Content Writing

Course
SHAROON SHAHID
Module 4
CREATING SEO-FRIENDLY CONTENT
What is SEO?

 SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is the practice of increasing

the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine
results.
What are Keywords?

 Your SEO keywords are the keywords and phrases in your web content that make
it possible for people to find your site via search engines. A website that is well
optimized for search engines "speaks the same language" as its potential visitor
base with keywords for SEO that help connect searchers to your site.
 Keywords are the words and phrases that people type into search engines to find
what they're looking for. For example, if you were looking to buy a new jacket,
you might type something like “mens leather jacket” into Google. Even though
that phrase consists of more than one word, it's still a keyword
Types of Keywords

 Targeting Keywords: Targeting keywords are the phrases and terms tied to your
industry, offerings, and audience.
 Keywords-by-Length: Keywords determined on the basis of their length/ size.
 On-site Keywords: On-site content keywords refer to the types of keywords in
SEO that are used to create content like a new blog post or landing page. 
 Google Ads Keywords: There are certain types of keywords in Google AdWords
(now known as Google Ads) that you will use to create targeted ad campaigns.
 Buyer Keywords: Buyer keywords are the terms a searcher uses when they are
looking to purchase a product or service. These types of keywords are categorized
by where a searcher is in the purchase funnel. Each type of buyer keyword
represents a different type of search intent.
Targeting Keywords

 The types of keywords included in this category are:

 Market segment keywords
 Customer-defining keywords
 Product keywords
 Branded keywords
 Competitor keywords
 Geo-targeted keywords
 Market Segment Keywords
Market segment keywords are generic keywords associated with an industry or
brand. They are terms a target audience uses to search for general information within
a vertical. Terms may be broadly associated with an industry or more defined for 
niche marketing purposes.
Example: running shoes
 Customer-Defining Keywords
Customer-defining keywords are search phrases that identify a specific subset of
customers or audience. In these searches, customers use words or phrases to define
themselves.
Example: running shoes for women
 Product Keywords
 Product keywords are terms related to specific brand offerings. These types of
keywords are phrases that directly reference a company’s products or services.
Brands should have a keyword strategy for each of their products and services so
customers and prospects can find their offerings through search.
 Example: Nike Flex Contact
 Branded Keywords
 Branded keywords are search phrases that include a brand’s name or other branded
terms. These types of keywords may include only the brand name or the brand name
along with a product type, product name, or another descriptive search phrase.
 Example: Nike running shoes
 Competitor Keywords
 Competitor keywords are types of keywords that target brand names of competing
businesses, products, or services. It’s beneficial for a brand to research competitor
keywords because it gives the brand an opportunity to attract a similar audience of
interested, potential buyers.
 Example: For Nike, a competitor keyword could be Reebok running shoes.
 Geo-Targeted Keywords
 Geo-targeted keywords are search phrases that identify a location. Searchers who
use these terms are looking for results that are near them, or in another area they
are interested in.
 Example: Tampa running shoe store
Types of Keywords by Length

 There are three types of keywords described by their length:

 Short-tail keywords (also known as head, broad, or generic keywords)
 Mid-tail keywords
 Long-tail keywords
 The length of a keyword can tell you a lot about its search volume, the potential
traffic from it, and how well it could generate conversions.
 Head Keywords or Short-Tail Keywords
 Head keywords, also known as generic keywords, are popular, broad search terms
that have a very high volume of search traffic. These terms are usually one or two
words, and they are very competitive to rank for.
 Example: running shoes
 Mid-Tail Keywords
 Mid-tail keywords fall between head keywords, which have a high volume of
traffic but are highly competitive, and long-tail keywords, which have a small
volume of traffic but with less competition and higher conversion rates. These
terms are usually two to three words and are slightly more descriptive than
generic head keywords.
 Example: best running shoes
 Long-Tail Keywords
 Long-tail keywords are the longest search terms and are very targeted to a specific
topic or audience. These terms typically have low search traffic and are 
low-competition keywords, which makes them easier to rank for. Because they are
more specific, they generally have higher conversion rates than head and mid-tail
keywords.
 Example: best running shoes for bad knees
Types of On-Site Keywords

