Traditional public relations has roots reaching back much further than the internet. Embracing technology and using SEO to your advantage will\u00a0help your marketing campaigns have a bigger impact.<\/p>\n
Search engines have become a part of everyday life. Think about the last time you went an entire day without Googling something \u2014 almost impossible, right? The total number of online searches has risen every year since it’s invention. In 2017, that amounts to an average of\u00a03.5 billion searches<\/a>\u00a0per day!<\/p>\n Using PR keywords on your website will increase your SEO ranking and help you reach more of those people searching. Plus, increased ranking means more visitors and\u00a0more brand awareness<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here are some ways to use\u00a0keywords on your website to ramp up your SEO today!<\/p>\n Some keywords might seem obvious to you, like the name of your product or company. That’s a great start, but it’s important to use keywords that people are actually searching for. You’d be surprised at how different your expectation of search terms is from the actual keywords your target audience is using. Hint: businesses usually miss the mark about 90% of the time.<\/p>\n A great way to do that is with Google’s free\u00a0Keyword Planner<\/a>. You need a Google AdWords account to access it, but you don’t need to buy\u00a0any ads.<\/p>\n Once you log in, click on Get Search Volume Data and Trends.<\/p>\n Type some keyword ideas into the box, and click Get Search Volume. You’ll see how many people search for those keywords, on average each\u00a0month.<\/p>\n For example, if you’re a car dealership, you could try entering keywords like:<\/p>\n On the results page, choose keywords that have a high number of people searching for them.<\/p>\n Those are the PR keywords\u00a0you should use on your website because the highest number of people are searching for them. When your content appears in a search result, people will\u00a0find you and ideally click to visit your site.<\/p>\n Google Trends<\/a>\u00a0is another good source for keywords.<\/p>\n You can type in a topic to search to see\u00a0historical search data, or you can see what the current trending topics are. Then, you can use this data to publish content on your website with those keywords.<\/p>\n But where should you add those\u00a0to your site? Read on to find out!<\/p>\n Once you have a list of keywords, you’ll want to use them in several areas of your website:<\/p>\n This is what shows up when you look at search results in Google. It’s the title of the page, and the 1-2 line blurb underneath it.\u00a0Be sure to include your keyword in the title and at least once in the description text.<\/p>\n Name images on your website with your keywords, such as “car-dealership-cityname.jpg”.\u00a0You should also include relevant\u00a0keywords in the ALT tag of the image. This can be done with a\u00a0bit of HTML<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some website platforms, like\u00a0WordPress<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0HubSpot<\/a>, have an easy way to add this when you upload an image.<\/p>\n Make sure your keywords appear in at least several large headings throughout your website.\u00a0Those headings should be <h1> or <h2> tags. Heading tags range from h1 to h6, with one being more important in Google’s eyes than six.<\/p>\n Adding\u00a0important terms to h1 headings throughout your copy is an\u00a0easy way to increase<\/a>\u00a0your search engine ranking.<\/p>\n Use your keywords throughout your body content, but remember to keep it sounding natural. If Google thinks you’re trying to stuff keywords into content, you’ll\u00a0get penalized<\/a>\u00a0instead of rewarded.<\/p>\n For maximum impact, use your keyword 2-5 times per every 250-500 words. At that ratio, you typically won’t be penalized for keyword stuffing.<\/p>\n Remember that although Google algorithms should be in the back of your mind any time you write content, it’s more important to make your content appeal to\u00a0humans, not machines. Avoid over-using your keywords, which could come across as being spammy. An appropriate suggested keyword density is around\u00a01.5%<\/a>.<\/p>\n Keyword density is calculated like so:\u00a0(Number of keywords \/ Number of words) * 100<\/p><\/blockquote>\n For example, if you use a keyword 3 times in a 400-word piece of content, your keyword density would be (3\/400)*100 = 0.75%.<\/p>\n This may seem obvious, but you should also use your keywords in your actual press releases.<\/p>\n Press releases distributed digitally through services like\u00a0PRWeb<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Newswire<\/a>\u00a0can positively impact your SEO when they include your keywords. Plus, they’re also a great source of links back to your website, further\u00a0helping your SEO<\/a>\u00a0rank.<\/p>\n Did you know that search engines take social media into account too? They do\u2014 so be sure to use your keywords in posts on your social networks.