How to use keywords to improve your website's SEO
Keywords tell the search engine what search terms your website
is most relevant to - without them, your website is less likely to
be highly ranked in search results. Use this guide to learn more
about keywords and how to decide which ones are best for you.
- Conducting a keyword analysis
- Developing a keyword strategy
- Deciding which keywords to use
Conducting a keyword analysis
A keyword analysis involves deciding which search terms you want
your website to rank highly for by looking at the keywords people
are searching for. You can do this using something like Google's
Keyword tool, which shows you how many searches have been
performed for certain terms per month over the last year, and how
much competition there is for each term.
- A keyword analysis will help you decide which search terms you
want to target
- Use Google's
Keyword tool to help you
- Find out how much competition you have for each term
Developing a keyword strategy
Targeting keywords which are already heavily subscribed means
your website will probably be lower down in the rankings for that
search term, while those which don't have a lot of competition may
yield less traffic. Make sure you achieve a balance between
both.
- Some keywords will have more competition than others
- Your website will probably come lower down in the rankings for
heavily subscribed keywords
- Try to achieve a balance
Deciding which keywords to use
Using phrases such as 'business advice' rather than just
'business' may yield better results because there will be less
competition, and because search engine users tend to search for
more specific phrases. If you use a phrase, you will find your
website is also ranked for 'business' and 'advice', so you're not
missing out on using the single words.
- Specific phrases will have less competition
- Search engine users tend to look for phrases rather than
words
- Your website will be ranked for each individual part of the
phrase as well