GUEST POST - If You Don't Know Your Keywords, You're Wasting Your Time Blogging | Why SEO Keywords are Essential Pieces of Your Content

I'm SOOO excited to have my friend Mariah of Mariah Magazine Web Design & Strategy talk to us today about SEO Keywords! If you don't know your SEO keywords, you HAVE TO check out this post - and her SEO Keyword Intensive Session! 

Technically, keywords are a word or phrase that best summarizes or defines the essence of your content.

But why are they SEO keywords essential?

They’re the connecting link from your audience + Google...to your website.

They make it possible for people to find your site via search engines.

Makes sense, right?

But the tricky part is that random keywords or generic keywords aren’t quite going to cut it. In order to get your content to start working better for you, your SEO keywords should be highly relevant to your audience, their pain points, what they’re searching for, what solutions they need, etc.

Because that’s why we actually Google things to begin with.

We need an answer.

We need a solution.

We need information.

So, as a website owner, that should be your goal.

“How can I become the solution for my ideal audience?”

Once you know HOW you help your audience, SEO keywords help connect your solutions and information to the search results showing up in Google.

Now step back and think “What will my ideal customer/client type INTO Google when they’re looking for the information, solution, answer that I have?”

That’s SEO in a reallllllly basic nutshell.

But...there’s a few major rules to follow so you can get the MOST out of your SEO keywords and content.

3 ESSENTIAL SEO KEYWORD RULES:

• Rule #1: Don’t stuff your keywords so that you sound like a robot:
  Your content is FOR your website visitors, it’s not for search engines. Don’t write like a robot, that’s one sure fire way to annoy your visitors and ensure that they steer clear from your website…..basically forever.
  
  Keyword relevance is more important than keyword density in SEO.
  It USED to be density. Google used to care how many times you repeated the same keyword or phrase in a certain page/post, but that’s not quite the case anymore.
  
  As search algorithms continue to grow smarter, they’re being able to examine your content as a whole rather than as a culmination of various words and phrases.
  
  So in short, don’t STUFF keywords. It’s unnecessary and makes your content not only painful to read, but also makes it painfully obvious to your visitors that you wrote the content for the search engines and not for them — and no one likes to feel like second best.
   

• Rule #2: Don’t Be Basic:
  Having a target keyword for a page or post being “marketing” or “social media” or “wedding industry” isn’t going to get you very far. Those words are TECHNICALLY keywords, but they’re WAY To competitive, generic, and vague to give you any value.
  
  Go to Google now and type in “marketing” -- look how many random things come up?
  
  It’s so vague because you weren’t specific enough in your search request, and Google doesn’t know what the heck to show you, so it’s just showing you the best “Marketing” stuff it’s got….which is going to come from big name blogs + websites that will be almost impossible to outrank.
  
  AND think about it as a searcher.
  
  You don’t want to sift through a trillion pages about “Marketing” when in reality, you want more information about “Instagram Marketing for Online Business”<---- see that. That’s a decent keyword phrase. It’s MUCH more specific, and the articles and content that comes up in search results for this will be a lot more targeted on what I, as a searcher, want to actually learn about.

• Rule #3: Switch it Up:
  Your focus keyword or phrase should be used in different ways and in different contexts throughout the content. It sounds like a pain in the A to do, but if you’re using SEO keywords correctly, it usually comes pretty naturally.
  
  If I’m creating a blog post about Instagram Marketing for Online Business, I’m naturally going to use those words in the content, because that’s what I’m writing about.
  
  Use variations, such as changing the grouping or order of words in the key phrase, using it in singular and plural formats, and using in different styles of sentence structures.
   

If keywords are still a little confusing to you, take a step back and notice how YOU use Google. It will really help to change your thinking pattern when it comes to SEO keywords and how you should be using them on your website and in your content.

And now that you’re thinking about this, you might even start to notice when you’re reading a website post/page that’s been overly optimized and actually chuckle to yourself…..or maybe that’s just what I do. 

Want My Help to Find Your Keywords?

If figuring out your SEO keywords or phrases is giving you a headache, or you don’t know where to start or how to figure out which one makes sense….then check out my SEO Keyword Intensive Session.

It’s a 1-hour recorded session where you’ll learn:’

• The differences between keywords and keyphrases (and why it’s important)

• How to figure out which keywords are better than others

• How to actually find your new bangin’ keywords

• How to check your website + keyword ranking on Google

And you’ll walk away with your SEO keyword questions answered, a list of keywords you can start using THAT day, a better understanding of what to focus on going forward and an in-depth SEO keyword resource guide.

Want to learn more? Get the details about the SEO Keyword Intensive Session!

About the Author:

Mariah is the web wiz + strategist over at MariahMagazine.com where she helps website owners stop shooting in the dark and praying for results, and actually start using their website to get noticed online and grow their business.