As search engines have become a fundamental part of our daily lives, we need to keep monitoring keyword trends and user behaviour to uphold SEO best practices. The ever-evolving digital landscape requires websites to stay visible and relevant to their target audience.
In today’s competitive online environment, understanding how users search for information, services and products is paramount. Keyword research isn’t a just one-time task; it’s an ongoing process that allows businesses to align their content with the language and intent of prospective clients.
SEO best practices also include optimising website structure, improving page loading time, enhancing user experience, and producing high-quality content. These efforts collectively contribute to:
- attracting prospective clients
- providing users an engaging user experience
- offering users valuable and relevant content.
Staying attuned to the latest SEO trends and how the algorithms work is essential if you want to maintain and improve your online presence. By doing so, you can effectively navigate the ever-changing landscape and connect with your audience in a meaningful way.
Keyword research
The most important step in devising a keyword strategy is performing keyword research. There are various tools available that can help you work out which keywords are appropriate for your content such as SEMrush, Ahref and Google Keyword Planner.
We would highly recommend using Google Search Console to conduct keyword research. Google Search Console offers valuable insights about your website performance and provides valuable information about how Google’s search engine interacts with your website.
This includes which keywords are driving traffic to your site, top queries that users are searching for, how your site appears in search results, and any issues that might affect your website’s performance in Google’s search index.
- Sign into your Search Console account
- Select Performance on the left side-bar menu
You can use the information on the Top Queries and Top Pages to identify relevant keywords and phrases that your target audience is using to search for your content and services.
Specific and local wins!
Another tip for SEO best practices is to use specific and localised keywords for your content. Specific keywords help you target the right audience, while localised keywords enhance relevance for local search queries. This strategic approach improves your website’s chances of ranking higher in search engine results.
Keywords optimisation
Once you have identified a primary keyword, add the keyword under YOAST and include it in the following element:
-
- Title tag (this is an SEO title, not a page title)
- Meta description
- Headers (including H1s, H2s and H3s)
- URL structure (remember to add a redirection if you change the URL for an existing page)
- Content (especially at the beginning and the end of the text).
What should you avoid?
You should avoid ‘keyword stuffing’ and concealed keywords when creative website content, as they can have a detrimental impact on search engine rankings and user experience.
Keyword stuffing involves overusing keywords to the point of spamming the content and rendering it unreadable, while concealed keywords are hidden from users. These unethical practices can lead to penalties from search engines, including ranking drops or deindexing.
Instead, focus on natural keyword integration, providing valuable content and following ethical SEO practices to improve your website’s visibility and user engagement.
Key takeaways:
- Perform keyword research to identify specific and localised keywords.
- Utilise and optimise the keywords to deliver high-quality content .
- Be realistic when working out which keywords you can compete on.
- Be patient as it usually takes about 6 to 12 months to see the effectiveness of your SEO efforts.
If you have any questions or if you are interested in keyword research, please get in touch – sales@practiceweb.co.uk. We’re happy to help and do the heavy lifting for you.
