how to use keywords - Express Writers
SCHEDULE A CONSULTATION

how to use keywords

How Much Content Should You Create When You Have Closely Related Keyword Terms?

by
How Much Content Should You Create When You Have Closely Related Keyword Terms?

Two keywords. Both alike in dignity, in fair content marketing, where we lay our scene. Dramatic Romeo and Juliet references aside, this is a scenario that will come up – if it already hasn’t – when you’re targeting keywords in your content. The question is, what do you do with closely related keyword terms? Do you keep them together? Or do you split them apart? These are common questions for the SEO content marketer, and rightly so. When you have two keyword terms that look very similar – either regarding wording or their underlying ideas – it can be hard to know what to do with them. Here are some of the specific details you may be wondering: “Should I create content for both keywords?” “Can I target both keywords in the same piece?” “How much content should I create for each keyword?” Before we jump into the answers to these questions, we need to decide if the keywords in question are about the same topic or two different topics. In other words, are they both Montagues? Or is one a Montague and one a Capulet? This has everything to do with whether you’ll target them both in one shot, or separate them with your targeting. Will you break up your two star-crossed keywords, or keep them together forever? For Closely Related Keyword Terms, Divide (or Add) by Topic Look at your keywords closely. You’re probably rolling your eyes, thinking “I’ve already done that – that’s the problem,” but bear with me. You need to do some research to determine whether they fall under the same topic. You can’t know this offhand; you need to go to the source to figure it out. Let us hence, as Shakespeare would say. Open up Google. We’re going to follow a great strategy from Orbit Media. [clickToTweet tweet=”How much content should you create when you have closely related keyword terms? @ExpWriters breaks it down!” quote=”How much content should you create when you have closely related keyword terms? @ExpWriters breaks it down!”] 1. Search for Both Keywords in Google and Compare the Results Since Google is the main search engine we’re writing for, we need to see what Google says about the keywords in question. If the related keywords are about the same topic, they will show similar results in Google. If they’re different, there won’t be much overlap at all. Orbit Media compares “deck addition value” with “how much value does a deck add.” For our purposes, we’ll look at the differences (or similarities) in Google for the terms “how to make spaghetti” and “spaghetti Bolognese recipe.” 2. Check for Similarities or Differences in Results and Key Terms Here are the results for “spaghetti Bolognese recipe”: And here are the results for “how to make spaghetti”: As you can see, although both key phrases have the same word in each, “spaghetti,” they have zero overlap in Google search results. These are two different topics, and we can create different content that targets each. Simple, right? But, what if your key phrases have lots of overlap? Take a look at this tweaked example using “how to make spaghetti” and “cook spaghetti.” The “how to make spaghetti” results don’t change. Here are the results from “cook spaghetti.” I’ve highlighted the overlap between each keyword’s results: There’s enough overlap to determine that Google sees these two keywords/phrases as belonging to similar topics. With this information, we can skip creating content for each phrase. Instead, we can target both keywords in the same piece of content. Here’s how. How to Target Two Different Keywords in the Same Content Piece We can create a blog or article that’s optimized for both “cook spaghetti” and “how to make spaghetti.” It’s a good strategy for killing two birds with one stone when you have two very closely related overlapping phrases about the same topic. Here are the steps to follow for targeting two different but related keywords: 1. Make Sure the Keywords Share a Few Words If the keywords share some main words, they’re perfect to target in the same content piece. In our example, “how to make spaghetti” and “cook spaghetti” share a word. If we wanted to make it even better, we could tweak the second keyword. “Cook spaghetti” could become “make spaghetti.” This way, we have two similar phrases representing broad and narrow ends of a spectrum. 2. Target Topics, Not Keywords You have your keywords, but you shouldn’t be worrying about keyword density. Instead, you should be aiming for a good overview of your topic. The keywords should come naturally and fit effortlessly into the flow of the text. If you’re doing it the other way around and counting keywords, you’re doing it wrong. [clickToTweet tweet=”Wondering how to target two different keywords in the same content piece? @ExpWriters has some advice!” quote=”Wondering how to target two different keywords in the same content piece? @ExpWriters has some advice!”] 3. Write Up Your Post with Good SEO Practices That’s not to say you shouldn’t use good SEO when you’re writing about your topic. Absolutely go ahead and use the great tips and tricks you know for boosting your content with search engine optimization. This should include strategic keyword placement in headers, the meta description, title tags, and in the body of your copy. Use a primary keyword in the main header, meta description, and H2s. Use your secondary keyword in H2s and H3s. I repeat: This is not about counting keywords. This is about the future of SEO, which is the semantic web. It’s about meaning, not about exact keyword-matching. How Much Content Should You Create for Related Keywords? Another great question about closely related keywords has to do with how much content you should produce for each (or either). The content creation question has been much-discussed in the industry, in general. A couple of basic rules to follow have emerged from the conversation. These definitely apply to your related keywords. 1. Quality Trumps Quantity Every. Single. … Read more

Is Keyword Rich Anchor Text No Longer Useful In SEO Content?

by
Is Keyword Rich Anchor Text No Longer Useful In SEO Content?

