SAM KEEFE CREATIVE
How to use keywords in your content to capture the attention of your ideal audience
How to use keywords in your content to capture the attention of your ideal audience
There is no denying the importance of keywords in an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy. Keywords help organize your website by topic, which boosts your chances of gaining organic traffic from search engines. Think about it - when you open Google to research something, you automatically use specific words to hone in on what you're looking for. For example, if I were planning to repaint my home and I wanted to find the best interior white paint for the job, I would literally type in best interior white paint in the search bar of Google. What populates are are nine of the most popular websites that contain that information - most of which are blogs, including Plank & Pillow, and Studio McGee.
Both Plank & Pillow and Studio McGee have used the keywords 'best', 'interior', 'white' and 'paint' within their content (aka blog posts specific to this topic) on their website, to generate organic traffic to those posts. Because both of these sites are very popular in the home decor world, they most likely searched for keywords that 1. pertain to their ideal audience, 2. are researched often by others in that industry and 3. that they had knowledge about and could create content from.
So, how does this apply to you and your ideal audience? Let's break it down.
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Every business has an 'ideal audience' - a group of people that need their problem(s) solved by that specific product or service.
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Within that ideal audience, there are certain keywords that relate to it. For example, I design custom websites on WiX for entrepreneurs.
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With that target audience in mind, keywords that are most likely to be relevant and searched are: website design, WiX and entrepreneurs. Therefore, I can use those specific keywords in my content (blogs, social media posts, Pinterest strategy, etc.) to boost the chances of gaining that organic traffic to my website and social media pages.
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However, while you can use any keywords that will resonate with your target audience, there is a strategy behind ensuring you are using the right keywords for your content to be seen.
Are you ready to learn about that strategy? Read on to learn more!
However, while you can use any keywords that will resonate with your target audience, there is a strategy behind ensuring you are using the right keywords for your content to be seen.
First and foremost, we want to select at least three keywords that are relatable and searchable within your ideal audience. We will continue to use the keywords mentioned in the example above for this demonstration. Keywords: website design; WiX; entrepreneurs. Then we follow this strategy:
1. Use a SEO specific tool (like Ubersuggest) that specializes in generating new keyword ideas.
2. In the search box, type in one of your three keywords. [For this example I used entrepreneur] - hit 'search'.
hey!
Welcome to your new fave spot on the web for SEO, brand + design resources.
I'm Sam. A wife, mama x2 and creative entrepreneur who geeks out when sharing what she knows with the world.
I'm so happy you're here!
3. A keyword overview will appear, including the Search Volume (how many times a keyword is searched in a month) and SEO Difficulty (how difficult it is to rank on Google for that keyword). When choosing a specific keyword, you want the SEO difficulty to be 50 or less - preferably less than 35.
4. For this specific keyword of 'entrepreneur', we see that the Search Volume is very high at 368,000 but the SEO difficulty is high, as well, at 92. What we can gather from this information is that 'entrepreneur' is a very searchable keyword, but it may be difficult to rank on Google.
5. Now before you completely disregard that keyword because of the possibility of not ranking, Ubersuggest provides you a list of keywords similar to that main keyword, that may be easier to rank for. They also provide you with a list of blog post titles that rank well, to give you an idea of what your ideal audience may be searching for. While you should NEVER copy those blog titles word for word (that's plagiarism, friends), it does give you a great head start on knowing where to begin when creating your content.
6. From the example in the video, we can see that many of the suggested keyword replacements are also very high in SEO difficulty - therefore entrepreneur may not be the best keyword to use when creating content for my ideal audience. However, entrepreneurs are who my main target audience is. So, I could either continue using that keyword and focus on creating a lot of good, quality content to boost my probability of it ranking/being seen -or- I could switch out that word for one similar that my ideal audience would relate to. For example: Solopreneur, CEO, contractor, freelancer, etc.
*Tip: Go on to your Instagram stories and poll your audience - ask them what they prefer to be called. Then, use a Thesaurus to find keywords that have the same meaning or are similar. Continue the process of analyzing those keywords for Search Volume and SEO Difficulty.
7. Once you have your list of keywords (list as many as you'd like!) begin brainstorming content ideas that relate to them. I like to go to Google, and even Pinterest and type in that specific keyword. Popular searches will populate from that keyword, like: "How to start, run and grow your own business" or "Entrepreneur books". From those two results alone, I could create several content pieces.
Create a running list of keywords in a Google Doc, Notes app, Word, etc. to always have content ideas available. Be sure to update and add to your list often for the freshest and most up-to-date content - Google prefers this!
If you're in need of a custom website on WiX for your business, and could also benefit from SEO setup, click this link to learn more about how we can work together!
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