If you have a website or blog, you know you need to use keywords. Keywords are the key words (or phrases) embedded in your internet content that make it easier for people to find your site through search engines. They hugely help your website’s visibility over time, if done right. These can hurt your marketing efforts when you use them too often or for purposes that try to cheat the search engine system. So how can you make the most out of your keywords? Here are the most commonly asked questions that non-marketers ask us about keyword usage.
Why Use Keywords?
Keywords are tools that optimize your website. When someone searches for a topic or solution that you provide via search engine, your site is recommended to the searcher. Your keywords essentially signal to a search engine that you are what a searcher is looking for. Strong keywords boost your SEO and place you higher in Google rankings.
Where should you use keywords?
In general, there are five key places your keyword usage is maximized on a webpage. Those are as follows: titles, URLs, images, headings and content and in the description. Remember that keywords are supposed to support the basis of your content, so you should use them where they are applicable. In simplified terms, if you’re writing a blog post about IT security, it would make sense to use IT security as a keyword term and include that term in your title.
When is it a good idea to use keywords?
The short answer to this is, always, but only when it’s natural and it’s relevant. Content should always utilize them, but an SEO expert will strategize to determine the best ones for each piece of content. Keywords enhance your content, but they should never make up your content. Only use keywords that are pertinent to the subject of your page and that will enhance the point you are trying to get across.
How often should keywords be used?
With all the positives that come along with keywords, it would sound like a no-brainer to use them freely. It’s important, however, to focus on quality over quantity. Using them in excess will result in docked ranks among search engines and actually hurt your overall SEO strategy. Using too many of the same keyword in an article is called “keyword stuffing,” and negatively impacts your overall SEO score.
Instead, focus on using verbiage related to the keywords and subject of the content you create. Search engines prefer that you produce viewable and clickable content over unusable content that aligns with algorithms. While a keyword-stuffed article may initially experience success, it will be punished as soon as search engines detect it.
The SEO specialists at Traffic Jams focus on determining the best keywords for each piece of content. We create an overall SEO strategy to keep your marketing tactics working for you. Give us a call at (855)599-3999 or email us for more information about keyword usage for optimization.