 These types of keywords are:

 Primary keywords
 Secondary keywords
 Related or LSI keywords
 Primary Keywords
 A primary keyword is the main term you target on a webpage. Each page of SEO
content should have one primary keyword assigned to it. The page should
follow keyword optimization best practices to send clear signals to search engines
and readers that the page is about that keyword. Following these best practices
will help improve your search traffic and rank for that content and keyword.
 Example: women’s running shoes
 Secondary keywords
 These are keywords that play a supporting role. In other words, they support
the primary keywords and bring in additional information. Or, in east words,
Secondary keywords are those that add a bit more detail to those initial
keywords and are often more related to searcher intent. So, linked to your
primary keyword “Internet” you might want to consider researching secondary
keywords such as “modem”, “speed”, “mbps”, and “fiber”
 Related Keywords or LSI Keywords
 Related keywords or LSI keywords (latent semantic keywords) are terms or
phrases that are semantically related to, or variations, or synonyms of, a primary
keyword. They are used to support a primary and secondary keywords in a piece
of content. Each webpage should be assigned one primary keyword and three to
four secondary and related keywords that give additional context to the page,
which helps search engines understand and better rank the page. You can find
related keywords using Alexa’s Competitor Keyword Matrix or Keyword
Difficulty Tool.
 Example: If the primary keyword is women’s running shoes, then related
keywords could be: women’s running shoes reviews, women’s running shoes
sales, and best women’s running shoes.
Types of Google Ads Keywords

 These types of keywords include:

 Broad match keywords
 Phrase match keywords
 Exact match keywords
 Negative keywords
 Broad Match Keywords
 A broad match keyword is a search term you target in a Google Ads search
campaign. When a term is set as a broad match keyword, it tells Google to show
your ad for any search that is a variation of that keyword. The ad will show if
someone searches for a similar phrase, singular or plural form, misspelling,
stemming, synonym, or another related variation of the broad match term.
 Example: An ad for the broad match keyword shoes would show during searches
for terms such as shoe, shoes for sale, shoe store, or buy shoes.
 Phrase Match Keywords
 A phrase match keyword is a specific search phrase you target in a Google Ads
search campaign. When a term is set as a phrase match keyword, it tells Google to
only show your ad if a search query includes the exact phrase. The search query
may have words that come before or after the phrase, but the exact phrase must be
included in the search for it to show to searchers.
 Example: An ad for the phrase match keyword womens shoes would show during
searches for terms such as womens shoe sale, womens shoe stores, and stores for
womens shoes.
 Exact Match Keywords
 An exact match keyword is a specific keyword you target in a Google Ads search
campaign. When a term is set as an exact match keyword, it tells Google to only
show your ad if the search is extremely closely related to the exact match
keyword. Words that fit this criterion are misspellings, singular or plural forms,
stemmings, abbreviations, reordered words, paraphrases, or closely related words
with the same search intent of the exact match keyword.
 Example: An ad for the exact match keyword womens shoes would show for
searches for terms like woman shoes, shoes women, or shoes for women.
 Negative Keywords
 Negative keywords are phrases or terms that you intentionally exclude from
search campaigns within Google Ads. They are variations of broad match, phrase
match, and exact match keywords that you tell Google to stop including in your
campaign. These Google Ad terms are set as negative keywords because they
don’t closely relate to the ad copy, target page content, or offer associated with the
ad. They may be semantically related, but they don’t connect with the ad concept.
 Negative keywords may be semantically related, but they don’t connect with the
ad concept, target page content, or offer.
 Example: If a broad match keyword is shoe sale and the ad is only relevant to
women’s shoes, negative keywords could be men’s shoes, shoes for guys, or men’s
shoe sale.
Types of Buyer Keywords

 There are three types of buyer keywords:

