Optimising your keywords is an important first step for SEO. The process teaches you so much, and gets you prepped for success – if you follow the correct steps.

Guest writer Simon Dwight Keller once again shares his wisdom – this time in the SEO topic of picking SEO keywords. Read on and let us know any questions / what you think!

There are many Search Engine Optimisation techniques that you could apply to your digital content creation process. One of them is optimising the function of keywords in your posts. Keyword optimisation refers to a technique in which content creators insert relevant keywords into their content to rank it nicely on a search engine, like Google.

In order to be successful while applying this technique, you have to pick the right keywords which are relevant to your content. In this article, I will guide you to pick your first SEO keywords for your content. If you want your content to be SEO content, sit back and read this article thoroughly.    

Importance of Keywords in SEO

In SEO, keywords are utilized to drive organic traffic to the content. You need to keep in mind that keywords are what your target audience would type in the search engine they use. That said, it is important for you to understand their point of view. Thus, I would recommend you to conduct in-depth research on the most used keywords in your selected topic (keyword research).

For the past few years, the practice of keyword optimisation in SEO has faced a number of modifications especially since the Hummingbird algorithm was introduced by Google back in 2013. This was because it brought a change in terms of keyword utilisation, in which the quality of a keyword is more important than the quantity.

However, this change does not negate the significance of keywords in SEO. Instead, it allows these keywords to be modified so that they could perfectly blend in with your content. These keywords are called long-tailed keywords. This lets you take a very popular and somewhat abstract keyword and narrow down your audience by modifying the meaning of it.

SEO Keywords and Domain Name Correlation

The number one cause of bad SEO in content creating is most likely topical irrelevance, or simply put your site’s niche.

If you start using keywords that are not related to your niche, you will do more harm than good. It all boils down to how search engines (google at least) percieves keywords.

Did you know that Google even takes into account your domain name?

If your niche is related to your domain name and all of your keywords are relevant, it’ll be easier to rank up.

Since coming up with a great domain name on your own is pretty time-consuming. I’ve picked a good domain name generators for you already, which you can find here.

It’ll help you create a strong brand name related to your niche, so that ranking on SERP will be that much easier. Once you have your domain name all figured out, you need to register it through a domain name registrar. For more information check out HostingWiki.

For example, Office Clearance London and City Waste Collection London primary SEO keywords directly correlate to their domain names, enabling each site to try and maintain a prominent position on Google search for SEO keywords such as Office Clearance, Office Clearance London, City Waste & City Waste Collection.

Steps to Optimise Keywords in Your Content

I have already described how important keywords are for your SEO practices. In this section, I will list the steps that you can follow to pick your first SEO keywords for your content.

1. Understand Who You Are Targeting

Before researching potential keywords for your content, it is important to understand who you want your content to be catered for. By knowing who you are writing for, you can compile relevant keyword lists, you know are already searched by your audience.

That said, a solid base of loyal readers is much more useful than a bunch of random traffic. Keep in mind that simply getting traffic doesn’t bring that many positives to the table, if said traffic doesn’t convert.

Also, if someone visits your site and exists immediately because it doesn’t answer their direct query, Google will penalize your site because your site didn’t satisfy the person visiting.

I highly recommend focussing your efforts on gaining useful, quality traffic, rather than try to get the world.

2. Understand What Keyword Combination You Could Use

In regard to the combination of keywords which could be inserted into your content, there are two types of keywords you could pick: head and long-tail keywords. Head keywords refer to words that you know your audience would obviously use when they look for something. For instance, when they look for bags then they will use ‘bags’ as their keyword.

Meanwhile, longtail keywords refer to a longer phrase of words which have a more specific query. While the traffic of this type of keyword could reasonably be lower, it is also most likely to convert.

3. Start Developing Some Keyword Combinations

After determining which type of keyword you want to use, you can start developing your own combinations. You can check some of the most used keywords for your niche by using various methods, including using the help of Google Analytics. This platform allows you to get suggestions of keywords you could use.After developing your own list of keywords, you can check each keyword by typing them in Google to look at the suggestions that come up. This allows you to have more insight into what your target audience mostly looks for.

4. Rank Your Keywords

After checking each keyword directly on Google, you will be able to tell which keyword may give the best results and which may not. This allows you to rank the keywords based on the potential results they offer you. By doing this, you could be certain regarding which keyword you can use for optimum performance of your content.

Conclusion

Picking the right keyword may be the most effective method of driving traffic to your site. That said, you need to make sure that you pick the right keywords so that you could boost your website’s rank and performance.