It occurs to me that understanding how to add keywords to a webiste as part of your internet marketing strategy is similar to Christmas stockings.
Christmas was a very important holiday in my house, and although I grew up in a low income family, my mom put a lot of thought and energy into making sure Christmas was special. Each of us kids hung up our stockings and on Christmas morning, our stockings were stuffed full. Stockings were a big deal and we could always unload them before mom and dad were up. Presents had to wait for the whole family so we would take our time going through our stockings until the whole family was awake.
Our stockings would be stuffed full and you were able see numerous items poking against the red material. Bulging with candy and a few toys, the bulk of the contents were things we needed. The items were useful with a few fun items sprinkled in. We would pull out the gifts one by one- chapstick, deodorant, hair ties, a toy, razors, hand lotion, pens, a candy cane. We were surprised by a few things, but most of the gifts were things we really needed and we would use. For us, it was exciting because we needed the gifts. We felt like we hit the jackpot!
When understanding how to add keywords to a website, you need to add keywords that address what people need and bring them content that delights. You shouldn’t “stuff” your website content, page titles, and H1 tags with keyword terms that are irrelevant to your content. The “searchers” won’t find your content useful and odds are they won’t feel like they hit the jackpot. It will feel like they got a stocking full of coal.
You may have heard “don’t stuff keywords on your website” and we have written a blog on just that. We agree that stuffing your website with keywords is a bad idea and Google thinks so too.
But just as it is the time of year to fill those Christmas stockings with stocking stuffers, any time of the year is right to fill your website with relevant keywords and content. Stuff it with useful content and relevant information that will bring a smile to the faces of your website visitors. And you can do it with strategic keywords, stuffed just right.
So, what do you put in your Christmas stocking? I mean, what keywords do you add to your website, or better yet - how do you add keywords to a website?
First, do your keyword research
Before you can add keywords, you need to be keenly aware of which keywords you need to be using to be relevant as well as get them the most notice. Look for industry terms, types of products or services, geographical terms, and questions people are asking. These are great places to start.
Second, find answers to these few questions:
- What are the top 20 keywords on your website?
- What phrases or synonyms are important?
- How much competition is there?
- Where do my competitors rank for these keywords?
- What does Google recommend?
Use the answers to these questions to make a list of the keywords that are right for your business.
Third, add keywords to your website by putting them in all the right places
Check out this blog on SEO Basics to help you know where to place your keywords.
Fourth, add keywords to your website in just the right amounts
You should always write your website content for the humans who will be reading it, not for the search engines. But being very aware of what the search engines are “grading” your website on is just plain smart. Find a balance between using your keywords and writing naturally or your human audience. A good rule of thumb is to have a keyword frequency of 3%. That means for every 100 words you write, you need to use your keyword(s) 3 times.
Fifth, keep using your keywords in blogs and new pieces of content
One way to continue to add keywords to a website and keep creating new content (on the same groups of keywords) is to write blogs consistently. By adding new blogs, you are creating new pages with keywords and search engines like that. So does traffic and leads to your website. So keep adding keywords by writing blogs on topics that people are searching for.
As you add keywords to your website with helpful, relevant content you will begin to see your visitors delighted. The hope is that your visitors will feel like they just opened a stocking on Christmas morning filled with everything that makes them happy.
