3 Steps to Using SEO-Boosting Keywords
Help Ideal Customers Find your Business Online
March 18, 2022 | 5 min read
Ever wondered what it takes for a website to show up as the first link when you Google something?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the internet marketing practice of optimizing a website so it’s more likely to show up in search results. The ultimate goal of SEO is to ensure your site is one of the FIRST to appear when your ideal customer Googles services or words related to your business.
To improve your website’s SEO, you must first associate the keywords your target audience is searching for with your business.
Here’s how you can use keywords today to get more traffic to your website from the right customers!
Determine What Keywords and Topics Your Target Customers Search For
Keywords are words or phrases commonly used in search engines to look for online content. Keyword research is a powerful internet marketing tool, since web advertising and website search engine placement can be optimized to match high traffic keywords, making it more likely that Googlers will end up on your site.
How can you find out what your ideal customers are searching for?
- Organically brainstorm a list of topics you want your business to be associated with. Write these down.
- Put yourself in the shoes of your dream customer, your buyer persona. What topics would they search for that you’d want your business to get found for? HubSpot explains a company selling marketing software would want to be associated with topics such as “blogging”, “lead generation”, and “marketing analytics.”
- Use tools such as Answer the Public and Ubersuggest. These websites can help you learn what phrases and questions people are asking around your service, product or industry.
There are 3 billion Google searches every day, and 20% of those have never been seen before. They’re like a direct line to your customers’ thoughts…Sometimes that’s ‘How do I remove paper jam’. Other times it’s the wrenching fears and secret hankerings they’d only ever dare share with Google. AnswerThePublic listens into autocomplete data from search engines like Google then quickly cranks out every useful phrase and question people are asking around your keyword. ~ Answer the Public
At this point, you should have a robust list of keywords your ideal customer is typing into Google, perhaps even as you read this. 😉 The next step is to clean up your list so each keyword is jam-packed with SEO-boosting power.
Refine Your Keyword List
The keyword gems from your list can be extracted by using a free tool, putting yourself in your customers’ shoes, and stalking your competition a bit.
- Use Google’s Keyword Planner. Determine which of your keywords are searched most often and which are searched for the least. Just because a keyword is the most searched doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the “best.”
Ask yourself- which topics and words can I produce content around that will be better than what competitors are sharing? Use those words.
- Understand user intent. It’s more important than ever to understand what end goal your customer is trying to reach when conducting their search.
Let's say, for example, you're researching the keyword "how to start a blog" for an article you want to create. "Blog" can mean a blog post or the blog website itself, and what a searcher's intent is behind that keyword will influence the direction of your article. Does the searcher want to learn how to start an individual blog post? Or do they want to know how to actually launch a website domain for the purposes of blogging? If your content strategy is only targeting people interested in the latter, you'll need to make sure of the keyword's intent before committing to it. (Hubspot)
- Examine the competition. What words are your major competitors using on their sites? Where are they placed? Take note and use a tool like Semrush to perform a competitor analysis, find out why certain pages on their website are experiencing tremendous traffic, and implement these strategies on your site! Use this competitor analysis to refine, edit, and add to your keyword list.
Strategically Add Keywords to your Website
Now that you have conducted thorough keyword research and refined your list, it’s time to put those words and phrases to work! Here’s where to place keywords on your site:
- Page titles. A tool like All in One SEO can help you create the perfect page title.
- Meta descriptions. This is the description of your page that pops up on a search engine result. Click here to learn more about editing a page’s meta description if you’re using a WordPress site.
- Subheadings. Use keywords in at least 2-3 of your page’s subheadings.
- Content. The main content of your website is the key to boosting your site’s SEO. However, you don’t want to awkwardly pack a blog post or web page with the same ten words and risk a potential customer quickly leaving your site out of boredom.
When considering how to use a keyword or phrase in your website’s content, consider Optinmonster’s recommendation. Use the word in the first couple of sentences, or at least within the first paragraph. Then, use variations of the keyword later throughout the content.
And just like that, you are on your way to showing up in search engine results that will actually lead to customer acquisition!
While choosing keywords and improving your website’s SEO can feel like a daunting endeavor, you don’t have to go at it alone! Connect with us today to take your company’s internet marketing to the next level.
