Content Marketing 101: The Importance of Keywords
In the first post of our new series Content Marketing 101, we dive into that little thing that’s the bane of SEO writers’ existences: keywords. The purpose and usefulness of keywords has changed dramatically over the last five years, let alone since their inception. In this article, we’ll break down what keywords are, why they’re important, bust some myths surrounding keywords in content marketing, and explain how to integrate them as a key component of your content marketing strategy in 2022.
What are Keywords?
Keywords are the important terms people might use to find your company, products, or services on a search engine like Google, Duck Duck Go, or Bing. In their original use, they would be peppered in haphazardly throughout all content found on a company’s website to increase the likelihood that when those search terms were put into the search engines, your company would appear at or close to the top of the results list. In the early days, this scheming was common and all too obvious.
In the example above (wherein keywords are bolded), you can see that, by the old standards, keywords were haphazardly peppered into whatever content they could be worked into. This way, when users searched for “web design services near me,” “web design,” “web design services,” “web design services Virginia,” etc. the business would appear pretty high on the results list. The quality of content and what it might offer to their customers didn’t matter, just so long as those all-important keywords were present, all was well, or so they thought.
While this worked for a little while, people grew accustomed to having search engines like Google at their fingertips. They realized they could learn how to develop virtually any skill and find the answers to most of their questions by just typing them into that super convenient search bar. When people went looking for answers, however, and articles like the example above popped up, they would leave immediately because that useless article offers no help to anyone, contributing to that website’s bounce rate. Suddenly, all the websites that enjoyed the high-ranking spots on the results pages couldn’t find themselves anymore.
The Evolution of Keywords
SEO specialists and SEO writers now had to change their tactics to even appear on the results page at all. You see, the search engines caught on, as well, and changed the algorithm to remove results from their listings that overused keywords like that. The first thing they tried to get around this was using keywords a little less frequently. No one wanted to spend more money on a writer or take the time to craft quality content, but they realized if they were a little more clever in working in their keywords, they wouldn’t get booted from the results page. This content was no more of a resource than the content before it, but fooled the search engines’ algorithms because all they were looking for was the overuse of keywords.
It wasn’t long, however, before users grew tired of useless content. If websites were appearing on the results page with content that wasn’t helpful, users weren’t clicking it. They learned that if the keyword density of the website’s meta-description was high, they shouldn’t waste their time with that website. This is where content marketing as we know it today was born. SEO and marketing experts now realized they needed writers’ help: they needed content that would attract users and get them to stay on their site, not just a placeholder for keywords.
Many freelance writers began working in the marketing and SEO sphere to provide businesses with quality content that worked in keywords creatively so they could rank on search engines once again. Many higher-ups in marketing companies or business owners themselves didn’t care what the content was about so long as it ranked; this resulted in blog managers and niche writers that were paid higher for cultivating the content in its entirety – they built it from scratch. Content marketing agencies also began to pop up; these were professionals that likely had been writing SEO content for a long time and built up their clients list. They would then outsource the writing they needed and provide a freelance writer that was paid less with topics and sometimes even sources.
SEO Writers vs. Search Engine Algorithms
All of this sounds great, but it doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot of keyword usage anymore; what happened? Well, search engines like Google can make money by getting businesses to pay to have that coveted first result spot (this is referring to those first few listings on every Google search you do that have a little “Ad” designation on them). The more ad services they offered, the less they wanted SEO writers manipulating the system to organically achieve a higher ranking; so, they set to work making the algorithm smarter.
Around the late 2010s (2017-2018ish), Google’s search engine algorithm began understanding keywords organically. Gone were the days of peppering the exact one word you wanted to rank for and writing the same basic article several different ways so that you could rank for synonyms. Now, Google could recognize the synonyms for keywords, your website’s niche, and more. Results became less reliant on word relativity and started relying on things like cookies to suggest more relevant results to the users.
Many marketing and SEO experts were reluctant to change their tried and true tactics, but when they started losing hits, they listened to the writers. Writers knew what content readers wanted and, by now, understood how to adjust their content to best suit their target audience. Sure, there was still a place for keywords, but they were functioning differently. Instead of clunkily working in a specific set of words, they could use the words to guide the topic and construction of the post and let their organic usage and the use of their synonyms stand for themselves.
