Not got the first clue about adding keywords to your website?
Don’t worry – you’re not alone.
Keyword confusion is pretty common, particularly for those who exist outside of the marketing sphere.
If you’re a business owner or CEO, SEO is unlikely to be part of your job description, meaning you may not have much to do with keyword optimisation and might even assume that it’s not relevant to you. But, (and this is a big but), if you run a business online and want to draw organic traffic to your website, you should probably learn a thing or two about keywords.
So, today, you’re going to learn some straightforward techniques for adding keywords to your web pages. No fluff, no unnecessary buzzwords, no ridiculously long acronyms – just simple, straightforward advice that will help you to seek out the best keywords for your business and put them in the right place.
Why do we add keywords to web pages?
Keywords are the cornerstone of any SEO strategy and when paired with brilliant backlinks, they can do wondrous things for your website.
If you browse through our blog page, you’ll find lots of articles on SEO where we explore why local SEO is important for businesses, how it can help start-ups and SMEs, and even the benefits of SEO for Construction Companies.
In each of these articles, we mention that keywords are an essential part of your SEO.
And here’s why:
People need to find your page!
Search engines rely on keywords to understand the context and relevance of a website before they display it to searchers. If the keywords aren’t there, search engines will struggle to find you — and so will your target customers.
Adding keywords to your site is a bit like saying “Hi Google, this is my page about X and all of the words on this page are related to this topic.”
When the search engine crawler receives your message, it’ll put 2+2 together, matching the user queries (what somebody is typing in) with your content. And that’s how you get found.
What types of keywords should I add?
When you browse through SEO websites like Ahrefs and SEMrush, you’ll get the opportunity to hunt for topic-related keywords that are all laid out in a nice list for you. This list will show you the keyword volume (how many people are searching for that keyword) and the keyword difficulty (how hard it is to rank for that keyword).
When considering volume and keyword difficulty, most marketers aim for keywords with the highest volume and lowest difficulty. These tend to be popular words and phrases that are not used all that often, making them easier to rank for. However, as you search these sites for keyword suggestions, you may find that the topic you’re looking for only produces low-volume keywords or isn’t offering many keywords at all.
This usually happens when a topic is particularly niche or obscure.
Say, for example, you’re opening a fine-dining restaurant in a small village that doesn’t get many visitors. The likelihood of related keywords coming up in the results is very small. This is because there aren’t any fine-dining restaurants in the area. And because there aren’t fine-dining restaurants in the area, people are unlikely to be searching for one.
You get the idea.
Sometimes people get put off by keywords with low search volumes, but try not to be too fazed by this.
If you know that your web page needs to be focused on a particular topic, go ahead and add some low-volume keywords. What you never want to do is skew your page to fit some obscure high-volume keyword that loosely relates to your topic. Doing this will only frustrate searchers and lead to an influx of irrelevant traffic.
Rather than trying to trick people with misleading search terms, go after keywords that are actually relevant. Even keywords with fewer than 50 searches can pay off over time because they’ll help you to attract the right people to your page.
Remember: quality always trumps quantity, so use your keywords to add value and never compromise on the integrity of your content.
Long-tail & short-tail keywords
Another helpful thing to know about keywords is that they come in both long-tail and short-tail forms. The easiest way to illustrate this is with some basic examples.
This is a short-tail keyword:
“Green shoes”
And this is a long-tail keyword:
“Green shiny shoes with zips”
Both long and short-tail keywords can be a valuable addition to your website, so it’s good to aim for a mix of the two. Generally speaking, short-tail keywords tend to be higher volume so if you can find one that’s not too competitive, it can be a great way to bring more traffic to your page.
Long-tail keywords, on the other hand, tend to be lower volume and lower difficulty so they’ll bring slightly less traffic but it’s usually more targeted. This means that your content will reach more valuable visitors, even if there are slightly less of them.
How do I add keywords to my copy?
Now comes the fun bit – adding your keywords!
