Keyword optimization is the process of researching, analyzing and choosing the most suitable keyword phrases for your content, and your audience. If you are trying to optimize for Google, you absolutely cannot neglect keyword research.

Choosing the right keywords is critical when optimizing for Google (or any search engine, really, but Google is King, counting for over 65% of all search traffic). The goal is to find targeted, profitable keywords and keyword phrases that your potential visitors will type into Google’s search bar. Google displays the most relevant pages in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), because that’s what people want.

Once you find the keywords and phrases that you should be targeting, what do you do? Include them in and around your content – where you should include them is something we’ll save for another blog post.

Google’s goal is to deliver high-quality, relevant and current results to people as accurately and quickly as possible. To create that desired content, follow these keyword research guidelines.

4 Essential Keyword Optimization Tip

1. Create interest

You can make pretty much any topic interesting if you get creative enough. But don’t stop there. Make sure it’s valuable to your readers. Are you helping them? Are you answering real questions they have, or solving real problems they deal with? Don’t find a great keyword and just load your content with it. Do it with purpose, make a story out of it, and give readers a reason to keep reading.

2. Focus on long tail keyword phrases

This term refers to the expansion of a general search term, which pulls up more specific, targeted results in the SERPs. For example, the keyword “red shoes” might sound perfect for your content, because your company sells red shoes. But type in “red shoes” in Google to see what comes up. Proper keyword optimization would lead you to find that the long tail keyword phrase, “buy red tennis shoes” is more appropriate, because this is exactly what your page is all about. Your company wants to sell red tennis shoes (not share the history of red shoes). Long tail keyword phrases are a better guarantee that your content will (1) be relevant to searchers, (2) show up in the top search results on Google, and (3) drive more targeted, better quality traffic.

3. Use keyword variations

Not every potential visitor will use the same keyword or phrase to find what they’re looking for. It’s important to dedicate each page on your website to a single, targeted keyword phrase, but you need some variety and balance. This will help you stay relevant to more people, and avoid repetitive content. Focusing on relevant keywords and phrases will also help Google rank your page based on subject matter, rather than solely on keyword density.

4. Don’t quit

Keyword optimization – and SEO in general – is not a one-time fixer-upper. You need to consistently be analyzing your keywords and phrases to make sure they continue to be relevant to your visitors. Things change, people change the way they search for what they want, and you need to stay current, relevant, interesting and valuable at all times.

There is a lot to know when it comes to keyword optimization. This article is by no means a complete guide to optimizing your website for Google, but merely covers some of the fundamental SEO guidelines to follow in your keyword research.

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What best practices do you always follow when optimizing your site for Google? Share your own keyword optimization tips in the comments section below!