If you’re using Yoast, you’re probably familiar with setting a focus keyword so you can optimize content for green lights.
These should not be guessed. You don’t want to create content for a keyword you’ll never rank for, or have to go back and change content. We need to know WHAT people are searching (keyword research) and whether your site is capable of ranking for it (keyword competition). A little research can easily get you on page 1, and should be done before writing content… writing about ‘how to get out of debt’ vs. ‘how to get out of debt on one income‘ is different.
I wrote a definitive Yoast tutorial that shows you how to configure the ideal settings, verify Google Search Console and fix crawl errors, optimize content (there’s more to it than green lights), and add accelerated mobile pages (AMP). Be sure to check it out when you’re done.
At the end of the day, keywords are just topics. If the topic is being searched a lot and already has strong content in search results, it’s probably competitive (especially if your site has low authority without many backlinks). If two topics are different enough, create a page for each.
Table Of Contents
1. Keyword Research Tools
- Answer The Public – visual keyword map broken down into questions, prepositions, and comparisons. Keywords are pulled from Google Autocomplete. The greener the circle, the more searches the keyword has.
- Keywords Everywhere – Chrome Extension that shows you the monthly volume, CPC, and organic competition when searching keywords in Google, Google Autocomplete, YouTube, Amazon, Moz, and other popular websites.
- MozBar – Google any keyword and see each result’s DA (domain authority) and PA (page authority) which are core indicators of how competitive a keyword is. Try competing with websites who have similar domain authority.
- Google Autocomplete – cool tricks like using the underline character _ to have Google fill-in-the-blank. If you search Chicago _ Photographer, you will see wedding, newborn, photography, and other types of photography services.
- Moz Keyword Explorer – similar to Google Keyword Planner (only better) as it’s designed specifically for SEO while Keyword Planner is designed for AdWords. Moz Keyword Planner shows you the competition for organic results based on each result’s links, domain authority, etc. While Keyword Planner mainly uses CPC (cost per click) based on their advertising data.
- HubShout WebGrader – see all keywords you (and competitors) rank for. Includes other metrics like each website’s domain authority and # of backlinks.
- Google Trends – shows history of keyword volume for Google, YouTube, other mediums. See trends for specific geographies, and questions people are asking.
1.1. Answer The Public
The coolest keyword research tool is definitely Answer The Public. Search a keyword and it generates a map of keywords being searched in Google Autocomplete. The greener the circle, the more searches that keyword has. It also breaks keywords down into specific categories (questions, prepositions, comparisons). Then it breaks them down even further (below is an example of “question keywords” about “Yoast” and I can see all the whats, hows, wheres, etc).
Question keywords (great way to make sure your content answers people’s questions)…
Preposition keywords…
Comparison keywords…
1.2. Keywords Everywhere
Keywords Everywhere lets you Google any keyword (in Google, YouTube, Amazon, Etsy and other search engines), while showing each keyword’s monthly searches, cost-per-click (CPC) and competition. Combine this with MozBar (the next tool I cover) and it’s a killer combination.
1.3. MozBar
MozBar’s Chrome Extension lets you Google any keyword and see each result’s DA (domain authority) and PA (page authority). Higher numbers = higher competition, and you want to try to compete with websites that have similar domain authority – check yours here. You can increase domain authority by getting more quality links (eg. by creating awesome content).
MozBar Tips
- Learn your DA using Link Explorer and compete for keywords in your range
- Broad phrases usually have high DA + PA, long-tail phrases have low DA + PA
- Build your DA by getting more links to your site (through awesome content)
- Websites (especially new ones) will have low DA, so target very specific phrases
- You can build PA by improving the content and pointing internal links to the page
Combine Keywords Everywhere with MozBar to see a nice glimpse of your competition…
Avoid Keywords That Show Strong Content
The best opportunities are when you Google a keyword, weak or irrelevant content appears in the top results. Just Google the keyword and skim through the top results to see if people cover the topic extensively. If not, that means it’s the perfect opportunity for you to rank high.
Avoid Competing With Authority Websites
- amazon.com
- wikipedia.com
- yelp.com
- credit.com
- and so forth…
1.4. Google Autocomplete
Go to google.com and start typing in a keyword to have Google complete the phrase (remember, you’re looking for long-tail phrases usually with 3+ words since those are much less competitive). You can also use an underscore character _ anywhere in the phrase and Google will fill in the blank. You will need to END on the underscore character for that method. If you don’t see the full dropdown menu with all the keywords, try using an Incognito tab.
