How to Use Keywords for SEO: 7 Best Tips

Keywords are 1 of the astir foundational parts of SEO. 

But if you don’t cognize however to usage them, you aren’t apt to look prominently successful hunt results oregon pull users to your site.

In this guide, we’ll amusement you however to usage keywords for SEO to assistance you amplify your hunt presence.

What Are Keywords?

Keywords are hunt queries users benignant into Google (or different hunt engine) and correspond opportunities for you to look successful results erstwhile you person applicable contented connected your website. 

We often speech astir keywords successful 3 main categories based connected the content’s focus:

• Primary keywords: The hunt operation a webpage is targeting. It’s the main taxable of the page. An nonfiction astir making a smoothie vessel could people the superior keyword “how to marque a smoothie bowl.”
• Secondary keywords: Synonyms oregon long-tail variants (more circumstantial presumption that thin to beryllium longer) of the superior keyword. Typically, the hunt results for secondary keywords are precise akin to the superior keyword due to the fact that the searchers are looking for akin answers.
• Semantic keywords: Terms related to the main taxable of your webpage. If you’re targeting the superior keyword “how to marque a smoothie bowl,” you could see semantic keywords specified arsenic “blender” and “frozen fruit.”

Why Is It Important to Use Keywords?

Learning however to usage keywords for SEO is important due to the fact that hunt engines scan your contented for those presumption to determine if it’s applicable to a circumstantial query.

Let’s accidental you merchantability smoothie kits.

It’s a bully thought for your corresponding merchandise leafage to notation this phrase. To marque it much apt for Google to fertile (position) your leafage highly successful hunt results for this keyword.

This is important for attracting visitors to your website.

Users seldom look beyond the archetypal leafage of hunt results. Because they tin typically find what they request successful the archetypal mates of results.

For example, the archetypal integrated results connected desktop and mobile person an average click-through complaint of 22%. The 2nd presumption sees considerably little numbers—9% connected desktop and 13% connected mobile.

But your leafage shouldn’t conscionable notation this superior keyword. It should besides see secondary keywords, truthful you tin fertile for much hunt presumption without publishing further webpages.

Semantic keywords are besides adjuvant due to the fact that they awesome to hunt engines that you’ve comprehensively covered a topic. 

How to Find the Right Keywords

To find presumption to usage connected your site, you request to bash keyword research. It’s a process that involves uncovering which queries your people assemblage is searching for.

While you tin bash this manually, the astir businesslike mode to find applicable and invaluable hunt phrases is to usage a keyword probe tool. These tools not lone supply you with keyword ideas but besides metrics to assistance you place options with the astir potential.

Use Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool for this.

Start by entering a effect keyword (a wide word related to your niche). And participate your website URL into the purple hunt barroom to get personalized results for your domain. 

Then, click “Search.”

The adjacent leafage volition amusement a database of keywords related to your starting term. And antithetic metrics for each.

Here’s a breakdown of cardinal metrics you should wage attraction to:

• Search intent (Intent): The intent of the user’s search. It could beryllium commercial, informational, transactional, and/or navigational. Webpages that don’t conscionable the hunt intent are little apt to execute precocious rankings.
• Search volume (Volume): The mean fig of searches per month
• Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD %): An AI-powered metric that shows however challenging it is for your circumstantial domain to fertile successful the apical 10 results for a fixed query
• SERP features (SF): These are non-standard integrated (unpaid) hunt results that basal retired from the accepted bluish links. Such arsenic images oregon videos.

How bash you harvester these metrics successful your analysis? It depends connected what benignant of contented you’re creating.

Let’s accidental you’re the proprietor of the website shown above. And you’re trying to stitchery presumption you tin usage successful blog content. To thrust marque consciousness and summation integrated traffic.

First, the keywords you prime request to person either informational (I) intent—the idiosyncratic wants to larn something—or commercialized (C) intent—the idiosyncratic wants to probe circumstantial products.

Then, purpose for keywords with a Personal Keyword Difficulty people betwixt 0% and 49% since it volition beryllium easier to fertile for those. 

When it comes to hunt volume, spell for keywords with astatine slightest 100 monthly searches. So you tin realistically turn integrated traffic.

Apply filters according to these specifications. 

Then, click connected a keyword you’re funny successful to larn much astir it and analyse the top-ranking content.

You’ll present beryllium taken to Keyword Overview. 

Here, you tin spot your imaginable presumption successful hunt results. And your domain’s level of topical authority. 

Scroll down to “Keyword ideas.” And research options for secondary presumption to see successful your contented nether “Keyword variations.” 

