How to find the right keywords to focus on
Your choice of words makes a big difference to how easily people find you. That's why you first need to find out what keywords are important to you. Below is a guide to help you further.
Why keywords are important:
The internet is a marketplace. No matter what services you offer, you are competing with many others for the same attention. By using the right keywords, you help search engines to link your website to those keywords.
Different types of keywords:
Head: Shorter keywords with greater volume, e.g. "photographer", "shoes" or "ceramics". These keywords reach a broader audience, but it is more difficult to get a high ranking with these keywords.
Long-tail: Keywords that are descriptive multi-keywords, e.g.: "wedding photographer Oslo", "red shoes lady" or "painted ceramic vases". The keywords are more specific and make it easier to get a high ranking.
Step 1 - Make a list
Start by making a list of all the keywords you think people are searching for to find your website. Don't limit yourself here, refine the list later.
Target audience: Think about the person you want attention from. What do they want? What challenges do they have? Feel free to ask family/friends or colleagues what they would apply for if they needed your services.
Product/service: Make a list of products/services and find words to describe them. Even if you don't sell specific products, think about what the customer will be left with, e.g. "information about birds".
Your brand: Make a list that tells what the website and brand are about, such as name, industry, specialties, etc.
Competitors: Look at your competitors' websites. What words do they use?
Related searches: Type the words on your list into Google and see what Google lists as relevant matches to those keywords.
If you have Squarespace, you can use Squarespace's own analytics tool - Search Keywords - to see which keywords are most used by visitors to your website.
Step 2 - Fine-tune your list
Use the list from step 1 to determine which keywords to prioritize. In most cases, you are looking for keywords like:
has enough breadth so that you know there are words people are searching for.
is specific enough for you to rank on the front page.
are relevant keywords for the website, and can be used to create valuable content and good user experiences for visitors.
Smart tips:
Difficulty level: How easy or difficult it is to achieve success with a keyword is a combination of how often people search for the word and how many other websites are trying to rank for the keyword in their search results. You can have some difficult keywords, but it's smart to have a mix of keywords where it's easier to rank highly.
Relevance: Avoid keywords that have low relevance to your website and low search volume. An example of a keyword with low relevance to your website could be your competitor's name.
Current keywords: If your website is already established, it's a good idea to keep keywords that you already rank for. You can get an overview of these keywords by clicking on Analytics in Squarespace and clicking on Search Keywords.
Company name: If the name of the company does not rank high when searching for the name, then it would be smart to prioritize it as a keyword.
Step 3 - Add keywords to your website
Search engines look at the placement of keywords on your website and prioritize certain areas of your website over others. Here is a list of good places to place your keywords, in order of priority:
Domain name
Website title
URL/Website address
Page title
Heading (heading 1, heading 2, heading 3)
'Body text' (the actual content)
Categories
Descriptions and titles for image blocks and gallery
File names for files and images
All text
Remember that the content on your website must be designed for your target group to read. The text must be natural and written so that the reader actually gets something out of it. Remember that high visitor numbers and long reading times send strong signals to Google that you are a credible source in this particular area. Spamming keywords can and will be perceived in a negative way by visitors and search engines, and Google can penalize you by not ranking you at all.
The following areas do not affect ranking in search results, but are effective in giving visitors a positive user experience:
Website meta description - Write an explanatory text about what the reader can expect to find after reading the content on the page in question. Feel free to include relevant keywords in this text. Although the description itself does not rank in Google, it is an important text for visitors to click on the page. So use keywords, but also make sure that the text sells.
Meta-description subpages - You should definitely add a meta-description for the individual subpages. Avoid using the same texts. Google is not fond of duplication.
Step 4 - Follow up on results
It can take time before the changes you make actually have an effect on your website's ranking in search results. Search engine optimization is therefore not a "quick-fix", but an ongoing process. It can take months or up to a year before you can see the big changes. However, there are a few things you can do. How often search engines index your website is out of your control, but you can ask Google (and Bing) to index your website to help search engines find the new content on your website. Once the new content has been indexed, it may still take some time for the ranking in search results to change. How highly you are ranked is influenced by many different factors, and keywords are only part of it.
How many keywords should you prioritize?
It's difficult to give an exact answer as to how many words or word combinations you should optimize for. However, if you have limited resources and time, we would say that 4-5 keywords should be the maximum. With a smaller number, you can more easily focus on them and achieve good results. So 4-5 words or word combinations - that's ambitious enough for most people!
Here are some tips to see if your keywords have an effect over time:
Website analytics tools - use Search Keywords in Squarespaceand keep track of how your keywords are developing.
Google Analytics - Use Squarespace's integration with Google Analytics to get more information about traffic.
Search engine ranking - Open an incognito tab in your browser, search for keywords and check your place in search results. You are not fully advertised, but you will get a better picture than if you do not have on incognito.
Your SEO work should be a continuous process. As time goes by, check your ranking once a month. Replace the keywords you can't rank for, update the content of your site with the new keywords and in general, keep an eye on your competitors and stay up to date on visitor numbers to make sure your website is relevant.
Tip: Finding the right keywords is the first part of the job. Here you will find more tips for good SEO.
If you would like help with one or more of these points, please feel free to contact me. Alternatively, you can check out our SEO package to get help taking an SEO status on your website.
