Finding the best SEO keywords for blog posts is a challenge that both new and seasoned bloggers face. The artistic side of writing frequently seems to clash with SEO’s technicality.
When some resources constantly talk about “keyword density,” “precise match,” or “LSI keywords,” it doesn’t aid. Such SEO jargon can be challenging for the majority of bloggers.
However, keywords must be a component of your strategy if you want to rank via Google SEO. However, some content creators have the propensity to over-optimize their work, which leads to Google penalizing them rather than rewarding them.
So, what kind of keyword optimization should you use on your blogs?
Continue reading to find the answers to your inquiries.
Writing SEO Articles vs Typical Blogging
Before diving further into SEO keywords for blog articles, it’s important to comprehend the distinctions between SEO article writing and standard blogging.
Though they both may have written hundreds of words, they are not the same. Each style of writing has a different procedure, and as a result, each has a different outcome in terms of SEO ranking.
Ordinary Blogging
Writing down thoughts in words is the main goal of typical blogging. It is totally creative in nature and has nothing to do with SEO. These blogs, where people write about their experiences in blog posts, are frequently hosted by Blogger or WordPress.
Some blogs were never started with the intention of making money. As a result, they lack content delivery plans, marketing strategies, and calls to action.
Such blog owners might not care if their sites are gaining visitors or if those visitors convert. Most of them consider blogging to be a hobby. However, some use it as a personal journal.
Writing SEO Articles
Writing SEO articles is done with marketing objectives in mind, unlike regular blogging. The purpose of articles is to inform and market to a certain target audience. On business blogs, affiliate marketing websites, and e-commerce websites, SEO content is frequently published.
The purpose of SEO writing is to eventually get the articles to rank on search engines like Google and drive natural traffic. Consequently, an SEO post will adhere to a particular writing style and structure.
SEO-optimized content requires more than just good writing. To improve the likelihood of ranking on Google, keyword research and optimization are crucial.
Since an SEO post includes writing, SEO optimization, and marketing strategies, it is more difficult to produce.
Writing for SEO demands a certain set of abilities that a casual blogger might not have, regardless of whether you’re trying to generate awareness with content or convert visitors into leads.
Which option is best for you?
You’ll succeed with standard blogging if you’re happy to record personal experiences on your website and share them with your pals on social media.
There’s no need to get too deep into SEO, especially when it comes to choosing SEO keywords for your blog entries.
However, keyword research is a need if you want to monetize your site in any way and have your sights on the massive traffic that Google could send your way.
The same logic holds true if you start a content strategy to generate leads from your company website. You can write SEO-optimized content for your website to increase search traffic rather than spending yearly renewal costs with no results.
The blog posts would eventually rank on Google if done right, thanks to the carefully chosen keywords.
Now, the next sections will be essential if SEO content authoring is what you’re after.
Do all of my SEO keywords need to be in my blog post?
For instance, a long-tail keyword such as “how to practice yoga at home” might be the focus of an article. You may find additional pertinent search terms if you use a keyword research tool to go through the subject, such as
- How to begin practicing yoga at home
- positions for beginners in yoga
- yoga advice for newcomers
Writers have the propensity to stuff their articles with every relevant keyword in the hopes that Google would find it more logical.
Despite the fact that adding dozens of keywords still works today, it is an antiquated and frequently unsuccessful SEO strategy. Google has evolved past its finite intellect through a number of improvements.
Google’s most recent search algorithm allows it to assess an article’s relevance without relying exclusively on keywords. To assess if a specific article corresponds to the supplied search word, additional parameters are used.
You might still rank on Google’s first page even if you don’t use an exact match for the main keyword.
Although important, avoid overloading your content with keywords
We’ve established that Google can rank web pages without heavily relying on blog post SEO keywords. Does this imply that keywords are no longer crucial when crafting an article for SEO?
No.
Using keywords is still essential if you want to rank on Google. Simply put, you don’t want to over-optimize the article by obsessing over keywords.
You run the risk of engaging in BlackHat SEO sins like keyword-stuffing when you’re more concerned with keyword density than the content of the post.
The technique of keyword stuffing is prohibited by Google. In order to trick search engines entails stuffing the article with keywords.
Websites that use keyword stuffing were severely penalized after the Google Panda update in 2011 and quickly lost ranking.
