There has been a significant shift in how keywords are treated by search engines in the past months. Today’s search engines are more likely to ignore the once-important keyword meta tag, searching for keywords in the content of the web pages themselves. This is important to all web content writers primarily because it tells you that your keywords need to be figured out prior to writing your actual content. The keywords will then be scattered judiciously throughout your web content, concentrating them in headings and summaries.

While ensuring keywords are properly interspersed throughout the content can seem like a tedious task to many writers, it can also be the key to your success. While many writers can dislike the entire keyword process, choosing to add keywords after the content is written, this practice does not often result in a cohesive article. Waiting until the article is written to add the keywords can tend to result in sloppy overall writing, making it important to incorporate the keywords into the overall theme of your writing.

Keys to Keyword Success

Before you start writing, sit down and outline what your goal is in each particular article or other content. Then think about which keywords most deftly summarize your ideas. Answering these questions prior to actually beginning your writing is much more likely to result in high quality web content. When you have made decisions about what you want to write, then think about who you are writing it for, or who your target audience will be. When you write web content you are communicating with a specific audience, so it is important to know that audience well. If you understand the search terms your target audience will likely be using, it becomes much easier to incorporate them into your writing.

Using Keywords for the Best Results

As most writers are aware, the highest level keywords should be strategically placed in the heading and in the summary. Lead with your best material rather than waiting for your exhilarating ending. You are not writing a whodunit where the suspense builds throughout the article rather your goal is to “hook” your reader right off the bat, convincing them to continue reading. Try not to overuse your important keywords and phrases, or your entire article will come off looking sloppy and unprofessional.

Aside from the keywords you believe are most important, offer up some synonyms—after all, some people search with one set of words, while it is more natural for others to use different phrases. Think about the fact that while a great deal of searchers would type in “heart disease,” another portion would more likely search for “cardiovascular disease.” Use synonyms judiciously to avoid overuse of your primary keywords. When possible, use keyword phrases rather than single keywords, since this is more likely how web users will search.

Long Tail keywords vs. Short Tail Keywords

Keywords can simply make or break a website, and using the most effective keywords is crucial when writing web content. A short tail keyword is a phrase consisting of one to three words, while a long tail keyword is anything beyond three words. Long tail keywords tend to turn up more targeted search results, while short tail keywords may garner more results but less targeted ones. In other words, short tail keywords may bring traffic to a website, but the long tailed keywords keep the traffic firmly put. Long tail keywords are much more likely to result in true conversions while many short tail keywords will bring readers to the site but they will quickly click away.

Keywords to Avoid

In general, avoid single-word terms avoid terms that are unfocused or too broad, or those which are so specialized that nobody will search for them. In the same manner, avoid unpopular search terms and highly competitive ones which offer little hope of ranking well for. Once you have mastered the art of keywords, your writing quality will naturally improve and you will be well on your way to drawing readers to your site.