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10 Free Google Tools All Content Marketers Should Use

It doesn’t matter if you’re a content marketing beginner or have many years of experience under your belt, this post could change your approach.

If you consider yourself a content marketing professional, there’s a good chance you already use Google tools that will make your life easier.

But regardless of how much experience you have and the results you’ve achieved in the past, you know there are always new ways to boost your performance.

Social media, just the right keyword tool, Google’s Keyword Planner, honing your search term — these things can all have a big impact on your volume and your success as a content marketing pro.

Many people look at Google and see nothing more than a search engine. While there’s nothing wrong with wanting to see your website at the top of the search engine giant’s results, you can’t ignore the process for reaching this goal.

When it comes to content marketing, the tools you use, and the strategies you employ will greatly impact the end result.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a content marketing beginner or have many years of experience under your belt, this post could change your approach.

Below, I’ll discuss 10 free Google tools that all content marketers should use.

You may not use all of these tools, and some might not suit your marketing strategy. Even so, I’m confident that you’ll find one or two that can alter your approach for the better.

 

10 Free Google Tools that All Content Marketers Should Use

1. Google AdWords: Keyword Planner

Are you seeking a tool that helps you find and target the best keywords for your business?

While there are many to choose from, the Google Keyword Planner remains one of the best ways to conduct keyword research.

There’s a lot to like about this free tool, including the fact that it’s extremely simple to use.

As a content marketer, you should always be searching for keywords that can give your website or a particular blog post a boost.

My top suggestion for using this keyword tool is simple: experiment, experiment, and then experiment some more.

The more searches you run, the more you’ll understand how the tool works. Also, multiple searches give you a better idea of which keywords the best suit your site.

For example, “content marketing” may be your primary keyword. In a perfect world, you’d rank at the top of Google for this term.

However, you know that this will be difficult. You also know that there are long-tail terms that can increase your search results.

This tool helps you uncover these terms. Check out this screenshot:

With this in mind, you now have a better idea of what to do next. Maybe you find that “b2b content marketing” is a keyword that makes sense for a future blog post.

At that point, you can plug the term, in as your primary keyword, to dig up even more long-tail ideas.

Even though Google Keyword Planner appears to be nothing more than a basic tool, it does everything right for content marketers who want to uncover keywords that can improve the bottom line: the search result it delivers.

Pro tip: If you want more information, try a dedicated keyword planner like my tool Ubersuggest.

2. Google Analytics

What goals have you set for your content marketing strategy?

If you don’t know the answer to this question, now’s the time to take a step back and reassess your situation.

If you’ve already set a few goals, there’s a good chance that many of them are based on search engine results and related statistics. If so, you need to become familiar with the inner workings of Google Analytics.

No two people use Google Analytics in the same manner. But, there are several things to keep in mind if you’re a content marketing professional.

To start, you can use this tool to get an instant snapshot of your performance over a particular period of time.

This alone will give you a clear idea of whether or not you’re on track to achieving your goals.

From here, you have the ability to dig deeper for more data.

As you click-through to each section, you’ll find yourself digging deeper and deeper. For example, I always enjoy checking out my top pages for a particular time period.

This gives me a clear idea of what’s working and what isn’t, in regards to topic selection, the type of content that I’m providing, and whether readers are sticking around to see what I have to say.

The more you use Google Analytics, the easier it is to focus your time on the data that has the biggest impact on your site.

3. Google Search Console

Similar in many ways to Google Analytics, the time you spend with this free tool is never a waste.

There’s so much to learn from the Google Search Console. You could soon find yourself spending hours combing through data.

In addition to reviewing your site’s overall health, there are several other things you can do with this tool.

My favorites are all listed under the Search Traffic drop-down:

For example, Search Analytics allows you to quickly analyze your performance on Google Search.

If you’ve ever wondered how your keywords are performing, you can click the Position box to learn more. This will show you the average position for all of the keywords that appear in Google Search.

Content marketers should become familiar with everything the Google Search Console can do for them. Even if you only use it to track a few key metrics, it’s well worth it in the long run.

4. Google Trends

Do you find it difficult to continually generate fresh ideas for your blog and other content marketing opportunities?

