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How to Use Keywords for Optimizing Blog Articles

Do you find yourself spending more time stressing about blog article keywords instead of writing high quality content? If so, then keep reading for some tips and strategies for using keywords to make your blog more visible. 

It seems like everywhere you look there are way too many experts with way too many conflicting theories. We’re going to highlight some effective methods for how and where to use keywords to give your blog a boost. 

Starting From the Top , Literally, With Headlines

When someone starts their search query, an attention grabbing headline is your best chance at having your blog chosen. But how do you get your headline to show up in the search results? Search engines are programmed to recognize headlines either formatted as headings and titles, or as the beginning of paragraphs with bold, italic and large fonts.

  • Think like the people who are searching. When you search the world wide web do you just enter one keyword? If you are like many of us, you ask a question. Using a long tail keyword in the form of a question helps reduce the search volume and narrow the results.   
  • Size matters. According to Google’s blog most search engines stop “reading” after 60-70 characters (not 60 letters). You want to be sure that if your Title tag is longer, your keywords are placed to the front. The almighty algorithms may overlook your headline if it’s not organized right. 
  • Let’s look at the headline of this article.  
    • Formatted as a title tag (using H1 tags)
    • Bold lettering
    • It answers the question - “How do I use keywords for optimizing my blog?”
    • 54 characters, just the right amount
When you optimize your headlines with these strategies your blog will have a better chance of showing up on the search engine results page.

Writing Blogs with Keywords - The Body

First things first, no keyword stuffing (using the same one over and over)! I don’t usually go bold and italics because it's a bit overkill, but I need to really stress it. No keyword stuffing! More is not better. Ok, moving on. 
When you start blogging and you want to optimize with keywords the proper amount is “key”. Now, what’s the magic number? It depends. 

I know, it’s not a straightforward answer, I’m sorry. The point is to use the right amount that gets your message delivered in an easy to read way. You don’t want to create a great blog only to muddy up the flow with unnecessary keyword phrases.

If you want to end up on SERPs (search engine results pages) be careful. Clogging the body of your blog with too many of the same keywords gives red flags to search engines. It can be treated as spam or not look like unique and relevant information. 

Before you create a blog post think about the variety of keywords you want to use. How do certain terms relate to each other? What other words would a computer “think” belong together? The algorithms will search for these and it will view the article as relevant.  As you read this article you will see certain words several times but not jammed in your face. You can find them :) I don’t want to look like I’m stuffing. Just remember, keywords shouldn’t write your blog, they should just be a guide to your blog article writing.

Metadata and SERPs 

The meta description is the small “paragraph” that gives the searcher the details of their results. It typically contains the page title, description, and the link. It’s a big reason why people click the link (#3). 
For example:
  1. 3 Step Solutions | All-In-One Platform - Take Your Business Online In 
  2. https://www.3stepsolutions.com/
  3. We're reinventing how to manage your businesses by putting together all the aspects your online business needs into one place! 3SS is the best all-in-one ...
Notice in number 1 how the title cuts off after 69 characters? Good News! You have control over this. 

The platform you’re writing your blog on should have a section in your site builder/admin or editing page to create your own metadata. You need to take advantage of this by writing exactly what you want found. Keywords, tags, and a brief description will help you get noticed where you want to be noticed. Tags are essentially like the index of a book. Like in the back of the book, if you look up one word it will tell you all of the pages where you’ll find that word. Putting tags on your blogs will help users find material with the same subject matter throughout your website. Search engines notice articles more when they have internal linking.

Here is how you can add SEO metadata to a 3 Step Solutions webpage.

URLs - The Computer’s Roadmap to Information - Your Address

https://www.3stepsolutions.com/ 
This is an example of the basic url. This would direct you to the homepage. You can edit your URL to direct traffic to a specific page, streamlining searches and results.

https://www.3stepsolutions.com/blog/ 
Same company (us) but a straight shot to our blog page.

When you’re first creating your blog you will have the opportunity to edit your URL. Keep it simple and direct. 

You can see the direction it takes as the information gets more specific after each forward slash and note the dashes in the title of the blog.

Your URL should be simple, to the point, and easy to follow.

Internal Linking - Sharing Your Own Stuff

Internal linking is simply providing a link from content on a website to more content on the same website. Let’s say you’re writing an article on keyword research and you have a previous article about SEO you would add a link when you discuss how they are connected. 

Avoid linking to your homepage or the “contact us” page, it’s not useful for the reader. They’ll find those if they want them (unless you’re using the image as an example). For example: any of the 3 Step Solutions links in this blog.  

Alt Text - Words For Your Pictures. 

You are embedding information about the picture in the article. Yes, this helps with search engines, but more importantly it helps maintain accessibility for anyone who can’t view the picture. 
  1. Place the image
  2. Click on the image to highlight it
  3. Select the "i" icon which says "Alternative Text"
  4. Fill out the description
  5. Click ok
The Alt Text image below is what it looks like for the image above. Write the description as if someone can’t see it.

This is how you can edit the alternative text for your images on each blog article.Make sure you include a description in my alt-text to make your images accessible to everyone who reads your article.
 

Remember, If you write with intent and the audience in mind, your blog will flow naturally and your keywords will fall into place. Don’t force your keywords. Take the time to optimize all the things we discussed, not just the blog content. If all else fails, hire a professional blog/content writer (we recommend these guys).

Find out how to get more people to your blog articles (and boost your SEO even more) by joining our free Online Entrepreneur Facebook Group!

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