Try using different variations, like plurals…
Or different word ordering…
Autocomplete works with most search engines including YouTube for video SEO…
Autocomplete Tips
- Choose specific (long-tail) phrases which are less competitive
- No need to include “best” and other non-descriptive adjectives
- Synonyms can be targeted on the same page (as secondary keywords)
- Most businesses have multiple keywords per service (I have WordPress SEO Services, WordPress SEO Consulting, WordPress SEO Audit… all of which are different enough that I have a separate page for each and I’m ranked in the top 3 for all them… it works)
- Being more specific can mean choosing Chicago WordPress Designer (instead of Chicago Web Designer) or WordPress SEO Consultant (instead of SEO Consultant)… targeting a geography or a specific type of ‘web design’ is one way to get more specific
1.5. Moz Keyword Explorer
To make sure you don’t miss keywords, use Moz Keyword Explorer. This is similar to Keyword Planner only it’s completely free (you don’t have to sign up for AdWords) plus you can group related keywords so you’re not browsing through the same ones. Start with a broad keyword.
Click on keyword suggestions –> see all suggestions.
Moz Keyword Explorer Tips
- Group related keywords with low lexical similarity (use filter)
- Start with a broad phrase, then look for specific, long-tail phrases
How Many Searches Should My Keywords Have?
Step 1: Check your domain authority in Moz Link Explorer.
Step 2: Use this handy chart by Orbit Media.
But Can I Target More?
If you plan on creating strong content (ideally with 3,000+ words and lots of graphics/videos), you can target keywords with more monthly searches (my WordPress SEO tutorial will help as it has over 100 tips including 20 on content optimization). Use the chart as a general guideline.
1.6. HubShout WebGrader (Competitor Keywords)
HubShout WebGrader shows you:
- All keywords you (and competitors) rank for
- Each website’s estimated traffic value based on CPC
- Top ranked content, domain authority, backlinks, and referring domains
See a full list of keywords you (and competitors rank for)…
1.7. Google Trends
Google Trends tells you whether a keyword is on the rise, or declining. It also filters for finding local keywords and YouTube keywords. This is especially helpful for finding what seasons are busiest, whether your market is declining, and where people are searching these keywords.
Ramen is on the rise!
Better publish that YouTube tutorial on gift wrapping before December :)
1.8. Search Analytics
The Search Analytics feature in Google Search Console (which you can verify with Yoast) tells you your keywords, ranking position, CTR (click-through rate), top ranked pages, and the countries + devices of visitors. I hardly use Google Analytics for SEO – I use Search Analytics.
Cool Trick: find queries (keywords) where you already rank in the first 5 spots in Google, then improve those pages so you can get in the top 1-3 where all the traffic is.
1.9. Avoid Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is designed specifically for AdWords – don’t use it for SEO! The competition is not for organic results. Google Autocomplete, or keyword tools that pull keywords from Autocomplete (like Answer The Public) are better at categorizing keywords and showing you the organic competition. And for the record, no keyword tool is better at estimating a keyword’s competition than Googling the keyword yourself, and analyzing the top results to see what content is already out there – so you know what/who you’re up against.
2. Types Of Keywords
The following sections break down keywords into specific types.
2.1. Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords are easier to rank for and usually have 3-7+ words in the phrase. They also attract a more targeted visitor. You can even target Chicago WordPress Design instead of Chicago Web Design since that is a more specific type of web design. As you saw in the chart by Orbit Media in section 1.5, websites with low domain authority (DA) should almost always target longer-tail keywords. As you build your DA, you can start targeting broader keywords.
Examples Of When To Get More Specific
- Chicago Painter is competitive, Chicago Interior Painter is better
- Chicago Real Estate is competitive, Chicago Commercial Real Estate is better
- Chicago Computer Repair is competitive, Chicago Macbook Pro Repair is better
- Yoast SEO Plugin is competitive, Yoast SEO Plugin Settings is better
- SEO Consultant is competitive, WordPress SEO Consultant is better
- SiteGround Review is competitive, SiteGround WordPress Hosting Review is better
2.2. Date Keywords
Drive even more traffic by targeting date keywords (mainly for time sensitive content)…
When optimizing content, you should include the date (year) in your page title, SEO title, and meta description. Of course this requires me to keep the tutorial up to date, but this has already driven quite a bit of extra traffic during 2017 as I’m included as a featured snippet.
2.3. Local Keywords (Small Town vs. Large City vs. National)
The larger the area, the more specific your keywords will be, and the more you will have. Smaller towns will have broad keywords while larger cities will have more specific phrases…
Unless you’re targeting a small town and have 1 primary keyword like “Lake Forest Divorce Lawyer” you probably have other keywords you can target (find them using keyword tools).