There’s no denying the fact that the search engine giant’s Keyword Planner provides hundreds of keywords related to your business and industry. Even so, this isn’t always good enough, when it comes to creating compelling content. In other words? You need another way to perform keyword research.

This is why I make it a habit of checking Google Trends when I’m brainstorming new blog ideas.

With this tool, you can explore any topic to see what’s trending. You can also view “stories trending now,” to see if there’s anything that matches your industry and the approach that you want to take.

For example, the upcoming World Cup is sure to be a hot topic.

Is there a way to tie this into your blog or other content marketing efforts?

If you write about sports, you know there’ll be plenty of information to keep you busy. But, even if you don’t, you can use Google Trends to help you get creative.

Sticking with the example above, maybe you could write a blog post entitled: “How the World Cup is Using Marketing to Drive Views.”

With this title, you’re providing your audience with targeted information, while harnessing the power of a trending topic. It’s the best of both worlds.

You don’t need any experience or much time to use this tool. Simply type in your topic and review what Google spits out. From there, let your creative juices point you in the right direction.

5. Google Sheets

Content marketers need a system for recording and tracking data. Furthermore, there may be times when you want to share this information with other team members.

I’ve found Google Sheets to be one of the simplest and most efficient ways to record data, track changes, and collaborate with others.

Here’s an example. I’m often asked about the best way to track email outreach campaigns. While there are many software tools for this, some of which provide a high level of features, some people don’t want to part with the money.

While Google Sheets may not offer the exact same functionality as these tools, it’s still one of the best ways to remain organized. It still has plenty of advanced features, such as the ability to create pivot tables and sort data.

As long as you’re on-board with the idea of regularly updating your spreadsheet, it’s powerful enough to have a positive impact on your content marketing efforts.

Pro tip: you can also use Google Sheets to create a to-do list, which is something most content marketers heavily rely on. Even with a basic list, you’ll always have a clear idea of what you need to accomplish.

6. Google Alerts

Google Alerts is a Google tool that makes it easy to monitor the web for brand mentions, interesting new content, and news. Then, Google sends you an email once a day or once a week — your preference — with a notification if keywords you are interested in are mentioned.

In short, Google Alerts makes it easier to stay on top of news and new content without spending hours a day on social media.

For example, I could set a Google Alert for my name:

As a content marketer, I suggest setting alerts for:

Your brand name Your personal name Key industry terms Major competitors

These alerts will help you see new trends fast and might even give you some great content to share on your social media channels.

7. Gmail

A big part of content marketing is getting in touch and staying in touch with a variety of contacts.

There will be times when you spend hours sharing a new blog post with influencers in your space. Since email is one of the best ways of doing so, you better be comfortable with the application you’re using.

Gmail has long been my favorite email client, thanks in large part to the built-in functionality. That being said, there’s more to it than meets the eye.

I use a variety of plugins to ensure that my Gmail account does exactly what I need. For example, WiseStamp helps me to create a custom signature. Along with this, I use FollowUp.cc, so that I never forget to follow-up on an important email related to my content marketing efforts.

You don’t have to use Gmail as your email provider, but I strongly suggest giving it a second look, if you’re open to making a change.

With so many plugins to choose from, you should be able to customize your inbox to meet your every need as a content marketer. This alone can save you quite a bit of time and money.

Pro tip: Even if you prefer another email provider for daily communication with coworkers and clients, you can still use a Gmail account to carry out many aspects of your content marketing strategy.

8. Google My Business

For some companies, GMB isn’t a big deal. For others, such as local businesses, this is not something you don’t want to overlook.

With Google My Business, you can easily get a free business listing on Google. Better yet, this allows you to provide a variety of information, including, but not limited to, your phone number, address, and business category.

The benefits of using Google My Business include:

• The opportunity to get your business in front of customers interested in what you have to offer.
• People can learn more about your company, based on the information that you provide.
• Use images to show how your company is unique.
• Show off customer reviews.

Remember, there is more to content marketing than producing high quality blog posts.

Think about the word “content” for a second. Anything you write about your company and/or anything you can share with others can be a big part of your content marketing plan.

