We all know the importance of search engine optimization, and keywords are an important part of the process.
Angela Hausman explains keywords in simple words here, “When you search for something on Google or another search engine, you put in words related to what you’re looking for. Those are keywords.”
The basic idea is very straightforward, yet people still make a lot of mistakes when it comes to keywords usage.
Most of us already know how important keywords are, but very few of us are able to use keywords in the right manner usually due to a lack of knowledge and eagerness to get quick results.
To help you understand things better, given below are some common keyword usage mistakes to avoid:
Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing occurs when you use too many keywords.
Using more keywords doesn’t mean you will get better results. In fact, overstuffing can cause your page to get blacklisted or not appear on Google at all.
George Konidis, an SEO expert catering to different niches, says, “Customers do not understand that more is not always better when it comes to keyword usage. It can be hard to explain it to them especially since so many people indulge in this SEO sin.”
Ideally, keyword usage should be about 1.5% of the total word count (15 times for 1000 words).
Konidis further adds, “Keyword stuffing might help boost your site initially, but it can be very bad in the long-run.”
Not Paying Attention to Keyword Difficulty
Competition lets you find how difficult it would be to rank for a keyword. Since there are a number of businesses vying for the same audience, the competition can be tough.
The level of difficulty depends on how popular a keyword is. If there are a lot of businesses vying for the same keyword, it would be hard to rank for it.
This is why SEO experts suggest to use long-tail keywords.
“Integrating long-tail keywords in your blog posts can help you maximize your organic search rankings and organic traffic,” suggests Neil Patel. This is because long-tail keywords are typically easier to rank and can also be used to target the right audience.
Poor Positioning of Keywords
Not just the density, the position of your keywords is also vital. Google does not have a guide on this, but based on my experience, you should use keywords sparingly and throughout the body of the article, including subheadings.
In addition to this, make sure to include the keyword in the subheading and META as well. Plus, if you add images and videos, make sure to include keywords there as well.
Not Using Local Keywords
Local keywords are for businesses that cater to a specific location. It is quite easy to search for local keywords, but I personally prefer to use this formula: ‘keyword+location”.
For example, if you sell leather shoes and only cater to people in NYC, you can use keywords such as ‘leather shoes NYC”.
Local keywords are beneficial because they allow you to target a specific audience, which helps improve ROI. Plus, they also typically have lower competition. However, they might not be apt for all kinds of sites.
Not Having Primary and Secondary Keywords
Use a mix of primary and secondary keywords. Your primary keyword is the main keyword that you use throughout the body and your secondary keywords are supporting keywords that can be used to bring in more audience to your site.
For example, if your main keyword is ‘leather shoes NYC’, your secondary keyword can be ‘affordable leather shoes NYC’ or ‘cheap leather shoes NYC.
Not Using Keywords Naturally
Do not make the mistake of forcing keywords into the content. They should be used naturally as forcing keywords does not only impact readability but can also increase bounce rate, which can negatively impact SEO.
Make sure to avoid these mistakes when working on SEO so that you can get good results.
