What is a keyword?
A keyword is the word(s) people use to search the internet to find information, or products, that they want to learn more about.
Why use keywords?
When the web crawlers (a sent by the seach engines) find your website and index all of it’s content – if you have the keywords (and the keyword density) just right, the seach engines will know exactly what your content is about… after all the web crawler just indexed the same keyword at your page 15 times.
NOTE: A Web crawler is an Internet bot which systematically browses the World Wide Web, typically for the purpose of Web indexing. Web search engines and some other sites use Web crawling or spidering software to update their web content or indexes of others sites’ web content. Web crawlers can copy all the pages they visit for later processing by a search engine which indexes the downloaded pages so the users can search much more efficiently. Source: wikipedia.com
So when someone googles the keyword ‘modesto real estate news’, the search engines will go look at all of the indexed content and find the websites that indicate they are all about ‘modesto real estate news’.
The search engines produce the most relevant content related to whatever keyword you search for – and hopefully that is your content showing up on the first page of google.
That is exactly why you don’t want to choose a keyword that has a high level of competition – your website is less likely to show up on the first page of google.
How to find keywords for a website
First of all you need to think about your website, and write out a list of keywords (3-5 words).
Most of you already have a google account, but if you don’t – go ahead and set one up because you are going to use adwords.google.com to choose keywords that are not only in high demand, but you are also looking for keywords.
Please note that the adword site is primarily used to set up Google advertising campaigns. However, if you know where to look, you can also use the program to research keywords.
When I first started writing website content, I always started with a keyword research – and that paid off big time with traffic and back links to my websites.
- Go to adwords.google.com and sign in using your Google credentials
- In the next screen choose the Tools tab in upper right hand corner
- In the upper right hand corner, under Planning, click on Keyword Planner option
- In the next screen under Find new keywords, type in a new keyword, click Get Started
- In the next screen take a look at 1) Your Search Item, and 2) all of the Ideas below that.
Ideally you want to find a keyword with at least 1k – 10k Average Monthly Searches and Low Competition.
In the second section you will find a group of Keyword Ideas. If you click on the word Competition twice, you should see that same list in the reverse order – lowest number of Average Monthly Searches and lowest Competition.
Scroll down that list and start documenting the keywords that fit the concept of your website, with at least 1000 Average Monthly Searches and Low Competition. If you find a keyword that really works for you – go back to the top, enter that keyword into ‘Your product or service field’ and then click ‘Get Ideas’.
Hopefully, you will find a group of at least 3 – 5 keywords that you can use in what I call your Site Concept… and hopefully you find a keyword that can be used in your domain.
Another great article on keywords: How to Do Keyword Research: A 6-Point Checklist
The importance of a keyword rich domain
For most of you, we discussed domain names before we got started, I may have even assisted you purchasing a domain name. However, the whole process bares revisiting – because people change, circumstances change… even your interests change.
An ideal domain name would include your main keyword… if it is available.
NOTE: I always recommend to all of my clients that they own their name… i.e. lynnalbro.com. You will never be sorry that you own your name, and never run out of ways to use it.
If you haven’t already done a keyword research, do it before you purchase your domain so that you know exactly what your ‘Site Concept’ is and what keywords you are going to build that website around.
For example: I know that the keyword – ‘real estate news’ gets 9,900 Average Monthly Searches and has Low Competition. I also know that the domain – realestatenews.com is not available – however, modestorealestatenews.com is available.
Where to use keywords
In Tip #1 under Writing SEO Content, I outlined the best ways to use keywords:
- When getting ready to write articles, pick out the keywords with the best potential to write about first.
- When writing content, use your chosen keywords 3-4 x’s per 100 words; in the title, in the meta description (200 characters max which should also be your first sentence and behind every picture.
- Be careful not to use any keyword more than 6 times per 100 words
- Every time you use a keyword in the content – convert it to italics, or bold it.
- Be sure to use Headings 1, 2, & 3.
Using keywords in descriptions
Your website code allows you to add invisible descriptions behind images in the form of a image title, alt text and image description. It is a good idea add your keywords in all three of those places.
For obvious reasons, get your main keyword for the page content in the title and the webpage url. You write the title, and the WordPress system creates the url – however, the url can be edited.
Add keyword rich headers throughout your content
This is very easy in WordPress, just click on the little box in the upper left hand corner above the content.(usually says paragraph, or header 1, header 2, header 3, etc) and choose header 1, 2, or 3.
One of the SEO tips I have used consistently – I use my website keyword when writing an article about internet marketing, above all of the main content sections in the body of the content;
- Internet Marketing Tips: Google likes to index fresh, quality content on a regular basis
- Internet Marketing Tips: Google likes to lots see of written content
- Internet Marketing Tips: Write Search Engine Optimized Content
NOTE: All of these tips will slow down the web crawlers as they crawl your content, alerting the search engines that these specific keywords are relevant to your content and then rank your article accordingly.