 Informational keywords
 Navigational keywords
 Transactional keywords
 Informational Keywords
 Informational keywords, or “know” keywords, are terms users search for when
they want to find general information about a topic. Searchers use informational
keywords when they are in the awareness phase of the purchase funnel. They are
aware they have a need or problem, are aware they want a solution, and are
looking for ways to do that.
 Example: what’s the best running shoe
 Navigational Keywords
 Navigational keywords, or “go” keywords, are terms users search for when they
want to visit a website for a specific brand. Searchers often use navigational
keywords when they are in the consideration phase of the purchase funnel. They
are researching different brands to see which offers the best solution to their
problem.
 Example: Nike running shoes
 Transactional Keywords
 Transactional keywords, or “do” keywords, are terms users search for when they
are ready to make a purchase. Searchers use transactional keywords when they are
in the conversion phase of the purchase funnel. They already know what they
want to buy, and they use very specific buying keywords to help them find the
right place to make their purchase.
 Example: best deals on Nike running shoes
How to look for keywords

 Keyword research is the process marketers use to identify what phrases are
popular and frequently searched for by their target audience.
 It also helps them prioritize their keyword strategy by understanding how difficult
it will be for their site to rank for specific keywords.
Brainstorm Seed Keyword Topics

 Keyword research starts with identifying seed keyword topics. Seed keywords are very broad terms that
describe topics that are relevant to your audience.
 Use these three strategies as you brainstorm to narrow down the most accurate seed keyword topics.
 Think of broad topics that are relevant to your audience and industry
 Start by thinking about the most obvious topics related to your audience or business. These terms are
typically one to two words. For example, Toggl, a time-tracking app, might brainstorm broad keywords
like:
 Tracker
 App
 Timer
 Timesheet
 When performing keyword research, avoid starting with keywords that are too niche, even if they make
sense. It’s best to think broadly at the beginning and get more specific as your research progresses.
 One keyword research tool you can use to find broad seed keyword topics is Alexa’s
Keyword Clusters visualization in the Competitor Keyword Matrix.
 Enter your site and up to nine competitors or industry leaders. Then select the Keyword
Clusters tab to view a map of the keyword topics that are driving traffic to your site and/or
competitors.
 Think of subtopics within those broad topics that are relevant to your audience and
industry
 Once you have a list of broad topics, go deeper into those categories. Brainstorm keywords
that would fit within the theme of your broad terms.
 For help with finding subtopics, go back to Alexa’s Competitive Keyword Matrix. Click on a
broad keyword to create another map of terms within that topic. 
 This research for Toggl could surface subtopics like:
 Tracker
 Time tracker
 Tracker app
 Work tracker
 App
 Timesheet app
 To-do app
 Pomodoro app
 Timer
 Online timer
 Timer app
 Desktop timer
 Time sheet
 Week timesheet
 Printable time sheet
 Timesheet app
 Think of products and services that you want to focus on finding keywords
for
 Finish your list of seed keywords by thinking about the specific products and
services you are promoting. Include terms associated with those offerings in your
list. For example, Toggl may want to add the following seed keywords to their
list.
 Time tracking software
 Time management software
 Employee time tracking software
Define Your Goals

 As you perform keyword research, you will come across hundreds of potential terms and
phrases to use in your strategy. An important part of learning how to do keyword research
is knowing which keywords to choose and which to ignore.
 Different keywords will drive different results. For example, popular, broad keywords
may have high search volumes and drive a lot of traffic. Alternatively, less popular, more
niche keywords may drive less traffic but more conversions. Knowing your goals will
help you determine which keywords to focus on.
 A few examples of goals include:
 Improving brand awareness
 Driving more organic traffic
 Attracting more leads or customers
 Generating sales
Prepare  for Your Keyword Analysis

