Getting the massive traffic that Google page one SEO rankings bring can be a struggle unless you know where to use SEO keywords and what type of keywords to use. Digesting these easy-to-use tips from a professional SEO management company will go a long way toward giving you the needed expertise.

Armed with your new knowledge, you’ll be ready to start ranking your business in the top five organic search results that get 67.5% of all Google clicks. If you don’t have time to incorporate the tips in your content marketing, you’ll know how to talk to an SEO management company that will do it for you.

What Is SEO?

The art and science of SEO, or search engine optimization, is using words or phrases in your content and on your site that people type into search engines to find what they’re looking for. If the content on your site ranks higher than other content for that keyword, you get free traffic. 

Even though 70% of marketers see SEO as more effective than pay-per-click ads, only 30% of small businesses have a working SEO strategy. That spells massive opportunity for the ones who do.

Different Types of Keywords

Each keyword type has specific advantages that make it the best choice for a particular marketing activity or stage in your sales process. 

Short-tail

Keywords consisting of three or fewer words are useful for casting a wide net at the beginning of your sales process. Searchers using them are looking for general information. This article uses the short-tail keywords “SEO” and “keywords.”

Long-tail

Longer keywords target people searching more specifically who know what they’re looking for and may be thinking about making a purchase. “SEO management company” and “where to use SEO” are the long-tail keywords here.

Informational 

Searchers use informational keywords at the beginning of their sales journey. They’re educating themselves before deciding how to go deeper like you are now.

Commercial

Searchers are now looking for products. Using keywords like “features,” “specifications,” and “ingredients” in your product description tells Google your product matches a searcher’s intent.

Transactional 

Users compare their chosen products on different sites to get the best deal. Keywords like “sale,” “best price,” “best service,” “best quality,” “guaranteed,” and “no questions refund” work well to make shoppers feel comfortable choosing you.

Fresh

Jumping on a trend or event can bring an immediate, short-lived burst of traffic. Capitalizing on movie releases by working the movie name into your keyword phrase is an example.

Evergreen 

Informational and educative content like this post is evergreen. Years from now, people will still be searching for “SEO management company.”

Product Defining 

Searchers look for a particular solution to their problem. If your product description has the searcher’s keyword, your product comes up. “Natural mosquito repellant” or “chemical-free insect repellant” would work if your product is citronella oil.

Customer Defining 

Customer defining adds customer-related keywords to your product-defining keyword: “natural mosquito repellent for summer vacations.” Search volume is low, but the specific targeting brings a high conversion rate.

Geographical

Small businesses serving a particular geographical area benefit from including their location, like this: “Greenwood barbershop.” 

LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing)

LSI keywords are closely related to your primary keyword. Including them in blog posts may get your content in front of audiences interested in your product but using slightly different search terms. 

Finding LSI keywords is easy. First, Google your keyword. Next, scroll to the bottom of the results page. You’ll see a list of related keywords. For “SEO management company,” you’ll see “SEO services,” “SEO provider,” “best SEO company,” and more. 

Where to Use SEO Keywords

Google looks for your keywords in many places in your content and website. You can be sure that your competitors are using their focus keywords in: 

  • Primary H1 on the page — the title visitors see
  • Title tags that show up on search engines — the title searchers see
  • Meta descriptions on search engines
  • In subtitles
  • Within body paragraphs
  • Page/post URL slugs that appear in browser windows
  • Categories and tags
  • Item descriptions
  • Image alt text that search engines read instead of scanning images
  • Anchor text for links

Besides using your primary/focus keyword in all these places, you’ll also need to use secondary keywords sprinkled throughout your subtitles and text to help search engines build context so they can match searcher intent. A tool like Surfer SEO or Market Muse will list supporting keywords.

Using keywords doesn’t make up for poor content. You must have the best content and SEO to rank on page one.

Five Key Tips for Getting Started with SEO

These basic guidelines will get you started on your journey towards getting the free traffic Google can send your way.

Know Your Audience

Knowing your audience is the first step in using SEO for marketing. Create an ideal customer profile, then speak to that person in your content and choose the keywords that the target readers would use.

Research Your Competition

Research your competition’s blog posts, landing pages, and sales pages to see what keyword strategy they’re using.

Use a Keyword Research Tool

Using SEMRush or Ahrefs for proper keyword research will turn up the best keywords to use at each stage of your customer journey.

Avoid Keyword Stuffing

Be careful not to overuse keywords because Google will penalize you. Installing a tool like Yoast, SEOPress, or RankMath on your WordPress site will help you get the best keyword density.

Use a Professional SEO Management Company

You’re not alone if you’re in that 70% of small businesses who aren’t using SEO to get a flood of free traffic because they lack the time or expertise to do it. Becoming successful with SEO can require a full-time commitment, and it may take years to become adept at using the many facets of a winning SEO strategy.That’s why many small business owners turn to an SEO management company like NeONBRAND. They get all the benefits of SEO without the headaches, so they can get on with running their businesses while Google sends more customers.