Keywords are an essential part of  SEO copywriting. They help to determine what people are searching for and optimize your copy for them and the search engines. Without keyword research for your copywriting, you will be shooting into the dark. You will simply be writing your copy, hoping that someone finds it.

But you will respond to the Google search query when you do keyword research before writing. You will be giving answers to the readers, something that they and the search engines will love.

 But for the best results, you should know how to use the keywords. Overusing them will lead to over-optimization, which can cause Google to penalize your site. Here are the strategies to use targeted keywords in SEO copywriting for the best results.

Steps in Using Targeted Keywords in SEO Copywriting

For the best results, keywords are essential components of copywriting. Here are the steps to follow in using targeted keywords in SEO copywriting:

Perform Keyword Research

Doing keyword research before writing an article will help you determine if a keyword is worth writing on. This can help prevent writer’s block as you will know what to write about. There are many free tools to use for keyword research, such as Google Search Console, Ubersuggest, Answer The Public, and more.

When doing keyword research, you should focus on specific terms with a high search volume. However, you should also remember that the higher the search volume, the more difficult the keyword will be.

When doing keyword research, consider the terms related to your industry, business, products, or services. Avoid focusing on the same or groups of keywords to avoid keyword cannibalization. 

Therefore, if you feel that certain keywords are closely related, you should group them under one keyword to use them as secondary. That way, you can bring higher traffic to the article as you will have it ranking for several keywords.

How to Use Keywords in Your Seo Copy Naturally

As we noted earlier, when using keyword research for content marketing, you must naturally incorporate your keyword in your copy. Here are the areas where you should use the keywords.

Title

Using the targeted keyword in the title is a great way of telling Google what the article is about. Besides, searchers are more likely to click on a web page when they see the exact keyword on the title of the search results.

In the Article Body

This is the most obvious place to include the keyword. However, you should be careful not to overdo it. Instead, you should do it as naturally as possible. You can use colors to highlight the keywords and see if you use them more or less than desired.

Subheadings

While subheadings help structure your articles, they do more than just that. They also offer a great opportunity to include your target keywords or their variations. Remember that subheadings have more weight than normal text in SEO. Therefore, they should be among the key elements of on-page SEO.

 However, you don’t have to include the keyword in every subheading, as they help search engines determine what your text is about. Instead, focus more on making your article sound natural.

Meta Title

The meta title is often what is visible on the search results. Including the target keyword in the meta title will make it easy for search engines to determine what your site is about. The meta titles will also appear on the SERPs. When people see the keyword they are searching for on your title page, they are likelier to click on the results, bringing traffic to your site.

Meta Description

Ensure that you also include your keyword in the meta description. While this doesn’t impact SEO directly, it can encourage users to click on your link. This is because they will see the keyword they are searching for on the results page. Again, Google often puts in bold the keywords they think to answer the search query.

Anchor Text

The anchor text is a key part of SEO. Ensure that you link to your new pages from other pages on your sites using the target keyword. This can also signal to Google the page that should be ranking for the keyword. It can also help you pass authority from one site to another when interlinking. However, you should avoid overdoing it and instead mix up your anchor texts.

Image File Name/Alt Attributes

If you have pictures in your content, using keywords in the file name and alt text can tell the search engines what the content is about. Since Google can’t read images, it uses the file name and surrounding text to determine what the image is about. This can, therefore, help to boost your site’s SEO.

Tips for Using Targeted Keywords in SEO Copy

On top of the above measures, there are certain tips for keyword research you can use:

Check the Keyword Density

Keyword density refers to the ratio of the number of words as compared to the number of times a keyword is used on search engines. As we noted earlier, overusing a keyword will cause your page to look spammy and may lead to a Google penalty. Many SEO experts recommend a keyword density of 1% to 2%. You can use a free keyword density checker to confirm the keyword density.

Avoid Overusing Keywords on Anchor Texts

 While you can use keywords in the anchor text, this shouldn’t always be true. In fact, an exact match anchor text should be kept to the bare minimum.

Create Long-form Articles

Studies indicate that articles over 1800 words rank highly on Google and get more shares on social media sites. While this may sound involving, creating long-form content can increase your chances of ranking highly on search engines.

Mix Up Your Keyword Phrases

You should avoid using the main keyword in the body repeatedly when using keywords. Instead, mixes it up with its variations and synonyms. Also, find LSI keywords to improve your SEO. For instance, if your keyword is “SEO specialist in Salt Lake City”, you can use its variations like SEO gurus Salt Lake City, Seo services, optimize my site, Salt Lake City seo services, and more. Mixing up search words makes it possible to include the keywords naturally.

Focus on Readers and Not Search Engines

The above tips will help you rank better for your target keyword on the search engines. However, Google wants good content that answers the user’s search query. Therefore, even as you optimize your SEO copy for a particular keyword, ensure that you put your users first. Writing for readers instead of SEO will also make it easy to include keywords naturally. If a keyword sounds awkward, avoid using it.

Conclusion

By incorporating good keywords in your SEO copy, you will provide answers to the user’s search query. Therefore, keep doing keyword research analysis to help you rank better on the search engines. However, good use of keywords should not affect the quality of writing: It should help to write a well-rounded copy. The above tips make integrating your keywords in your SEO copy possible.