One of the biggest factors in getting a high ranking within Google or other search engines is picking the best Keywords. Keywords are simply the search terms that people type into the search engine.
If you use the right keywords within your blog posts, you can end up on page 1 or even better rank as Number 1. I’ve had several blog posts positioned at Number 1 one on Google just by picking the right keyword.
Here’s where a Keyword Research Tool can help. Using this tool, gives you more information about a particular keyword so that you can make a better decision about whether to use it or not.
Factors like Monthly Search Volume and Competition are helpful indicators and if you use them correctly, you can focus in on the very best keywords to use.
What are Keywords?
As I mentioned earlier, Keywords are words or phrases that are used in search engines to help people find what they are looking for. Someone searches for a phrase in Google, and a list of blog posts and websites that contain that keyword appears in the results.
That person then becomes a website visitor when they choose to click on one of the results. This is why keywords are so important. If you rank one the first page for a commonly searched keyword, you can get a ton of traffic each month.
Some keywords get a lot of searches each month, while others may not get searched very often. A Keyword Research Tool can tell you exactly how many searches you can expect.
Keyword Research Tools – What Can They Tell You?
Knowing how many searches a keyword averages per month can help you to determine if it is a good one for you to use or not. There are other factors to consider as well, and this is where a Keyword Research Tool is beneficial.
A good Keyword Research Tool will tell you several things…
- Average Number of Searches per Month
- Amount of Traffic you can Expect (if ranked on page one)
- Number of Competing Websites
- Related Keywords (other suggestions)
When you consider all of this information together, you can make a very well-informed decision about a particular keyword.
Consider you are targeting the keyword “how to find a husband” and you do some research with a keyword tool. You would find the following results…
- Average Searches = 316
- Expected Traffic = 54
- Competition = 150
So what does this all mean? Put simply, this means that if you use the keyword “how to find a husband,” there will be an average of 316 searches for this keyword per month. You can expect about 54 visitors to your site every month if you rank on the first page. And there are 150 other websites currently ranking for this keyword.
This is a good keyword (not great, but good). The reason for this i
s that it gets a good amount of searches and the competition is not too high. Obviously the lower the competition, the better the chance that you will rank high.
A Good Keyword Research Tool can tell you more than just this type of information. Knowing your Site Rank is something we all want to figure out and it’s so much easier to do with the use of a keyword tool. Find out where you are ranked for a particular keyword within seconds instead of wasting your time looking for your website within the search engine results.
Below is an example of one of my blog posts that is ranking for the keyword “monthly subscription boxes with affiliate programs”
Low Competition – High Search Volume
The key to finding a GREAT Keyword is to look for low competition and a high search volume (as I mentioned above). Obviously the fewer websites you are competing with, the better chance you have to rank high in the search engines.
The rule of thumb that I always try to aim for when looking for a good keyword is less than 100 in competition and more than 100 in search volume.
When looking for a GREAT keyword, I try to aim for those with less than 50 in competition and more than 300 in search volume.
You get the idea! The combination of low to high when it comes to competition and searches is key! There will never be a “perfect combo” of these two, but you can get really close.
And if a keyword has virtually no competition but gets over 20 searches… GUESS WHAT… you are going to rank number 1 for that keyword and even though it has a low search volume, you will probably get all of the traffic from those searches! So don’t discount those keywords that are low in searches (as long as there is very very little competition).
Where to Place Keywords to Help Your Ranking
Now that you have found the best keyword for your blog post, you need to place it strategically in order to have a greater chance of ranking high. While you don’t want to overdo it here, there are 3 main places where you will want to add your keyword.
Placing the Keyword in the title is something I always try to do. It makes sense, because the title usually denotes what the blog post is going to be about and therefore placing it within the title lets readers know what they are about to read.
Besides placing it within the title, I like to also incorporate it somewhere in the first few paragraphs and above the fold. Google seems to like this and since I usually give a brief introduction of what the blog post is about within the first few paragraphs, this seems appropriate.
Lastly, I like to put the keyword in the Meta Description area. The Meta Title and Description is what shows up in the search results, so having it there will make your post seem relevant to the person that just searched for that keyword.
So to recap, be sure to place your keyword within the following 3 areas:
- Title of Blog Post
- First few paragraphs
- Meta Description
My Favorite Keyword Research Tool
Back to the topic of Keyword Research Tools!! As you can see, picking the right keyword can be monumental in helping you rank higher in the search engines. So having a reliable, powerful, and comprehensive Keyword Research Tool is a must for any blogger.
My favorite Keyword Research Tool that I use every time I write a blog post (including this one) is JAAXY.
The Jaaxy Keyword Tool is so easy to use and it has everything from Keyword Searches to Site Rank Trackers. But it doesn’t end there. Here are some of the incredible features of this amazing tool:
- Keyword Search (Search Volume, Traffic, Competition, Domain availability)
- Create Keyword Lists
- Alphabet Soup (variations on keywords alphabetically)
- Brainstorming
- Affiliate Program
- Site Rank (history and tracking ability)
Having this tool in my back pocket has saved me time and helped me to rank on page one numerous times. Check it out for yourself by typing in a keyword below.