 To help you identify the terms that will produce the best results, keep these
keyword research tips in mind.
 Know the different types of keywords
 As previously mentioned, different types of keywords will drive different results
based on the search intent of the user. The types of keywords you should focus on
will depend on the goals you defined. For example, if your primary goal is to
drive new customer acquisition and sales, you might focus on creating product or
service pages that target buyer keywords. If your goal is to boost awareness
among your audience, you might create a blogging strategy focused on long tail
keywords  that show educational intent.
 Know your audience
 To target the terms that your ideal customer uses and searches for, you must
intimately know your audience.  When you know their needs, questions, and
problems, you can target the terms that match the topics that matter most to them.
 To help guide your keyword research, create a buyer persona that outlines the
characteristics, interests, demographics, values, goals, challenges, influences, and
buying habits of your ideal customer.
 Then create a buyer persona template you can use going forward, using this post
as a guide.
 https://blog.alexa.com/buyer-persona-template-make-top-quality-content/
 Know your Competitive Power
 When performing keyword research, you want to target terms that you have the
best chance of ranking for. Most keyword research tools include a competition
score for search terms that shows how difficult it is to rank for them. You want to
target terms that have a competition level you can compete at.  
 When a website has a high score, it will be more likely to rank for high
competition keywords. Knowing your Competitive Power is useful because it will
guide you toward terms you can rank for and away from terms that have too much
competition. That way you spend time and resources creating content that will
give you the highest return on investment. 
 Know what keywords you already get traffic and rank for.
 You don’t want to add keywords to your strategy if they are already working for
you.  Research to find what terms you are already ranking for and which phrases
are already driving traffic to your site to avoid keyword cannibalization.
 To find out which keywords already drive traffic to your site, use tools like
Alexa’s SEO keyword research tool, Site Keywords. Enter your domain to see
the SEO keywords that are sending the most traffic to your site.
 Another way to find what terms you already rank for (and how well you rank) is
to use Google Search Console.
 Once your site is set up on Google Search Console, go to the performance page
and select to show average position for the the queries in the list. The report
shows which search terms are driving traffic to your site (queries) and where your
site ranks for each term (position) on Google search results pages.
Create a keyword research table

 As you go through the keyword research process, use a keyword research table to
organize your findings, plan your future content creation, and track performance.
Document viable keywords, performance metrics, and content that’s created for
each keyword to organize your work and results.
 Find competitor keywords
 Competitor keywords are the search terms and phrases driving traffic to sites that
compete with you, share the same audience as you, or publish content relevant to
your industry and audience.
 To find competitor keywords, first identify industry leaders who are excelling in
search and then research their sites to see what keywords are driving traffic to
them.
 Pro Tip: There is more to learn from the leaders in your space than from direct
competitors. It’s important to first research who is successful in SEO, rather than
assuming your business competitors are successful and worth emulating.
Identifying leaders can help you understand what it takes to succeed in search.
 To identify competitors who share your audience, use Alexa’s Audience Overlap
Tool. Enter your site and up to nine of your known competitors. The report shows
sites that might not be direct competitors, but share an audience with you. These
sites (and their keywords) can help you find topics and keywords that attract your
target audience.
 https://try.alexa.com/marketing-stack/audience-overlap-tool

 You can also identify SEO competitors by searching for sites that have a high
share of voice for topics you care about. To find topic leaders, use Alexa’s
Keyword Share of Voice Tool. Enter a seed keyword to see what websites have
the highest share of voice for keywords you and your audience care about.
 Once you know the SEO leaders in your industry, you can research their
keywords in two ways:
 Find the keywords for a single site using Alexa’s Site Keyword tool
 Find and combine the keywords that 10 sites are getting traffic for in
the Competitor Keyword Matrix
 Research top keywords for a single competitor in the Site Keyword tool
 To find a single competitor’s top keywords, enter the site’s URL into the Site
Keyword Tool. You’ll get a website keyword analysis that shows what keywords
are driving traffic to that site, plus other details such as their keyword share of
voice, the percent of their search traffic that comes from each keyword, and more.
 Research top keywords for a set of industry leaders in Competitor Keyword
Matrix
 To find top keywords shared by a set of industry leaders, enter up to 10 sites into
the Competitor Keyword Matrix. You’ll get a report that shows the top keywords
driving traffic to that group of sites.
Adding Keywords in the Content

 Pre-requisite
 Target the best organic keyword opportunities.
 Find keywords that:
 Are within your competitive power. Your site is authoritative enough to rank for
the term, and you can create the content needed to rank above currently ranking
content.
 Are regularly searched for. The search term is popular with users and has the
potential to drive traffic to your site.
 Are relevant to your audience. Your ideal customer uses the search phrase.
 Match your goals. The search intent of the traffic will help you reach your
marketing goals.
Create content aligned to search intent.

