One of the best ways that businesses can engage their customers is by starting a company blog. Blog posts provide free, valuable information and help to build a foundation of trust with customers. What’s more, blog posts can help to increase your visibility online.
Creating a blog and guest posting are some of the most effective ways of improving your ranking on search engines like Bing and Google. In order to show up on searches, though, your blog posts need to contain keywords that are optimized for search engines.
Here are some tips on how to include SEO keywords in your company blog posts and attract the attention of both new and loyal customers.
1. Don’t Forget the Title
Keywords shouldn’t just be present in the body of your content. You should also aim to include them in the title, as this is the first thing that readers will see pop up on their search engine.
It’s also a good idea to include keywords in headings and subheadings as well as the introduction and conclusion of your post.
2. Focus on Long-Tail Keywords
For the most part, popular keywords aren’t just single words. People are more likely to type short phrases into their search bar rather than generic one or two-word ideas. Long-tail keywords are usually around three or four words long and are highly specific to the subject matter in question.
For example, if a customer is interested in New York area skydiving lessons, they’re unlikely to simply type “skydiving” into their search bar. Instead, they’re likely to type a phrase such as “New York skydiving” or “beginner skydiving in New York.”
3. Use Keywords in Links
Search engines use algorithms to rank the websites that show up in a search, and a variety of factors determine which sites hit the top of the page for potential customers.
Linking is often considered when deciding how much importance to place on keywords and phrases.
If you include your chosen keywords in links throughout your blog post, it may be more likely to gain a higher ranking when customers search.
Just don’t overdo it, as too many links can make a page confusing and difficult to read. Links are most effective when used sparsely throughout a piece.
You should also try to link only to credible sources, such as .gov or .edu websites.
4. Use Keywords in Alt-Tags
Photos not only make a blog post more interesting but can also be used to improve SEO. If you include keywords in the file name, search engines will pick up on it. You can also add keywords to the alternative text field.
Alt-tags are the description that appears for online visitors who can’t see a picture in their web browser. This makes your website more accessible to different users while also giving you the added benefit of including more keywords in your blog post to improve its search engine ranking.
5. Take Cues from Google
If you’re not sure which keywords suit your blog post’s niche area, then it’s time to do a little bit of research. One of the quickest and easiest ways to come up with key phrases is by typing your idea into Google.
You can look at the alternative searches that the bar suggests to find out precisely what other online visitors have been searching for and to get ideas from your competitors. You can also use the Google Adwords Keyword tool to find phrases related to your topic.
6. Stick to Just One or Two Phrases
If you include too many keywords in your blog post, they begin to lose their effectiveness. It’s also difficult to fit multiple keywords into links and alt-tags. Instead, try to stick to just one or two key phrases per blog post.
7. Avoid Keyword Stuffing
Some bloggers try to include their chosen keywords as often as possible in their posts, but this is a classic mistake. Also known as keyword stuffing, this tactic can be irritating to the reader and take away from the value of the content at hand.
While it’s a good idea to include your keywords throughout your piece, try to make it as organic as possible and avoid repeating yourself too often.
Using keywords in your blog post helps to improve its visibility and achieve higher search engine rankings. By using the right words and phrases, you can match customer searches and earn more clicks. For more help, you can turn to professional New York SEO services.
