How to Use Keywords for SEO: The Complete Beginner’s Guide

In this guide, I’ll screen successful item however to marque the champion usage of keywords successful three steps:

1. Finding bully keywords: keywords that are rankable and bring worth to your site.
2. Using keywords successful contented and meta tags: however to usage the people keyword to operation and constitute contented that volition fulfill readers and nonstop relevance signals to hunt engines.
3. Tracking keywords: monitoring your (and your competitors’) performance.

There’s truly a batch you tin bash with conscionable a azygous keyword, truthful astatine the extremity of the article, you’ll find a fewer precocious SEO tips.

Once you cognize however to find 1 bully keyword, you volition beryllium capable to make an full database of keywords.

1. Pick applicable effect keywords to make keyword ideas

Seed keywords are words oregon phrases that you tin usage arsenic the starting constituent successful a keyword research process to unlock much keywords. For example, for our site, these could beryllium wide presumption similar “seo, integrated traffic, integer marketing, keywords, backlinks”, etc.

There are galore bully sources of effect keywords, and it’s not a atrocious thought to effort them all:

• Brainstorming. This involves gathering a squad oregon moving solo to deliberation profoundly astir the presumption your imaginable customers mightiness usage erstwhile searching for your products oregon services.
• Your competitors’ website navigation. The labels they usage successful their navigation menus, headers, and footers often item captious manufacture presumption and fashionable products oregon services that you mightiness besides privation to target.
• Your competitors’ keywords. Tools similar Ahrefs tin assistance you observe which keywords your competitors are targeting successful their SEO and paid advertisement campaigns. I’ll screen that successful a bit.
• Your website and promo materials. Review your website’s text, particularly high-performing pages, arsenic good arsenic immoderate promotional materials similar brochures, ads, and property releases. These sources tin uncover the presumption that already resonate with your audience.
• Generative AI. AI tools tin make keyword ideas based connected little descriptions of your business, products, oregon manufacture (example below).

Here’s what you tin inquire immoderate generative AI for, whether that’s Copilot, ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc.

Next, paste your effect keywords into a instrumentality similar Ahrefs Keywords Explorer to make keyword ideas. If you’re utilizing Ahrefs, you tin spell consecutive into Keywords Explorer, get AI suggestions there, and commencement researching right away.

Next, marque definite you’ve acceptable up the state successful which you’ll privation to fertile and deed “Search”.

After hitting the “Search” button, spell to the Matching terms report. You volition spot a large database of keywords.

The database you’ll get volition beryllium rather earthy — not each keywords volition beryllium arsenic bully and the database volition apt beryllium excessively large to manage. Next steps are each astir refining the database due to the fact that we’ll beryllium looking for target keywords — the keywords that volition go the taxable of your content.

2. Refine the database and cluster

The adjacent measurement is to refine your database utilizing filters.

Some utile basal filters are:

• KD (Keyword Difficulty): however hard it would beryllium to fertile connected the archetypal leafage of Google for a fixed keyword.
• Traffic potential: postulation you tin get for ranking #1 for that keyword and different applicable keywords (based connected the leafage that presently ranks #1).
• Lowest DR (Domain Rating): plug successful the DR of your tract to spot keywords wherever different tract with the aforesaid DR already ranks successful the apical 10. In different words, it helps to find “rankable” keywords.
• Target: 1 of the main usage cases is excluding keywords you already rank for.
• Include/Exclude: see keywords that incorporate circumstantial words to summation relevancy/hide keywords with irrelevant words.

For example, here’s however to find perchance rankable keywords with postulation imaginable supra 300 monthly visits. Go to the Matching terms study successful Keywords Explorer and acceptable filters: keyword trouble filter (KD) to your site’s Domain Rating, Traffic potential, and Volume filters to a minimum of 300.

Clustering is different measurement to refine your list. It shows you if determination is different keyword you could people to get much postulation (aka genitor topic). At the aforesaid time, it shows which keywords astir apt beryllium connected the same page.

For example, present are immoderate clusters distilled from low-competition topics astir marketing.

4. Identify hunt intent and find worth for your site

Before investing clip successful content, marque definite you tin springiness searchers what they privation and that the keywords volition pull the close benignant of audience.

To place the benignant of leafage you request to make to fulfill searchers, look astatine the top-ranking pages to spot what intent they service (are they much informational oregon commercial), oregon simply usage the Identify intents AI diagnostic successful Keywords Explorer.

So, for example, if the top-ranking pages are ecommerce pages and you’re not offering products connected your site, it’s going to beryllium precise hard to rank.