<\/p>\n Frequently updated, SEO-friendly social media accounts\u00a0help your ranking<\/a>. This practice also helps potential customers find your brand.<\/p>\n Whether offline or online, include keywords in your white papers.<\/p>\n Even if this content isn’t indexed by search engines, your customers will recognize your keywords. This furthers your brand awareness and helps you remain top of mind to customers.<\/p>\n (Not sure how to do all of this yourself? We can help! Ask us about our\u00a0marketing and PR services<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Google recently changed the name of Google Webmaster Tools to\u00a0Google Search Console<\/a>. It’s a powerful tool that’s free to use.<\/p>\n Visit Google Seach Console, sign in with a Google account, and click Add Property.\u00a0There are a few ways to verify your website and the wizard will walk you through it.\u00a0Once you’ve been verified with Search Console, Google will crawl your website regularly.<\/p>\n Crawling means it looks for new content and indexes that content into search results.\u00a0Your content will show up more frequently in search results if it is easily crawlable by the internet spiders.<\/p>\n There are mounds of benefits that come from properly optimizing your website for keywords, such as:<\/p>\n When it comes to adding in PR keywords to increase your SEO ranking, it’s not “the more the merrier.” Try a few different phrases that are unique but still relevant to your topic.<\/p>\n A good rule of thumb is:<\/p>\n An example of this is if your main keyword is “dog treats”, you’d want to include that term 2-5 times in your website copy.<\/p>\n Then, use some related phrases like “healthy dog treats”, “dog treat recipes” or even “dog food” in your copy. If someone is searching for those keywords, your post could show up in those results too.<\/p>\n SEO is a long-term strategy, so don’t feel discouraged when you don’t see big results right away. Make sure you set realistic expectations for the amount of time you hope to see results.<\/p>\n It can take anywhere from\u00a0a few weeks to a few months\u00a0to start seeing a measurable increase in traffic from search engines after optimizing your SEO. Also keep in mind that it’s important to regularly add keyword-optimized content to your site.<\/p>\n Google and other search engines take into account the quality of your content and how frequently you update your website.\u00a0You should see results from a concentrated SEO campaign within\u00a0four to six months<\/a>.<\/p>\n In addition to keyword-rich content on your website, social media, and other channels, you can:<\/p>\n Getting links back to your website from high authority domains is a\u00a0crucial factor<\/a>\u00a0for improving your SEO.\u00a0When you send out a press release, include a link to your website in it. When news outlets publish your release, that link appears on their website.<\/p>\n News sites like CNN, Fox, MSNBC, and many others, are great authority websites. Having backlinks from authority sites like those can be very beneficial to increasing your own authority, and domain ranking.\u00a0For content other than press releases, build relationships with authority websites in your category and ask for links. Comment on their content and\u00a0include a link back to your website.<\/p>\n Another easy way to increase your SEO and make use of your keywords is to launch a PPC, or pay-per-click, advertising campaign.<\/p>\n Typically this is done with Google AdWords, though other options exist.\u00a0Studies show that using PPC along with traditional keyword optimization can increase your total website traffic from search by\u00a0as much as 66<\/a>%.<\/p>\n Longform content, typically described as content between 1,200 to 2,500 words, ranks extremely well in search engines.\u00a0All ten of the top organic Google search results for over 20,000 different keywords were longer than 2,000 words in a\u00a0recent experiment<\/a>.<\/p>\n Not every piece of content on your website needs to be long form, but having at least a few posts that are will help your SEO a lot.<\/p>\n SEO is a huge topic\u00a0to cover. This article has hopefully provided you with an overview of some of\u00a0the ways you should be using your PR keywords on your website, and other channels that can help you.<\/p>\n Some key takeaways to start implementing today are:<\/p>\nHow to Plan Your PR Keywords<\/h2>\n
Using Google Keyword Planner<\/h3>\n
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Using Google Trends<\/h3>\n
How to Implement Your PR\u00a0Keywords<\/h2>\n
Page Meta Title and Description<\/h3>\n
Image ALT Tags and Filename<\/h3>\n
Website Headings<\/h3>\n
Website Body Copy<\/h3>\n
Press Releases<\/h3>\n
Social Media<\/h3>\n
White Papers<\/h3>\n
Is Your Website Crawlable?<\/h2>\n
Benefits of Using PR Keywords on Your Website<\/h2>\n
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Increasing Website Traffic with SEO<\/h2>\n
More Ways to Improve\u00a0Your SEO with PR Keywords<\/h2>\n
Get Backlinks from Other Sites<\/h3>\n
Start a PPC Campaign<\/h3>\n
Write\u00a0Longer Content<\/h3>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n