Using Keywords in 2022
The use of keywords has now changed and content had to adapt. In order for websites to see success from content marketing, they needed an active blog on their site that provided high-quality, resourceful content that their users will like, read, and click through to find more. They needed to develop a strategy that would serve their customers and grow and change along with them.
Now, keywords are used to help guide the topic of an article and keep it on brand so search engines know what your niche is. Typically, when developing a content strategy, the writer or blog manager will be provided with a list of “target keywords” for that month, year, or period (depending on how the company breaks up content) and the writer/blog manager will then work to develop a plan for content (topics, outlines, images) that is on brand, on topic, and will turn up in relative result pages.
How to Integrate Keywords
While the old standard was to heavily work in all the keywords given to you (usually 3-5 terms) and form the content in such a way that works in those words as much as possible, now things are quite a bit different. When given your list of keywords, think of what useful content users might be looking for if they search those terms or a combination of them.
For example, let’s say you’re managing a blog that operates in the car industry and the keywords you’ve been given for this month are car detailing, auto care, and car maintenance. Possible topics that would work in one or more of these keywords organically would be as follows:
- 10 Ways to Protect Your Car: Car Maintenance Tips for Everyday Auto Care
- Car Detailing: Everything You Need to Know
- Auto Care: What Important Steps Are You Missing in Your Car Maintenance Routine
And then, as you wrote the piece, the keywords and their synonyms (like auto detailing, car care, and vehicle maintenance) would flow into it organically, as their usage would come up naturally. These articles are useful to people interested in taking care of their vehicles, provides them with resourceful information, and works in the keywords organically, staying on brand easily.
Checking Your Keyword Density
Back in the day, keyword density was believed optimal at 80%, which, these days, would send users running. Now, it’s recommended that your keyword density is closer to 1-2% or about once or twice every hundred works (around once a paragraph). This density is extremely easy to achieve when you stay on brand and on topic.
I recommend coming up with your topic first, planning a few headers, and then writing organically – write what naturally comes to mind. Then, use ctrl+f (command+f if you’re on a Mac) to search for each key word to ensure it’s popping up at least once or twice per paragraph. You want to make sure, though, that it also doesn’t exceed twice per paragraph. The occasional keyword coming up three times in a paragraph can make sense, but more than that and readers (and the algorithm) are going to be put off.
How to Come up with Keywords
If you’re on the business owner side of things, the task of coming up with keywords is largely up to you, especially if you’re a smaller business that doesn’t have the money to utilize a marketing expert. So let’s get into the nitty-gritty of how someone might develop their keyword list.
Brainstorming
The first step in developing your keyword list is brainstorming what your target audience might Google to find your business. Let’s use our earlier example: a blog in the car niche. If you’re a detailer, people may search “auto detailing near me,” but they also might search “how to detail my car.” If you’re running an antique shop, people may search “antiques” but they may also search “antique bed” or whatever other specific item for which they’re looking. Spend some time putting yourself in your target audience’s shoes: what would you search to find your business?
Researching
Believe it or not, the data of what keywords are being searched the most frequently for specific industries is all right there for you on the internet, you just have to find it. One really easy way to determine what people are Googling is to go to Google and start typing in something related to your industry in the search bar; what are the suggestions that pop up? All of those are the most frequently searched terms related to what you typed. Websites like Semrush and Google Ads also provide search engine tools for finding the right keywords that will perform best for you.
AI-Generated
While I personally frown upon the use of AI-generated keywords and content, you should know that that is an option available to you. There are countless apps, websites, and services where you can generate a list of keywords or even a terribly written blog post from artificial intelligence programs. You should know that while these shortcuts seem convenient and like a good option, you’re not guaranteed good results. You’re far better off researching what keywords people might actually search for your products or services.
While the function of keywords has changed dramatically over the years, their importance remains. Only time will tell what the future holds for keywords, but given their resilience thus far, I’d wager their here to stay in some shape or form.