The Only Stable Approach to Keyword Optimization

It’s only a matter of time before keywords are completely lost in the archive of outdated or expired SEO strategies, filed next to Page Rank and link building. Even after that happens, the use of keywords is still going to come naturally for web content because you want to be sure targeted search engine users can find you.

You may have to rethink your approach to keyword optimization, but the following strategies are “Google update” proof simply because they focus on honest and ethical copywriting—putting human readers first.

Keyword placement is more effective than keyword density.

You already knew that, but this bit of common knowledge is commonly misunderstood.

If you’ve been counting the number of times each target search phrase is used compared to the overall word count of an article and making sure that each primary keyword is also used in the Title, each subheader, alt tags, and (of course) in the Meta Title & Description… you are still doing it wrong.

Quality is always going to be more important than keywords, period.

The top ranking blogs aren’t based around keywords. They rank well because people enjoy reading the articles. People share articles. People comment on and engage with the articles. People subscribe to blogs.

The top ranking blogs might—gasp—not even have “target keywords” in the title. Instead, the title effectively captures your attention and draws you in.

The top ranking blogs might not even have search phrases scattered carefully throughout the article body, including sub-headers. Instead, the article is written to inform, entertain, or serve some other purpose.

In other words, the reason your blog isn’t ranking on the front page of search results is that you are focusing too much on keywords, not enough on topics.

This doesn’t mean you should stop using keywords!

It’s perfectly okay to stop using keywords once you no longer need to.

In the meantime, implement search phrases naturally(and be damn sure you’re doing it naturally). Writing an entire article (or batch of articles) based on a list of valuable keywords is the wrong way to do it. There’s nothing natural about it!

If you don’t have a substantial topic worth publishing a blog about, don’t bother publishing at all. It will not do you any good because getting on the front page of search results is only part of the goal.

After all, if SEO is really your top priority then you might want to rethink your entire business strategy!