A content marketing strategy is key to any type of online marketing campaign. By choosing the right keywords and using them throughout your content, you can acquire higher search engine rankings on search engine results pages, also commonly referred to as SERPs. Keep reading to learn more about SERPs, including why they matter and how you can go about getting higher SERP rankings.
What Are SERPs?
As mentioned before, SERPs stand for search engine results pages. When a person makes an online search for something, the search engine users will use an algorithm to help return the most relevant results. The goal of the search engine is to present the most relevant search results in hopes that a person doesn’t have to continue combing through each page of results to find the information to what was searched. In doing this, a person can quickly find the information and is more likely to continue using the same search engine. And when a person uses the same search engine, it means the search engines make more money.
How Do You Choose Keywords?
To ensure your content lands on the first page of a SERPs, you must make sure it has keywords that are relevant to the search that was made by the search engine user. The more well-written the content piece is and the more keywords it has, the better. This doesn’t mean, however, that you need to stuff keywords as much as possible into the content you publish. Instead, you should make sure it includes a keyword rate of about 5%.
How Many Keywords Should You Target?
If you have a piece of content that you want to land on the first page of a SERPs, and it’s 500 words in length, then about 25 of those words should be a relevant keyword. Here’s the cool thing, too, the keywords don’t have to be the same word. Instead, they can be short- or long-tail keywords and phrases. Let’s say you want to write a piece on the topics of using keywords. You could use the following keywords and relevant phrases twice to count toward your keyword count:
- Keywords
- Long-tail keywords
- Keyword phrases
- Search results
- Blog content
- Content piece
- Keyword usage
- Keyword tool
- Keyword picker
- SERPs
- Search engine results pages
Using each of those keywords twice will give you a keyword usage of around 5%.
Are There Tools You Can Use to Find Relevant Keywords?
Fortunately, there are lots of tools you can use to find relevant keywords for the content you create. Best of all, you can even use search engines to find them free of charge. All you have to do is go to a search engine like Google and type in the topic of the content piece you want to publish. The search engine should automatically predict what you’re trying to type. Those are the phrases and keywords that you want to use in your content piece.
Where Should You Use Keywords in Online Content?
There are several parts of your website that you should target with various keywords. Keep reading to see where these keywords should be placed.
Add Keywords to Your Landing Pages
Always make sure to include keywords on your landing pages. In fact, every landing page should have content that is keyword-focused. This is to ensure all of your landing pages attract attention from targeted audiences when they search for relevant terms.
Add Keywords to Your Services Pages
Your services pages should include keywords that are specifically relevant to the service being featured.
Add Keywords to Blog Content
Your blog content can include any keywords that are relevant to the topics, services, and products that you cover on your entire website.
The Takeaway
Now that you have a better idea of how many keywords to target in your content marketing strategy, you’re ready to get started creating content.