Like Scrooge’s ghost of Christmas past, the keyword rich anchor text, once a very much alive and powerful way to get backlinks, has completely gone out of style. It’s no longer a useful tactic for SEO web content. Whether in your blogs, guest blog content, web content or any content published online, it’s good sense to avoid exact match keyword anchor texts. Let’s explore just why this good old precept is now an outdated no-no. There was a recent fiasco with Google approaching one of SEO’s biggest blogs in the community, Moz.com. One of the red-flagged items they sent to Moz in a warning email was about spammy anchor text. Oops—to one of the biggest SEO agencies on the web! We are going to take a look at how you can link in your content without doing too much, if any, keyword anchor texts, as well as just what keyword rich anchor text is. What Is Keyword Rich Anchor Text? It is very simple and something we are sure you have done at some point in your content writing. Let’s say you are writing a blog about vegetable hair dye and you link to your product page that is specifically vegetable hair dye; if you link the page to an anchor text of “vegetable hair dye” then you are utilizing keyword rich anchor text in your SEO web content. Easy, right? Well, know that we have cleared that up, you are probably wondering just how you can link people to your website without doing too much keyword linking. Let’s take a look at a few steps that can help you out significantly when you are either writing anchor text or not. How Do You Write With or Without Anchor Text? The good news is it is not very difficult to utilize anchor text in your SEO content. We are going to give you some help when it comes to how to write without keyword anchor text. The steps are as follows: 1. When Using Anchor Text, Use It Once. You can still use anchor text in SEO web content, but it is important that you use it sparingly and do not focus on keyword heavy text. Many websites were going about utilizing keyword anchor text and linking to multiple pages all over their site; this caused problems with Google and was considered to be quite spammy. If the websites happened to use their keyword anchor text only once, linking to the most important page for that particular piece of content, they would have been fine. Because of their mistakes, exact keyword-matching anchor text is something to avoid. When using anchor text in your SEO content, you should always make sure you are making variations because if you use the same anchor text all the time, you will find that things will not really go your way. If you use keyword texts, consider making sure that you only use anchors about use anchors about thirty percent of the time. 2. When Linking Anchor Text, Link to the Proper Landing Page. Linking to a relevant landing page is important for any linking in any post, especially when utilizing anchor text. If you write something about vegetable hair dye, make sure you link people to vegetable hair dye, not brushes or hair dyeing utensils. This will not only look like spam, but will create some upset clients. If they believe you are linking to some spiffy vegetable hair dye, and you don’t, they will leave quickly. Customers never want to feel like they are being scammed into buying something they are not looking for. If you are not linking to a specific landing page, but just want to get people into a general area, then do not use keyword anchor text. Either way is a great recipe for proper linking to make sure you avoid upsetting the Google gods. This makes sure that you use the right amount of links and make sure you stay relevant to your audience. You will find that the more you follow this step, the happier your clients, and potential clients, will be. 3. Never Over-Saturate With Links. It wise to always avoid saturating your website and SEO content with too many anchor texts, especially if these links are not relevant to your SEO web content. This is considered black hat SEO; avoid it. This is similar to keyword stuffing – the more you utilize the links, the more likely Google can think you are spamming readers. It will also read as if you are writing predominately to rank and not for the human clientele you hope to reach. You may feel that it will come across natural, but if you are solely thinking about how to write specifically to rank, you will always forget how to write for humans. Write for a human audience and come up with an anchor text that will be perfectly natural in your sentences. (Just an extra tip: You will find that the most natural sounding anchor texts might be ones that are in the middle of a paragraph instead of at the beginning or end.) 4. Write As Naturally As Possible. As mentioned above, writing naturally is a perfect way to incorporate your anchor text without over-saturating or sounding like you are trying to sell something. This is something that is highly important in content writing whether it is simply writing up web content or if you are writing an anchor text within the SEO content. You do not want to incorporate the anchor text in your writing where it sounds stilted and forced; this is a red flag to readers and Google. Do you remember reading all of those blogs about writing naturally? Have you started to forget them? Well, you should begin to refresh your mind and make sure you incorporate natural writing at all times. This will help your link strategy and will ensure that readers will enjoy reading your material and will eventually become part of … Read more

No HR needed to get access to the best writers, editors, QAs and strategists. We are your all-in-one content writing service delivering publish-ready content.

Copyright – 2025 Expresswriter -All rights reserved