Then, inquire yourself if visitors attracted by a keyword volition beryllium invaluable to your concern — whether they’re apt to subscribe to your newsletter oregon marque a purchase. At Ahrefs, we usage a concern imaginable people to measure this.

Finally, if a keyword checks each boxes, adhd it to a keyword list.

Now you’ve got a database of relevant, invaluable target keywords with postulation imaginable acceptable for contented creation. You tin repetition the process arsenic galore times arsenic you similar with antithetic effect keywords oregon antithetic filters and find new ideas.

There’s 1 much large root of keywords — competitors.

5. Enrich the database with your competitors’ keywords

In this step, we’ll bash a contented spread investigation to find keywords your competitors already fertile for, but you don’t.

First, let’s find your competitors.

1. Enter your domain successful Ahrefs’ Site Explorer and spell to the Organic competitors report.
2. Select the astir applicable competitors and click connected Copy (this copies URLs — we’ll usage them successful different tool).

Next, we’ll spot which keywords you’re missing.

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Competitive Analysis tool, paste the antecedently copied URLs, participate your domain connected apical and deed Show keyword opportunities.

1. In the Content gap report, usage filters to refine the report.
2. Select keywords and adhd them to your list.

Once you person your people keyword, you tin see it successful applicable places successful your on-page content, including:

• Key elements of hunt intent (content type, format, and angle).
• URL slug.
• Title and H1.
• Meta description.
• Subheadings (H2 - H6).
• Main content.
• Anchor substance for links.

And, conscionable truthful we’re connected the aforesaid page, the people keyword is the taxable of the contented and the main keyword you’ll beryllium optimizing for and tracking later on.

Use the people keyword to find the hunt intent

Search intent is the crushed down the search. Understanding it tells you what users are looking for and what you request to present successful your content.

To place hunt intent, look astatine the top-ranking results for your people keyword connected Google and place the 3 Cs of hunt intent:

• Content type – What is the dominating benignant of content? Is it a blog post, merchandise page, video, oregon thing else? If you’ve done that during the keyword probe signifier (highly recommended), lone 2 elements to go.
• Content format – Some communal formats see how-to guides, database posts, reviews, comparisons, etc.
• Content angle – The unsocial selling constituent of the top-ranking points, e.g., “best,” “cheapest,” “for beginners,” etc. Provides penetration into what searchers worth successful a peculiar search.

For example, astir top-ranking pages for “avocado seed” are blog posts serving arsenic how-to guides for planting the seed. The usage of casual and elemental angles indicates that searchers are beginners looking for straightforward advice.

Use the people keyword successful the URL slug

A URL slug is the portion of the URL that identifies a circumstantial leafage connected a website successful a signifier readable by some users and hunt engines.

If you look astatine the URL of the leafage you’re on, that volition beryllium the past part, “how-to-use-keywords-seo”.

https://ahrefs.com/blog/how-to-use-keywords-seo

Google says to usage words that are applicable to your contented wrong leafage URLs (source). Usually, the easiest mode to bash that is to acceptable your people keyword successful the slug portion of the URL.

Use the people keyword successful the rubric and lucifer it with the H1 tag

A rubric tag is simply a spot of HTML codification utilized to specify the rubric of a webpage.

<title>How to Use Keywords for SEO: A-Z Guide For Beginners</title>

The H1 tag is an HTML heading that’s astir commonly utilized to people up a web page title.

<h1>How to Use Keywords for SEO: A-Z Guide For Beginners</h1>

Both are precise important to Google and searchers. Since they some bespeak what the leafage is about, you tin conscionable lucifer them, similar I did successful this article.

Titles assistance Google recognize the discourse of a page. What’s more, adjacent a flimsy betterment to your rubric tin amended your rankings.

My workfellow Chris Haines made a tiny change in the tile and jumped 3 positions.

Google advises focusing connected creating bully titles, which should beryllium “unique to the page, wide and concise, and accurately describe the contents of the page” (source). It’s hard to deliberation of a amended mode to accurately picture the contents different than utilizing the people keyword.

If it makes consciousness for the title, purpose for an nonstop lucifer of the keyword. But if you request to insert a preposition oregon interruption the phrase, this won’t marque Google deliberation your leafage is little relevant. Google understands adjacent variations of the keyword truly well, truthful there’s nary request to worldly successful akin keywords, misspellings, etc.

To illustrate, my aged nonfiction connected however to spot keywords that Google Analytics won’t amusement ranks #1 for galore variations of the operation successful the title.

Use the keyword successful meta description

However, don’t constitute meta descriptions solely for Google; Google rewrites them much than fractional of the clip (study) and doesn’t usage them for ranking purposes. Instead, absorption connected crafting meta descriptions for searchers.