Since Google My Business listings are front and center in the search results, you probably want to use this as part of your content marketing strategy.

9. Google Docs

If you stay current with my blog, you know I do my best to publish new posts as often as possible.

There’s a lot that goes into creating high-quality blog posts, so I’m always seeking new ways to improve my efficiency.

While I’ve used many tools over the years, to improve efficiency, Google Docs remains one of my favorites. Not only is it free, but it’s extremely simple to use. On top of this, there are tons of features and plugins to experiment with.

Here are some of the things that Google Docs as I work through the creation of a blog post:

• Checks for spelling errors.
• Provides an accurate word count.
• Allows me to easily insert screenshots.
• Makes it simple to share the document with the rest of my team, such as my editor.

As you know, a big part of content marketing is content creation. If you’re doing a lot of writing, make sure you’re 100% comfortable with the tool that you’re using.

There are other options out there, such a Microsoft Word, but Google Docs has been my top choice for many years.

10. Google Calendar

How do you organize your day, as it relates to content marketing? What steps do you take to ensure that you’re maximizing the use of your time?

Google Calendar is one of the top organization tools among marketing professionals. It doesn’t have all of the features included in some of the paid tools, but it provides more than enough to keep you on track at all times.

Here are some of the ways that I like to use this free tool:

• Create events for important marketing tasks.
• Share my availability with team members.
• Better understand “open spots” in my schedule, as this allows me to make the most of each day.

I don’t use Google Calendar as often as some of the other tools on this list, but it has definitely improved the way I organize my day.

As somebody who understands the demands placed on a marketing professional, I suggest looking into what Google Calendar offers. It may improve the way that you operate.

Conclusion

With only 42 percent of B2B marketers claiming they have a sophisticated content marketing strategy, it goes without saying that there’s always room for improvement, from keyword research that can boost your search volume to using long-tail keywords in your blog posts.

Personally, I enjoy every tool developed by Google. Some are more effective and powerful than others, but each one deserves a second look.

Have you used any of these free Google tools to improve your content marketing efforts? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

The post 10 Free Google Tools All Content Marketers Should Use appeared first on Neil Patel.

Source: feedproxy.google.com

How to Identify and Close Your Keyword Gaps

 

Would you like to uncover new traffic-driving search queries for your site?

I bet you are thinking, “Yes, of course,” right now.

If so, here is a new idea for you: Perform a keyword gap analysis.

What is Keyword Gap Analysis?

Keyword gap analysis (also referred to as content gap analysis) analysis means identifying ranking opportunities your site is missing.

Usually, it involves analyzing which queries your close competitors are ranking for and your site is not.

But there are various ways to identify content gaps.

Why is Keyword Gap Analysis Important?

There are many different ways people search for the same thing online.

It may be impossible for a single team to foresee all of those.

Even if you think you are pretty good at keyword research, there is one step you have always have to start with: your core term.

But what if your customers have a different idea of what that core term should be? If so, you are missing a huge chunk of keywords.

There can be synonyms, local terms, jargon, etc. you are not considering.

There may be products or product features you are not offering.

There may be problems your service is solving, but you fail to mention them on your site.

In all of those cases, content/keyword gap research is helpful.

 

How to Perform Keyword Gap Analysis

Here is how to perform keyword gap analysis:

1. See what your competitors are ranking for, but you are not.

This type of analysis is available through any SEO platform these days. My two favorite ones are:

Spyfu

Spyfu offers an easy and quick way to find your keyword gaps.

All you need is to enter your domain.

The tool will identify your organic or paid competitors and generate the list of keywords that you are missing.

In Spyfu, the feature is called Kombat, and it allows you to research your keyword gaps based on the following intersections:

• Keyword universe: Keywords unique to any of the entered domains
• Weakness: Keywords both of your competitors are ranking, but you are not.
• Exclusive keywords: Keywords that are unique to your domain (your competitors’ keyword gap).

The detailed view will let you see and export all your missing keywords together with their search volume and “keyword difficulty” that takes into account various factors (like title optimization, quality of backlinks pointing to the page, etc.)

What I love about Spyfu’s tool is that it allows you to find keyword gaps for both organic and paid keywords.

