First, we need to research the keyword. Companies like SEOContent.com use professional keyword tools to identify the best opportunities for clients.

Here’s the secret that many site-owners and SEO providers miss: going after the “biggest” search terms is often a mistake.

The reason for this is, of course, that the most competitive search terms are very hard to rank for. If your site is very small or very new, then you are unlikely to get to the top of Google for “shop online!”

The best strategy is to target smaller, highly focussed keywords – perhaps local terms or long tail phrases – and to try and rank for those. Of course, we still need to target phrases that get a fair amount of traffic. This will allow us to grow rapidly as we create more and more content! Eventually, we can start targeting bigger terms, and that’s where the growth begins to snowball!

To be clear: the idea for the article should come before the keyword research. You should be starting from a place of genuine interest and have something new and interest to say. We’re merely exploring the best way to connect that new topic with the audience.

Next, we write the article. Remember: Google’s goal is to connect its users with the best content possible. It’s important, therefore, to ensure that the writing is high quality and well-structured. Google’s bots can identify things like run-on sentences and consistent poor spelling. If you think this isn’t taken into account, you’re kidding yourself!

Likewise, we need to write in a way that is engaging for reader. The longer we keep people on a page, the better quality the page will appear and the more it will get recommended.

And remember: we’re not trying to get people to land on our site. That is not the “end goal.” Most likely, your end goal is to sell something, or get someone to sign up to your mailing list. So it’s important we make a good impression and provide real value.

Next, we need to insert our keywords into the content. Generally, it is advisable to maintain a keyword density of around 0.5-2.5%. That means the keyword should appear up to once every 100 words, but a minimum of once every 1,000 words. The length of the article and nature of the keyword will determine this, however.

It’s also important to remember that “less is more.” You should NEVER try to “stuff” a keyword in an unnatural way. This is jarring for the reader and Google might even penalize you for blatantly trying to “game” the system. Write for the reader first.

That said, there are a few key points within an article where the keyword can have greater impact:

• The title
• Headers
• The opening paragraph
• Image alt tags
• The closing paragraph

We’ll also use it in the snippet that Google shows to users.

Several optimizations can help improve our chances further.

The site itself must be mobile friendly and load quickly. If your site doesn’t meet these minimum requirements then this should be a top priority to fix.

Articles should also be spaced-out clearly with large headers and titles. We want the content to look welcoming – not like a wall of dense text!

We should also aim to link to other sites that have a good reputation and that provide genuine (relevant) value. Likewise, “interlinking” is also important. If you mention a topic or idea that you have previously written about, make sure you include a link to that post! This helps Google to better index your site, it reaffirms the subject matter and target keywords, and it helps keep visitors on your site for longer. All good stuff!

There’s more to SEO than this. There’s lots more we do behind the scenes (latent semantic indexing, market research, varying article lengths etc.) but there’s also more for you to do: such as link building.

But these are the basics. If you get these habits down and you are consistent with what you do, then you will see your website grow over time. Despite what you may have been led to believe, it’s not rocket science!