Writing SEO-friendly blog posts for a business website can be confusing. While you may already know that keyword research is important in acquiring new leads and customers online, you may not know how to use the right keywords effectively.
Publishing blog posts is just one small part of the big SEO blogging puzzle. In order to rank well, search engines need to see that your blog articles are both SEO-friendly and engaging to your readers. Once you figure out how to integrate keywords within your blog posts, more of your website pages can be indexed and then found by your target audience on search engines.
While it may seem like a daunting task, learning how to use keywords in blog posts can be easier than you think with just a little bit of guidance. Yes, even you can write a great blog post that ranks well on the search engines — whether you’ve been blogging for a while, or are just starting your first blog post today. Here’s how.
Get Familiar with Long-Tail Keywords
“50% of search queries are 4 words or longer.” – Wordstream
Let’s say you own a CrossFit gym. As you’re identifying keyword opportunities, it would make sense to use phrases that surround “CrossFit gyms,” and “CrossFit training.” While you shouldn’t just stuff these words anywhere and everywhere throughout your blog content, you will want to select one good keyword to focus on for each blog post. If you use too many keywords in one article, your post will look “spammy” to search engines and hurt your chances of ranking well. Not to mention, your blog content will be less than desirable for your readers. But when you strategically place “long-tail” keywords in your blog posts, this can help your articles rank better and stand out for the right reasons.
What are Long-Tail Keywords?
Long-tail keywords are usually 3 to 4-word phrases that a potential customer types into the search bar on a search engine. These phrases are highly specific and are used when someone knows exactly what they are looking for when it comes to a product or service.
For example, if someone is interested in trying CrossFit for the first time, they may search for “CrossFit gym for beginners” or “beginner CrossFit workouts.” This means that for your CrossFit gym’s blog, you will want to search for keyword variations that relate to these phrases and others.
How Do I Find Long-Tail Keywords?
One of the easiest ways to find long-tail keywords is to select a specific keyword you would like to focus on in your blog article and type it into the Google search bar. When you do, long-tail keyword suggestions will appear as you type.
For example, if you type “CrossFit exercise,” Google will show you a list of other potential searches such as “CrossFit exercises list,” “CrossFit exercise names,” and “CrossFit exercise equipment.”
Use Long-Tail Keywords in Blog Post Titles
After you have identified long-tail keyword opportunities, you will then want to create blog post titles that incorporate these keywords. A captivating blog post title that is also SEO-friendly will prompt a customer to click through to your website. Some potential titles for a CrossFit gym could include the following:
- 5 Best CrossFit Workouts for Beginners
- CrossFit for Runners: How CrossFit Improves Running
- 10 Reasons Why Women Should Try CrossFit
- The Essential List of CrossFit Exercise Names
- CrossFit Nutrition: The Ultimate CrossFit Diet Guide
- 10 CrossFit Terms and Phrases Every CrossFitter Should Know
Place Long-Tail Keyword Variations in Subheadings
Once you have written a creative blog post title, it’s time to use keywords effectively in your blog content. Ideally, you will want to use variations of the main long-tail keyword in your blog post’s subheadings.
Breaking up blog content with relevant, SEO-friendly subheadings will help in terms of readability and your search rankings.
Think about it: people typically skim articles first to see if the content may resonate with them. But if a potential customer or client can’t find what they’re looking for easily, they are going to leave your website and move on to another article.
Let’s say you are writing your “5 Best CrossFit Workouts for Beginners” blog post. We already know that your main keyword will be “crossfit workouts for beginners,” but you will also want to find one or two more relevant keyword variations to use in subheadings.
To do this, you can once again utilize Google to search for variations of your main keyword. As you search, you will find that some related keywords could be, “beginner crossfit workouts with weights,” “beginner crossfit workouts without weights,” and “beginner crossfit workouts you can do at home.”
Once you have chosen your SEO-friendly subheadings, you can then write descriptions under each subheading and use bullet points to list out the various types of exercises.
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