Small towns have a small number of broad keywords…
Large cities tend to have multiple specific keywords…
National keywords are even more specific, and there’s more of them…
Don’t forget to use Google Trends to see local keywords and their popularity…
Multiple Locations – each location should have it’s own page (sometimes multiple pages) depending on whether multiple keywords are being searched in each area. Each location should also have it’s own citations (online directories like Google My Business, Facebook Page, Yelp, Bing Places…) which is exactly what my WordPress local SEO guide walks you through.
3.4. Blog Post Keywords
Getting traffic to your blog is fine and dandy, but how does this get you clients?
Here’s what I did…
I offer WordPress speed optimization as part of my SEO services. I wanted more of these projects so I learned what phrases people Google when they have a slow WordPress site. I looked at Google Autocomplete for “slow WordPress…” and saw some results. Then I really put myself in my searcher’s position when I Googled “why is wordpress” and saw it completed the phrase with “why is wordpress so slow” with that keyword on top. There are plenty of variations below it in Autocomplete, indicating that keyword has a good amount of searches. It’s also within my competition if you Google the keyword using MozBar. We have a winner!
And so my blog post was born: Why Is WordPress Slow (And 7 Ways To Fix It)
People read my guide, realize they don’t have the technical skill to do everything, and some inquire. Completely coincidental that this happened while I was writing this post (seriously, I haven’t gotten one of these for weeks) but I literally just got this comment 3 hours ago:
Update (2018): That guide is now one of the most popular tutorials on my website!
2.5. Multiple Keywords (Synonyms)
All you have to do is research a synonym of your primary keyword then incorporate both of these in your page title, SEO title, and meta description. This is by FAR the most important part but you can also sprinkle your secondary keyword 1-2 times in your content. You do NOT have to incorporate both as full keywords (exact matches) otherwise your headline will look spammy. Crafting a headline that sounds nice AND includes partial matches is the way to go.
Here’s an example:
Step 1: Research your primary keyword…
Step 2: Research your secondary keyword…
Step 3: Write a headline that incorporates both and still sounds nice…
Step 4: Rank for both keywords…
You can use the same strategy in your meta description and (sparingly) in the content body.
3. Content Optimization
Now that you have your Yoast focus keywords, you can start optimizing content! Including your keyword in “all the right places” is just 1 small part of it, you should really read the content optimization section of my WordPress SEO guide. I promise you will learn a lot.
Remember: Only Target 1 Keyword Per Page (Unless Synonyms)
Only synonyms can be targeted on the same page. This is because Google wants to show the most relevant results so keywords that mean 2 different things should have their own page.
See also: My Definitive Guide To Yoast SEO
If you found this post helpful, please share – I would appreciate it. And if you have any questions about Yoast focus keywords or Yoast in general, drop me a line in the comments.
Cheers,
Tom
Anirban Pathak says
Great Post. Choosing a perfect focus keyword or keyphrase is not an exact science. You should aim for a combination of words that are actually used by a search audience. Aim for a keyphrase that is relatively high in volume and one that will suit your audience.
Garrett says
Ubersuggest.com by Neil Patel is another great keyword search tool. It’s FREE too!
David Jeson says
I am glad to gain this remarkable information from you. I have found here lots of interesting information for my knowledge I need. All the details you provide to us, it was very helpful and useful. Thanks for sharing this amazing post.
Vimlaxh says
Hello Tom,
I thought I knew everything there is to know about keyword research but how wrong I was! Your keyword research guide is absolutely amazing. I learned many new things like using underscores in Google auto-complete.
Also, your tips on using synonyms in Yoast are enlightening.
Thanks a lot for this.
Tom Dupuis says
Of course Vimlaxh! Glad you got something out of it. That fill in the blank autocomplete trick is money.
Devin Holmes says
Didn’t this page used to be just one easy to follow video? Why did you switch to this convoluted format?
Tom Dupuis says
You’re right Devin, I tried to include new tools but it got to be too much. I added the video back.
clipping world says
Great SEO tips. Thanks for share
Brett @ Niche Laboratory says
Thanks for the great roundup of keyword research tools. I find AnswerThePublic is pretty good, although it doesn’t work well in every niche.
You’ve mentioned a couple I’ve never heard of before so I’ll definitely check those out.
Robert Woodman says
Hi, Tom,
I tried to turn off Google Autocomplete as you suggested in Step 1, and I discovered that Google no longer lets you turn off Autocomplete.
Tom Dupuis says
Ah, sorry about that Robert. I updated the article to reflect that. Might want to try a different computer/browser if it’s not showing all the results.
