How to Make Use of Keywords in SEO

Our SEO trainers are frequently asked, “How can I add keywords on my website?” ” as well as “How do I use keywords for SEO?” ”

You’ll never have to worry how to use keywords for SEO again after reading this article. Instead, you’ll have a well-defined method for effective keyword placement (also known as keyword optimization) on every page you produce or update on your website.

We’re not going to go through how SEO works or how to choose the ideal keywords for your pages. Despite the fact that those topics are highly essential and regarded critical SEO learning, we will show you how to employ keywords for SEO with an effective keyword placement strategy.

Contents

1. The Advantages of Including Keywords
2. Primary and secondary keywords
3. Where Should a Focus Keyword Be Placed?
4. Where Should Secondary Keywords Be Placed?
5. Great Content vs. Keyword Placement
6. Process of Keyword Optimization
7. Checklist for Keyword Placement
8. Keyword Optimization Auditing

TLDR — How to Use Keywords for SEO

• You must select one focus keyword for each page you wish to improve. Don’t use the same term as a focus keyword on many pages; each page should have a different focus keyword. If you disregard this advise, you may find yourself in a keyword cannibalization situation.
• Supplement your primary keyword with a slew of highly relevant secondary keywords scattered across the page you’re optimizing. These are keywords and phrases that are synonymous with — or strongly linked to — your primary keyword. They add value by providing extra context to the search engine.
• Put your focus keyword in each of the following places:
• Meta Description / Title Tag
• URL
• Heading 1
• Subheadings
• copy of the paragraph
• File names for images and alt attribute tags
• The anchor text of internal links connecting to the optimized page
• Fill in the blanks with your secondary keywords:
• Subheadings
• copy of the paragraph
• Text alternative
• Poor-quality content will not be compensated for by excellent keyword placement.
• Track your keyword implementation using a spreadsheet.

Benefits of Properly Adding Keywords

Proper keyword placement has numerous advantages. Keywords that work:

1. Send clear signals to search engines about the terms you want your sites to appear for in search results.
2. Make it apparent to consumers what your material is about and give a high-quality user experience, beginning with the search results.
3. Allow each page on your site to rank for a selection of highly relevant search terms.
4. Bring in high-quality traffic that converts to sales and money for your company.

Now it’s important to make sure you understand the distinction between the two types of keywords we’ll be discussing.

Using a Focus Keyword & Secondary Keywords for SEO

To select where to add keywords to your pages, you must first understand that Google rates individual pages rather than entire websites.

This implies that if you match each page on your site with a focus keyword (also known as a primary keyword) that people are already using to search for information about that topic, each page on your site has the potential to rank for the topic it covers.

By supplementing your primary keyword with relevant secondary keywords, you may be able to rank for a broader range of search queries.

Using Focus Keywords for SEO

If you want a page to rank for a specific search phrase, make that term — or a similar one — the focus keyword on that page.

Assume Diet Doctor wishes to rank its Ketogenic Diet For Beginners page for the term “ketogenic diet” above all others. They’ll want to make “ketogenic diet” the target keyword for that page, as seen in the example below.

Using Secondary Keywords for SEO

If you want a page to rank for terms that are synonymous with — or closely linked to — your focus keyword, those secondary words and phrases must be included on the same page as your main keyword.

If Diet Doctor wants its ketogenic diet page to rank for keywords like “keto diet,” “low carb diets,” and so on — in addition to “ketogenic diet” – those terms are included as secondary keywords to that page. As in the following example.

While a page should only have one distinct target keyword, it is acceptable to include a few secondary keywords. While the placement of target keywords throughout your content is ESSENTIAL if you want to rank for that specific phrase, the placement of secondary keywords is discretionary (though highly recommended).

Spend some time conducting keyword research in order to select the ideal focus and secondary keywords. That is why a big chunk of the SEO Checklist is devoted to it.

Once you understand the distinction between focus and secondary keywords and have completed your keyword research to select them, it is time to arrange them on your sites.

Where to Put a Focus Keyword for SEO

Remember these basic rules when you’re ready to place any term on a page:

1. Keywords should be naturally introduced into material in a captivating and informative manner. They should never be clumsily crammed into your webpages.
2. Skillful keyword placement should be undetectable to the typical person. Normal users interacting with your material should not detect that you have included a keyword on purpose.
3. If you can’t readily work a keyword into a piece of your material, you may need to rethink that area or find an other keyword to include.

