I’ve seen a lot of People who don’t know where to use keywords in their blog post. I’ve seen a lot of blog posts too where keywords are used the wrong way or not being used at all.
Keywords are the backbone of SEO. Without them, it’s impossible to optimize your blog posts for SEO. So it’s very important to use them the right way.
And that’s what this post is all about: how and where to put keywords in your blog posts?
Let’s all agree with this, SEO is definitely not an easy thing to do. It requires some tech know-how and some people who aren’t in this tech stuff, may find it overwhelming.
I am not a techy person, but I’ve gained a lot of knowledge about SEO and keywords in the past year, so I can confidently say that I have solid knowledge about it.
If you are a non-techy person like me, I’ve written this post, especially for you in an easy-to-follow way so that you can use keywords the right way in your blog posts.
But before we get started, let’s find out how to find keywords for your blog posts.
HOW TO FIND KEYWORDS FOR BLOG POST
Finding keywords for your blog posts is fairly simple to do. You’ll need some tools for that too.
Let’s start!
First of all, find a topic to write a blog post on. Okay! Once you finalize a blog topic, this is what you need to do next.
So this is the easiest method to find keywords for your blog post. I use this method too. All you need to do is head on to Google and ask yourself “what would I search on Google if I want a solution to this problem?”
That’s right! Think like a reader or a viewer while finding keywords.
For example, if I want to find out how to write a good blog post title then I would search something like “how to write a good title for your blog post?” on Google and I would instantly get many articles related to this query.
If you scroll down a further bit down then you’ll find some related searches like this too:
Have you noticed that these sentences are too-long to be a keyword? That’s because keywords are of two different types:
- Short-tail keywords: short keywords with at least 2 words such as ‘cake recipe‘.
- Long-tail keywords: keywords with more than 2 words such as ‘chocolate cake recipe without egg’
Moving on!
Using this method, you’ll get a lot of keywords. WRITE THEM DOWN!
Now, we have a noice list of keywords. For the next step, you’ll need a keyword research tool. I recommend going for a free or cheap options such as:
- Google keyword planner
- Answer the public
- Keysearch
Enter your keywords one by one in the tool and you’ll get some results.
Now here comes the most important step: Choosing a final keyword for your blog post.
You only have to focus on search volume and competition of that keyword. Choose only that keyword which has the highest search volume and the lowest competition.
Hurray! You have successfully done a keyword research for your blog post.
PRO TIP:
Now we have a keyword for our blog post. Let’s find out where to use them in your blog post.
Pin this post for later! 👇
WHERE TO PUT KEYWORDS IN YOUR BLOG POST FOR SEO
Here are the most important 7 places to put your keywords in your blog post:
1- HEADINGS AND CONTENT OF BLOG POST
A blog post is mainly made up of these 2 things: Headings and its main body (content).
Let’s talk about headings first.
For SEO purposes, it’s recommended to use different format of headings in a blog post. These formats are called H1, H2, H3, H4, H5 and H6.
You can easily switch between the formats in the WordPress blog post editor like this:
More number and types of headings in a blog post = better chances of ranking on search engines.
To optimize the headings even more for SEO, it’s necessary to use your focus keyword in it too. Don’t just add the keyword for the sake of it, try to make it look natural and not too keyword stuffed. Something like this:
“Best names for female puppy: Puppy names for female dogs” ❌
“Most popular Puppy names for female dogs” ✅
You have to add the keywords like this in the main body of your blog posts too. But remember, don’t go crazy with it. Keep it minimal.
2- TITLE TAG OF YOUR BLOG POST
Every blog post has a main title. The title of a blog post is of two different types: meta title and blog post title.
Both of these titles can be different from each other.
The meta title tag is the one where you have to use keywords. It’s simply the title of a blog post or article which is visible on the Google search engine result page (SERP).
But here comes the tricky part. The title tag must be of 60 words or less. More than that can hurt the SEO of your blog post. So you have to include the keyword in the title within 60 words while making it click worthy.
To change the title tag of a blog post, you’ll need a SEO plugin such as Yoast SEO or RankMath. Just install any one and you can edit the title tag of your blog post in the WordPress blog post editor.
3- META DESCRIPTION OF THE BLOG POST
After you are done with writing a good title tag, it’s time to write a meta description of that blog post. Meta description appears under the meta title on Google search engine result page.
For a meta description, the total word limit is 160 words or less. You have to use the keyword and write a brief description of your blog post so that readers can get a little idea about what your blog post is about.
This is how the title tag and meta description looks on Google result page:
4-URL OF YOUR BLOG POST
You need to make the URL of your blog post look pretty too. But first, there is an important setting that you must do before moving further:
- On your WordPress Dashboard, go to settings > Permalinks.
- In the Permalink structure option, choose the link structure as ‘Post name’.
- Scroll down and click save changes.
This is important because if you don’t enable this option, your blog post links would look really ugly or spam-like.
Now, you have to add your keyword to the URL of your blog post.
If you’ve installed a SEO plugin then you can easily edit just like you’ve changed the title tag and meta description of the blog post.
