If you use one of those nifty SEO plugins that gives you tips, tricks, and rules about your post’s SEO, be wary of the advice it gives. The meta tag advice it gives is often pretty sound, but don’t blindly follow its “rules” for sprinkling in keywords within the post content. I’ve discussed this a bit before with my keyword placement post, but it never hurts to solely discuss it.
Many plugins throw in rules for keywords within content that require either
- the keyword phrase every so many keywords,
- a keyword density percentage, or
- so many uses of the keyword phrase within the HTML text itself.
Throw all of that out the window, especially the first rule. If you systematically plug in your keyword phrase every 100 words or so, it will read like a bot wrote it. Writing the post will, in all likelihood, be awkward and not even keep the tone you want in your piece. Keep the flow of your keyword phrase in the content completely natural. If it naturally occurs every 100 words, then so be it. If it only comes up once, that’s fine too. If the exact keyword phrase is too awkward to inject into your sentences, that’s fine too! I promise you’ll still get those search engine ranks that you want, even if the keyword phrase is not found in the content itself.
That said, however, the keyword phrase should be directly related to the topic of your content. You can’t attempt to trick search engines by plugging in a specific keyword phrase into your meta tags that doesn’t relate to your post’s content. If users come to your website expecting one thing and finding another, they will immediately back out of your website. Search engines track how often this happens, and if it happens too much within a small period of time, your search engine ranking will drop. Never lose sight of what the users are searching for and thus want.
On the flip side, if your keyword phrase is popping up every other sentence, (note that this post’s keyword phrase is not “keyword phrase”) then you may not have the right keyword phrase selected. It’s either too broad, too specific, or perhaps you simply need to switch it up in the content. For example, if your keyword phrase is the name of your product, use other terms to refer to it.
Need help with your keyword content? I know it can be overwhelming, which is why I’m always happy to help! Reach out to me at any time, and we’ll chat.
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