Here’s how to cleverly incorporate your focus keyword to enhance SEO impact.

Title Tag & Meta Description

Title tags and meta descriptions are meta tags that tell searchers what a page has to offer before they decide which link to visit. Google will take notice of them as well. Make sure to include your focus keyword in your title tag, preferably near the beginning. Google, like users, reads from left to right and prioritizes the words at the beginning of a title.

If your emphasis keyword is more of a phrase that can stand alone to notify people what a page is about, you may use it as a title tag along with a separator and your brand name. If your target keyword is too short and does not accurately describe what a page is about, add more descriptive text to help.

In the preceding example, “A Ketogenic Diet for Beginners: The #1 Keto Guide – Diet Doctor” offers consumers a little more about the page than “Keto Diet – Diet Doctor” alone would. Using descriptive wording like this will attract users to click on your title.

It’s also a good SEO strategy to add your main keyword in your meta description. If a person searches for “ketogenic diet” and then finds the identical term they looked for in both your title tag and meta description, they are more likely to click through to your website.

Keywords in URLs

Yes, even though Google says it doesn’t care about keywords in URLs, it is still excellent practice to include your focus term in the page’s URL.

Change current URLs at your own risk, especially if Google already knows about them and they receive a lot of traffic. Changing a URL solely to contain a keyword can have a negative influence on a page’s rating.

However, if you are developing a new page or updating an existing page that receives very little organic traffic, it may be a good time to explore include your focus keyword in the slug or file element of a page’s URL. Many SEO experts argue that including a keyword in a page’s URL, title tag, and meta description makes for a more clickable search result.

In this case, Diet Doctor chose to employ a highly relevant secondary keyword in their URL rather than their core keyword. We can’t argue because it’s clean and expresses what the page is about; however, they could have utilized their focus keyword instead: /ketogenic-diet.

H1 Heading

The title of a page is usually — but not always — your H1 heading. It’s also where search engine crawlers will check after scanning a page’s URL, title tag, and meta description to figure out what the page is about.

Subheadings

After you’ve eloquently integrated your focus phrase into your H1, consider which of your subheadings would also be acceptable spots for inclusion.

Your keyword does not have to appear in every subsection (that might look a bit like keyword stuffing). Instead, try to put your primary keyword in one or two subheadings and secondary keywords in the others.

Integrate deftly

Including a focus keyword in a page’s H1 heading is a requirement whenever available.

Paragraph Copy

Ideally, you should include a target keyword in a paragraph towards the top of your page. The closer you are to the top, the better.

Then, sprinkle that same term throughout your copy wherever it makes sense. Take note of our use of “sprinkle” instead of “jam” – be careful with its placement in keyword content and take note when it begins to feel like you are overusing it, i.e. keyword stuffing.

Using many synonymous secondary keywords is an excellent technique to avoid overusing your primary keyword. In our example, you’ll observe that “higher-fat diet,” “keto diet,” and “low-carb diet” are frequently used in addition to “ketogenic diet.”

Image File Name & Alt Text

All SEO gurus agree that you should include your focus keyword in the image alt attribute of one or more images on your website. Most people also advise you to add it in the image filename.

The focus keyword, but not the filename, is included in the alt property in the example below. We recommend playing it safe and including it in both places if possible.

But be wary of keyword cramming your alt tags. Alt attributes exist to help users comprehend what’s in an image when they can’t see it; they also assist search engine crawlers in making sense of a picture. As a result, you must use the alt attribute to explain what is actually represented in the image.

That’s fantastic if you can skillfully insert your focus keyword into that explanation. If you can’t, it’s probably best to merely describe the vision and move on. Don’t just stuff your main term into the image alt attribute.

Anchor Text in Links on Other Pages 

Reading the anchor text associated with internal and external links going to a page is one of the numerous ways search engine crawlers make sense of the content on a page.

It’s a good idea to include your target keyword in the anchor text of any internal links on your website that you can control. In the following example, a blog recommendation is found at the bottom of a page on the Diet Doctor website. The focus keyword “diet doctor” is clearly included in the title text of the link’s anchor tag.

