If you’re like me and spend your days trying to rank for keywords, then you’re probably familiar with choosing a focus keyword. But just in case this is your first rodeo, I’ll give you an overview of what a focus keyword is, how it fits into your SEO Ontario strategy and how to pick the right one for your website.
What is a focus keyword?
A focus keyword is the main keyword you want your page to rank for. The focus keyword is essentially your page’s purpose, or “why” it exists. For example, if you’re writing a blog post about how to grow tomatoes in containers, then the keywords “grow tomatoes” are the focus keyword because they’re the reason why that content exists.
Focus keywords can also be synonyms of each other (like “buy” and “purchase”), but we recommend using only one in your meta descriptions so as not to confuse potential customers who may be searching for something different from what you offer—or worse yet, leading them astray!
In order for Google’s algorithms to pick up on this information and show it as part of their search results (aka when someone searches), make sure that each piece of content has:
Choosing a primary focus keyword
Before choosing a primary focus keyword, it’s important to consider whether it’s a good fit for your business. If you’re selling high-end jewellery, for example, the keyword “buy cheap diamonds” probably wouldn’t be considered an ideal primary focus keyword because the sentiment behind that phrase is likely not one of your customers’ goals when they visit your page.
For most businesses, it’s wise to choose a primary focus keyword that reflects what you’re marketing and who your target audience is — but there are other factors as well:
- Does this word have enough search volume? (see step 6)
- Is this word specific enough? (see steps 2-5)
- Will Google expect people to click on my ads if I use this word as my main keyword? (see step 1)
How to pick the right focus keyword?
Choosing the right focus keyword for your page is essential as per SEO Services Ontario provider. While not all of them will be long-tail keywords, you need to make sure that the term you choose is relevant to your website and business. Think about it this way: if someone searches for “best dessert recipe blog” and they land on your page, they’re going to be disappointed if they don’t find recipes on there.
The same goes for some other factors like audience, product or service. If you’re selling cakes online but your focus keyword is “cake baking tips” then people searching for something else won’t see what you offer as relevant enough for them.
Bonus tip – Use your focus keyword in your URLs.
This is a bonus tip that can help you get more SEO Ontario points, but I often see people overlook this step when creating their URLs. Your primary purpose with the URL is to make it readable and memorable for users, so why not also use it as an opportunity to include your focus keyword? It’s a win-win!
Conclusion
We hope this article has helped you understand how to pick a focus keyword for your page. Remember that the most important part is to choose one that is relevant and used often by your target audience. We also recommend using Google’s Keyword Planner tool to get some suggestions before deciding on a keyword.
