You may've heard the terms 'keywords', 'longtail keywords', or 'key phrases'. These are all SEO terminology for the relevance of information; and disseminating this information via search engines to the best sources. By targeting specific keywords and phrases with your website, you are able to show search engines that you have the answer to user queries, and this improving where you appear in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
Where do I find keywords?
There are dedicated tools like Keysearch and SEMrush that allow detailed analysis of keywords and phrases and how easy they are to rank for. However, these are paid services. There are free keyword helpers like the Ubersuggest Chrome extension, Moz Keyword Explorer; as well as Google Search Console's analysis on keywords you are using but that aren't performing. All these can give you excellent insight into what to focus on, and what your customers are searching for in Google.
We also provide keyword research and SEO services, if you are wanting an expert to look into your site.
How do I use keywords?
The first step in using keywords is to get an SEO plugin to assist you. These aren't the be-all and end-all of SEO, but they can help beginners, and certainly take the pressure off the technical side.
Yoast, All-In-One SEO, and Rankmath are some of the most common WordPress plugins. They not only provide an easy guidance system for best practice, they also do the back-end legwork to ensure your site is prepared for indexing by search engines.
It's important to use your analytics to track your keywords and optimise your content if you are not ranking in searches.
Monitoring & Updating
Once you have spent time updating and improving the keywords in your content, it is a regular activity to monitor and update if necessary. Competitors may have written similar but better content, so it is about constant improvement over time.