If you can persuade other websites to put your target term in the anchor tag for any links pointing to your site, please do so. This can be considerably more difficult to manage than working with internal links that you control on your own site.

Where to Put Secondary Keywords

Secondary keyword placement adheres to a looser set of guidelines. It is often preferable to incorporate secondary keywords into your article naturally. Here are some crucial places to put them:

Subheadings & Paragraph Copy

Subheadings and paragraph text are the best places to use your secondary keywords. As previously said, in order to prevent overusing a target keyword, it makes perfect sense to include your secondary keywords here instead. In the sample below, you can see where several secondary keywords have been added:

Secondary keyword placement is best accomplished by spreading them throughout your article. However, be wary of keyword-stuffing your text by integrating too many.

You’ll notice that by incorporating several secondary keywords, your content will not only rank higher for your focus keyword, but also for some of the secondary keywords on a regular basis. When your content ranks for many keywords, you cast a larger net and capture more prospective leads and customers.

Image Alt Attributes

Secondary keywords can also be added to image alt properties. The alt attributes for the photos on the page contain extremely relevant secondary keywords, as shown in the example below.

Where Not to Put Secondary Keywords

Secondary keywords can be used everywhere as supplements to your core keyword; they can even replace your target keyword if it becomes too repetitive.

That said, you shouldn’t utilise secondary keywords in place of your focus keyword until you’ve used it at least once in each of the recommended areas.

Great Keyword Placement is a Poor Substitute for Useful Content

If you take a look at the example we’ve been using throughout this course, you’ll note that it’s an AMAZING piece of comprehensive content that relates to relevant pieces on the site and incorporates keywords really well.

Quality keyword placement can help any content punch slightly above its weight class; nevertheless, having keywords in all the right places does not guarantee that Google and other search engines will consider your page worthy of ranking.

What is the point of bringing this up?

It’s crucial to remember that flawless keyword optimization isn’t a replacement for great content. Create meaningful content first, then carefully optimise it with your focus and secondary keywords for the greatest results.

Keyword Optimization Process

Here is a keyword optimization strategy you may use to put all of the advice above into action.

1. Create best-in-class content that adds value to users’ lives.
2. Conduct keyword research to identify the best primary and secondary keywords.
3. Choose distinct keywords for each page you want to rank in search results.
4. Using the tips above, skillfully place your keywords across your content and website features.
5. Keep a spreadsheet of your keyword positioning for easy reference.
6. Analyze the performance of your keywords over time and make changes as needed.

Keyword Placement Checklist

Whether you’re adding new material to your site or trying to optimise current pages with newly discovered keywords, keeping track of your optimization efforts in a spreadsheet is a good idea. This will ensure that you and everyone else on your team are on the same page when it comes to keyword strategy and implementation progress.

This is very useful when analysing keyword performance using tools such as Google Search Console.

Template for Tracking Keyword Placement

Download a copy of this Keyword Placement Tracking Template and use it to keep track of your keyword optimization efforts. If you have SEO, copy the sheet and paste it into your SEO Workbook.

Auditing Keyword Use on Pages

While software, plugins, and other tools can assist you in determining how many times you’ve used keywords for SEO on any particular page, we prefer the good old-fashioned Command + F (mac) or Control + F (PC) to locate keywords used on a page.

Simply enter your primary and secondary keywords (one at a time) into the Find area to see every appearance of a keyword on a page. While this may appear antiquated, we believe it is the greatest (and quickest) way to identify potential keyword bloat or crucial keywords that are missing from the material.

In Closing

When it comes to ranking your pages in search results, having best-in-class content that is worthy of ranking high in the search results is the number one priority. Then, for SEO, using the appropriate keywords (both primary and secondary) will make all the difference.

Don’t forget to use Google Search Console to track the results of your keyword optimization and, if necessary, modify your keyword targeting and optimization.

Finally, guaranteeing outcomes in the area of SEO is generally frowned upon, and only shady SEO agencies will make lofty promises promising results. However, if there is one SEO method that we can guarantee will boost almost anyone’s organic search performance, it is appropriately utilising your keywords for SEO.

SEO method that includes keyword research, keyword optimization, keyword performance measurement, and all the other parts of a holistic approach to SEO.