When it comes to the placement in content of your keywords, there are only 3 places it needs to be for good rankings. Placing keywords any more than these 3 areas will not give you any benefit and in some cases can hurt your rankings. Do not believe in the term “keyword density” because that is an Old News keyword strategy that does not apply anymore, ever since the Google Hummingbird update in 2013.
As shown in the below image, you will see two of the areas where your keywords need to go. However the 3 areas keywords need to be are:
- 1.In your Title (and as early in the title as possible or as the entire title as a whole)
- 2.In the first paragraph of content (within the first 140 characters if possible but not necessary)
- 3.NOT shown in image below = Place keyword in 1 heading tag and/or near the end of content
NOTE: When you place the keyword in your title as early as possible or make the entire title the keyword, you will make it appear in the URL without it being truncated (cut off when too long), and as is known, having the keyword in your URL is a ranking factor.
KEYWORD IMPORTANCE – WHAT IS SEMANTIC SEARCH
This may come as a shock to you but the importance of how often you use keywords does not mean as much as it did back in early 2013. When the Google Hummingbird update came out in 2013, one thing that really changed was the lesser importance on your actual keyword phrase and more emphasis on semantic search. So what is semantic search?
Let us say that someone searches for “event tickets in Manhattan.” Prior to the Hummingbird update Google would dissect the keywords and look for relevant websites containing the keywords “event,” “tickets,” and “Manhattan.” But with semantic search Google’s algorithm looks at the meaning of the search query instead. Now Google recognizes that the person is looking for event tickets in Manhattan.
No longer does the Google algorithm look at your content and only pick out your keywords, but it also looks at the meaning behind the search query and matches it to the meaning of your content. When you write content you should write with the intention of conveying your message and use keywords that represent that message, even if they are not your targeted keyword. These are known as LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords.
NEXT UP = Creating and Using Links Plus Getting Natural Backlinks
It makes a huge difference when trying to establish authority.
People also like to share long-form content. It makes them look and feel smarter to the people they share it with even if they don't read the whole thing.
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What I have in mind is:
1) Proven that long articles are good for Google.
2) Are they good for readers? I have been watching one guru which always have huge articles and have proved his ranking performance But, I have newer managed to keep reading after 30-50% of the article. I read a lot, but I must think about my time too, and it´s floating in excellent articles on the internet (and very bad articles too). And when I have an article, even so it's well written, which take a circle to come to the point I don´t have time.
3) If people don´t read it, they newer come to the end of the article where the affiliate link, recommended by many like Jay, for example, are so they will not buy.
4) If the articles are shorter and more focus on getting the point, it looks like it´s not ranking well. With point 1) in mind.
So, what is the right way to do? I´m confused!
Short answer: longer the better and use good headings :) Sprinkle in lots of creative pictures too.
1) Long articles are definitely good for Google. Why? Because Google indexes content and not just keywords and you get rankings and traffic based off of your content as a whole and not your keywords.
2) Long form is good for readers, especially when using proper UXO (User Experience Optimization), so that your content is created for both the visitor that reads it all and those who skim through the content. Always create your content with that in mind.
Don't create content based on how you feel it will be comfortable for you. More information is always better for SEO. In one of the Bootcamp lessons, Kyle says to go back into content which is thin and add more to make it more authoritative.
There are many authority content posts online that I do not fully read either, but I will bookmark them to come back to when I have more time. Neil Patel is one who I read a lot from and I hardly ever read all of his content in one sitting and his content is LONG Long Form.
3) This is not always true. Again if you are using good UXO, you can still capture people near the end. Plus you do not have to put your affiliate links always at the end. I always utilize the sidebar so it appears higher on every screen.
4) Providing good UXO can solve a lot of issues. Plus you also must understand that not every piece of content on your website needs to be Long Form. About a 50 percent ratio is a good start.
And a happy new year.
ps. Neil Patel was the person I had in mind for beeing with so long articles I have newer finish them even so I have interest and bookmark!
Lots of good information in this tutorial. What do you think will be the biggest factor in SERP rankings in 2016?
I think semantic search and indexing will become a bigger factor because that is where Google search is headed.
