How to Use Keywords in Content Writing

In content writing, a lot of emphasis has been put on keywords. And rightly so, keywords are an integral part of your content. But still, people undermine the importance of keywords, and this is why we are here to tell you about what keywords are, their types, and how content writing companies use them optimally when doing content writing or optimization. So, let’s begin.

What are Keywords?

Keywords are the words and phrases that are used by surfers when searching for any information about something on search engines like Chrome, Bing, and Yahoo.

Now, for a keyword to qualify as a useful and good keyword, it should have certain qualities, such as being specified, long, and realistic. All these qualities are commonly found in a good keyword.

The factor of specificity helps the search engine provide relevant content according to the keyword. A keyword being a long tail further narrows down the content for the search engine and provides an added description regarding the search term. And lastly, for the keyword to be realistic, it is necessary because the thing searched for should have an online existence and be located.

Types of Keywords

There are several different types of keywords; some have different intentions, and others differ in characteristics. Now we will look at different types of keywords.

Search Intent

1.    Informational

These are the keywords used for information collection purposes. After entering and searching for such keywords in the search, you would receive informational content. An example of an informational keyword is “Best Finance Company for Bookkeeping.”

2.    Navigational

These are the keywords that would direct you to a specific website. An example of a navigational keyword could be “X Login” or “Reddit Sign Up.”

3.    Commercial

These are the keywords used by surfers and people who are willing to buy a product or get services and want to learn more about them before placing an order. An example of such a keyword is “RTX 4070 review” or “Apple Vision Pro unboxing.”

4.    Transactional

These are the keywords used when placing an order for the purchase of a product or a subscription to a service. An example of transactional keywords is “Buy Apple MacBook Pro 16.”

Characteristics

1.    Short-tail

These are very concise, generic, and highly competitive keywords. An example of a short-tail keyword is “phone.” Using such keywords in the content and a primary keyword could have a deteriorating effect as these are highly competitive.

2.    Long-tail

These are the keywords that are descriptive and, hence, somewhat elaborative, which enable the search engine to seek specified content. An example of a long-tail keyword is “Best Car Model under $10,000” or “Most Highly Compensated Jobs in 2024.”.

3.    LSI

LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords are co-related words and phrases of the primary keywords. They are used in content because they enable the search engine to better comprehend the context.

Keyword Placement and Usage Best Practices

Now that we have learned about the different types of keywords, let’s have a look at how we can use them and where they are best placed in the content. Remember, the techniques mentioned below are also used by content writing companies when providing content writing services.

Keyword Placement Tips

Headlines

The primary keyword you have searched for and selected should be in the main heading of your content. For the primary keyword, it is also preferred to have an occurrence in the first paragraph. The presence of the keyword in the main heading enables search engines to know the main topic of the content; it also helps the reader know what the content will be about.

Subheading

In the subheading of the content, primary and secondary, or LSI, keywords are used. This helps boost SEO and provides various other benefits. The usage of LSI helps in the creation of content hierarchy and helps the reader get bonus information along with what they were looking for.

Visuals

Along with the textual content, keywords can also be used in the visual content. The alt text and the image description are both great ways of using keywords in the visual content. Using keywords in the alt text is beneficial from an SEO perspective. Besides that, it helps the visitor’s accessibility, as a keyword in alt text lets the visitor know what the image is about if it didn’t load.

Meta Description

Keywords in the meta description are a must-have. Meta descriptions are snippets of what the content is about and are displayed on the search engine page of the article. If the meta descriptions have keywords, then surfers would be more encouraged to visit the web content.

Keyword Usage Tips

Avoid Keyword Stuffing

Before we learn what to do, let’s get our heads around what not to do. One of the mistakes that you should avoid while using keywords is keyword stuffing. The overuse and constant replication of a specific keyword is called keyword stuffing. The reason why keyword stuffing is discouraged is because it leads to a deteriorating reading experience.

Keyword Density

Keyword density is a metric used to quantify the frequency of the keyword in the content. It is a percentage calculated by dividing the number of primary keywords mentioned in the content by the total word count. A good keyword density is around 2%–5%; this means that for a blog consisting of 1200 words, there should be 24–60 times the primary keyword mentioned.

Conclusion

Lastly, keywords are a vital part of your content, and hence their importance should not be ignored when you are doing content writing. In addition to keyword usage and placement, you should also carry out meticulous keyword research to find good keywords that are rankable, relevant, and less competitive. Although you can do keyword research yourself, it is preferred to rely on experienced content writing companies such as Design Mania.

Design Mania is an elite content writing company that houses expert content writers, SEO executives, and content strategists who have years of hands-on experience in web content writing and management.

With Design Mania, you won’t only get keyword research and usage services but also useful services like content optimization, internal linking, and more, which boost your website’s SERP ranking and SEO. With a full-scale content writing service package, subscribe to services and grow your search engine’s online visibility.