Continue scrolling to the “SERP Analysis” section. Which shows a database of the top-ranking webpages. 

Make definite to sojourn each of these pages and analyse their contented to spot however you tin outdo it. And find semantic presumption worthy including. 

Finding suitable keywords mightiness instrumentality immoderate proceedings and mistake depending connected your manufacture and SEO goals. So, play astir with antithetic filters, excavation into keyword variations, and see your audience’s needs to get the champion results.

7 Places to Use Keywords successful Your Content

The main regularisation of keyword usage is that you should incorporated keywords naturally. 

But determination are besides immoderate places wherever you should incorporated keywords to marque it easier for users and hunt motor crawlers to recognize what your contented is about.

1. Title and H1 Tags

When hunt motor bots crawl your webpage, they scan some the title tag (HTML that specifies the leafage rubric for hunt engines and browsers) and the H1 tag (HTML that specifies the rubric connected the existent webpage) to analyse what the contented is about.

The rubric tag and H1 should beryllium akin oregon the same.

Why?

Because rubric tags often look successful hunt results. So, a idiosyncratic volition beryllium confused if they click connected a effect and spell to a webpage with a antithetic title.

Here’s what an optimized rubric tag and H1 tag look similar (assuming the rubric tag is showing successful hunt results):

Your superior keyword should look successful the rubric and H1 tag—preferably adjacent the front. So the leafage rubric instantly grabs users' attention.

And support it nether 60 characters, including spaces. To forestall Google from truncating it successful hunt results.

2. Headings and Subheadings

Headings and subheadings (H2-H6) interruption up your contented into sections to marque it easier for users to navigate and to assistance hunt motor crawlers amended recognize your content. 

This makes subheadings large places to incorporated immoderate secondary keywords you privation to fertile for.

Here’s an illustration of a atrocious (left) nonfiction operation with nary headings and a bully (right) nonfiction operation that does see them:

The nonfiction connected the near is hard to skim. And it doesn’t fto users cognize what benignant of accusation it covers. 

But the nonfiction connected the close lays retired each the cardinal accusation upfront. And allows the idiosyncratic to skip to the sections they’re astir funny in.

When structuring your article, support successful caput that each heading should screen a focal constituent related to the main topic. Any subtopics related to a circumstantial focal constituent should look arsenic subheadings.

For example, the H3s nether the H2 “7-Day Vegan Diet Plan” screen antithetic days of the week. If we were to see an H3 that talks astir the benefits of a vegan fare nether that H2, it would beryllium retired of place.

3. Main Body Content

Your primary, secondary, and semantic keywords should look people passim your page’s main assemblage content. This is simply a awesome to users and hunt motor crawlers that your webpage is applicable to a circumstantial query.

A bully regularisation of thumb is to notation the superior keyword successful the archetypal paragraph. So users tin easy recognize what the leafage is about.

But is determination a circumstantial fig of times you should notation the superior keyword? 

The abbreviated reply is no.

You whitethorn person heard of keyword density—the fig of times a people keyword appears connected a webpage comparative to however agelong the contented is. And you mightiness deliberation achieving a definite density is important to execute precocious rankings.

This is simply a misconception—keyword density isn’t a ranking factor. Instead, support your keyword usage natural.

4. Anchor Text

Anchor text is the clickable transcript that takes you to different page, a antithetic website, oregon an email client. 

When linking to different pages connected your site, it’s a bully thought to usage the linked pages’ keywords arsenic anchor text.

Why nexus to different pages connected your site?

Because doing truthful helps users observe related contented they whitethorn beryllium funny in. Plus, it makes it easier for hunt engines to find pages connected your site. 

When it comes to anchor substance specifically, effort to bounds it to 5 words. And marque definite not to usage the nonstop aforesaid anchor substance each time. Instead, premix superior and secondary keywords.

For example, you tin usage the anchor substance “identical content” to nexus to a webpage targeting the keyword “duplicate content.”

This gives hunt motor crawlers much accusation astir the contented of the webpage and prevents your website from appearing overly optimized.

5. Image Alt Tags

Alternative text (alt substance for short) is an HTML constituent that describes a circumstantial representation connected a leafage and is work aloud by surface readers and shows connected the leafage if the representation doesn’t load.

Search motor crawlers usage alt substance to find what an representation is about. Which means incorporating your superior oregon secondary keywords successful alt tags tin assistance you look successful image-based hunt results to get adjacent much postulation to your website.

Beyond SEO benefits, alt tags are important for accessibility. Visually impaired radical who usage surface readers trust connected them to recognize what the images connected a webpage portray.

