to location, which makes it very easy to shortlist keywords for an audience from a specific location.

Now, let's go over some basic steps you can take to collect keywords for your website, using Serpstat Keyword Research.

First, go to Keyword Research → SEO Research → Keyword Selection and enter the first seed keyword into the search bar. Or use the field down below:

The tool will generate the report with all variations of search queries that contain the given keyword:

Then, to add more thematically related search terms to your keyword list, switch to the next report: Keyword Research → SEO Research → Related Keywords.

Next, select the Keyword Research → SEO Research → Search Suggestions report. Here you can find the list of queries that Google suggests when a user types a keyword into the search bar.

It's a great source to get ideas for your content and headlines, as these are the exact questions your target audience would like you to answer:

And there's more! Check out the article down below to learn about more ways to conduct keyword research for your website:

After you’ve utilized your keyword research tool, you can begin outlining your content strategy. If you’re not familiar with SEO, you can always sign up for an SEO platform to get the most out of your keywords.

To begin targeting keywords, the first thing you have to analyze is the search intent of the potential website visitors. Does your site provide informational content? Or are you posting product reviews leading to eCommerce sites? What is your end goal? All these questions have to be analyzed in detail before starting to post content.

While you may find several keywords that you can rank for, you have to prioritize a certain keyword based on its search volume, search difficulty, relevancy to blog content etc. This is done to ensure that you rank for the right keywords that are relevant to what you are posting on your site.

Your website content must be structured around your prioritized keywords to ensure that website visitors get the most value while browsing your website. This ensures higher return visits and according to research conducted by Monster Insights, return visitors have a 75% higher chance of making a purchase as compared to a new visitor.

Many website owners fail to realize the key role that long-tail keywords can play in enhancing conversions and bringing in targeted traffic. To put it simply, there are two components of a long-tail keyword, i.e., a head keyword and a tail keyword.

For example, website development could be a head keyword, and the long-tail keyword could be reliable website development services.

Long-tail keywords could be up to 5 words long, but it is important to remember that the more words you include, the more your exposure narrows down to a specific group of people. While it may be easier to rank for them, they may have a very low search volume.

Finding the right balance is necessary, for example – finding a long-tail keyword with high search volume and low keyword difficulty would help your site rank faster. Long-tail keywords oftentimes have very low competition, thus making it easier for sites to rank effectively.

You can also try taking advantage of local SEO by using location-based keywords such as names of cities etc. For example, “best restaurants in Las Vegas”. This gives you two benefits where you benefit from using a long-tail keyword and you also benefit from using a locational keyword.

These keywords are very competitive because they have the largest search volume. Short-tail keywords are typically up to a maximum of 2 words and have low conversion rates. This is due to them being generic compared to long-tail keywords, i.e., the keywords are not targeted.

Examples of short tail keywords include “best coffee” and “speakers”. These keywords have extremely high search volume (>100,000) and high keyword difficulty.

While they may be extremely difficult to rank for, the value of short-tail keywords cannot be ignored due to their massive search volume. These keywords are not recommended for new websites, but established brands have the resources to spend time and money to rank for them.

These keywords are suitable for website owners that are looking for the perfect mix of high search volume and low difficulty. These keywords can be easy to find because there are many terms that can be easy to rank. However, these keywords are not commonly chosen by SEO strategists, due to their moderate conversion rates.

If you’re able to find keywords with good search volume and low difficulty, it is recommended to opt for middle-tail keywords to obtain the best results.

Another thing that website owners could do is include target keywords in the blog’s meta description.

A Meta description is a short snippet of text that appears below the title tag in the search engine results. A good meta description informs searchers about what your page covers and has to be engaging enough to generate good click-through ratios.

Here are some of the best ways to write a Meta Description:

Strategizing keywords is an integral part of your SEO strategy. While it may be tempting to pick one keyword and just push as much content out there as possible, it is not the best way to yield results.

Businesses need to constantly analyze, adapt and research to stay ahead of their competition. The primary goal should be to identify strategic high-performing keywords.

Most tools also provide keyword ‘clusters’, i.e., relevant keyword suggestions which can help businesses focus on several keywords at the same time.

Remember, quality content is key to creating a positive visitor experience, thus ensuring return visits and higher conversions.