Note: For SEO, keyword and
keyword phrase are used interchangeably. A keyword can be just a single word,
but it can also be a phrase or combination of 2+ words.
Having decided how many keywords
to target and which keywords are best for you to target, based on relevance,
commercial intent, search volume and competitiveness, you then need to correctly
use those keywords on your website. The aim with this is to keyword optimise
the pages on your site without anyone (who doesn’t have knowledge of SEO) being
able to tell that you’ve done so. If you achieve this then you’ll please both
visitors to your site and Google.
These days, keyword optimisation,
due to keyword spamming in the past, has been reduced in importance. It’s
purpose is only to tell Google that, for example, this page is about x, and you
want them to include it in their search results when people search for x and
variations of x. Lessening the importance of keywords is very different from
disregarding them altogether though.
Keywords are still a factor in
how Google ranks websites, however, you shouldn’t expect to optimise your
website with keywords and then see your site rise to the top of the search
results for those keywords. You still need to, at a minimum, create content
based around your keywords that deserves to be top of Google and to build links
to your site to boost it’s trust and authority.
Still, whilst just using keywords
correctly on your site isn’t enough to get you good rankings, if you poorly
optimise your site for your target keywords, you rule out any chance of ranking
highly for your chosen keywords. So, you need to get the balance right between
optimising and over-optimising – i.e. using a keyword on a page but not using
the exact same keyword, in as many different places as possible, and as many
times as you can.
These are the three issues to
consider during the keyword optimisation process:
Where to use keywords
How to vary keyword usage
How often to use keywords
Where To Use Keywords
There are 8 places that you can
use keywords on your website to signal to Google which pages on your site you
want to rank for which keywords:
Page Title: The page title, also
known as a title tag or title element, is written in the coding of the page,
like this – <title>Mention Your Keywords Here</title>. The page
title isn’t displayed on the page itself, but is shown in the search results
and in the web browser. You definitely need to add your the keyword for a page
here, but don’t just put the keyword and nothing else. At the very least, put
your business’s name either before or after the keyword.
Url: The web address for the page
(i.e. www.yoursite.co.uk/mention-your-keywords-here). This is a good place to
add keywords as you can use them without needing to use them in a catchy or
enticing way like with the page title or H1 tag. Using keywords in your url
isn’t possible when trying to rank your homepage though.
H1 Tag: The main header tag for
the page. This is normally the title at the top of a page that tells the reader
what the page is about – like an article title in a magazine or newspaper. This
should ideally grab the interest of visitors to your site, to make them want to
read on, so you need to balance using your keyword with making it interesting.
Body Content: The main written
text on a page, such as a product/service description or an article. You only
need to mention the keyword once, though you can mention it more times if that
happens naturally when you’re writing. You definitely don’t need to aim for any
kind of keyword density (2%, 5%, etc.).
Site Navigation Link Text: The
text that forms the links in your top navigation bar or sidebar. Using
your target keyword in its exact form
here can look spammy, and can negatively affect the user experience, so
normally you’ll have to use a shortened or alternate version of it.
In-Content Link Text: The text
that forms the links on your pages that link to other pages on your site
(e.g.this links to a page on this site about SEO for internal links). Mix up
your usage, by sometimes linking up the exact keyword and sometimes linking up
a partial sentence that the keyword is in. Always keep the user experience in
mind with this.
Image Tag: The html code used to
add an image to the page (i.e. <img src=”file-name-including-keyword.jpg”
title=”Title of the image including the keyword” alt=”Description of the image
including the keyword”>). This text won’t show up on a page, unless, for
some reason, the image itself doesn’t load. If there are multiple images on a page,
you can add variations of the keyword to each of them.
Meta Description: The snippet of
text that gets displayed in the search results to describe the content of the
page. Search engines don’t use this as part of their ranking algothrim,
however, they do highlight/bold any keywords used here, which makes your site
stand out more in the search results and seem more relevant.
Google no longer takes into
account the meta keywords tag (i.e. <meta name=”keywords” content=”Keyword
1, Variation of Keyword 1″>), as it’s too easy to manipulate and spam. As
they don’t pay attention to the tag, it makes no difference at all to your
site’s rankings if you use it or not. Some sites still use it, some don’t. If
anything, you’re better to not use it, as doing so makes it easier for
competitors to pinpoint what exactly keywords you’re targeting.
How To Vary Keyword Usage
You can target multiple keywords
on 1 page but, unless they’re very closely related, it can be difficult to do.
The best approach is to have 1 main keyword target for each page, and then to
also target variations of that keyword with that same page. Keyword variations
will typically be the main keyword with one or more extra words (online,
service, review, buy, cheap, London, Yorkshire, etc.) added.
If the only difference between
keywords is the order of the words, a minor word (a, an, in, on, to, etc.) or
plurality (s, ies, etc.), then you can target those keywords on the same page
as multiple main keyword targets, as Google recognises each of those variations
as being nearly the same, and will generally return pretty much the same set of
search results for each of them.
So, if you wanted to rank a page
on your site for ‘Birmingham accountants’, you could try and rank that same
page for…
Accountants Birmingham
Accountants in Birmingham
Accountant in Birmingham
Birmingham accountancy firm
Accountants near Birmingham
Best accountants in Birmingham
Birmingham accounting company
Birmingham chartered accountants
Chartered accountants in
Birmingham
…by using variations of the main
keyword in the keyword placement options listed above. For example, use….
