Keywords are words or string of words representing the content of your blog post. Keywords are strategically chosen to help your blog post communicate in a manner that resonates favourably not only with humans, but also with Google search spiders.
What do Keywords Represent?
Keywords represent what your blog post is about. Hence, usage of keywords should be in such a manner that they incorporate well into the blog text and Meta information that is both natural and subtle. Here, Meta information refers to information about your blog post. If the keywords or the keyword phrases in your blog post do not flow smoothly with the rest of the text in your post, and readers have difficulty when reading your blog post, then your keywords will not serve the desired purpose.
What Your Keywords Should Not Do
Keywords should not mislead or trick human readers or Google spiders. In other words, keywords not intended to describe the exact contents of your blog, repeating a keyword unnecessarily in a manner that is unnatural (referred to as “keyword stuffing”), or resorting to black hat SEO practices like placing keywords in a white font surrounded by white background are unacceptable. Google indexes and returns only white hat web pages that contain high-quality content. Google does not tolerate keyword abuse and stringently penalizes any form of unnatural usage of keywords.
The Importance of Keyword Research for Your Blog Post
Keyword research helps marketers perceive how their target markets look for their products and enquire for more information. Armed with this information straight from the words their consumers use to find them, marketers optimize the content of their websites to suit human readers and Google spiders alike. Hence, keyword research – specifically focused on reaching the potential audience of your blog – greatly enhances your Search Engine Results Page (SERP) rank. When you use the same words in your Meta information that your potential audience is keying into the Google search query, you announce to Google that your blog post is the perfect match for this query. Since Google returns results that accurately meet searchers’ queries, your blog post – as a perfect match – ranks favorably in SERP. Consequently, users click to visit your blog rather than your competitors’.
Selecting the Right Keyword for your blog post
Selecting the right keyword is absolutely essential in reaching your potential customer or target audience. For example, when researching the keyword phrase “Caribbean tour,” you will observe that the number of searches for this term is low. However, there are many searches for the phrases “Caribbean tour operators,” “Caribbean tour packages,” and “Caribbean tour itinerary.” If your primary business is arranging Caribbean tour packages from US, a query like “Caribbean tour packages from US” is a perfect match for your blog post. Hence, incorporating the keyword phrase “Caribbean tour packages from US” that is easily searchable by Google spiders helps you. Here, selecting this keyword for your blog post results in your blog ranking on top of the SERP.
Advantages of Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords consist of three to five words stringed together to form a keyword phrase that is not only specific, but also niche-targeted. Most often, searchers use long-tail keywords in narrowing down their search. Marketers use long-tail keywords to convey the most appropriate information to the most qualified lead. Long-tail keywords permit you to be precise, and being precise conveys the right content to the right person at the right time.
Summary
Keywords should help you to determine and communicate the language of your potential audience. Besides, keywords should drive more appropriate traffic to your blog post. Proper usage of keywords increases conversions by directing users to your blog posts.
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