You’ll find similar sections inside Ahrefs and Semrush, but I don’t believe either of those offers paid keyword research.

Ahrefs

As mentioned, Ahrefs’s “content gap” tool works similarly to Spyfu’s.

What I like about Ahrefs is that it helps you research a section of your site, not just your domain or URL.

I find it pretty handy when I want a close look at a specific part of the site and identify higher-level gaps.

For example, if you were to analyze a flower shop using Ahrefs, you would be able to investigate keyword gaps for its /special-offers/ section, including all URLs that are included in that section.

This is a very handy option to have, especially if you are dealing with a large and/or multi-category site.

 

2. Semantic Analysis

Unlike Spyfu and Ahrefs, Text Optimizer doesn’t look at your specific competitors. Instead, it:

• Takes your search query
• Performs a search for it in Google or Bing
• Grabs search snippets those returned
• Applies semantic analysis to identify underlying concepts and entities
• Reads your content and identifies related concepts you failed to include in your copy.

There is no need to include ALL the suggestions in your content.

But the more you include, the closer the gap between your page and its organic competitors will be.

I like the tool because it pushes you to create longer, better-researched copy.

 

3. Your Own Analytics

Finally, you can also find content gaps within your own website analytics.

Look for under-performing pages—pages that seem to send people off from your site and pages that don’t engage your audience.

These pages obviously need some help.

Finteza is a web analytics suite that focuses on conversion and engagement analysis.

For example, if I see a graph like this, I know there’s a page that doesn’t perform well:

This is an obvious sign of a content gap:

• This page does rank and brings clicks to the site, so we cannot just trash it
• Yet, the page fails to engage anyone, so it needs content gap research.

At this point, I’d look at competing pages to see how they cater to the target audience, which questions they address, how they engage their visitors, and how their copy is better than mine.

Here are more ways to diagnose and fix lead generation problems on any content-based page, and here’s how to use analytics to improve conversions.

There are many more analytics solutions out there— here are more options.

 

How to Close Those Content Gaps

Keyword gap research is not simply a content optimization technique.

By identifying keyword gaps, you may discover new ways to present your products (e.g. colors, sizes, etc.), such as content-based landing pages that address problems your customers are facing and introduce your products as a solution.

Chances are, you will need to involve your product development, customer support, sales, and reputation management teams, as many gaps you are discovering can be turned into new product ideas, selling points, and competitive advantages.

While researching your newly discovered queries, look for other things you can pick up during your research.

What are your competitors doing better?

Maybe it is a nice page layout, an engaging content element, or a new way to structure content — there’s always something more to learn from your competitors.

The post How to Identify and Close Your Keyword Gaps appeared first on Content Marketing Consulting and Social Media Strategy.

Source: convinceandconvert.com

Here’s How to Rank for Multiple Keywords with One Piece of Content

Keyword targeting is dead. Algorithm changes such as Google’s RankBrain have all but killed your ability to rank well using keyword targeting. I bet you’re wondering why I’m about to talk about ranking for keywords then, right?

 

Well, there’s a difference between using keywords and targeting keywords.

Keywords are just phrases that people type into search boxes to describe what they’re looking for.

They help search engines sort through the billions of potential websites and posts to find relevant content.

When I say “keyword targeting” is dead, I mean the way that we used to use keywords.

Due to advancements such as Hummingbird, search engines are getting much better at understanding the meaning of a search and matching results to that meaning.

In other words, matching the exact phrase is becoming irrelevant, and it’s much more important to match intent.

In the past, you found a single keyword that had low competition and high traffic, and you wrote a post about it. You made sure to repeat it lots of times and voila, you were on the first page of Google.

Alright, it wasn’t quite that simple, but you get my point.

That approach doesn’t work anymore.

Now you need to target user intent.

This is actually a good thing!

Why?

Well, targeting user intent makes it even easier to build multiple keywords into one piece of content.

I’m going to show you how to create content that not only has multiple keywords but ranks on them.

But first, let’s check out the likelihood of one post ranking well for multiple keywords so you can understand the competition.

 

Is it possible to rank well for multiple keywords?

