How do keywords work?

[KillerRKO17]

I originally thought I knew what I was doing when it came to keywords and keyword tools but now I'm not sure.

I've been writing my article on ezinearticles and then for the keyword section I have been going to Free Keyword Suggestion Tool From Wordtracker and entering the topic. For example "build muscle". Then I'd take the keywords shown with most searches and add them. Is this right?

Are you supposed to put your keywords in your article somewhere? I've heard that this can help you in search engines. Say one of my keywords I included was "build muscle fast", then I would include that in my article somewhere.

 

[Linda Buquet]

In your big question thread I pointed you to some good KW threads.

Again I don't do article marketing but can give you some KW tips.

1) I think you may be missing a step. You need to check how competitive the keywords are. Then pick ONE phrase to write the article about that has good search volume but is not too competitive - when you are 1st starting out. (if you don't know how to ck competition ask and I can show you a thread.)

2) Focus the article on that phrase using it in the title, a few times in the body and in your article keywords. When writing in the article write for people not search engines. If your article is all about "build muscle fast" then that phrase is naturally going to be in the article a few times. Don't push it. It's considered key word stuffing and can work against you.

3) I wouldn't stick the whole list of kw you get from WT in the article KW section. Group and use the most relevant key words.

 

[PPCBully]

You'll need to ensure your keywords are in the title and 3-4 time in the article.
Don't just choose keywords per their search volume be more tight in selecting keywords, look for the longer tail keyword.
before you do anything search and research the keywords that you may think are good.
You want to bring a targeted traffic to your article and not just traffic the more tight you'll be the more likely you'll make a sale to a targeted traffic

Looks to me that you need to invest much more time in researching
Cheers, PPCBully

 

[helen_gracio]

When writing articles, yes we want to position our site under certain key phrases. That is the purpose. So when writing an article you first will need to know which keyword is important for this theme. You know people do not read articles because of keywords, but you want your audience to find you when searching the certain terms. Using those terms in the title and description will help. I use ps://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal tool a alot.

 

[KillerRKO17]

Linda and I were talking but I kind of got her here with this PM since she doesn't do article marketing.(oh and she also has carpal)

Here's the PM:

Should I just write the article and use whatever keywords are in there?

Or should I try to write the article with specific, less-competitive keywords? I wouldn't want my article to look bad though with all of these crafty phrases plugged in there.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi KillerRKO17,

"I wouldn't want my article to look bad though with all of these crafty phrases plugged in there."

No I think maybe you missed the point. You don't write for the search engines and stick a bunch of "crafty phases" in your article. You pick a topic, based on KW research. You write an article using the main key phrase in the title and a couple times in the body. You don't just stuff a bunch of keywords. One main phrase with a max of 3-6 KW. Then write the article in regular English and in an entertaining or informative way that will make HUMANS want to read it.

Here are some good articles about keyword research that may help.

 

[KillerRKO17]

How many times should each keyword be in the article?

And what about putting another one of the keywords in the title? I wouldn't use this, but for example(keywords are in bold):
Build Muscle Fast - 5 Tips On How To Build Muscle

Boy I love this forum, lol.

 

[Linda Buquet]

How many times should each keyword be in the article?

Like I said the key PHRASE needs to be in the article just a couple times. Don't overdo it. Back in the old days there was something called keyword density that played a part in ranking but that's not really true any more per most experts.
See: Keyword Density | Keyword Density Tools | SEO Myths | Hobo

And what about putting another one of the keywords in the title? I wouldn't use this, but for example(keywords are in bold):
Build Muscle Fast - 5 Tips On How To Build Muscle

I used to do SEO for a living but don't any more. Back when I did it was a big no-no to have the keywords repeated in the title of a page (not title of an article) more than once. And I'm pretty sure when you write articles the title becomes the meta title, so I'd be careful with that. You have the word build twice and the word muscle twice. Plus if "Build Muscle Fast" is what you really want this article optimized for, based on KW research - then adding other words can water down the effectiveness of the title. As far are search engines go anyway.

"Boy I love this forum, lol."

We're glad.

 

[KillerRKO17]

I'm getting the hang of this now. I'm very excited to re-submit my first article and get that first sale

I take it when you said that you ment the other keywords too?
"Like I said the key PHRASE needs to be in the article just a couple times."


As far as the title goes, could/should it just be (for example) "Build Muscle Fast" and nothing else?

You can call me Ethan by the way.

 

[Linda Buquet]

You could build out the title with other words people use when searching for that phrase. You put your main KW into SeoBook or the Free WordTracker to see what other variations people are searching for.

Free Build Muscle Fast - Wordtracker

Some options: 'ways to build muscle fast' or 'how to build muscle fast'.
Then you still have your 3 root KWs, but also could get some traffic
from people searching for the long tail phrase as well.

 

[KillerRKO17]

Alright.

What I've done is made the title "Learn How To Bla Bla Bla" but I've filled in the first keyword as "How To Bla Bla Bla". I'm 99% that is ok to do.

So I've got the main keyword once in the title and once in the resource box,
should once or twice in the body good?

I think I'm only going to have one or two other keywords so I can focus on them more. I can't believe all that I've learned from this site, I would have spent so much time trying to figure things out. My first article I was putting keywords that weren't in the article or title anywhere. I was putting them in by rank of searches from WordTracker, and they were all short too.

 

[Linda Buquet]

If it's a pretty decent sized article I would maybe do 2-3-4 times.

Think about it and do it this way - WRITE FOR THE USER not the search engines. If you were really trying to write a good informative article about build muscle fast, you would NATURALLY have that phrase a few times in the article.

Write for the reader NATUALLY, then just go back and be sure you've used it a couple times. But again if the article is all about build muscle fast it's going to be in there plenty of times naturally. Don't push it to try to add it too many times because then you can get dinged for KW stuffing and also it starts to sound mechanical to readers.

Keep in mind your articles have 2 purposes - SEO visibility and actual visitors.
If you attract the readers to your article through SEO but they stop reading
because it's boring and just filled with KW to get traffic, they won't
finish the article and they won't click through.

 

[KillerRKO17]

Thank you so much, I think I have everything down now, at least as far as keywords go.

I'll edit this post if I have any other questions.