How to use “Keywords” to boost your ranking on Google

In its most basic form, keywords are words and phrases people type into search engines to find what they’re looking for. If we look at keywords from a content provider’s point of view, they become the most vital part of an organization’s SEO strategy. Every organization should keep keywords in mind when creating their website content, as keywords are one of the major ways search engines prioritize search results. 

The importance of using the correct keywords.

Keywords boost a content’s relevancy. Using the right keywords helps an organization’s web content communicate with search engines, like Google, about its focus. In turn, it aids Google in deciding on the types of queries it should rank on the page. For example, if you’re a pet adoption agency in southern California, it will be incredibly beneficial for your organization to show up in Google search results when someone in L.A. searches the keywords “Where can I adopt a pet?” Essentially, the content of your website needs to answer this question, and Google needs to recognize that.

Using the right keywords helps an organization cut through the clutter created by a heavy search volume and move past its competitors. There are correct ways to integrate keywords into the content of your website — for example, stuffing your content with keywords in an unnatural or unreadable way will only hurt your site’s ranking on Google. In this article, we will discuss the ways of using keywords properly. 

Choosing the most effective keywords.

It all starts with finding the right keywords. While content producers usually have a partial idea of the types of keywords to use,  there are keyword explorer tools you can use that will help you create an exhaustive list of beneficial keywords to include in your web content. All you need to do is enter a few broad keywords relating to your domain, and the tool will equip you with a wide variety of keywords.

Once you get a complete list of keyword combinations, you’ll want to choose which would integrate best into your content. Trying to stuff all available keywords into your website content may make the content unreadable, which Google will recognize and penalize you for. Therefore, a content developer needs to make his choices wisely. There are a few parameters that help in narrowing down on these selections. These parameters are search volume, search intent, value, and keyword difficulty. 

Search volume, as the name indicates, is a measure of the keyword’s popularity. A keyword with a higher search volume is more popular than the less-searched term. Therefore, if one has to choose between two keywords, it’s always preferable to go with the more popular one. But, search volume alone can’t decide a selection. You also need to look at the keyword’s search intent. The search intent indicates whether the searchers are using a phrase or keyword to take any definitive action, such as a purchase, or are using it to know more about the related domain. For example, the keywords “cat adoption LA,” is likely related to the intent of adopting a cat in LA, rather than, say, looking for images of cats who have been adopted in LA. The intent of “cat adoption LA” is quite clear. 

It’s also essential to understand the value that the keyword has to offer. The CPC, or cost per click, value is a good indicator of a keyword’s value. CPC shows how much advertisers are willing to pay for a click from the keyword. If the CPC is good, it means advertisers are ready to pay good money on the keyword. There must be some value in the traffic that the keyword generates. 

Now,  let’s look at the keyword difficulty score. A high keyword difficulty score implies that it would be difficult to outrank the current high-ranking pages without having an incredibly strong SEO strategy. Really general keywords and phrases, like “pet adoption,” are likely going to be competing against thousands of other websites that use those words. That’s why getting specific with your keywords is going to help you stand out. Using “Cat adoption in Beverly Hills” over “pet adoption LA” will likely help you narrow down the number of sites you are competing against. 

Once you have selected your ideal keywords, it’s not time to work them into your content in an optimal way. To optimize your keywords, you must match the search intent. Think of the questions users would be asking in Google that would lead them to your site, and write content that addresses that intent. If a user is searching “Where can I adopt a cat in LA?” then your content should include the answer to that question. “Looking to adopt a cat in LA? You’ve come to the right place!” might be a good phrase to include on your site. Another: “If you’re looking to adopt a cat in the LA area, we invite you to fill out an adoption application.”  To make your content sound as natural as possible, try to evenly distribute your keywords throughout the site.