If you are an experienced blogger, or even a brand new blogger, you probably already know that SEO is important. If you are new to blogging, you will need to be familiar with SEO in order to make your blog successful. One important concept in SEO is the use of keywords. This post will outline where to put keywords in your blog posts!
A keyword is a term or phrase that users search to find your content. The keyword or keyphrase describes the main idea of the concept. Think of it like the title of an essay.
The keyphrase of this post is “where to put keywords”. This means if a user Googles that term, my post would show up in the results (of course, this takes work to happen, but you get the picture).
When writing any post, it is important to use keywords frequently and effectively. There are specific areas to put keywords so crawlers can index your page for that keyword. You can read more about this process in my SEO glossary for new bloggers.
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
How to find & choose keywords
Before we discuss where to put keywords, it is important to understand where do you find them? I made the mistake when I first started blogging of not researching keywords whatsoever, and essentially making up my keywords. Don’t do this!!
I ended up having to go back through 50+ old posts and editing them for the new keywords I had researched afterwards. This was not fun. 10/10 do not recommend!
Do yourself a favor and research your keyword before writing a post. There are a few different ways you can do this. I personally love Moz’s keyword research explorer. However, it is really expensive and not really affordable for the typical blogger. I used the free 1 month trial and found a bunch of keywords to use in the future, which should last me awhile!
Otherwise, there are other tools you can use for free to find keywords (although I personally don’t think they are as good as Moz).
Other tools you can use are SEMRush, UberSuggest, and WordStream. Play around with these different tools and see which one you like the best! Every blogger has a preference!
When looking for keywords, aim to find ones that have a the lowest difficulty score and highest search volume possible. You might have to sacrifice one for another, but use your best judgement! Sometimes a higher difficulty score might be more beneficial if the search volume is higher.
Researching keywords can be time consuming. It might take 50 searches before you find the right one! Don’t give up, and know that taking this time now will only help you in the long run!
You can read more about the keyword research process in this guide of easy blog corrections to improve your SEO.
Place keyword in title tag
One of the easies places to put keywords is in your title tag. The title tag represents the title of your post or web page. The title tag shows up as the clickable headline when you search a term in a search engine, like the example below.
When writing your title, your keyword should naturally fall into it. After all, your keyword is essentially a title, or a part of a title!
This is important because when you search a question or a term in Google, you naturally look for what you searched within the headlines. If you saw a headline that was exactly what you searched, you would probably be more likely to click on it! Makes sense, right?
The title tag can also include more than just your title. You can add other elements like your website’s name, additional text, spacers, etc. This can help jazz up your headline if your title isn’t catchy enough.
You can easily do all of this through the Yoast plugin. Click edit on the post, and scroll to the bottom. You will see all the elements that need filled in, and Yoast will let you know what improvements you need to make!
Put keyword in meta description
The meta description is another place where to put keywords in your blog post. The meta description provides a brief summary of the blog post or webpage. It makes sense then, that your keyword should be included here. After all, your keyword is essentially a summary of your content!
The meta description is shown under the title tag on the search engine results page (SERP). Here, you want to include catchy phrases that will capture your audience’s attention. Make them want to click on your website over others!
You can easily edit the meta description through the Yoast plugin. Yoast will show you with a green bar when your meta description is long enough, and a red bar if it is too long. You want it to be concise, informative, and catchy!
If possible, aim for your keyword to be the first text in your meta description. This helps crawlers to immediately know what to post is about (and your audience!)
You might also want to include other related keywords in your meta description related to your topic. You can sneak these keywords in naturally, as they should all be related to your post anyway!
For example, for this post, my keyphrase is “where to put keywords”. I can also include keywords in my meta description like “blog SEO tips”, “SEO for beginners” “keyword research” and “keyword placement”. This way, if a user searches any of these terms, my content might show up too!
A high quality meta description will increase your click through rates (how many people click your link compared to how many people see it) This will help increase traffic to your page!
Place keywords in content
Naturally, your keyword should be used within your content. The keyphrase is what your content is about, so it makes sense why you would use it many times throughout your content!
The Yoast SEO plugin will help you determine if you have used your target keyword enough times throughout your content, or too much. You want to use your keyword frequently throughout your post, but not too much, which is referred to as keyword stuffing.
Keyword stuffing is when the webpage or content is “stuffed” with the target keyword, in an attempt to get higher rankings in search engines. Google knows when you do this, and will penalize you for it, so don’t do it! Yoast will tell you if you’ve used your keyword too much, so don’t worry!
Plus, using your keyword too many times makes your content difficult and annoying to read. No one wants to hear the same phrase over and over again! Think of your readers before Google.
The Yoast SEO plugin gives you a lot of valuable information regarding your keywords. Let’s talk about some of these in more detail:
Keyword in introduction
It is best practice for SEO to include your target keyword in the introduction of your content. Think of your post like an essay: your first paragraph is usually the introduction, and discusses briefly what your essay or post is about. Your keyword is a great way to do this, as it is a summary of your content!
Aim to use your keyword in the first 100 words of your content. This will typically be the first paragraph in your post. This is important because if gives crawlers an immediate understanding of your post, as they “read” it from top to bottom.
This is also important for your readers, so they have a clear understanding what your post is about as well! Including your keyword in your introduction will also help you as the writer have a more focused understanding of what you are writing about, which will help guide your post!
Keywords in headings
Using keywords in your headings is also very important to improve your SEO. If you are not familiar with the use of headings (H1, H2, etc.) please refer to these easy blog corrections to improve your SEO for a more in depth explanation.
Every blog post should have only one H1. The H1 is your title, so only having one makes sense! Your keyword should be in your title, so it will naturally be included in your H1. You usually don’t need to worry about this one, as WordPress typically automatically makes your title your H1.
Your H2 headings are the sub-headings. Think of them like chapters in a book. If you can, include your keywords in your H2s. This might not always be possible, but if you can- do it!
You can also include other related keywords in your H2, H3, etc. headings. This can help you rank for more than one keyword! This should happen naturally, as your headings guide your content.
keywords in anchor text
Keywords should also be used in anchor text within your content. Anchor text is the clickable text in a link. For example, if I said learn more about why your blog isn’t growing, the anchor text would be the pink words because they are attached to a link.
It just so happens that the anchor text I used above is the keyphrase for the post linked to it. This helps crawlers to understand what that link is about. If the anchor text is the keyphrase, it further enhances crawlers understanding that the specific post is related to that keyphrase.
If I was to say click here for more SEO tips, crawlers will think that post is about “here”, which doesn’t make any sense! Always use the post’s keyword when linking to it, if possible!
keyword in slug
You should also include your keyword in the slug. The slug is just a fancy (and kinda funny) name for the URL. For example, the URL for this post is queenbeebloggers.com/where-to-put-keywords-in-a-blog-post
Notice how my keyphrase “where to put keywords” is part of the slug. This makes sense because the URL should tell you what page you are looking at, right?!
The Yoast SEO plugin will do this for you automatically. You are able to edit it if you feel it is too long (if your title is long), but make sure you keep at least your keyphrase in there!
Contact me!
As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about blogging, please reach out! I would love to help you with any blogging problems you might have! You can find my contact information in the menu above, or leave a comment below!
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Very informative blog. The keywords are always important and must be placed in the right way just wanna suggest that try to place keywords in the first paragraph of a blog this will he;ps the crawler understand what the link is about.
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