 Go through your keywords and create content for them based on the search intent of
the term. Search intent is the motive that drives audiences to search. Search intent
could be:
 Informational: The user wants to find general information or an answer to a
question.
 Navigational: The user wants to find information about a specific product, service,
or brand.
 Transactional: The user is looking for a page to buy something (also known as
buyer keywords).
 Think about your marketing funnel and how your list of terms fit into the customer’s
journey. Create topics that fit into the funnel, and position content ideas to match
customer intent and need at each phase.
Optimize content for keywords

 For each page of content that you create, assign one target keyword and optimize
the content for that phrase or term. Ensure that you properly optimize every new
page of content for on-page SEO to help give your content the best chance of
ranking.
How Many Keywords Should You Use
On A Page?
 When talking about how many keywords to focus on in a page, the answer
depends a lot on the keywords you are wanting to use, how related they are to one
another, and if they help push the message of the content forward. 
 In most cases, it would be 3-8 total, based on the length of the content. This
breaks down into 1 primary keyword, 1-3 secondary keywords and 1-4 additional
keywords. This gives you a fighting chance to start ranking for one of them and
then further down the line you can even reoptimize your content based on what
it’s currently ranking for at that time.
 The general rule, however, is you should try to include your primary keyword
about once every 100-150 words. So if you’re writing a 1000 word article,
inserting the primary keyword around 7-10 times would be appropriate. Also keep
in mind that you want to fairly distribute these instances of the keyword
throughout the article. You don’t want all 7 instances of your primary keyword in
the same 200 word section or you lose the flow of a consistent keyword theme
throughout.
 Secondary and Additional keywords, however, shouldn’t be in the article more
than your primary keyword. Whatever your baseline is for using your primary
keyword in your content, decrease by about 25% for secondary and another 25%
for additional keywords for SEO. Then you can keep a healthy keyword structure
that Google crawlers should easily be able to follow.
 Using more than 8 or so keywords (assuming you don’t have either insanely long
content or extremely short content) can come off as spammy.
 It’s also incredibly hard to naturally incorporate that many keywords for SEO into
writing, and really isn’t necessary.
 What you’ll find is that related keywords will naturally and automatically come
up when writing content based around a few really good keywords.
 Doing more than this usually hurts readability and sticks out like a sore thumb to
readers as well as to Google’s page crawlers.
Use Keywords in Your Meta Description

 This is one of the most basic ways to add keywords for SEO, but it’s often
overlooked. The meta description acts as a simple summary to describe what the
content is about, so placing the keyword in this summary helps Google to better
filter your results. It’s is a powerful way to get 1 or 2 of your most important
keywords attached to the part of your page that’s directly served up by search
engines.
 A Meta Description is a 160 character (or 20-25 word) description of what your
page is all about. This description is what shows up under a page name and URL
when people search for a keyword phrase on search engines. Here is an example
of a Meta Description as it appears on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
Writing Crisp Meta Descriptions

 Use active voice and make it actionable 

 Keep it motivating
 Keep it between145-155 characters
How to Use Keywords for SEO in a
Meta Description
 First, it’s important to have the right tools. If you’re using WordPress, try
downloading the Yoast SEO Plugin. This little plugin allows you to quickly
optimize your content for both SEO and readability, as well as gives you spots to
enter in your Meta Description and SEO Title Tag (see step #2).
 Next, when using SEO keywords in a meta description make sure to use the
keyword at least once, but no more than twice. Be sure to prioritize a helpful,
enticing description over keyword stuffing though, since this is the first thing
someone will read before ever visiting your website.
 SEO Pro Tip: If you can get a secondary keyword in your meta along with one
instance of your primary, you’re killin’ it when it comes to using keywords for
SEO.
 Insert Keywords in Your SEO Title Tag