Page Title: Birmingham
Accountants
H1 Tag: Birmingham Chartered
Accountancy Firm
Body Content: If you need a
chartered accountant in Birmingham…
Image Tag: –
John-Birmingham-Accountant
Meta Description: We are one of
the best accountants in Birmingham…
That would be preferable to using
the main target keyword (i.e. ‘Birmingham Accountants’) in the page title, h1
tag, body content, image tag and meta description. As well as removing the risk
of, and a penalty for, over-optimising for ‘Birmingham Accountants’, it
improves your rankings for those keyword variations that you use. So, not only
is it not necessary to use the exact keyword repeatedly, it’s actually more
beneficial for you not to do so.
You also don’t only need to use
keywords (main or variations) in their exact form or in isolation. You can, and
again it’s beneficial to do so, use them as part of a phrase or use dividers,
like dashes (-) or pipes (|). This can make your keyword usage look more
natural to both visitors and search engines. Sticking with the ‘Birmingham
Accountants’ example, you could do the following…
Page Title: “Birmingham
Accountants | Name Of Company” or “Name Of Company | Accountants | Birmingham”
H1 Tag: “We Are An Accountancy
Firm Based In Birmingham” or “Name Of Company – Birmingham’s Best Accountants”
How Often To Use Keywords
The page title is by far the most
important place to add the keyword for a page, so make sure, at the very least,
you use the keyword there. If you need to make it part of a phrase, change the
order of the words, or add a divider or two, so as to make it look more
professional or to target more keywords, then that’s fine – it won’t prevent
you ranking 1st for that keyword.
In addition to using the keyword
in the page title try to use it, or a variation of it, in at least 2 of these 3
places…
Url
H1 Tag
Body Content
…and at least 2 of these 5
places…
Site Navigation Link Text
In-Content Link Text
Image Tag
Meta Description
If you do that, then your
keyword, or variations of it, will be in at least 5 of the 8 keyword placement
options, and it should be clear to Google what keywords to rank that page for.
You can safely use your keyword in all 8 places, however, if you do so, it’s
essential that you use multiple variations of the keyword. If you list the
exact keyword target (e.g. ‘Birmingham Accountants’) in each of those 8 places,
then you’re really risking an over-optimisation penalty.
You don’t have to use a keyword,
or variations of it, x amount of times to be able to rank a page for that
keyword – there’s no magic number to aim for. What you should not do is let the
quality or professionalism of a page suffer because you’re trying to force a
keyword in a couple more times. You should always place the readability and
usability of your site above keyword usage.
If, for whatever reason, you can
only use a keyword in a couple of places on a page, that doesn’t necessarily
mean that ranking well for that keyword is impossible – it just makes the
process of ranking it a bit more more difficult. You can still rank 1st in the
search results for that keyword if you have better content andmore high quality
backlinks than your competitors.
Good Example 1
Target Keyword: Boutique Clothing
Page Title: Boutique Clothing |
Online Store | Name Of Company
Url:
www.nameofcompany.co.uk/boutique-clothing
H1 Tag: Boutique Clothes &
Fashion
Site Navigation Link Text:
Boutique Clothes
Image Tag:
Boutique-Dresses-And-Tops
Good Example 2
Target Keyword: Solicitors London
Page Title: Name Of Company |
Solicitors In London
H1 Tag: Solicitors – London –
About Us
Body Content: We believe that
we’re the best solicitors in London. We have 20+ years of experience…
Image Tag: London-Solicitors-Photo
Meta Description: Looking for an
experienced and reliable solicitor? We can help you. We have offices based
around London – visit us today.
Good Example 3
Target Keyword: Freelance SEO
Consultant
Page Title: SEO | Freelance
Consultant | Training & Services
Url:
www.nameofcompany.co.uk/seo-consultancy
Body Content: I’m a freelance SEO
consultant and I can help your business improve your visibility in search
engines.
In-Content Link Text: Freelance
SEO Service
Image Tag: John-Smith-Freelance-SEO-Consultant
Bad Example 1
Target Keyword: Emigrate To New
Zealand
Page Title: Emigrate To New
Zealand
Url:
www.nameofcompany.co.uk/emigrate-to-new-zealand
H1 Tag: Emigrate To New Zealand
Site Navigation Link Text:
Emigrate To New Zealand
Image Tag: Emigrate-To-New-Zealand
Bad Example 2
Target Keyword: Hairdressers In
Birmingham
Page Title: Hairdressers
H1 Tag: Hairdressers In
Birmingham
Body Content: We’re a
hairdressers in Birmingham. We’re the best Birmingham hairdressers because
we’re experienced and cheap. If you need hairdressers Birmingham, come to us
today.
Image Tag:
Hairdressers-In-Birmingham
Meta Description: Hairdressers In
Birmingham. Birmingham Hairdressers. Hairdressers Birmingham.
Bad Example 3
Target Keyword: Web Design
Company
Page Title: Web Design Company
& Web Design Companies
Url:
www.nameofcompany.co.uk/web-design-company
Body Content: We are a web design
company. We design websites. Are you looking for web design companies? Then
contact this web design company now.
In-Content Link Text: Web Design
Company
Image Tag:
Web-Design-Company-Web-Design-Company
By Mark Walters
