Given how important it is for your articles or blog posts to trend on Google to gain any kind of traction, it is essential to include the correct keywords to utilize the search engine’s algorithm. While there are certain functions Google has that can be used to your advantage, ranking high on Google also requires a clear knowledge of what keywords will get you in the first page of the search results (usually the only page people ever look at). Below are some tips to find the most Google-friendly keywords, as well as ways to use Google’s devices for assistance.
What Are Keywords?
If you are a writer looking to make your work as visible as possible to a large audience, keywords are your best friend. Keywords are words or phrases that trend very high on Google searches due to their popularity. In other words, if there is a word or phrase that people search very often in relation to your topic, including those words and phrases greatly increase the chances of Google placing that article among the top search results. People rarely scroll past the first results page of Google, so using keywords to boost your ranking is essential.
While it can be quite difficult to rank for a single keyword, that is not much of an issue since people will often search in phrases. Someone probably wouldn’t search “Toronto” but instead, “Best Restaurant in Downtown Toronto.” As long as you include a mix of keywords (Toronto, Downtown, Restaurant) and key phrases (“Places to Visit in Downtown Toronto”) that people might search, your writing will rank high on Google.
Which Keywords Are Important?
The most important keywords to use obviously varies based on what your topic is, but there are some details to keep in mind when doing your keyword research. Firstly, think about what kind of words people might use when searching a topic. If you are writing about vr technology, for example, think of the words that people could associate and search about that topic (virtual reality, augmented reality, vr headset, ar devices, oculus rift, etc.).
The importance of SEO is that your article can become easy to find via Google searches if any popular term related to your writing can be found by the algorithm. The more keywords you have, the easier time Google will have to find you. Finding keywords may initially seem daunting, but there are functions on Google that can be utilized to help you.
Google Auto Complete
If you’ve ever noticed when searching something on Google that the search engine will attempt to complete the search for you, that is Google trying to auto complete your search based on its algorithm. In other words, Google is trying to guess your search based on the most relevant content related to the information you had previously typed in. This function might be built for convenience, but having access to the highest Google search rankings also gives you a look at the most common keywords.
For example, if you are writing a blog for people wanting to visit Toronto, you can type “Toronto vacation” and results such as “Toronto vacation rentals”, “Toronto Vacation packages” and “Toronto vacation ideas”, will come up. These auto completes tell you what kind of topics people want to know about when vacationing in Toronto, and gives you hints about what to discuss in the blog. Sometimes specific words will reveal themselves if you search the topic; for example, when typing “roofing”, one of the results is “roofing shingles”, indicating that shingles might be an important keyword for SEO content if you’re writing about roofing. When looking for keywords, be sure to search your topic on Google and see where the auto complete leads you.
Google Suggests
Similar to auto complete, Google suggests is located at the bottom of the search results page after typing in your search. Instead of trying to complete your sentence, Google suggests will give you a list of “related searches” based on your search. Again, this is based on the most common search engine results related to your search, but this function offers complete searches from other Google users, rather than trying to fill in the blanks of your search. This can be advantageous in some ways, as it removes some of the guesswork involved with using auto complete.
With Google suggests, you can start off with a more general prompt and see a variety of related keywords the suggests section will show. Searching the same topic, “Toronto Vacation” will yield results such as “all-inclusive vacations” or “3-night vacation packages from Toronto.” The information is a bit more varied, and gives you search results that contain several longtail keywords you may not have initially related to your topic. While auto complete may be more helpful guiding you to a specific keyword for SEO, Google suggests offers a variety of search results that give you numerous options of where to place keywords.
Natural Language Writing Tips
Google auto complete and suggests can help you find keywords, but placing them all in blog posts or articles in a way that feels natural is still up to the writer. Writing for SEO can feel stilted if the keyword phrases are not properly implemented, so it is essential to learn natural language. A good way of implementing natural writing is conversational language; in other words, making the tone sound friendly and informal while still being informational.
Finally, it is important to note there are effective SEO tools such as CognitiveSEO, or software and apps that can identify keywords at a fast rate. It is highly recommended to use these sources to make keyword research more efficient, but good writing skills are still required to make the words flow naturally and avoid keyword stuffing.
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