SEO Best Practices: How to Add Keywords to a Website

by Robert Clough

If you have created your own website, then chances are that you’ve heard a thing or two about keywords. You’ve probably even tried to think of a few keywords that might fit your website.

But, what exactly are keywords? How do you find the right ones?

If you’re going to engage in on-page SEO, you’ll definitely need the answers to those questions.

Not quite sure why or how to add keywords to a website? Keep reading. We’ve got all the information you need.

What Are Keywords?

Keywords are an SEO term and a huge part of search engine optimization in general.

SEO is the practice of optimizing your website for search engines, which means that you need to include keywords in order for people to search for you.

SEO keywords are phrases that people search for. They can be short-tail or long-tail.

Experts recommend avoiding short-tail keywords, as they’re usually just one word that’s incredibly broad (i.e. searching for “shoes” isn’t going to help much).

You add keywords to a website in the form of content creation. This can be in a blog post or all throughout your general website copy.

The overall goal is to organically drive traffic to your website.

So, if you’re writing a blog about how to save money, you’re going to want to naturally incorporate keywords into your content as a way to show Google that they should rank your page for that kind of search.

Overall, keywords are how you tell Google what your content is about.

The more keywords you include, and the more accurate they are, the easier it is for Google to pull up your page when someone searches for something related.

How to Perform Keyword Research

If you’re performing basic keyword research in order to enhance your website’s SEO, then there are two parts to basic research:

Google Keyword Planner
Google Autocomplete

Sure, you can use one of the many paid tools that exist on the internet. But, if you know what you’re looking for, then Google’s free tools are more than enough to provide you with quality keywords to get you started.

Now, you’ll want to go to Google’s Keyword Planner. It’s free, but you’ll need to create an account if you want to export a keyword list.

Go to “Discover Keywords” and enter two or three keyword ideas that you have. These don’t have to be “real” keywords, just ideas or phrases that you think are relevant.

Once you’ve inputted those, Google will come up with a whole list of related searches. Order these by “search volume” to see which words people are searching for the most.

Make a list of the keywords with the highest searches and lowest competition.

Then, head over to Google and try to put these keywords into the search bar. Don’t complete your search, but instead, make a note of what autocomplete shows you.

These keywords are important, too! You’ll also want to head to the bottom of the page where you see “related searches” and pull some relevant keywords from there.

Best Keyword Practices in 2019

Times are changing, and so are the ways in which people search for services, products, and companies online.

According to Social Media Today, over 20% of searches online are voice searches. And, experts expect that number to grow to over 50% by the end of 2020.

This means that when you’re adding keywords to websites, you’re going to have to think differently than in the past.

Think about how you can improve your keyword search results by optimizing them for voice searches.

After performing your initial keyword research, you’ll want to then adapt those keywords to fit the phrasing and style that someone using voice search might use.

This means, for example, that instead of using just “mountain bike repair shop,” you’ll want to use something like “where is the closest mountain bike repair shop to me.” Okay, so it doesn’t have to be so long-tail, but you get the idea.

How to Add Keywords to a Website

Now that you have a solid list of SEO keywords, you’ll need to know how to add them to your website.

There are two main ways that you enter keywords on a website:

In the form of content (blog, website copy, etc.)
On your website’s backend

If you’re going to enter keywords on your website in the form of content, then you’ll want to avoid overstuffing.

Keyword stuffing is when you senselessly use lots of keywords, and Google will pick up on this and rank your site lower.

Instead, use 2-3 keywords per post and make sure they add value to your content. It’s a good idea to pick a focus keyword and use that in your title, introduction, and in at least one header of each blog.

If you’re going to enter keywords on your website’s backend, then you’ll need to know how to work with meta tag descriptions.

If you’re using WordPress, then you can install a free plugin in like Yoast SEO. This will help ensure that you’re setting your keywords right and optimizing your content.

Or, you can install Meta Tag Manager, which will let you set the keywords for each page on the backend while also including an SEO-optimized description for each page.

Meta tag descriptions are a great place to include the keyword for each page. Here, you’ll also want to describe what each page is about.

Keywords Are Just a Small Part of SEO

While you’ll need to learn how to add keywords to a website if you’re looking to increase your SEO ranking, they’re just a small part of search engine optimization.

You’ll also need to think about off-page SEO, learning how to make sense of your analytics, and other general content marketing things.

Need help getting a handle on all of this search engine stuff in order to leave you with more time to focus on different aspects of running your business’s website?

Head over to our Google AdWords section for plenty of tips and tricks. Once you’ve gotten the hang of keywords, you’ll need to make sense of how to use them in paid ads.

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