“Your keyword will be defined by the company it keeps”.We love this quote from SEO expert Bruce Clay, speaking recently at SES San Francisco. Clay’s words herald a new evolution of SEO, and the principles of context and using broader keyword lists and synonyms apply equally well to corporate blogging as to creating website content.
With search engines acting as one of the main drivers of traffic to a business blog, it can be tempting to resort to keyword stuffing in an attempt to boost visibility. But search engine optimisation for business blogs is a fine art and it should never compromise the quality of content. Here are three steps to using keywords in blog posts effectively:
1. Conduct thorough keyword research
The first step is to determine which keywords are likely to drive the most traffic to your blog – in other words which keyword phrases people are using to find content similar to what is offered on your blog. Take your pick from a range of tools on the market, some of which are free (eg. Google AdWords Keyword Tool) and some of which have a price tag attached (WordTracker, for example).
Clay suggested using “associated keywords” as an SEO best practice strategy, particularly as Google steps up its synonym recognition function. Developing a wider range of related keywords can be very beneficial, and also helps whoever is writing your blog to create more natural posts without falling into the trap of monotonous repetition.
2. Incorporate keywords into your blog post title
One of the most search-friendly ways to employ keywords is skilfully blend them into post titles. Do this by all means, but never sacrifice the potential of an alluring, eye-catching title to entice readers through to your blog.
3. Use keywords thoughtfully throughout posts
Using just one or two keyword phrases within each post has two benefits:
1) It maximises the traffic that comes to your blog via search engines.
2) Stuffing posts with keywords can end up looking ‘spammy’, turning potential readers off, and diluting the quality of your content. Using keyword phrases liberally will generally encourage better content creation.
For optimal results, use your keywords once in the opening paragraph, a couple of times throughout the post and then again near the end of the post.
These are three of the fundamentals of keyword writing and SEO for business blogging, but there are plenty more tricks to ensure maximum eyeballs on your content. For instance, search engines tend to favour linked text over unlinked text. It’s therefore useful to include your keywords in and around any links in your blog posts. You can also use keywords in image Alt-tags whenever you upload images to posts, since search engines crawl alternate text when providing results on keyword searches. The golden rule with these tips and indeed all keyword use is to keep it relevant and contextual.
If you need some help with keywords and SEO, we can help with devising a keyword strategy bespoke to your business blog and its specific goals.