There are two common ways to approach this. You can either write a new piece of content and add keywords to it. Or, you can take your existing content and keyword optimise it. Let’s take a closer look at the differences:
Keyword Sprinkling
When you add keywords to your content after writing, this is sometimes referred to as “keyword sprinkling”.
Notice here, how we’re using the word “sprinkling” as opposed to “stuffing”. Keyword stuffing is when you carelessly cram 100s of keywords into your copy. It’s vulgar, it’s gross — try to avoid it at all costs.
Some people would argue that keyword sprinkling (after writing) is quicker and easier than writing a new piece of optimised content. But, there’s a reason to challenge this notion.
In theory, sitting down for an hour and adding a few keywords to your content may not sound like a big job. Yet, in reality, trying to make keywords “fit” isn’t always as simple you might think.
When you change just one word in a beautifully written sentence, it can make a HUGE difference to the flow and tone of voice.
To illustrate this, here is a sentence that we’ve haphazardly stuffed a keyword into (for the sake of this example).
The original sentence:
“Elevate your home with a bespoke glass panel from GlassWorks Designs.”
Now we’re going to add the keyword: “Central Poole local glaziers” (but in a stuffy way, not a graceful way).
“Elevate your home with a bespoke glass panel from GlassWorks Designs central Poole local glaziers.”
See how much this has affected the style and flow of the sentence? See how it starts off sounding natural and then curveballs into clunkiness?
This is why, when you keyword sprinkle, you have to take your time to get it right. Look for opportunities to naturally incorporate your keywords and don’t try to force them if they simply don’t fit.
Starting content from scratch
Next, we have the “starting from scratch” approach.
With a blank canvas, you have the opportunity to structure your content around your chosen keywords, using them as signposts to guide your headings and sentences.
The benefit of this approach is that it allows you to incorporate keywords more organically, resulting in a natural flow that resonates with both readers and search engines.
When planning your content, aim to add your keywords into your H1 (main title), your H2s (your subheadings), and your body text (the bits in between).
Let’s imagine you’re writing a service page about watches and you want to incorporate the keyword “second-hand Rolex”. To begin with, try to come up with an engaging page title that is focused on your primary keyword and tells search engines what the page is about.
This might be: “Explore our stylish second-hand Rolex watches” or “Second-hand Rolex watches at irresistible prices”
Then, start to create your subheadings. Here, we want to incorporate variations of our focal keyword (secondary keywords) while keeping things relevant.
Think about the information that your customers will want to know. Ask yourself:
Why should somebody purchase a “pre-owned Rolex watch”?
How much do “vintage Rolexes” cost?
What materials are “Rolex watches” made from?
When creating titles to introduce these topics, try saying them out loud to figure out where the keyword fits. For most of these topics, you can keep the title as a question or experiment with simple statements. You don’t want to go overboard by adding them to every single header, but try to include them where you can.
How many keywords should I use per page?
The number of keywords you include will vary depending on the length of the content. But, as a general rule, it’s best to focus on 1 primary keyword and then several secondary keywords that are relevant to your topic. Your primary keyword tells search engines what your content is about, while your secondary keywords support this.
How to search a webpage for keywords
If you’re optimising a page that already exists, it can be helpful to highlight existing keywords within the text to establish what they are and where they have been used. Doing this is fairly straightforward.
If you’re using a Mac, simply hit “Command + F” to discover where the keywords are hidden within your text. On a Windows computer, you can use “CTRL+ F”.
By establishing whether your target keywords have been used within the copy, you can then decide whether you need to add more or alter them to better suit your SEO needs.
Need a hand with your keyword research?
If you’ve enjoyed reading through our blog but still have unanswered questions, let us know! Our digital experts are always on hand to help you find the right keyword for your business. Learn more about our SEO services in Bristol and how we can support your growth.
Book a slot in our calendar to arrange a chat with our team or send us a message using our handy contact form.