If an article is a home, keywords are its foundation. To make the foundation strong, keyword optimization is essential. Before writing an article, it’s crucial to understand the best practices for using keywords.
Beginners often have many misconceptions about how many keywords to use or how to use them. Here, you’ll learn all about keyword density, the right way to use it, and the common mistakes beginners should avoid.
Using keywords naturally within an article is essential. Writers often force keywords into their content just to include them all in hopes of ranking higher, but this negatively impact Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Ultimately, you’re writing for visitors, and Google promotes articles that are user-friendly and engaging.
What Are Keywords, and Why Are They Important for SEO?
A keyword can consist of one or multiple words that explain what an article is about. For example, if you’re writing an article on “Best Gardening Tips for Beginners,” that’s a keyword. Other keywords could be “gardening tips,” “beginner’s guide to gardening,” etc. Each of these phrases reflects what the article covers.
When Google crawls or reads a blog, these keywords indicate the topic of your article and the subjects you cover in the post. This allows Google to show your blog to the right audience, which can increase the engagement rate on your website. There’s a higher chance of ranking if Google notices that visitors are enjoying your post.
Although there are many factors involved in ranking and getting traffic, keyword optimization is one of the key elements.
Different Types of Keywords That are Important in SEO?
There are mainly three types of keywords: long-tail keywords, short-tail keywords, and LSI keywords.
- Long-tail keywords: These types of keywords are generally what people search for on search engines, typically containing three to five words. Because they are longer, they are more specific about a topic.
For example: “How to grow indoor plants in a dark room” is a long-tail keyword that specifically addresses a topic.
The advantage of using these keywords is that they are less competitive than short-tail keywords, so they have a higher ranking possibility. - Short-tail keywords: These keywords generally contain one to three words, so they are less specific and can target a large number of audiences. Another synonym for short-tail keywords is “Head Terms.”
For example: “Indoor plants” is a short-tail keyword, and it is less specific than a long-tail one.
The advantage of targeting this type of keyword is that it attracts more traffic to blogs. However, because they are more competitive, it is comparatively harder to rank for them. - Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords: These are generally synonyms, or nearly related words of your primary keyword.
For example: “Home garden,” “low light plants,” etc.
These keywords are mainly used to make the content keyword-rich without repeating the exact words every time. They also help avoid keyword stuffing, which goes against Google’s guidelines for keyword use.
The main keyword that you use is considered the primary keyword, while the other keywords that support the primary topic are secondary keywords.
Why Keywords Are So Important in SEO
There is a concept of Keyword Search Intent, or User Intent, which is the most important thing to understand for using keywords effectively in an article. When Google crawls your article, it analyzes the search intent of your keywords to understand exactly what your article explains.
For example: When Google crawls your article on “How to grow indoor plants in a dark room,” it understands that this is informational content and should be shown to users who just want to gather information. They have no intent to purchase indoor plants and are not potential buyers.
By analyzing this, Google can understand that if a user searches “Best indoor plants to grow in a dark room,” it’s a completely different topic, and your article should not appear there, even though there are many common keywords.
How Many Keywords Should You Use in an Article
While using keywords is important, overusing them can penalize your site. The ideal keyword density should be 1-2% of the total word count.
New bloggers often place too much importance on using keywords in the way everyone suggests, wasting a lot of time instead of focusing on writing an informative article that covers all the points a user is looking for. Google always promotes user-friendly content.
There is no ideal number, but according to most SEO experts, you should use 4-6 keywords within 1,000 words. However, use them naturally; if you find it challenging to use 4-6 keywords naturally, it’s better to skip forcing them in. Instead, focus on writing quality content rather than keyword stuffing.
How to Research for the Right Keywords for Your Blog
For a new website, it’s better to focus on writing articles with low-competition keywords, as new sites have low domain authority (DA) and may find it nearly impossible to outrank high-authority sites on high-competition keywords.
Long-tail informational keywords are generally less competitive, so choose keywords where low-authority sites are already ranking. There are many tools available on Google to check domain authority—just search for one and use it to find your primary keyword.
Read: How you can write SEO-optimized content fast
Best Way to Place Keywords in an Article
In an article, some sections highlight the content’s topic, such as the title, headings, introduction, and blog links. Try to make these areas keyword-friendly to help both Google and users understand what your article is about.
Making these main sections keyword-friendly doesn’t mean you have to repeat the same keyword everywhere. Use LSI keywords to make it natural, which also improves readability.
Common Mistakes That Beginners Make, and You Should Avoid
There are a few common things that most beginners misunderstand, and you should avoid making the same mistakes.
- Overstuffing keywords: Beginners often think the more keywords they use, the higher the ranking probability, which is the biggest misconception. According to Google’s guidelines, you should not overstuff keywords to manipulate ranking, as this can lead to penalties
- Not using LSI keywords: LSI keywords, or related words and synonyms, are important to avoid repeating the same keyword. Using LSI keywords helps make a blog keyword-optimized and also boosts organic reach.
- Ignoring user intent: If you don’t focus on user intent when writing a blog, it can become unfocused on a specific topic. You should keep in mind what the visitor’s intent might be when they search for the article, so you can cover all topics they are looking for instead of discussing unnecessary points.
How to Check Keyword Density After Writing an Article
There are many keyword density checkers available on Google. If you are using WordPress, you can use the Yoast SEO plugin, which is beginner-friendly, to check SEO parameters. It also suggests where to put keywords and whether you’re using more than the suggested ratio.
Other free tools include SEMrush’s keyword density checker, Ahrefs, etc. These tools have some limitations on their free versions, but you can still use them.
FAQ
In short, you should use keywords in a strategic way that looks natural, without overstuffing, while improving readability. When learning keyword optimization, it is essential to learn search intent optimization in detail to make it more targeted.
When optimizing keywords, it’s also important to consider other factors of SEO to improve the blog’s engagement rate, which is a ranking factor for Google.