There’s no point building a ton of keywords into a post if you know you can’t rank well for them all, right?

So, just how many keywords can a single piece of content rank well for?

According to Ahrefs, the top-ranking pages rank for 957 additional keywords, on average.

We know it’s pretty hard to get the first spot on Google. If you’re new, it can hurt your ROI to even try.

But check out #20.

That’s not even a page one of Google.

But they still have an average of 225 additional keywords ranking on the first page.

So your primary keyword is on page two, and you have over 200 other ones showing up on page one.

That’s why you should always build keyword clusters into your content.

Of course, just because it’s a keyword you’re ranking for, it doesn’t mean it’s a good one.

After all, ranking first for something that’s only searched by one person a month isn’t a reason to celebrate, right?

This means we need to understand how many high-volume keywords you can rank for in one post.

If you’re trying to rank for a keyword that gets at least 10,000 searches a month, chances aren’t good.

Over 84% of pages that get 1st place for a search that popular only rank for the one keyword.

Things start to get more attractive when we take a look at traffic volumes around 1,000 searches a month.

Only 35.6% of pieces in the number one spot rank for only one keyword.

This means 64.4% of posts that rank in 1st place for one keyword also rank in 1st place for at least one more.

You can see the largest percentages are two keywords (at 18,5%), followed by five to nine keywords (at 16.5%).

This means if your SEO skills are helping you rank on the first page of Google for one keyword, you have pretty great chances of ranking on the first page for multiple keywords.

 

What do sites ranking for multiple keywords have in common?

We now know that over 3 in 5 pages (64.4%) that rank 1st in Google for keywords with traffic around 1,000 searches a month achieve that ranking for more than one keyword.

What do they have in common that the other ones don’t?

Anything that helps you rank 1st for one keyword also generally helps you rank 1st for multiples.

This means that articles with more words, better URL ratings, and more backlinks will have an easier time ranking well for multiple keywords.

The big takeaway though should be what the multiple keywords have in common.

When looking at which keywords sites were ranking high for, the majority of them shared at least one word.

In other words, it’s important to pick related keywords and not try to fit too many unrelated topics into one post.

You can use a keyword clustering tool like SerpStat to help you understand how well keywords fit together.

You can opt for keywords that are softly related, like the diagram above, or ones that have a hard relationship:

If you think about the way we target audiences, this intuitively makes sense. Trying to offer too much to too many different people in one post won’t work for anyone.

The best way to have multiple keywords in one post is to group ones that naturally fit together.

Four ways to come up with multiple keywords that rank

 

So how do you come up with multiple, related keywords that will rank well?

Here are four different methods to help you find the right keywords:

 

1. Use Ubersuggest to find LSI keywords.

If you’re not familiar with LSI, it stands for Latent Semantic Indexing.

Semantic means, “relating to meaning in language or logic.”

In other words, you want to find words that are related to each other.

There are a few ways to find LSI keywords. One of my favorites is Ubersuggest.

Another one is LSI Graph.

Step #1: Enter Your Keyword and Click “Search”

It’s a free tool that will provide you with related keywords for whatever term you search.

The generator brings back a ton of related words that you can use to build into your content.

You can often use these keyword results to help build your outline for a long-form piece of content.

For example, you could select a few of the keywords above to build an outline like this:

• Content marketing process (intro)
• Content marketing examples
• Content marketing ideas
• 10 content marketing tips
• Conclusion with a PDF of a content strategy plan offering built into a CTA

You can use a tool such as LSIGraph to give you multiple keywords and help you build your outlines all with one simple click.

One thing to note is that there is a daily limit:

It’s 3 searches a day if you want to remain unknown, and 20 searches if you sign up by email.

 

2. Use Google to generate related keywords.

In addition to the above, you should always use Google to help you generate related keywords.

Google wants to provide the best, most relevant content to searchers.

Luckily, that also helps us provide the best, most relevant content to searchers. And Google is helping us do it for free.

When you search for something in Google, it tries to help you out in a number of ways.

Auto-suggest. As soon as you start typing, Google starts automatically populating suggestions of what it thinks you might be looking for.