For example, if you people a blog station targeting the keyword “carrot cake”, you tin besides adhd images of carrot cakes and see this keyword successful alt tags.

Here’s an illustration of however 1 website did it:

The aforesaid photograph besides appears successful Google Images hunt results for the people keyword.

Keep successful caput that you don’t request to supply alt substance for decorative images, specified arsenic graphic illustrations that don’t convey immoderate information.

As for however agelong it should be, determination isn’t a circumstantial recommendation. But it’s omniscient to support it to 125 characters due to the fact that of surface scholar limitations.

6. URL Slug

A URL slug is the past portion of a URL that acts arsenic a leafage identifier. And this is simply a premier spot to see a page’s superior keyword.

Google has confirmed that a URL’s words are a “lightweight” ranking factor, peculiarly erstwhile encountering a portion of contented for the archetypal time. 

Plus, utilizing your people keyword successful the URL slug is beneficial from a idiosyncratic acquisition standpoint. If a idiosyncratic sends idiosyncratic other the link, the different idiosyncratic volition instantly cognize what the leafage is astir and whitethorn beryllium much apt to click connected the link.

A bully signifier is to support the slug shorter than 5 words portion providing capable accusation astir the contented whenever possible. 

For example, a slug specified arsenic “/best-family-hotels-in-rhodes” is overmuch amended than “/best-hotels-for-families-with-kids-in-rhodes.”

7. Meta Description

A meta description is an HTML constituent that provides a little (one oregon 2 sentences) statement of the webpage content.

Although it isn’t a ranking factor, it’s inactive a large spot to usage your superior keyword to entice users to sojourn your page.

Sometimes, Google features meta descriptions successful the little snippets that look successful hunt results similar the 1 below. But it mightiness make its ain snippet.

Although there’s nary quality bounds for meta descriptions, Google cuts them disconnected astatine astir 680 pixels (roughly 105 characters) connected mobile browsers.

It’s besides a bully thought to front-load the astir important accusation successful your meta description. To marque definite it’s disposable and debar having it get chopped disconnected if your meta statement gets truncated.

Common Keyword Use Mistakes to Avoid

Now that you cognize however to usage keywords for SEO, it’s clip to spell implicit mistakes you should debar to further boost your chances of ranking highly.

Keyword Stuffing

Keyword stuffing is simply a atrocious SEO maneuver that involves unnaturally adding arsenic galore keywords arsenic imaginable to a webpage successful an effort to manipulate hunt results.

Not lone is keyword stuffing a usurpation of Google’s spam policies, but it besides doesn’t enactment due to the fact that of Google’s 2011 algorithm update.

Modern hunt algorithms are precocious capable to recognize erstwhile a webpage is irrelevant to a hunt query—even if it mentions a circumstantial keyword.

If you’re wondering however galore keywords to usage for SEO, determination isn’t a hard-and-fast rule. As we discussed earlier—keyword density isn’t a ranking factor. 

But engaging successful keyword stuffing volition astir surely wounded your rankings.

Ignoring Search Intent

Fulfilling hunt intent is important due to the fact that hunt engines privation to supply adjuvant results. 

To bash so, they analyse the user’s intent and supply results that lucifer it.

Keywords are typically grouped into 1 oregon much types of hunt intent: informational, navigational, transactional, and commercial. And ignoring a keyword’s hunt intent causes mediocre hunt performance.

This is existent adjacent if your leafage is different well-optimized for your superior keyword.

Here’s an example.

You privation to people the commercialized keyword “womens dresses with pockets.” But alternatively of targeting it with a commercialized webpage (such arsenic a merchandise page), you constitute a blog station astir however to sew a formal with pockets.

No substance the prime of the article, it isn't apt it volition fertile for the people keyword. Because it serves an informational intent alternatively of a commercialized one.

No Keyword Strategy

A keyword strategy is simply a program that determines the keywords you purpose to fertile for, the contented you’ll people them with, and the precedence of idiosyncratic keywords.

A strategy allows you to find and people keywords with the highest concern imaginable that assistance you execute a circumstantial goal. Such arsenic expanding conversions.

So alternatively of targeting keywords astatine random, you’ll put your resources successful keywords with the highest imaginable ROI (return connected investment).

With a strategy, it’s besides easier to measurement results and tweak your attack arsenic needed.

Use Keywords to Grow Traffic

To summation your website’s integrated traffic, you request to prime keywords carefully. Then usage them strategically connected your website.

With a Semrush subscription, you’ll get countless keyword suggestions to turn your rankings. And you’ll summation entree to presumption tracking, rival analysis, and different tools to further boost your results.

Sign up for a free trial and trial thrust our full suite of SEO tools.