how to use keywords in your content

We’re facing a content revolution the likes of which we’ve never seen before. There are more than 500 million blogs across over 1.8 billion websites on the worldwide web. More than 2 million new blog posts are published daily. That’s right – 2 million. Every. Single. Day. There are also more people turning to search engines for information than we’ve seen in the past. Before the pandemic, Google search traffic hovered around 3.6 billion searches per day. Since March 2020, it’s consistently been 6+ billion searches per day. That’s enough to make your head spin! So much demand, so much new content… How on earth are you going to compete so your content makes it to the top of that information flood? To start, do you know how to use keywords in your content correctly? There’s a reason some websites consistently land prime spots in featured snippets and page one of Google’s results. Want to know their secret formula? Great content + strategic focus keywords + search engine optimization (SEO). That’s it. Those three primary components are what separate the high traffic content from the bottom-of-the-barrel, lost-in-the-void content. While you should absolutely learn as much as you can about SEO writing and how to produce phenomenal content, this discussion is going to focus on the keyword aspect of the ranking equation, including how to research and use keywords in your content. Need help with your writing projects? Our specialty content service partners you with an expert writer to create in-depth authority content optimized for the keywords YOU choose, starting at $84. [bctt tweet=”There’s a reason some websites consistently land prime spots on page 1 of Google’s results. Their secret formula? 👩‍🔬 ➡Great content + strategic focus keywords + search engine optimization (SEO).⬅ Learn how to use it on @ExpWriters:” username=””] What Is a Focus Keyword? Let’s start with the basics. A focus keyword is the search term you want your content to rank for in search engines. This means, if you’re writing about creating click-worthy social media content, for example, you want your post to be one of the first shown in Google when someone types “how to write engaging social media posts” in the search box. The best focus keywords are known as long-tail keywords. These are phrases that are longer and more specific than shorter, more common keywords. In the example above, “social media” would be a broad, general search term, but “how to write engaging social media posts” is a highly specific search phrase. When someone types that long-tail keyword into Google, their search intent is clear. They’re looking for instructional content. They don’t want the history of social media, or a link to Facebook, or instructions to reset their Twitter password, all of which are topics that could technically fall under the general “social media” keyword. Long-tail keywords are niche-based. They have a lower search volume and therefore less competition, which means you have a much higher chance of beating out a dozen websites for the top spot compared to thousands of websites fighting over a more general search term. The search demand graph below demonstrates how long-tail keywords earned their name: It’s much better to be on page one for a long-tail keyword than it is to be on page 397 for a popular keyword. Spoiler alert: Even if that popular focus keyword has a ton of traffic potential, nobody is going to click all the way to page 397 to find your content. [bctt tweet=”It’s much better to be on page one for a long-tail keyword than it is to be on page 397 for a popular keyword. 1️⃣📏🎯” username=”ExpWriters”] Long-tail keywords also have much higher conversions associated with them. This goes back to search intent – people looking up long-tail keywords have a specific goal, especially if they’re starting their search with “how to.” There’s no guesswork involved. You know what your targeted visitor is looking for, and you can provide it. Successful content marketers aren’t pulling random long-tail keywords out of a hat like magicians. They’re investing their time in keyword research related to their market niche so they can take a strategic approach when using those keywords in their content. Hey, content strategy can be tricky. If you want to formulate a winning content marketing strategy with optimized keywords, we’re here to help! How to Research a Keyword with SEO in Mind Keyword research is a critical first step in any content marketing strategy, before you write the first word of your article. Skipping this step all but guarantees your content will flop! We talked about finding long-tail, low-competition focus keywords. However, those keywords MUST be relevant to your market niche if your content is going to perform. So, how do you find that optimal sweet spot between relevancy and low competition? Start by making a list of broad topics that: Genuinely interest you Pertain to your industry, market, and/or niche Are relevant to your audience We’re not looking at long-tail keywords yet in this stage. All we’re doing is coming up with general search topics, and then we’ll get more detailed from there. Once you have a solid list of ideas, start thinking about subtopics for each category. Consider the search intent of these terms – how will your audience likely be using this information? What are they searching for beyond just the general word or phrase? Keyword research tools such as Semrush, KWFinder, and Ahrefs can help you analyze your subtopics to discover search volume, ranking probability, and synonymous keywords and phrases to target. Another tip is to rely on the power of Google. Type in your keyword and scroll to the bottom of the search engine results page (SERP). Here, you’ll find alternative phrases based on what people have been actively searching for on Google, so you know these results will be relevant. Ideally, you should have at least one primary keyword (the main focus) and one or two secondary keywords (related terms). If you choose a … Read more