Having intriguing content and a flawless web design is only part of being successful on the web. Your content, articles, and blog posts also need to be easily found on search engines. If no one can find your article based on their query, you won’t get many readers. Thankfully, there is an easy-to-use, free tool to help you keyword articles for your blog or website – the Google Keyword Tool.
What is the Google Keyword Tool?
The Google Keyword tool is a great tool that can help you pick the best keywords to use in your articles and posts. With this tool you can:
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- Generate new keyword and keyword phrase ideas
- Come up with new content ideas
- Find other keywords relevant to your site/post
- Identify less competitive keywords within the same theme
How to Use the Google Keyword Tool
Step 1: Set up a Google AdWords account. It is completely free. You only need a Gmail address to set up an account. NOTE: You DO NOT have to set up an advertising campaign to use the Keyword Tool.
Step 2: Once you have set up an AdWords account, log on to your account and find the Keyword Tool under the “Tools and Analysis” menu.
Step 3: Before entering any keywords or phrase, ensure that your country, language, and device settings are correct (located next to “Advanced Options and Filters”).
Step 4: Enter a word or phrase that is relevant to your article or blog post. If you are entering more than one, separate each on its own line.
For example, when I entered keywords for this article I started with:
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- how to keyword articles
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Optional: You can enter your website URL in the “Website” field. Entering keywords and your URL will return keyword suggestions based on your keywords and website content. If you only enter your URL, it will only return ideas based on your website content. If you enter only keywords, you will only get results similar to your keywords.
There are additional filters and advanced settings you can experiment with.
NOTE: Be careful not to use broad terms. In this case, I avoided terms such as “keywords,” “blog posts,” “keywording.” Although relevant, they are not specific enough to my topic. It would also be extremely hard to rank for them because they are so generic.
Step 5: Click “Search”
Step 6: You should see words grouped by category. Click on the tab that says “Keyword Ideas”. You will be able to see your original keywords plus many more suggestions.
Step 7: Click on: “Local Monthly Searches” to list keywords by highest to lowest volume of searches. This allows you to see how competitive various keywords and keyword phrases are.
Step 8: Decide on a couple of relevant keywords/keyphrases. Typically you will want to choose 1-2 keywords for your post or article. You want to keep your list short because you will be incorporating your keywords into your article or post. Having too many keywords, especially for a shorter article, will likely alter the natural flow of your writing.
Be wary of picking only keywords/keyphrases with high popularity and monthly searches. It may be harder for you to get seen for the most popular keywords. It is best to look for keywords that are slightly less competitive, but will still be effective in driving traffic to your site.
Step 9: Make sure your keywords/keyphrases are present in your:
- Title
- Subtitles
- First paragraph
- Last paragraph
- Body (1-3 times, depending on length of article)
Step 10: Review your keywords/keyphrases to ensure they are present in the article as appropriate. Google penalizes keyword “stuffing” or an inappropriate amount of keyword use on a page.
Above all, your content should come first before your keywords. While the Google Keyword Tool is a great option for finding the perfect keywords, your article content must come first. If your article isn’t interesting, your readers will not stay long, regardless of flawless keywording.