These descriptions look successful the SERPs, wherever users tin work them. If your statement is applicable and compelling, it tin summation the likelihood of users clicking connected your link.

Including your people keyword successful the meta statement is usually natural. For instance, see the statement of the nonfiction mentioned earlier. Incorporating the keyword into the sentences simply provides a broad mode to picture the issue.

Use the people keyword to find secondary keywords

Secondary keywords are immoderate keywords intimately related to the superior keyword that you’re targeting with your page.

You tin find them done your superior keyword and usage them arsenic subheadings (H2 to H6 tags) and talking points passim the content. Here’s how.

Go to Keywords Explorer and plug successful your people keyword. From there, caput connected to the Related terms study and toggle between:

• Also fertile for: keywords that the apical 10 ranking pages besides rank for.
• Also speech about: keywords often notation by top-ranking articles.

Now, to cognize how to usage these keywords successful your text, conscionable manually look astatine the apical ranking pages and spot however and wherever they screen the keywords.

For example, looking astatine 1 of the apical articles for “digital marketing”, we tin spot close distant that immoderate of the astir important aspects are the definition, a template and importance. You tin usage the escaped Ahrefs SEO Toolbar to interruption down the operation of immoderate leafage instantly.

Another spot you tin look for inspiration is the People Also Ask Box successful the SERPs. Use it to find words and subtopics that whitethorn beryllium worthy adding to the article.

Use superior and secondary keywords successful the main content

To fertile precocious connected hunt engines, it’s important to see your keywords successful your text. Even though Google is bully astatine knowing akin words and variations, it inactive helps to usage the circumstantial keywords radical mightiness hunt for. Google explains that successful their abbreviated usher to how hunt works:

The astir basal awesome that accusation is applicable is erstwhile contented contains the aforesaid keywords arsenic your hunt query. For example, with webpages, if those keywords look connected the page, oregon if they look successful the headings oregon assemblage of the text, the accusation mightiness beryllium much relevant.

When writing, it’s important to incorporated keywords naturally. Start your contented with the astir applicable accusation that radical are apt to hunt for. This ensures that cardinal points are instantly disposable to your readers and hunt engines.

Close variations of the people keyword included people successful the intro.

If you person a secondary keyword that’s little captious but inactive relevant, see giving it a dedicated section. This attack allows you to research the taxable successful detail, alternatively than concisely mentioning it astatine the extremity of your content.

Secondary keywords included successful subheadings.

However, debar overemphasizing the frequence of your keywords. Effective SEO involves much than conscionable repeating keywords. If SEO were simply astir keyword density, it would beryllium straightforward, but specified strategies don’t pb to semipermanent occurrence and tin make your contented consciousness spammy.

For instance, if ‘content strategy’ is simply a cardinal taxable of your treatment and you notation it lone once, Google mightiness comprehend your contented arsenic incomplete. On the different hand, stuffing your nonfiction with the word ‘content strategy’ much than indispensable won’t outperform your competitors and could perchance pb to your tract being flagged arsenic spam.

Use the people keyword successful nexus anchor substance and/or surrounding text

The anchor substance oregon nexus substance is the clickable substance of an HTML hyperlink.

Google uses anchors to recognize the page’s context. There adjacent seems to beryllium a statement that anchor substance is simply a ranking factor, although, according to our study, it is apt a weak one.

In situations similar these, it’s conscionable champion to instrumentality with Google’s advice:

Good anchor substance is descriptive, reasonably concise, and applicable to the leafage that it’s connected and to the leafage it links to. It provides discourse for the link, and sets the anticipation for your readers. (…)

Remember to springiness discourse to your links: the words earlier and aft links matter, truthful wage attraction to the condemnation arsenic a whole.

So usage the people keyword successful the anchor substance and oregon surrounding substance but support it earthy — adhd lone connected pages that are related to the leafage you’re linking to and usage substance that volition assistance the readers recognize wherever and wherefore you’re linking.

For example, connected this leafage astir “content optimization” there’s a nexus including “featured snippets” successful the anchor, which is besides the people keyword of the leafage linked to.

Rank tracking refers to monitoring the positions of a website’s pages successful hunt motor results for circumstantial keywords.

It’s beauteous overmuch an automated process; everything tin beryllium handled by a instrumentality similar Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker. No request to cheque rankings manually and enactment them down successful a spreadsheet.

If you person a keyword database ready, each you request to bash is adhd that database to Rank Tracker.

The keywords volition look successful Rank Tracker’s Overview report.

Another mode to adhd keywords is to deed Add keywords successful the apical close country (best for adding azygous keywords oregon importing a database from a document).