Keyword-heavy stories lack natural flow and are unlikely to hold readers’ attention. It goes against Google’s mission to deliver the finest articles that are relevant to users’ needs.
You should refrain from inserting keywords within the post, whether a single keyword or a list of them. Even if a linked term does not exist in an article, it will still rank for that keyword.
You can avoid alienating Google if you concentrate on writing an article that responds to the user’s query.
How to create SEO-friendly keyword phrases for blog posts
Start looking for keywords that your intended audience uses on Google if you want to write an article that ranks.
A keyword might be a single word or 4-5 words long, such as “yoga’s health advantages.” We will go into more detail later on about how a short and long keywords may impact SEO differently.
But first, how do you begin using keywords in your search?
Here is a quick guide on keyword research.
1. Research of potential keywords
You’ll need to put on your thinking gear and figuratively put yourself in your reader’s shoes. When looking for topics in your niche, consider what they could be looking for.
Consider issues, solutions, and queries that users might be interested in when you brainstorm keywords.
Create a spreadsheet with a list of all the potential keywords.
You don’t currently need to be concerned about search volume or possible traffic. A lengthy list of keywords is what you need to start with.
2. Expand the keywords
There are a couple more that might be difficult to find for each keyword you’ve specified. Here’s how to make your keyword list longer.
Go to Google and look up a specific term from your list. Next, navigate to “People Also Ask” by scrolling down.
You’ll discover pertinent keywords that you can use to begin a new blog post or as a secondary keyword.
That’s not all, though. You can add more similar terms to your list by scrolling to the bottom of the search results.
3. Determine keyword search demands
An article requires a lot of work to write. Resources devoted to an article must be justified from a commercial standpoint.
But not every keyword you’ve found will result in a sizable volume of traffic. Some may only receive a few searches per month. Therefore it’s debatable whether you should use a low-traffic term in your article title.
Consequently, the following stage entails figuring out whether the keywords would draw sizable traffic. You can spend money on high-end SEO tools like Ahrefs and Semrush and make use of their keyword tools.
As an alternative, you can assess the value of the work using free programs like Ubersuggest. According to Ubersuggest, the topic “do yoga at home” receives about 480 searches per month.
Building an article around a keyword if you’re receiving fewer than ten searches per month is usually not a good idea.
4. Review the difficulty of the keyword
Finding keywords that generate a lot of traffic is always nice. But there can be a lot of competition for certain terms.
When well-known websites monopolize a keyword, it gets more difficult and takes longer to rank for that keyword. This is why it’s crucial to assess the keywords’ SEO difficulties.
Once more, a keyword tool is required for this.
In comparison to “how to start a yoga practice at home,” which has a keyword difficulty (KD) of 7, the search term “practice yoga at home” has a greater keyword difficulty (KD) of 20. Ranking for the former will be far more difficult than ranking for the latter, the long-tail keyword.
It will be best to stay with long-tail keywords if your website is relatively new and hasn’t yet established itself as an expert in the area. Even if there are fewer searches, it’s simpler to rank, and the numbers could build up to a significant amount of monthly search traffic.
Providing clearer search intent is another advantage of long-tail keywords. In the case of a keyword like “yoga practice,” it can be challenging to ascertain what the user is trying to find. He or she can be looking for basic knowledge, advice, guides, training programs, or yoga-related merchandise.
A long-tail keyword like “how to start yoga practice at home” has a very clear search purpose, in contrast. There is no question that the user is looking for materials to help him or her start practising yoga at home.
From a marketing standpoint, it is simpler to connect with users when you are aware of their needs. In order to meet the nature of the keyword, it helps to decide if an article should be solely informative or have more commercial intent.
Using keywords that don’t require a lot of in-depth information is another smart move. Rather than creating the same amount of lengthy pieces, you may make the most of your resources and target more keywords.
Added Techniques for Locating the Top SEO Keywords for Blog Posts
We’ve only provided a very basic keyword strategy here. You can find a ton of different content-worthy keywords if you’re innovative.
1. Explore Discussion Forums like Quora
Popular Q&A site Quora is a useful source for keywords. You can probably find questions on Quora about any topic.
Find your area of expertise on Quora and go through the questions posted by other users. Here is one that has to do with yoga.
