At this point, if you haven’t heard the term SEO or Search Engine Optimization, I need to find that rock you’ve been hiding under! 🙂 Kidding aside, you’ve likely heard that it’s important to use keywords in your website and on other listing sites online.
If you’ve heard that you would be absolutely right! So, start adding keywords to every sentence and outsmart Google! End of blog post.
If only it were THAT easy.
Spamming anything you put online these days with keyword this and keyword that is more detrimental than beneficial. Search engine algorithms are smarter than ever and are trending towards QUALITY content that creates engagement than quantity.
Including the wrong keywords or too many keywords can be just as detrimental.
Although you may not always notice them, keywords play an integral role when it comes to helping a small business get found online. So let’s get to it by breaking down the long and short (tail) of it.
Do Your Own Keyword Research
Keyword research should never be a one-time commitment, but rather an ever-changing process that involves a strategy and a comprehensive understanding of your business and your industry.
For instance, 3-4 years ago, most searches included a city name, such as furnace repair Houston. Today, those same searches now look like this, furnace repair “near me” or furnace repair “in my city”.
If its been a while since you have done any keyword research or looked at the insights section of your Google my Business profile, its time to dust it off and start looking, today!
Including keywords that are specific to your business and industry will help to ensure that the right customers are being driven to your door rather than just any customer. Although we want to increase our customer base, we don’t want to target consumers that may not find the value in our business.
Using the Right Keywords
Short-tail keywords, or keywords composed of very generic keywords, might seem appealing because they’re searched more often than long-tail keywords, however, they’re also a lot more competitive.
An example of a short-term keyword would be “marketing agency”. A long-tail version of that same search would be something like, “plumbing marketing agency”.
Buyer intent is also a lot higher on those search terms than they are on short-tail terms.
So, unless you’re writing content for a large organization, like Apple or Macy’s, and consumers are likely searching specifically for your product, you don’t want to enter into a sea of competitors with big brands that have even bigger wallets.
By including more long-tail keywords into the content on your page, you’ll attract a larger number of customers who are likely to search for any combination of those long-tail keywords.
Google has a fantastic tool for this with their keyword planner in case you are looking for a place to start.
Location-based keywords are keywords that directly relate to your business’s physical location. For example, if your business is a bakery in a popular neighborhood in Charlotte, NC, you’ll want to include not only Charlotte, but also the name of that specific neighborhood.
By doing so, you’re more likely to target visitors in your area rather than across town who may or may not ever make it to your location.
Avoid Keyword Stuffing
Speaking of misleading customers that may not find value in your business, adding practically any keyword under the sun is referred to as keyword stuffing and is largely considered a taboo in the digital marketing world.
Like with any other digital marketing rule of thumb, less is more and quality will always conquer quantity.
Ideally, a website’s content should include keywords in a natural way. However, by inputting keywords into a few sentences and repeating them over and over, you’re stuffing your content with keywords. Even if they’re good keywords, it’s still too much.
Now that you’ve read through these tips, you’re ready to become an SEO expert too!