For example, try typing “content marketing” into Google.

You’ll notice I didn’t even spell it right and Google is already trying to auto-suggest ten different possible keywords before I hit enter.

This instantly tells you the most commonly searched keywords relating to content marketing.

There’s no need to worry about the relevance of their results either. Google updates every two-three weeks to make sure it’s offering searchers the most relevant choices.

Related searches. After you hit enter, you can scroll down to the bottom of the search results page.

Here are eight more related keywords for content marketing. You’ll notice that they’re new ones and not just a repeat of the ones Google just tried to offer you.

People also ask. For some searches, Google will also provide you with a “People also ask” section. This didn’t pop up for content marketing.

If I narrow down my search to ‘how to use content marketing,’ I now get the following four suggestions.

These are common questions Google is asked that it thinks are similar to what you’re trying to find.

If you click one and search for it, it will populate even more related questions.

Google will give you a practically limitless list of related keywords.

 

3. Ask your audience for “seed” keywords.

“Seed” keywords help you figure out what keywords real people in your target market are searching for.

This is a free tool that can help you grow a keyword list that’s perfect for your target market.

Start by clicking on “Creating My Scenario.”

Then type in your search query:

You need to type in a question to your audience, such as “what would you search for if you wanted to start your own blog?”

Then the software will give you a unique URL that you share will your audience through social media, email or any other way you prefer.

As people respond, your keyword list will automatically start to grow.

This obviously works best when you have clear questions you want to ask, and you have a large audience likely to respond.

The benefit is that your ideal customers are telling you what topics they want you to write about and they’re doing all the work for you.

 

4. Check out a site like Answer the Public.

Answer the Public is a great way to come up with new topic ideas and keywords.

It’s a mix between Google’s “People also ask” and Seed Keywords.

Answer the Public provides you with a list of questions directly from the minds of your customers, around a specific topic or keyword.

This site can give you hundreds of questions and related keywords with one quick and simple search.

To get started you just enter your general keyword or question into the search bar:

You need to choose the country you want to target, and then you click the “Get Questions” button.

At first, your results will look something like this:

It’s kind of cool looking but not the easiest to navigate.

Don’t worry. You can fix that!

Select “Questions” and then “Data” to translate your results into grouped lists.

The first lists are the question-based results:

Next comes the “preposition” results.

The third grouping is comparisons:

Finally, it also gives you results in alphabetical order.

For “website design,” it returned a total of 519 questions, all within seconds.

All four of these tools are free. You can use any or all of them to easily come up with hundreds of relevant, related keywords you can build into one piece of content to rank in search results.

 

Some final tips to keep in mind

You now know the best way to rank for multiple keywords is to find relevant, related keywords to build into a single piece of content.

Here are some additional tips you should consider when building multiple keywords into one post or article.

Consider the use of synonyms.

When you’re focusing on building out your list of related keywords, make sure you consider synonyms.

A synonym is, “a word or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word or phrase in the same language.”

For example, “halt” and “stop” are synonyms.

Think about our product and consider different ways your customers could ask the same question.
For example, “how to make a cake” and “how to bake a cake” mean the same thing.

In this context they’re synonyms.

If you are writing an article about baking cakes, you ideally want to cover both of these keywords in your content.

You can see under Google search results for “how to make a cake” it’s bringing back articles and suggestions that capture both phrases.

Use long-tailed keywords.

It’s easier to rank in search engines for long-tailed keywords.

Not only that, long-tailed keywords are more likely to convert.

People searching for something specific enough to be long-tailed are more likely to be in the ‘ready to buy’ stage of a marketing funnel.

They have gone from considering shoes to knowing exactly which shoes they want.

Remember that the reason we want to rank is to get traffic, but traffic is pointless without conversions.

Long-tailed keywords help you succeed at both goals at once, by narrowing your focus down to consumers ready to buy.

You can see that long-tailed keywords are trying to include enough detail to narrow down the search results to exactly what they’re looking for.

This means they’re going to be the lower competition than the shorter, more generic keywords.

The search volumes will also likely be lower, but you have better chances of ranking well, and the people who do search are more likely to convert.

Don’t try to stick them all in your title.

