Keyword Research

There’s a misconception among copywriters that SEO keyword research takes the creativity out of writing. But optimizing your content for search engines doesn’t have to limit its quality any more than a round of copyediting. Just as editing improves your writing’s readability, keyword research improves your writing’s relevance and exposure (and often, its clarity as well).

It’s important to get in the habit of doing keyword research before you start to write an article.

Admittedly, sometimes you have a great idea for a blog post and you just have to write it and worry about SEO later. But it’s an excellent idea to have a running list of keywords that you plan to target with content. What does this buy you?

• No more writer’s block: Think of your keyword list as a content idea generator. When you need to write a piece but don’t know what to write about, craft an idea around one of your keyword phrases.
• Built-in priorities: Your keyword list—assuming it’s properly organized—is also an ordered to-do list. If a certain keyword is driving lots of traffic or conversions, and you don’t yet have dedicated content optimized for that keyword, write that content first. Move down your list according to audience demand.
• No shoehorned keywords: When you have a keyword phrase in mind before you put pen to paper, so to speak, your writing will naturally include the keyword. It’s much easier to avoid that awkward, forced feel of bad SEO copywriting.

The best way to prioritize your copywriting tasks is to arrange your keywords in order of importance—that is, according to which keywords are driving traffic, are relevant to your audience, and don’t yet have site content associated with them. Start with the keywords that are driving the most traffic first and work your way down the list. (Don’t have any keywords yet? Easy! Use a keyword tool like WordStream’s below.)

Let’s say I choose the keyword “make money online.” My list might look something like this:

make money online, making money online, online make money, how to make money online, make money online with affiliate program, ways to make money online, how to make money in online marketing, earn money online, make money online with pay per click

This task provides me with a list of popular keywords as well as less popular but related variants that I can (and should) include in my article or blog post. This accomplishes two good things at once:

• By including variations, I’m targeting a broader base of searchers (all interested in the same thing) with a single piece of content. This is more efficient than writing a full article for every single unique keyword.
• Using variations, as opposed to the exact same keyword phrase over and over, sounds more natural and closer to the way you would write if you didn’t have to worry about keywords.

Where do the keywords go?

• In the body of the text, of course. Here’s a good trick: Highlight your keywords to get a sense of whether you’re using them too little or too much. Use different colors, if you need to, to keep track of how many variations you’re using.
• In the title. It’s a good idea to use your primary keyword here, rather than a lower-volume variant.
• In subheads. Subheadings are good organizational practice as well as a good opportunity to work in more keywords.

Include your keyword or a variation in these additional places:

• Meta title: Many CMS’s allow you to specify separate title (H1) and meta title tags. The meta title is the one that appears in search engine results. (Accordingly, if the meta title is fully optimized, you have a little more wiggle room for creativity in the H1 tag.)
• Meta description: Use your writerly skills to compose a meta description that includes relevant keywords without sounding mechanical or simply rehashing the headline, and you may boost your click-through rate.
• Image file names/ALT attributes: If you’re including pictures on your page or in your post, use the keyword in the file names (e.g., make-money-online.gif). Also be sure to use the ALT attribute to tell search engines and users what the picture is. This text, and the caption or surrounding text, is the primary way that Google knows what the picture is.

Anchor text: Link to your new page from several other pages on your site, using your keyword as the anchor text.