How to Choose the Best Keywords for SEO

Everyone is using search engines to help them locate the right information. The fact that people are using search makes it critical that you implement search engine optimization (SEO) tactics into your website. One of the easiest ways to implement SEO into your website is to use keywords throughout your website content.

Keywords refer to words or phrases that are typically used when someone performs a search for your business, products or services. For example, if you were a truck driver in San Jose, “san jose truck driver” would be a keyword that should be found on your website.

Some people think that choosing the right keywords for their website is simple, but it can be more daunting than you think. There are A LOT of keywords out there, and it’s possible that you’re overlooking words or phrases that are associated with your business.

In order to choose the best keywords for your SEO tactics, you need to use the following tips.

Determine your target audience.

This may seem silly, but it has everything to do with your keywords. Is your audience made up of teenagers or adults? If teenagers, you’ll also need to consider slang words used to describe your products or services. If adults, you could eliminate the slang.

Create an initial list for each page.

Think long and hard about the keywords and phrases that would be used to describe the offering on each one of your website’s pages. For example, make sure that your product pages contain keywords that are associated with your products. Make sure that your contact us page has keywords that would be used if someone wanted your address or phone number. Write down your list of words.

Use tools.

Now that you have a base, use a keyword tool, such as Google’s Keyword Tool, to help you locate keywords you may have missed. For example, if you are still the truck driver in San Jose, your keywords may have solely focused on trucks, but this tool can help you learn about other popular keywords associated with your initial keywords, such as logistics or moving company. Plus, this tool will also show you just how popular each keyword is, so you can decide if it’s important enough to add into your content.

Consider misspellings.

If you have a word or phrase related to your business, product or service that is regularly misspelled, you may want to use the misspelled word as a keyword (but not often or you’ll look uneducated). Not everyone should use this trick, so don’t intentionally misspell words on your website. If it’s not a common misspelling, you won’t earn traffic because of it.

Choosing the right keywords can be difficult, and it’s extremely time consuming. It’s important that you take your time to thoroughly investigate your target audience and your website to determine which keywords belong on which page. Once you have your solid list, make sure to incorporate these keywords naturally into your text. Now, you’ll be on your way to SEO success.