 Keep in mind, I said SEO title, not your main article title. You’ll be optimizing
that in just a minute. First things first, let’s get some helpful keyword data in your
SEO title tag (also known as a meta title tag). This title tag is similar to the meta
description in that it is the name of the page that users will see on search engine
results pages (SERPs) when they search a keyword phrase. This title will be
clickable from the SERPs and will take the user directly to your page. 
How to Use Keywords for SEO in a
Meta Title Tag
 Similar to meta descriptions, you only have a few characters (about 50-60) to use
when writing your SEO title tag. Because of that, you typically want to limit your
title tag to just your primary keyword as well as your company name. This is the
most concise, user-friendly and SEO-friendly way to execute it.
Use Keywords in Your Article Title

 If possible, put the keyword in the title of your content. Since Google pairs this
title header with your meta description to paint a picture of what your content is
about, having the keyword in the title is very helpful as long as it can be used
naturally.
 If the keyword can’t be used naturally in the title, use a variation that still gets the
point of the article across while hitting some of the main words from your
keyword phrase. A little is better than nothing!
Use Keywords Within the First 200
Words
 Many experts believe that Google gives more weight to the first 200 words in
your content. The reason why is because usually the first 100-200 words of an
article are where a content writer sets up the introduction of what will be
discussed. Since most readers only continue on in an article if the introduction is
good, it stands to reason that it could be a ranking factor as well.
Where to Use Keywords in an Article
Introduction
 Knowing that Google scrutinizes the first 200 words of a blog post, it’s very
important to make sure that you put your primary keyword within the first
sentence or paragraph, if at all possible, without sacrificing the quality of the
content. Similarly, you should try to use at least one secondary keyword in the
first 200 words as well (though not in the first sentence).
 Keep in mind that Google is trying to get an overall picture of what the article is
all about. You have to be careful to lead Google to the keywords you want it to
focus on and not confuse it when optimizing content for keywords. This means
your primary keyword should live in all the most important places, your
secondary keywords next, and then any other additional keywords after that.
Think of it as a pyramid of usage, with primary keywords at the top.
 The focus of the article (and introduction) would be the top of the primary, filled
in by secondary and lastly additional keywords to make up an entire keyword
structure and strategy for that piece.
Insert Keywords Naturally Throughout
the Article
 In a seemingly SEO-centered digital world, it’s easy to forget that the reader
actually comes first. You should never compromise your reader’s ability to be
engaged, informed and enlightened by your content because of bad keyword
placement. But believe me, it happens all the time. Here is one solution to help
you write your keywords more naturally in your content.
Use Stop Words in Awkward Keyword
Phrases
 One way to help you write keywords more naturally is to utilize “Stop Words” in
your keyword writing. These are words that can be added within keyword phrases
to help them read more naturally without decreasing their ranking value.
 For instance, if you had a keyword phrase you were targeting that reads
“plumbing Salt Lake City“, there is literally no way you can insert it into your
content exactly as-is without it either looking like a typo or a blatant keyword
insertion. The better way to add keywords for SEO is to use a stop word in that
phrase. Adding the stop word “in”, would now have it read “plumbing in Salt
Lake City”, which can much more easily be inserted into natural writing. Try it
out!
 You can easily find a list of commonly used stop words you can utilize when
adding keywords to your website.
Stop Words

 a
able
about
above
abroad
according
 hence
her
here
hereafter
hereby
herein
here's
hereupon
 somehow
someone
something
sometime
sometimes
somewhat
somewhere
soon
sorry
 https://www.link-assistant.com/seo-stop-words.html
Use Keywords in the Last 200 Words

