When it comes to driving new traffic to your blog, search engine optimization (SEO) is a very important aspect. SEO allows content managers to match blog posts with what a user is searching for. But choosing the right keywords takes a bit of skill and varies depending on what type of content is being produced.
There are four areas on a webpage where keywords should be utilized:
- Title tags
- Description tags
- Page’s content/text
- Alternative tags on images
Although build for advertising, Google’s AdWords is very useful when it comes to search engine optimization.
Screenshot taken by Zachary J. Prutzman.
This also represents the order of importance. Search engines will place priority on keywords within the title over keywords located in the page’s text.
Deciding on Keywords
As you’re deciding which keywords to use, there are a few things to consider.
First, make sure that the keywords are relevant to your post. Keyword spamming is a technique that many bloggers use, thinking that by typing in popular terms it will direct traffic to their page. Blogsuccessjournal.com states that keyword spamming will give your blog “a ticket to nowhere.”
Also, using 50-100 keywords is not a good idea. Less is more. Keep the keywords as specific to your post as possible. This lets the search engine know that the content is what the user is looking for.
Be aware of how long your keyword phrases are. One word (such as ‘SEO’) is going to have a lot of competition; seven or eight words (such as ‘Optimizing Your Blog For Twitter and Facebook’) is going to be very specific. Positionly says it’s good to find a balance in the area of 2-3 words; this way, it is relevant to your website and does not have as much competition as a one-word search.
Even when typing “breaking news,” make sure to slow down and optimize your post.
Photo taken by HansKristian. All rights reserved.
One way to measure your competition for keywords is by using Google’s AdWorks. This was created for advertising, but can be utilized for any website. By typing in keywords, you can see how many global and local searches occur each month for that specific keyword. For more on how to use AdWorks, visit Today Made.
When talking to Sean Keeley, creator of Nunesmagician.com, he noted that not all posts should be treated equally when it comes to SEO. Keeley stressed that when writing about breaking news, he is very concerned with having keywords in the right place (such as the title). But, when Keeley is trying to be funny (the tone that a majority of his blog-posts use), it is necessary to keep a voice that represents this. Keywords should no longer be forced into your posts – it needs to feel natural.
While keywords are important in bringing new users to your site, remember to maintain your voice. Optimize your posts when necessary, but do not let it dictate your writing style. Stay original.
Informative! Interesting! Quality! Valuable! Fabulous! Terrific! Remarkable! Simply all the good words apply to this material! If you keep up the excellent work, thank you from the bottom of my heart as well as spirit and I will come check out once again!
Hi,
Very nice information. Thanks for the ” How to Make Your Blog ‘Visible’ via SEO ” article. SEO is a Really interesting Subject.
Thank you . . .
Very informative article, Thank you very much for sharing, I will use these tips for My blog
This article provides great information on SEO. Small things do matter in seo and strategy changes time to time as the google update rolls on. Thanks for posting.
SEO is one of the good quality blogs ..Thanks for posting
This article is very misleading, keywords are just one part of SEO. To increase your blogs visibility for SEO you need to get your blog out there:
Create an RSS feed
Ping your blog
Share on Social Networks and Web 2.0s
Create a newsletter
Blog aggregate and micro blogging sites
Include sharable images
Answer peoples comments
this is a great inforamtion thank u regard ^___^
Interesting article, I feel 70% of the ranking of your keywords depend on the keyword research therefore proper time should be taken for that.
Indeed, being natural in your posts is what readers like, and much more with the search engine spiders. Pushing your keywords too hard won’t help you and it will only cause your website to be regarded the least.
I agree but one more thing I would like to add here i.e avoid the keyword stuffing in your blog. Also write the conversional and informational content to keep the user engaged on your blog.
SEO is really huge.Its not possible to include every aspects of SEO in one single post. Hence, i would consider this a very good post, straight to the point. I would like to add two things to the list.
1. You should also mention the keywords you are focusing on in the keywords meta tag. Though, it is not considered to as important as it used to be. But its always a best practice.
2. When you are considering the Keyword selection, its also better to include your geographic location if you are targeting any particular area. Also, look for the volume and competition.
