Keywords and key phrases are central to SEO—but not in the way that you might assume. The time is long past when a website could boost its search rankings by stuffing every sentence of its content with keywords. Today’s content creators still need to be alert to the uses of keywords, but they need to be used in a subtle and strategic way in order to get results. Here are the places you can use keywords and key phrases where they will be most effective.
Titles
The title is the description of a page that appears in the bar of your browser. It also shows up when somebody finds your site on a search engine. Since titles are widely visible, using keywords and key phrases in titles is a great way to help nudge internet users toward your site.
Meta Descriptions
When your site shows up on a web search, there will be a short description of your site just below the title. While this description won’t affect your search rankings, it can be a good place to include a keyword just to demonstrate the site’s relevance to potential visitors.
Headings
You should be careful not to overuse keywords and key phrases in your actual content. In fact, Google may penalize your site if you appear to be overusing keywords in an attempt to artificially boost your search results. One effective place to use keywords is in the headings and subheadings you use in your blogs.
URLs
If you can fit a keyword into your URL in a natural-sounding way, it’s a terrific way to optimize individual pages. Optimizing each blog post’s URL will help to make it as search-friendly as possible.
If you’re curious about how you can increase the effectiveness of your online content, Pennington Creative is ready to provide you with the answers you’re looking for. Our team can put together a bundle of our best services—from social media to email newsletters—to help you achieve your strategic goals. For more info on best blogging practices, be sure to check out our previous posts on sharable content and alt text—and come back next week for volume 4 of this series, which will discuss linking in blogs.
