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

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