 Similar to how an introduction of an article is important to keyword rankings

because it sets the framework for the content, it could be argued that the
conclusion (or last 200 words) is just as important, if not more important. For this
reason, try to include your primary keyword again near the last or second to last
paragraph and include a secondary keyword if possible.
 For blog posts, it’s usually good practice to include a call-to-action (or CTA) in
the very last paragraph, so if you can fit the primary keyword there great! If not,
get it in that second to last paragraph as we talked about above.
Use Keywords in Headings (H1s, H2s,
H3s, etc)
 Headings are a formatting tool that most text editors offer to allow you to help break
up your text. From a purely visual standpoint, they are a must-have. Huge chunks of
paragraph content with no end in sight are intimidating and often skipped completely.
Using headings to break up content allows you to visually move the reader along to
the most important points, or the ones they are most interested in.
 From an SEO standpoint, headings might be even more important. The HTML tags
used to identify H1s, H2s, H3s, etc are also ranking signals for Google to know what’s
most important in the content. Adding keywords to headings in content may be the
single best way to try and rank for multiple keywords. The more content you have, the
more headings you have – so longer content usually ranks better than shorter content.
 When a keyword is used in headings, it brings more emphasis to the meaning and
importance of the keywords. This helps the search engines to know how relevant
those keywords are to your content. 
How to Use Keywords in Heading 2s
(H2s)
 Heading 2s, or H2s, are where you can do the bulk of inserting important
keywords. H2s are the headings that break up the main sections of your content
and usually come into play every couple hundred words. For a 1000 word article,
you can plan on around 3-5 of these H2s. this is where you’d want to include the
primary keyword again in one of them and reserve the rest for secondary
keywords you are targeting.
How to Insert Keywords to Heading 3s
(H3s)
 Heading 3s, or H3s, are used to help break up and list individual points in the
main sections. You might find H3s in the form of numbered lists or clarifying
sections to an H2 heading. This is another good place for an instance of the
primary, but probably a better spot for secondary keywords and any additional
keywords you have.
Use Keywords in Anchor Text Links

 When a keyword is used as an anchor text link in your content, it implies that
there is a place to find even more information regarding that word. This helps to
place added emphasis on the keyword and the relevance it has to the content it’s
being linked to. So how does that apply to the article you’re currently writing?
 Well, it doesn’t. Not exactly. Using keywords as anchor text links in your articles
can help OTHER pages on your site. This is also known as creating an internal
link structure showing Google where the most important articles are for exact
keyword phrases. If you can plan your content accordingly, you know you can use
anchor text links of certain keyword phrases to drive the authority of other
“pillar” pieces.
 SEO Pro Tip: Do not use your primary keyword (or variation of it) in anchor text
that is linking to another page unless you’ve completely given up hope of ranking
for that keyword on that page. Doing this basically tells Google to ignore that
keyword on the page you’re working on and to look for it in the page you’re
linking to.
 This is a common mistake that a lot of content marketers make. Instead, find a
related topic within your article with an associated keyword that you can link to
another page to help improve it’s authority. For any of the main keywords you
hope to rank for on the page you’re working on, DO NOT LINK out to other
pages using them as the anchor text.
Use Keywords in Image Alt-tags

 First of all, if you aren’t using images in your content writing then PLEASE do
so! I can’t overemphasize how many opportunities you’re missing out on if you
aren’t using some kind of visual cue to help educate, engage and inform your
readers and prospective clients. Images and content writing (and videos for that
matter) are a perfect marriage when it comes to user engagement.
How to Use SEO Keywords in Alt Tags
 In terms of keyword usage, using your keywords in an image alt-tag can help it to
be shown during image searches. This can help users to be led to your content in a
round-about way.
Use Keywords in URL

 Last, but not least, when it comes to adding keywords to your website, you should
always try to put your primary keyword in the main page URL of the article
you’ve written. If you’ve done the steps above and put your primary keyword in
the title of your article, it should be in the URL automatically when you go to
publish it. But even if your title is similar to the main keyword but doesn’t include
it completely, you should tweak your page URL to include it after the fact.
Track, Refine and Use Different Keywords
If Necessary
 Last of all, don’t forget that you can go back and re-optimize your posts in a few
months once the dust has settled. Give your content about 3 months before you
decide to make any real changes, then go and see what keywords it’s ranking for
and what’s gained traction, and optimize further from there. If your post is
ranking better for a secondary or additional keyword than the initial “primary
keyword”, then switch your primary keyword for SEO!
 Just be sure to be careful about making massive changes or you could end up
capsizing the entire boat. Make small changes to optimize keywords and see if the
results are favorable. Do this over and over again and you’ll have a really fine-
tuned content marketing strategy on your hands.
Tools for keyword search

 https://www.wordstream.com/keywords
 https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/
 https://keywordtool.io/
 https://moz.com/explorer

 Paid
 SEM Rush