If you want to hire keyword research freelancers, you might be wondering how to hire a keyword researcher and if the investment is worth it (or if you can just do it on your own). Let’s look at why identifying keywords is important for SEO and provide some tips on how you can get started with it.
What Are SEO Keywords, and How Do They Work?
SEO keywords are simply the words or phrases that someone would use when searching for something on the internet. When you use these keywords in your content, it helps your website come up higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
For example, let’s say you own a pet store. If someone is searching for “pet supplies,” then you want your website to come up as one of the top results. In order to make this happen, you would need to use the keyword “pet supplies” throughout your website and blog posts. This signals the search engines that your website is relevant to what the person is looking for.
Why Are Keywords Important for SEO?
There are two main reasons why keywords are essential for SEO. First, as we just mentioned, they help search engines understand what your website is about. This is important because the whole point of SEO is to improve your website’s visibility in search results. If you’re not using the right keywords, then it will be very difficult for people to find your website.
Second, keywords also help you attract the right audience. Let’s say you sell women’s clothing, but if you’re only using keywords like “clothing” or “fashion,” you’re going to attract a lot of general traffic that may not be interested in what you’re selling.
On the other hand, if you use more specific keywords like “women’s clothing” or “ladies fashion,” then you’re more likely to attract people who are actually looking to buy what you’re selling. As keywords are crucial for both search engine rankings and attracting potential customers, let’s look at how you can find them.
How to Find the Right Keywords for Your Website
There are a few different methods you can use to find the right keywords for your business. One way is to simply think about what potential customers might be searching for, and another way to find keywords is to use a keyword research tool like Google AdWords Keyword Planner. This free tool allows you to enter a word or phrase and see how many people are searching for it, which is called its “search volume.”
However, keep in mind that keywords with high search volumes are not always good. This is because they’re usually very competitive, meaning it will be challenging to rank for them. So, you’ll also want to look at the “competition” level for each keyword. In addition, they might not be too specific and could attract a lot of general traffic, which won’t convert into buyers.
You can also look for the right keywords by examining what your competitors are doing. You can do this by using a paid tool like SEMRush. Simply enter your competitor’s URL and it will show you all the keywords they’re ranking for–you can then use these keywords to improve your own website’s SEO.
How to Use Keywords on Your Website
The process of using keywords on your website is called “on-page SEO,” and there are a few different ways to do this. The first way is to use keywords in your website’s title and meta tags–the title tag is the main text that appears in SERPs, and the meta tags are brief descriptions of the page that are also used in SERPs.
You’ll want to include your keywords in both of these tags, but be careful to not stuff them full of keywords. This will not only make your website look spammy, but it will also hurt your SEO as search engines will penalize you for keyword stuffing.
Another way to use keywords is in your website’s content–this includes both the text on your website as well as the images. When it comes to the text, you’ll want to use keywords throughout your website, but again, don’t stuff them in. A good rule of thumb is to use a keyword 1% to 3% of the time. So, if you have a 500-word piece of content, you should use your keyword five to fifteen times.
As for images, you’ll want to include keywords in the file names and alt tags. The file name is the name of the image file, while the alt tag is a brief description of the image. Both of these elements help search engines understand what the images are and how they’re related to your website’s content.