Make sure to not exceed the word count which is 75 or less.
Related: 3 Free Google SEO tools that you shouldn’t miss!
5- ALTERNATIVE TEXT OF IMAGES
Google can’t see images like us because it’s a machine. To help Google to understand the purpose of the images used in the blog post, we need to give them names which describes them.
This is exactly what alternative text is. Describing the purpose of images is called alternative text or alt tags. This is how to do it:
- On your WordPress dashboard, go to media > Library.
- Click on any image and you’ll see something like this.
In the alternative text option, describe what the image is about and also include the keyword of that blog post.
Sometimes, images ranks before the actual blog posts on Google if you give them alt tags. So make sure to use keywords in it too.
6- IMAGES FILE NAME
Whenever you download an image, it has a name so that you can easily identify them.
Whenever you upload an image in your blog posts, the image name also saves in WordPress so it’s recommended to rename those images on your desktop and add the keyword it it too.
This is one of the most important way of image optimization for SEO. By doing this, you are helping search engines to understand your content a lot better.
7- TAGS OF A BLOG POST
Tags describes what the blog post is about. So it’s important to add keywords in it too.
Here how to add tags to a blog post:
- On your WordPress dashboard, go to Posts > All Posts and click on any blog post.
- On the right hand side panel, you’ll see a ‘Post‘ option. Scroll down.
- You’ll see a ‘Tags’ option. Enter the tags one by one including the keywords. Add up to 3 tags.
- Click ‘update’ or ‘save draft‘ and you are done!
It’s such an easy and simple process. These are all the places where you need to put keywords in your blog post.
But there are some things you need to keep in mind while adding keywords. Take a look at these points below.
WHAT NOT TO DO WITH KEYWORDS
- Don’t add the keywords too many times in a single blog post. This will result in keyword stuffing or spamming and you’ll end up getting penalized by Google.
- Don’t use keywords which are not relevant to your website or content. This will harm the credibility of your website.
- Use anchor texts naturally and don’t over optimize it with keywords.
- Don’t focus only and only on keywords. Keep the problems of your audience in your mind. Create quality content. Your purpose is to solve their problems. Ignoring them can lead to poor user experience.
- Don’t focus only on high competition keywords. Use long-tail keywords as they have less competition which can result in better ranking of your content.
- Don’t use the same Keyword for multiple pages. This can harm the SEO of your site.
Did you learn something new about keywords from this post? Let me know in the comments below!
Hi Khushi- Thank you for this article. I have a question. You said to not use the same keyword on multiple pages… say I am writing a blog series where there is a major theme, but I answer specific questions related to the theme in different posts. Would I not have the major theme keyword also repeated in all my pages? Does that hurt the SEO ranking?
Hi Sarah! Yes, repeating the exact same keyword on different pages is not a good thing. It’s called ‘SEO Cannibalization’ and if you use the same keywords, then Google will get confused about which page to rank for the topic you’re writing about. It will indeed hurt your SEO ranking. Just make small changes in the keywords, don’t use the exact same for different pages. For example, if you’re writing multiple posts about keyword research, then use different keywords with the same meaning, like ‘how to do keyword research’ and ‘how to find keywords for blog’.
Hope this helps!
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You have tons of great info here!! SEO really is so much more important than people realize. I learned a few new tools I can use from reading your article! Another keyword/SEO tool is erank. It’s targeted towards Etsy but it’s got a ton of great info & you can still learn trends & keyword research! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for your nice words, Maci! I really appreciate it 🙂
I learned a few things that might give my seo a boost. Pinning for future reference!
I am so glad to hear that, Carolyn!
Very helpful info. I’m always on the prowl for helpful tips.
Glad you found this helpful, Tracey!
SEO is something I am working on. Thank you for this post. I plan to refer back to it often
Your most welcome, Megan!
This was such a helpful post!! My SEO has started to improve, but some of these tips I didn’t know about yet. Thank you so much!
That’s so nice to hear, Andrea!
Khushi .. very well written. I admire the neatness and to the point , no fluff approach. Keep up the good work..
Thanks a lot, Eshna!
This post was invaluable. As a person new to blogging, this was so insightful. Love it!
Glad you liked it, Dahlia!
I have become quite educated in the world of SEO, but you’ve pointed out a couple of things I didn’t know about. Great article! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks!
Great tips Khushi! SEO is so needed in our little blogs. We need all the help we can get. 🙂
Happy to help, Carolyn! Thanks 🙂
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Very very informative post on keywords. I took notes for myself!
Glad you found this helpful, Vaishali 🙂
I have recommended your blog to all of my friends and family Your words have the power to change lives and I want others to experience that as well
I appreciate it so much! Thanks 🙂
Great post, very informative.
Thanks a lot!
This article in NOICE lol! But really, there are some great tips in here! I’m a bit of an SEO nerd myself and I love learning more and reading about it. Thanks for sharing this!
Thank you so much, Jenna! I am so glad to hear that 🙂
Great insider tips! SEO is everything! Thank you!
Glad you found this helpful, Kristina!