Thanks,
Web Choice UK
actually, i don’t consider that seo is a big thing and one article cannot include all this information about seo. if this article has a qualified author, there will be no problem.
apart from that, i agree with you. the important thing about keyword selection is geographic location in terms of local seo. Competition and volume are also important.
Best,
Abdullah
Good article. But still having keywords in the Title is quite important and is also worthy by search engines. In addition, having keywords in h1,h2 may be considered. I like the part of the article where you mention that the content should look natural. There should be the sense that the article is written by human. This was the point that I was thinking about. Before just visit this site I was surfing in Matt Cutts’s blog and I just noticed that his site looks very simple and natural. Even the social bookmark links were in text rather than graphic.
I always fill out all the info when I add a pic. Good to know it helps boost the SEO.
Very good article, but the search engine rules update soon , so we have to change our strategy.
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Very nice article. Thanks for sharing and for your work. Regards from Italy
Very useful information.Thanks for sharing!
SEO is such a shell game! Google provide guidelines but it is very difficult to understand exactly how to implement them in the best possible way
I often find when consulting with other bloggers that ALT Tags on their images aren’t taken as seriously as they should be. I always make sure that I use alt tags! I use “YOAST” plugin on WordPress which gives me a little reminder to put my tags in. Really helpful!
Great little article by the way!
Concise article but I must say that this is a bit incomplete.
You have not mentioned Header tags (h1,h2,h3,…). H1 is very important for Onpage Optimization.
You have only mentioned about image alternate attribute but it is not elaborated. More over if you want to optimize your pictures on your blog/website then you should several measures to ensure that it comes on SERP when searched. Like save image names with keywords, mention proper ALT attribute on each img element on each pages of your website and write proper, keyword rich and human friendly img TITLE attributes.
You have not written anything about Rich Snippet like Schema. Schema is very important to generate more and higher CTR from SERP though till date Schema has no effect on site ranking but it is as important as all other important SEO factors.
It seems that you have only talked about on page optimization as off page optimization is totally untouched in this article.
Just a correction there is nothing called Google Adworks. It should be Google Adwords.
SEO is such a shell game! Google provide guidelines but it is very difficult to understand exactly how to implement them in the best possible way. Of course the most frustrating thing is their ever changing algorithms- what works one day to get you in the top ten does not work the next. As a small business owner I find it very difficult to keep up with the changes. Thank for you for a well written article providing concise info that is helpful for me.
Hi, looks like you missed about h1 tags, they are really import as much as a page title, page content having different synonyms will definitely help for ranking for different terms !
I want to ask you, what kind of quality backlinks?
Hi Zachary, thanks for the helpful article on on-page SEO. I just want to point out, however, that there is a difference between on-page SEO and off-page SEO. As for keywords, yes, I agree that targeting long-tail keywords is easier as you get fewer competition that way. Google Adwords (not Adworks) is a very useful free tool from google but I find it confusing and it’s missing a lot of useful data. I find paid alternatives to be more effective although the cost can be a deterrent to most people. Lastly, I agree with your assessment that keywords should never be forced on articles! I find it very annoying when I read articles that’s obviously keyword-stuffed! 🙂 So, anyway, this is just my two cents. Great article!
These days besides SEO, SMO is also playing a major role in making your blog visible and keeping the users engaged.
Grateful for this article. Always need a refresher on keyword usage! Less is more. So helpful!
Important info. Although it is important to note that the google adwords keyword tool measures the competition for adwords and not for seo itself. Personally, I used the services from http://www.seo-kings.net to get my website up in rankings. Researched some keywords then used some of their backlink services to get my website up in rankings. Cheers.
Yeah, Seo is the best way to get traffic on your blog, no doubt about it!! And you describes it very nicely. Thanks a lot for sharing such a nice post!!
This is great info. It’s funny how little good info is out there regarding effective SEO techniques.
Nice! SEO is really most important for any new website.Thanks for posting.
First, it is a very good article. I agree to use 2-3 words phrases as keywords but you do better if you make a real keyword research to examine the strength of competition, the average monthly searches of keywords to find easy to rank keywords.
Also I suggest to use only one keyword per content. It is more focused and get better rankings.