A question might be frequently asked if it has a large number of followers. To find out if it’s a decent keyword to work with, run a check with keyword tools.
You can also browse the answers given, paying particular attention to those with a high number of upvotes. You’ll get a sense of the kind of content that resonates with the neighbourhood.
2. Use Google Trends
You may check the popularity of a particular topic using Google trends. It also offers information on the most frequently asked questions by a specific group.
You get more than just keyword ideas from Google Trends. You’ll also discover whether a specific keyword is seeing a good or negative trend.
If the keyword is trending downward, you might want to re-evaluate your content marketing strategy.
3. Examine your competitors
Probably, your competitors have already written about a significant chunk of the keywords you’re targeting in their blogs.
By looking at the blog posts that your rivals have created, you may improve your keyword list.
Just go to the blog feed on one of your competitor’s websites. You may roughly infer the blog posts’ main keywords by looking at their themes.
It is not required to copy the content approach of your rivals. For short-tail keywords of them might be extremely authoritative and rank quickly.
This tactic helps you get a clear understanding of the opportunities you can take advantage of on your website.
How to Place Keywords in my Blog
After selecting the appropriate keywords, you must begin utilizing them in articles. The issue that stumps the majority of authors is how and where to include the keyword in the piece.
According to certain SEO resources, you should include them inside the first 100 words of the post. Some people are more insistent that the keyword should be in the first sentence. Additionally, it will be advised that keywords be repeated every paragraph or two.
You’ll quickly become overwhelmed by the various viewpoints on keyword placement. It can be perplexing for a writer without SEO experience to read such recommendations because they come from “SEO professionals.”
Thankfully, Google has provided a resounding response, and as we demonstrated above, Google can make this determination without heavily depending on keywords.
As a result, keyword placement is no longer as important as it once was. It turns out that the various viewpoints can all be considered valid because they don’t significantly affect how Google ranks your post.
Therefore, when creating the content, pay attention to these areas rather than worrying about SEO keywords in blog articles.
Write Naturally
You’ll sound forced if you’re too concerned with including the right keywords in the content.
At all costs, you must avoid using keywords to trick Google. With the capabilities of today’s Google, you simply cannot. Additionally, readers are less likely to connect with an article that sounds forced.
Instead, you should concentrate on providing the finest possible education for the readers in the essay. Only items with genuine value are taken into account by Google’s ranking algorithm.
Use Keywords when Necessary
It may sound unusual, but when you write naturally, the keywords will appear spontaneously in the appropriate places.
Therefore, there’s no need to pay attention to whether or not you’ve used a specific term. When you aren’t considering the keywords, you’ll obtain better results.
Once the writing is complete, proofread it to look for other instances where the keyword might be used without seeming awkward.
You can utilize other spellings of the term in the article rather than only using the original. Use “yoga workout” instead of “yoga practice,” for instance, to avoid having the piece appear stiff and repetitive.
The context of the content is also improved by the use of keyword variations and related terms. It indirectly aids Google in better comprehending the text.
Keep the Article’s Length Reasonable
Some authors might be tempted to add more words to an article so that they can include all of the keywords in their list. By doing so, you could add pointless information or filler that lessens the article’s impact.
For the keyword “do yoga pants stretch over time,” an article of roughly 800 words would be sufficient. However, if you expanded it to 2,000 words and divided it into subtopics for other yoga pants companies, the article would lose focus and no longer serve its intended purpose.
Additionally, if you’re unsure about the optimal length for a blog post, you might be reassured to learn that Google does not use word count as a ranking criterion. If an article does a great job of satisfying search intent, it can be as little as 300 words and yet rank at the top. When writing, concentrate on being relevant rather than including every possible keyword. More significant ranking criteria exist than just article length.
Conclusion
We are no longer just concerned with including every keyword possible in a post when it comes to Google SEO. The dominant search engine has closed security holes like keyword stuffing. Blog authors will, in some ways, find it simpler to rank their content on Google.
Once you’ve found solid keywords that will generate traffic, all you need to do is apply your imagination. Naturally, the content must centre on the keyword and adequately address the user’s inquiry.
Feel free to contact our helpful consultants at Digital Marketing Agency if you need any additional suggestions for creating content that is search engine friendly or simply browsing around for SEO services in Singapore.