If you have a website, e-commerce site, or blog, chances are you understand the importance of SEO.
Inbound internet traffic that results from effective SEO efforts remains the #1 content marketing strategy for lead generation. If you want to increase inbound traffic to your website, e-commerce site, or blog, you’ll need to integrate strong, relevant, and accurate SEO into your content marketing materials.
We’re talking about keywords.
Keywords are the foundation of SEO, but what are they really? You can think of keywords as the words, phrases, or questions that a Google user would type into a search field in order to generate a list of possible websites relevant to that search topic.
Because search engines like Google are the matchmakers that suggest relevant websites to searching users, in order to get these search engines to work for you, you’ll need to use keywords smartly. Hence, keywords are the foundation of SEO.
Keywords won’t help you optimize your website’s ranking within search engine results unless you’re using the right words and phrases. There’s no getting around doing your research in order to determine what particular keywords will yield the best results in raising your search engine ranking and increasing your website traffic.
If you haven’t done so already, it’s imperative for the success of your business that you identify who your ideal customer is and what their primary “pain points” are, in other words, what problems can your business solve for them? Once you identify and really “know” your audience, you can optimize your website using keywords that will attract them. Ask yourself, what does my audience care most about? What topics would they be interested in? How can I convince them my products, services, and informative content will check all of the boxes that these ideal customers have in mind?
Google users are more likely to type a phrase or question into Google’s search bar than they are a single keyword. These phrases are called “longtail keyword phrases”. When developing your online content, it’s important to plug in popular longtail keyword phrases in addition to singular keywords if you want to effectively market your business to consumers. In other words, using longtail keyword phrases will reduce your competition and help you stand out from the crowd. In order to understand this concept, you’ll need to reverse-engineer the idea. For example, if you own a pet supply store and want to promote your customer loyalty rewards program, try using the longtail keyword phrases that your ideal customers would likely type into Google’s search bar, such as “best pet store with loyalty program near me” or “where can I find discount organic dog food in my city?”.
This tip elaborates on our suggestion above to target longtail keywords. Put simply, using one keyword or one longtail keyword phrase won’t be enough. Try brainstorming at least three variations on the most likely longtail keyword phrase that a consumer could type into Google. This way, you’ll cover your bases and make sure that no matter what a potential customer types in, they will see your website listed. Don’t go too crazy, though. The written content will run the risk of sounding awkward if you plug in back-to-back keyword phrases.
We can’t emphasize this SEO tip enough. Keywords should inform content and not the other way around. This means that before you start writing your content, you should already know the keywords and longtail keyword phrases you’re going to integrate into the webpage, product description, blog article, or whatever online content you’re about to write.
This might sound repetitive, but it’s worth emphasizing twice. As we detailed above, using different variations in your keywords and longtail keyword phrasing is critical when you’re selecting the keywords you plan to integrate into your content. Try striking a healthy balance between weaving your keywords into a particular webpage and then using variations of those keywords on additional pages and within the backend of the site’s meta data. For example, if you’ve worked the longtail keyword phrase “all-natural puppy flea control” into your latest blog article, you can use different keywords that mean the same thing, such as “organic flea control for puppies” and “non-toxic fur treatment for pets” on other webpages.
Once you’ve integrated a variety of keywords into your online content, it’s vital to track and monitor how each keyword is doing. Trending keywords can change on a week-to-week basis, even when the subject itself remains the same. For example, last week the keyword “all-natural” might have been ranking high in search results in reference to vitamin-rich kitten food, but this week the buzzword happens to be “organic, non-GMO”. We wouldn’t recommend that you go into your already-published content and swap the keyword out. But it is important to stay informed of trends so that you can use them to your advantage.
The entire marketing team here at FTx 360 is passionate about SEO strategies, as well as all facets of digital marketing. We love sharing the best marketing tool for the job with our readership no matter what the “job” happens to be, so be sure to hit the subscribe button.
Need SEO advice? Contact us anytime! Prefer to have our experienced agency handle your SEO strategy and implementation? We can do that, too! FTx 360 offers affordable SEO services and can work within any budget.
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