A Complete Guide to Targeting Keywords with Blog Posts

In a cutthroat digital world, only a handful of websites hold the ever-so-coveted position of a page one ranking on search engines. In order to achieve this place of glory, a business, even if it’s a blog, must understand the power of keyword research, choosing the most suitable one, and taking advantage of SEO tools. 

SEO optimization has been one of the first few steps each business takes on if they want to be in the lead; however, those who run online blogs often make the mistake of not strategizing well when choosing the right keywords for their post. When utilized correctly, it can give you a competitive edge as well as endless traffic. This guide should be able to help you through the process of targeting keywords with your blog posts. 

The Benefits Behind it 

Even though the digital world is saying it out loud from the rooftops, some bloggers tend to completely neglect a keyword’s importance, thus not reaping any of the benefits. Every web marketer knows how valuable on-page SEO best practices are in getting not only a higher rank on search engines but also more relevant traffic searches as well. When blogs don’t practice keyword optimization, their posts fall behind, buried deep where no digital footprint has gone before. But it doesn’t have to be that way. 

One thing that is underestimated about blogs is that they have the ability to tackle popular and trending topics that won’t be worth dedicating a whole website to. Instead, one post will do the trick. When you write about said trending topic, you’re catching traffic while the topic is still hot. And the good news is that even when it all dies down, the post will remain in your blog archives for those who look up that keyword later on. 

Another benefit is through what is called evergreen content. Basically, they’re the “how-to” articles that are always relevant to many people. Their relevance means that they will pull traffic consistently and will continue to rank well. 

How to Utilize Keywords with Your Blog Posts 

Now that we’ve sold this idea to you, it’s time to get to work. Below are ways you can target keywords with your blog posts: 

Use Relative Keywords

Part of your targeting skills is identifying the keywords that will bring you relevant traffic, so you will need to do a little research. In order to find the right target audience, you need to dig deeper online by finding what they frequently search for and making sure you provide relative content. Their search query is where you’ll likely be starting, and narrowing it down to relative keywords is vital. One way to bring traffic is to use one primary keyword and then you use around three-four other that matches the content. This way, not only will you bring traffic to those looking for your primary keyword, but also your other relative keywords as well. 

Find Trending Topics

Some topics are timely which may require you to keep your ears peeled for current events. You can use many online tools, such as Google Trends or Google Suggest, that help find you trending keywords. This will allow you to include them within your posts. But if you’re looking for traffic more than rank, then consider looking for keywords or even a group of keywords that people frequently looked for, especially if you don’t have a topic about them. This is when you create a meaningful post for it specifically for that endless traffic.

Place Keyword Strategically 

One thing that may put off a reader from your blog is if they feel it’s been overly advertised. This is why you need to place your keyword very strategically so it ends up looking naturally and organically placed. There’s a fine line between good SEO practices and what is known as ‘keyword stuffing’. In order not to find yourself plagued with the latter, or to be considered spam by search engines, you may want to follow these suggestions: 

• Create a Catchy Headline: For starters, your headline needs to be catchy, clear, precise, and click-worthy. It’s highly recommended that you include the main keyword within your headline – naturally, of course. Headlines can either be lists, how-to posts, guides, or questions. Let’s say your primary keyword is “easy recipes.” So, you can include it in an interesting and targeted way like “Easy Recipes for the Working Woman.” 

• Find Inspiration for Content: You can use Google Adwords to give you creative ideas on interesting headlines as well as relative content. When you input the primary keyword, you’ll be met with results as well as an idea on which ones can be high-performing and their competition level. When a topic is chosen for your content, make sure you write it in a meaningful way for a lasting impression. 

• Use it in the Content: Use your keyword at least once or twice within the content of the blog post. Semantic search has canceled out the need to use it many times within your post. When they’re used strategically and naturally, it allows search engines to classify your post better within the rankings. 

• Use Image ‘Alt’ Tags: Alt Tags or Text is the written description that appears on a webpage image if it fails to load on screen. It helps describe the image and, in doing so, helps the ranking of your post. It’s considered one of the best SEO practices since you can include your keyword in the description as well. 

• Meta and URL: Including your keyword in the Meta description or Meta tag that describes your webpage’s content has proven a successful SEO method. Another killer location is your post’s permalink. Ideally, they will be your post’s title, but you can optimize it however you see fit. 

Creating SEO-friendly blog posts might seem like a complicated task, but when it’s fully understood, it will create wonders for your search rankings and traffic. However, targeting your keywords with your blog posts doesn’t mean you compromise your blog’s quality. On the contrary, having quality content along with proper SEO practices will add weight to your posts.