Choose the Best Keywords to Optimize Your Academic and Online Content
Today, you can find almost every article and other writing content online. From blog content, and newspaper articles, to research papers, everything is posted online for the sake of readers.
If you are one of the billions of online readers, then you know how to find something by searching with keywords. In this post, we will talk about keywords and how you can use them to optimize your online content quality as well as make the content easily findable.
What is a keyword?
A keyword is a specific word that you write in the search bar of a search engine to find something specific.
For example, if you are looking for a pasta recipe, you’ll have to write “pasta recipe” in the search bar.
If you are looking for a particular pasta recipe then you have to mention it specifically. Let’s say, you’re looking for butter chicken pasta recipes; so, you have to search with something like “butter chicken pasta recipes”.
Note that, a keyword is a single word. When a keyword is combined with helpful words or other keywords, it’s called a keyphrase.
Why should you use keywords in your online content?
You should use appropriate keywords and keyphrases in your text for a number of reasons –
1. To make the content easily findable
Since most of the written contents are finding their ways online, it’s very important that your content gets recognition and reach as many people as possible.
But how are readers going to come across your online content when there are billions of content existing online?
Keyword is the answer.
By using keywords in your content, you make the content relevant to certain searches. Search engines use various algorithms which help people find what they are looking for by searching with related keywords.
So, if your content is about a pasta recipe, and you mention the keyphrase “pasta recipe” in your text, people will find the content easily by searching with the keywords.
2. To make an optimized online content
Keywords not only help people easily find an article, but they also contribute to optimizing your content.
For example, if you are writing a research paper titled “The Negative Effect of Plastic in Environment” and skip the words and phrases such as “plastic”, “environment”, “negative effect of plastic”, etc. inside your paper, the writing will sound disconnected from its main idea.
On the other hand, using appropriate keywords and keyphrases in the content will make it more credible.
How to choose keywords for online content optimization?
Keywords help you make your content more visible,
SEO specialists, content writers, and even students should know a few tips about choosing the right keywords.
- Start with a primary keyword
First, choose the basic keyword that is related to your topic’s main idea. That means, if your topic is “Plastic Pollution in Environment”, then the primary keywords should be “plastic pollution”, “Environment”, etc.
- Use both short and long-tailed keyphrases
Short-tailed keywords are very short-length, and long-tailed keywords are long, and usually are a combination of several related keywords.
Long-tailed keyphrases are important to find your online content easily among other content online.
- Related and popular keyphrases
Be careful about using popular keyphrases; if your chosen keywords are too common then your content will be lost in the sea of thousands of content containing the same keyword.
That’s why long-tail keywords are your best friend. People mostly search with long-tail keywords when they are looking for something specific. So, there’s a good chance that people will be able to find your content easily using the long keyphrases.
So, maintain a balance while using popular and related keywords.
- Don’t overload with keywords
Use keywords and keyphrases but don’t overload your content with them. Repeating keywords frequently in your text will irritate the readers.
Repeating keywords frequently in your text will irritate the readers.
- Read the instructions of your assignment about how many keywords you can use. If the assignment doesn’t come with any instruction, use a specific keyword once in every 100 words as a rule of thumb.
- Don’t force keywords in your content. Use them as frequently as required without making them look forced.
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