Targeting multiple keywords does not mean having to stick them all into your title.

The main title of your content should have an H1 tag, and it should have one main keyword.

Don’t worry that you won’t be able to rank for others; you will.

The H1 tag helps search engines know what your main title and topic are but remember they’re getting better and better at understanding intent.

Your priority for the title of your post is to make it attention-grabbing so that people want to click it.

Putting in too many keywords can make it sound repetitive, hard to read or unnatural.

Here’s an example of a title that has too much going on:

This company is trying to fit so much into their heading that it doesn’t all fit in the search result.

If you want to rank on the first page of Google, then keep your headings short and to the point.

Use heading tags.

To help your other keywords get indexed by Google, you can build them into the outline of your content as subheadings.

Each one should have its own H2 or H3 tag.

This will help Google bots and readers understand the intent of your content.

It also breaks up your long-form content for easier skimming and reading.

Use your meta description.

Your meta description is the text that summarizes what your webpage is about.

It’s only a short snippet, up to roughly 230 characters in length.

Whenever your page shows up in SERPs, the meta description appears underneath your title.

As you can see, the meta description is there to briefly describe to searchers what the article is about.

This helps them know which link to click, especially if the titles are too vague or too similar to each other.

The best meta descriptions will entice people to click your link through to your page instead of the other search results.

Not only should you use your meta description as a call to action, but you should also use it as a perfect spot for building in some of your other keywords.

You can see from the example above that the title has “Google Meta Tags,” while the meta descriptions also have “meta tags,” and “tags.”

They also swapped out “Google” for “search engines” in the description.

You can use this as a great place to build some of your related keywords into search results, without stuffing them in your title or impacting readability.

Don’t worry about keyword density.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, keyword targeting is dead.

That means trying to hit a certain density of keywords should no longer be part of your SEO strategy.

In fact, if your keyword % is too dense, you could actually get penalized by Google.

What is too dense?

While there’s no perfect number, generally 1 – 3% seems to be a safe range.

When you’re building multiple keywords into one piece of content, stick to the lower end of that range.

After all, 3% might seem low, but if you suddenly have ten different variations of the same keyword and they’re each 3% of your total content, that’s 30%!

You can see how that would get ugly fast. No one would want to read it.

Not sure how to check your density?

Here’s a handy formula:

Don’t focus too much on what the exact number is or should be.

Remember that your focus should be on the quality of your content and the value you’re providing to your readers.

As long as you use natural language and your content is easy to read, your density is likely fine.

The same points are relevant for the number of different keywords you should include.

After all, I just showed you how you can easily create a list of hundreds of related keywords.

If you feel like you’re trying to stuff multiple different keywords into the body of your post, just don’t.

Try to naturally fit each keyword you want once or twice. If it feels forced, then leave it out and save it for your next piece.

Whatever you do, make your readers’ experience top priority. Keyword placement, density, and number should all be a lower priority.

SEO is incredibly competitive, and customer engagement is becoming increasingly important. If you sacrifice reader enjoyment in an attempt to “trick” Google into rankings, you won’t rank.

 

Conclusion

Targeting keywords and keyword stuffing are tactics that no longer work.

Due to advancements in algorithms and artificial intelligence, the focus needs to shift to targeting intent and getting customer engagement.

But just because you’re not targeting keywords does not mean you give up on using them.

After all, they help Google understand what your intent is and match it to searchers.

Google’s ability to decipher intent actually makes it easier than ever to rank for multiple keywords within one piece of content.

Choose related keywords that fit well together. Consider synonyms or similar questions and phrases to your initial keyword idea.

You can try using a free tool such as LSIGraph, Seed Keywords or Answer the Public.

You can also simply use Google. It provides three different ways of generating popular related keywords, and it offers it all for free.

Focus on long-tailed keywords. Make use of headings and meta descriptions the right way and don’t focus on keyword density.

If you do all this, suddenly your top content will be ranking for multiple keywords. It may even end up being in the 1st spot for a keyword that was never your main focus.

Which tool is your favorite for coming up with relevant, related keywords?

About the Author: Neil Patel is the cofounder of Neil Patel Digital.

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