Before you do any keyword research to rank with search engines such as Google, it’s absolutely critical that you have made some headway in developing a sturdy online presence.
That means having a website that is well-established and authoritative and a network with whom you have already been sharing content on a routine basis. This can be anything from a list of email recipients to a large number of readers visiting your blog. A business page on one or more of the many social media platforms should also have a robust group of followers. These will be helpful in expanding your reach through link building.
- Keyword Ideas
When it comes to figuring out how to rank for kewords on google, conducting careful keyword research is vital for success. Here are some things to keep in mind before you decide on any specific keyword.
- Search Volume vs. Popularity
You want a keyword with plenty of volume, but you don’t always want to choose a keyword because of its popularity. That’s because a popular keyword may be too competitive or it may not be relevant to your business. The right keywords can be tough to figure out, at first.
High volume keywords are certainly beneficial but you need to find that happy medium between popularity, relevance, and value. For instance, a keyword such as “bus” may not rank very well if you aren’t operating a bus line, despite the fact you actually run a catering company and you’re talking about food service bus trays. Always keep your target audience’s search traffic in mind when choosing your keywords.
- An Eye on the Competition
You’ve chosen your target keyword. Now it’s time to see how your competitors are using it on Google and other search engines. Your research has not come to an end, in fact, it’s just ramping up now. Consider factors like URL’s, title tags, and web pages incorporating your keyword, the rankings of content with your keyword, even the businesses that have been ranking.
One more factor that you must also address is the authority of the sites that are ranking. How long have those sites been active? How large are their link profiles? All of these factors will help you decide on the steps you will take to stand out from the crowd and outdo your competition with your own site.
- Gauge Intent
Specificity is key to giving online search engine users what they really want. So make your keywords as specific as possible to ensure your target audience finds you.
For instance, the keyword “records” could mean a couple of things in Google search results. Specify further by adding “vinyl” to your keyword to get “vinyl records”. Further intent can be gauged by adding additional words, perhaps something like “vintage” for “vintage vinyl records”
You can make it as specific as you want based on what you think your target audience might be searching for online. More keywords can always be helpful, just be sure you are always working from a place of search intent as you select any particular keyword. This will only help your search rankings and place your site at the top of organic search results.
- Creating Your Content
You’ve put in all the work to find the ideal keyword. Now you need to create content that will score well in Google rankings for that keyword and drive organic traffic to your site.
There are many types of content that can rank keywords on search engines and it’s up to you to choose the best ways to reach your audience. It can be a blog post, an article, product pages, a links index or some other authoritative content that provides valuable information to users who visit your site. Both the quantity and quality of the keywords you choose can have a major impact on search rankings.
But just be sure your content is fresh, unique, and engaging so your site is given the best possible placement in search results pages. Try to include valuable inbound links where applicable. Never underestimate the value of being at the top of that first page of a user’s query. Keyword ranking can make all the difference in your site’s organic search visibility with Google’s algorithm.
- Keyword Optimization
When you create content be sure you are always optimizing for the best placement of your keywords within that blog post or guide. You don’t want to do that work after the fact because the content will fail to sound authentic.
You are always riding that fine line between content that contains proper grammar and incorporating specific keyword usage to optimize your content for search engine rankings. There are a variety of ways you can incorporate target keywords into your content without incurring grammatical errors throughout. Consider using a specific keyword in your image file name on a web page. This can benefit your keyword rankings even if users aren’t seeing them.
