What Is SEO And What Are Keywords?

SEO, which stands for search engine optimization is all about presenting your website or article in a way that it will rank high in the search engines. SEO is one of the most important aspects of a writer's job, if they want their work to be seen, but it can also be the most confusing. There are tons of articles online that claim to explain to you what exactly SEO is, but you may end up more confused than you were before after you've finished reading it. The truth is, SEO does not have to be complicated, although most of the information out there on the web about it is. Sadly, this causes many new writers to give up because they think that they'll never get it. My goal is to simplify SEO so all writers can have a clear understanding of what it really is..

Keywords are nothing more than what a person types into a search engine. Say you wanted information on how to grow pink and blue tulips. You would type “how to grow pink and blue tulips”, into whatever search engine you happened to be using. That search engine, lets use Google for example, would search for articles on the web that contained those keywords. Those articles would show up on the first page of Google’s results. On the next page Google may list articles containing only the keyword “blue tulips”. Google might list articles on the next page that simply contain the keyword "tulips". You get the idea. In general, people tend to only look at the first 3 pages of results, that is why Seo Keywords are so important. To be found in the search engines you must be using good quality keywords that describe your content. Decide what your article is about, what keywords fit best, and use those keywords.

Keywords can be single words or phrases that describe what your article is about. You should use these keywords often in your content, generally twice in a paragraph. But, don't overdo it. Google will know and they will not show you any love for it. To figure out if you have used your keywords too often, sit back and read your article. If it flows together nicely, then it's probably fine. But, if it sounds awkward then you need to go back and take some of the keywords out. Try to use your keywords in your tittle and sub tittles as well. If you have images along with your content put your keywords there also, for example if you have a picture of pink and blue tulips, in the caption write pink and blue tulips. Keywords that you could use for this type of article include blue tulips, pink tulips, how to grow tulips, and flowers.

When deciding which keywords to use it's a good idea to use the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. Here you can type in your keywords and Google will show you the search results for those words. This lets you know what your competition is. For example if you were writing an article on a pair of jeans you would see that the competition is high there, so it would be very hard to get on the first page of Google. So, you could be more specific and use the keywords "blue skinny jeans" instead. The competition would be smaller here thus giving you a better shot at reaching the golden first page of search engine results and that's what we all want as writers right?

See, SEO and Keywords are really not that hard. You don't have to spend a lot of time worrying about what your keywords should be. Write an amazing article on anything you like, than afterwards go over it to find what your keywords should be. If you haven't used these keywords enough throughout your article, go back and add some in. That's it, pretty easy stuff.