The Yoast SEO plugin makes it very easy to see how your focus keyword or phrase rates with a simple green, yellow and red indicator, however how do you even find the “perfect” keyword/phrase to get a green light?
Here are four main things you should do to find an effective keyword/phrase to optimize your content for:
1: Select a focus keyword or phrase that is actually used in search.
Be sure you are using words and word combinations that your audience would use when searching for resources and content.
Especially important is to think about the vocabulary your audience would use. This goes back to the “what would you type into a Google Search bar” example.
Here are a couple tools to help you conduct keyword / keyphrase research:
2: Don’t be too broad or too specific.
You don’t want to choose a focus keyword or phrase that is so broad (i.e. breastfeeding) you likely won’t appear high on the list, but not too specific it excludes your content. A good example would be “breastfeeding resources in dallas”. It’s not too broad, but includes a commonly searched for topic and includes your content specifically with the city reference.
3: Google your proposed focus keyword!
The best way to find out whether or not your content fits your content is to actually Google the keywords/keyphrases yourself.
Look at the first two pages of results. Ask yourself these questions:
- How does your content fit within this search term content?
- How can you make sure your post will stand out?
- What makes your content different?
4: Draw keywords from what you are already writing about.
Don’t let your research make you start second guessing yourself or your post topic. Make sure you the underlying message of your post remains organic. True keywords/keyphrases should just occur naturally while writing/editing.
In conclusion, you should aim for a combination of words that:
- Are actually used by YOUR search audience.
- Are highly searched for using Research Tools.
- Will fit your audience.
- Will fit organically into your content.