It’s likely that you’ve heard a lot about how important it is to target keywords in your blog posts.But why should you take that action? And precisely how are keywords targeted?
In this post, you’ll learn how.Why focus on keywords?You may experience consistent traffic over time if your content has a high Google ranking.
However, you cannot simply publish any post and anticipate receiving search traffic. You need to write about topics that people are looking for if you want to get consistent organic traffic.
Because of this, you ought to target keywords in your blog posts.How to Write Blog Posts That Target Keywords You now understand the significance of targeting keywords. But precisely how do you “target” them?How to do it?
1. Find ideas for keywords
The first step is to decide which keywords you want to target. We are looking for relevant keywords that people are searching for, not just any random keywords.
Using a keyword tool is the simplest method. Keyword tools are collections of SEO metrics for words and phrases. Based on the seed keyword idea you entered, they present you with a list of ideas.
Any keyword research tool is acceptable. Numerous of them are free. However, the majority of free keyword tools have some limitations, such as a limited database, poor or absent filters, SEO metrics, and more.
That can make it hard to make the right choices.As a result, a “professional” keyword tool like Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer is what we recommend. How to use the tool to find keyword ideas is as follows:
Try entering one or more relevant seed keywords, such as “coffee,” “latte,” “french press,” etc., If you run a coffee blog, go to the Matching terms report and switch the tab to Questions.
There are more than 300,000 possible keywords that you could target. That is too many, and the majority of them probably compete too much. When you are just getting started, it is best to focus on keywords like:High in Traffic Potential (TP):
The estimated amount of search traffic you could receive if you rank first for that topic is referred to as TP. We work out it by assessing how much inquiry traffic the #1 page as of now gets.Low in Keyword Difficulty (KD): The difficulty of ranking for a keyword in the top ten organic search results is measured by KD.Make use of the available filters to narrow the list:You can look through the list from this point and select the keywords that are relevant to your website.
2. Identify the intent of the search
Google’s goal is to rank the content that is most relevant to any query. As a result, in order to provide the most relevant results, it tries to comprehend why a searcher is using that keyword in Google.
This means that we must identify and match search intent in order to rank highly on Google. Fortunately, we can accomplish this by examining the top-ranked pages for your target query at the moment.
We want to specifically identify the three Cs of search intent:Type of content: Blog posts are the most common type of content in the SERPs.Guides, listicles, reviews, and other types of content fall into this category.
The predominant angle is the content angle. Models incorporate the ongoing year, for fledglings, straightforward and simple, and that’s just the beginning.
Let’s take a look at the pages with the highest rankings for the keyword “how to clean coffee maker,” for instance:Type of content: all of them are blog posts.Format of content:
The majority of them are instructions.Content angle: Several of them appear to have mentioned “with vinegar.” You might want to take advantage of this angle.In the event that you’re focusing on this watchword, for instance, it’s probably you’ll need to make a how-to direct on cleaning an espresso creator (maybe with vinegar!).
3. Produce the content Targeting keywords in blog posts is no longer limited to keyword stuffing.
This is an outdated strategy that no longer works. You must demonstrate to Google that your content is relevant and deserving of being on the first page if you want to rank highly on the search engine.
You have already overcome the first obstacle by matching search intent. But how else can you demonstrate to Google that your content is worthy of being there?How to do it:
A. Cover important subtopics If almost all of the top-ranked pages cover subtopics, it means that people are looking for them.How to locate these subtopics:
In the Content Gap tool of Ahrefs, paste a few of the top-ranked URLs for your main topic. Leave the bottom section blank. Hit Show keywords. Set the Intersection filter to 3 and 4 targets.
We can see that the top-ranked pages cover the following topics:What is earned media? Examples of owned media; examples of paid media; examples of paid media versus earned media; and more.
It is likely that we will also need to discuss these subtopics if we are going to cover this topic (earned media). Better still: You can organize your content using them as potential H2s.
B. Invest in a positive reader experience Your content should be simple to read. After all, not only do you want your blog post to rank well, but you also want readers to read it.Make reading a breeze by following these guidelines:
C. Don’t forget your on-page SEO Your on-page SEO is the “icing” on the cake that helps make it twice as clear to Google and searchers that your page is relevant.
Use descriptive subheadings (H2–H6) for hierarchy. Use bullets to help with skimming. Use images and GIFs (where needed) to break up the text. Use short sentences and paragraphs to avoid “walls of text.”
Use simple words that everyone can understand. Write as you speak to make thingsSome fundamentals:If at all possible, include the keyword in the title.
In 2020, Google will confirm the significance of headings. Use a close variation rather than forcing the keyword into the sentence if it is difficult.Use short, descriptive URLs:
Before clicking on a page, searchers can learn more about it by looking at the URL’s keyword.Compose a convincing meta portrayal – It’s anything but a positioning element, however it further aides captivate searchers to tap on your outcome.
Use descriptive alt text to help Google better comprehend your images.Link to relevant internal and external resources: Providing visitors with access to relevant internal and external resources enables them to navigate your website and find additional information.