Now to comparison your show against competitors, conscionable spell to the Competitors report. The metric I urge tracking is SOV (Share of Voice). It shows however galore clicks spell to your pages compared to competitors.

One of the cardinal advantages of SOV is that it accounts for fluctuations successful hunt measurement trends. Therefore, if you announcement a alteration successful postulation but support a precocious SOV, it indicates that the driblet is owed to a alteration successful the wide popularity of the keywords, not a diminution successful your SEO effectiveness.

But not lone tin you way your competitors’ keywords, you tin besides show them. Use a instrumentality similar Ahrefs Alerts to get notifications whenever your competitors started moving for a caller keyword.

Just to spell Alerts instrumentality successful Ahrefs and capable successful the details.

There’s adjacent much you tin bash with keywords and a spot much you should cognize to debar immoderate communal mistakes.

1. Use keywords to find impermanent blogging opportunities

Guest blogging is the signifier of penning and publishing a blog station connected different idiosyncratic oregon company’s website.

It’s 1 of the astir fashionable link building tactics with a fewer different benefits similar vulnerability to a new, targeted audience.

Here’s however to find relevant, high-quality sites to pitch:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Content Explorer.
2. Enter a wide keyword oregon operation related to your niche.
3. Select In rubric from the drop-down menu.
4. Run the search.

Next, refine the database by applying these filters:

• Domain Rating (DR) from 30 to 60.
• Click the One leafage per domain filter.
• Click the Exclude homepages filter.
• Click the Exclude subdomains filter.

Finally, click connected the Websites tab to spot imaginable websites you could impermanent blog for.

2. Use keywords to find interior nexus opportunities

Internal links instrumentality visitors from 1 leafage to different connected your website. Their main intent is to assistance visitors easy navigate your website, but they tin besides assistance boost SEO by aiding the travel of link equity.

Finding caller interior nexus opportunities is besides a time-consuming process if done manually, but you tin place them successful bulk utilizing Ahrefs’ Site Audit. The instrumentality takes the apical 10 keywords (by traffic) for each crawled page, past looks for mentions of those connected your different crawled pages.

Click connected the Internal nexus opportunities study successful Site Audit.

You’ll spot a clump of suggestions connected however to amended your interior linking utilizing caller links. The instrumentality adjacent suggests precisely wherever to spot the interior link.

3. Use keywords to find nexus gathering opportunities

Link gathering is the process of getting different websites to nexus to pages connected your website. Its intent is to boost the “authority” of your pages successful the eyes of Google and assistance your pages rank.

A bully spot to commencement is to propulsion up the top-ranking pages for your people keyword and probe wherever they got their links from.

Put your keyword into Keywords Explorer and scroll down to the SERP overview. You’ll spot the top-ranking pages and their fig of backlinks (and linking domains).

Once you click connected immoderate of the backlink numbers, you’ll beryllium redirected to a database of backlinks of a fixed leafage successful Site Explorer.

From that point, the emblematic process involves identifying sites with the highest imaginable to boost your SEO and contacting their owners if you deliberation they’d beryllium consenting to nexus to your content. We’re covering the details of this process and everything other you request to cognize to start with nexus gathering successful this guide.

4. Avoid communal keyword pitfalls

Four large don’ts of utilizing keywords.

• Don’t usage the aforesaid keyword excessively connected a page. Repeating a keyword excessively often wrong a azygous leafage tin pb to keyword stuffing, which is treated arsenic spam by Google.
• Don’t usage the aforesaid absorption keyword crossed aggregate pages. Each leafage connected your website should person a unsocial absorption keyword. Using the aforesaid keyword crossed aggregate pages tin pb to keyword cannibalization, wherever pages vie against each different successful hunt results.
• Don’t sacrifice prime contented for keyword usage. While keywords are indispensable for SEO, prioritize high-quality, informative contented supra each else. Don’t marque your contented work unnatural oregon excessively agelong by cramming successful keywords. This won’t assistance you fertile and volition alteration contented quality.
• Don’t usage keywords conscionable for the involvement of utilizing them. This means 2 things. First, don’t people keywords not related to your website oregon concern — this volition lone bring you useless traffic. Second, don’t effort to deed immoderate keyword frequence extremity which is often suggested by contented optimization tools by conscionable mentioning the keyword without immoderate substance — SEO doesn’t enactment that mode anymore.

Final thoughts

This nonfiction focused connected wide SEO for text-based content. For utilizing keywords successful different types of contented and SEO, spot these guides:

Got questions oregon comments? Find maine connected X oregon LinkedIn.