The Top 5 Places Keywords Should Appear in Articles & Posts

Search engine optimization (SEO) is more than writing content using selected keywords. Moreover, keywords should appear in specific places in blog posts or articles that will boost more traffic.

Following are 5 key places to put keywords and phrases in a copy:

1. Put Keywords in the Headline

While this may seem clear, many SEO copywriters miss doing this in order to write tongue-in-cheek, funny or double-entendre headlines. Don’t do this!

Why? Because search engines most likely will find your post. A headline is one of the main ways of search engine figures out how to categorize copy so that the page it appears on can be returned in “relevant” search engine results.

If you can write cutesy, humorous and catchy headlines and subtitles — that tells the reader what the article is about AND includes your main keyword phrase – then by all means, have at it. But, rarely can all three of these objectives be achieved. So stick with what works.

Even though it’s vanilla-cream boring, a simple, straightforward headline that tells a reader what an article/blog post is all about is what you want.

You don’t want them to guess at your “cute” writing. There are bazillions of pages on the internet. And when people search it, they’re looking for specific things. The article that addresses their concern – in clear, concise terms — is what they’re looking for and what will get clicked on. This is what clients pay you for. So, give it to them.

2. Put Keywords in the First Paragraph

As a matter of fact, I don’t know exactly why your main keyword phrase should appear in the first paragraph of your blog post/article. Probably, it’s because once a search engine has captured a hold of your content’s title, they want to be sure that the copy that follows it is actually relevant.

By repeating your main keyword phrase in the first paragraph, it lets search bots know that the copy that follows the title is indeed relevant.

3. Put Keywords in Subtitles

Most SEO articles are in the 350 to 500-word range. Blog posts can be as short as 50 words and go on up to about 300 or 350 words. Within these parameters, for the most part, you can get a few subtitles.

As an SEO copywriter, using subtitles serves two purposes, such as:

Subtitles match the way people read online:

Web surfers tend not to read text word for word online, like they do books, for example. They tend to scan the page, looking for the answer to their particular search query.

Experienced SEO writers know that bolded headlines will help web surfers locate what they’re looking for quicker. This keeps them on a given page longer. And, the longer a prospect stays on a web page/website, the higher the chance of a sale being made. And, this is exactly what clients pay for!

Subtitles look good aesthetically:

Because internet surfers scan pages, dense web copy should not be used. Talented SEO copywriters break up copy up with bolded subtitles and they keep paragraphs relatively short. Some SEO experts say that it should be no more than 3-5 lines.

This length and the use of bolded subtitles are more pleasing to the eye than a big wad of text. Hence, it’s more likely to get read. And again, this is what clients pay for.

4. Put Keywords in the Final Paragraph

Your main keyword phrase should always be present in the last paragraph of copy on a page. Some SEO writing experts say that it should be in the last sentence, preferably the last words

5. Put Keywords throughout the Text

Some experienced SEO copywriters say that you should use your main keyword phrase every 100 words or so. Whether you stick to this rule or not,  all depends on how much keyword density you’re trying to achieve.

If you did decide to apply this guideline, that would mean that for a 350-500 word SEO article, this would give you a keyword density of between 1-2%. Learn how to calculate keyword density. This is low but again, it all depends on the client and what they want.

What exactly should the keyword density be in SEO articles and blog posts?

This is one of those SEO copywriting tips where there are no hard and fast rules. Why? Because it depends so widely on the client, the type of copy, the niche, where the copy will be distributed and a host of other factors – that it’s hard to say.

Just by way of experience though, clients who are trying to get a site ranked well and want “link bait copy” will usually ask for a keyword density of between 3 and 5%. Others who are trying to hold on to a top Google ranking for example, may want a keyword density of 5-9%.

And, yet others don’t want “keyworded copy.” They want the phrase used a couple of times, but they don’t want any certain density achieved. As you can see, it all depends.

Use primary and secondary keyword phrases to achieve the desired keyword density.

How to do it? By making sure a primary or secondary keyword phrase is used in almost every paragraph.

If you follow these simple SEO copywriting tips, you’ll give your clients professional SEO content that brings them traffic and increases leads and sales.