In a previous blog, we discussed the importance of keywords and how to choose them effectively to help drive awareness and traffic for your brand. Now, let’s dive into how to implement these keywords in your marketing plan to maximize their impact.
1. Update Your Website Content
Your website is like the Yellow Pages of years past. No one with a serious business should be without a website. But to drive viewers, you need to ensure that your chosen keywords are seamlessly integrated into your web copy. Throughout your website, but especially on your homepage and service pages, it’s important to use keywords in headings and subheads. Search engines track content on H1 (main headline) and H2 (major subheads) to determine relevance.
Blog posts are the easiest way to include numerous keywords throughout your site. By writing articles that naturally include your keywords, you provide valuable content to your audience and, when consistently adding blogs, show search engines that you are a thought leader on a topic.
2. Optimize Meta Tags
Meta tags play a crucial role in SEO. These are the words that you place on the backend of your website page. Meta tags include Title Tags (the name and description of each page), Meta Descriptions (the text that is shown as a “teaser” for the content on your page), and Alt Text for images. This step is often overlooked, but it is a simple way to add keywords. While your alt text needs to accurately depict the image, you can write the description in such a way that the keywords are included. This will improve search engine visibility. If you use WordPress, Yoast is a great plug-in to help you identify where you need to better optimize your content.
3. Leverage Social Media
Social media platforms are excellent for keyword implementation. Your post captions, including hashtags, help you reach a broader audience with your message. Those keywords will help you find the right audience. Don’t forget to add keywords or phrases to your social profiles! When those words are searched, your company profile – not just your content – can appear in search results.
4. Regularly Update Content
Search engines look for fresh content. If your content isn’t new, the search engines will assume your business isn’t active. Your goal should be to include fresh content at a minimum every 30 days. In addition to regularly adding new content, you can also refresh older content, especially content that is more generic for your business. This may include updating an older blog with new statistics, rewriting the FAQs section or rewording headlines and subheads. You may also want to merge content if it feels repetitive. And don’t forget to check your image tags! You don’t have to reinvent your content – you just need to retool it.
5. Monitor and Adjust
Continuous monitoring and adjustment are key to a successful keyword strategy. Use the same tools you used to help identify your keywords to track performance and stay on top of trends. By actively using reporting tools like Google Analytics and SEMrush you can make data-driven decisions to refine your keyword strategy.
The Most Common Keyword Mistake to Avoid
Utilizing keywords in your marketing is important, but the practice also needs to be authentic. If your marketing sounds like a thrown-together pile of words, it won’t work. The most important practice to avoid is keyword stuffing. Overloading your content with keywords can lead to penalties from search engines. Aim for natural integration and include long-tail keyword phrases into your content.
Keyword marketing is not optional. Without strategically using words that your customer is searching for, your company will fall lower on search result pages and risk not being seen. Don’t neglect user intent. Ensure your keywords align with what your audience is searching for and focus on providing value, answering their questions and fulfilling their needs.
This blog is courtesy of MMC Account Manager Melissa Holder.