Christine Spliid says
Hi Tom, really great article thanks :-)
I have a question regarding my focus keyword on the frontpage of my website. I understand that it can be a good idea to try ranking first for a long-tail keyword, as over time you’re also likely to rank high for the shorter keyword.
In my case I’m a Life and Career Coach, and my first thought was to use ‘life & career coach’ as focus keyword. But I’m worried that there are very few searches for this four letter word specifically.
If many people search for Life Coach, and many people search for Career coach, but very few people search for Life & Career Coach, is Life & Career Coach then a bad focus keyword?
What is your opinion on this?
I’d really appreciate your input,
Christine
Tom Dupuis says
Hey Christine,
The first thing I’d ask is whether you’re targeting a specific location, or not? Localized keywords tend to be much less competitive, but you would ideally need a physical address which you can use in your NAP (business name, address, phone)… there are super important in local SEO. If yes, and you live in a decent sized city where people are searching for “denver life coach” or “denver career coach” and these show up in Google Autocomplete, that’s what I would do.
If you’re going national, I would target the longer tail “life & career coach” on your homepage, then you could also create separate pages for “career coach” and “life coach” but those are definitely competitive if they’re not targeting a location. Still plenty of people searching for “life and career coach”… look at the Autocomplete results. There are 10 results below it which indicates a good amount of people are searching for it, plus it looks like it’s not too competitive.
Hope that helps.
April says
Great content!!! Thanks a lot for sharing!
I’ve just started out writing on WordPress and I saw a recommendation to do rich snippets on your infographic. Do you use a special plugin to integrate a “review” type content into an article? Where did you get this “schema” type window? And the price, address, author, etc. on the left-side menu?
Thanks a lot!
aziz haida says
great insight , i like the idea to stay away from keywords around which relevant and enough info provided by high sites .
Ivan says
Very helpful article.
Thanks!
Efe Michael Obasuyi says
Thanks for the info.
Please help me out. Anytime i google search my domain, i will see my homepage
e.g yourname .com
now the problem is, i will see something like
yourname .com > page 2
yourname .com > page 3
yourname .com > page 4
yourname .com > page 5
Continuously
If I click on it, I will go to my homepage, now I think that will make google see my homepage as a duplicate homepage.
i don’t know if Yoast is the problem or themes. I use Yoast and Newspaper themes
NGScholar says
Thanks, man. I just reconfigure my yoast using your settings
Efe Michael Obasuyi says
Please help me, on my google webmaster tools, I see a lot of Error 404 not found as
?cat=12
?cat=13
?cat=14
?cat=15
?cat=16
and continouly
Tom Dupuis says
Redirect them to the URL of the correct category.
Joel Huang says
Nice write-up. I also use Yoast SEO for my website. I wanted to know if it hampers a blog/website if the owner uses more than 1 focus keyword?
Tom Dupuis says
It all depends on which keywords are being selected, and how you’re targeting them. When targeting 2 keywords, they should be very similar to each other (when you Google both, the search results should be similar, and people expect to find the same information). This is called “same search intent.”
To target both, you need to craft a nice post title, SEO title, and meta description that incorporates both (but does NOT necessarily have to include exact matches) but still reads nice. I included an example when targeting the 2 keywords “WordPress theme packs” and “WordPress developer packages.”
sdub says
it’s very useful article to learn about Yoast
andril says
thanks you
Narendra says
Thanks Tom Dupuis for this post . plz help how to make genesis theme like your websites design . where you buy hosting and cdn plz send me message on my email
Tom Dupuis says
Sent you an email :)
StudioPress, SiteGround, Cloudflare, MaxCDN. It’s a great combination.
Onome says
Wow! Lucky to have found myself here… Need to say a very big thank you. Until today, I never really understood long tail keyword… Thanks a million times…
Tom Dupuis says
It’s all about that long-tail. You are welcome!
Javier says
This is a great post, lots to learn and put into practice, thanks for putting it together.
Wanted to ask, is this something that can work in spanish keywords also?
Thanks
Tom Dupuis says
I think so, not sure about Moz Keyword Explorer but Google Autocomplete and MozBar work with Spanish keywords. You’re welcome :)
Ankita says
Yoast Plugin is the best and I’m using for now and works out to be very efficient.
Gaurav says
Nice Articles
C. says
WOW, WOW, WOW!!!
Impressive, thanks for the info, I watched it all through the night.
Thank you!
Nirmala.S says
Hey Tom,
You have nicely explained the on-page SEO stuff, it should be done smartly!
Keyword research is essential to take the profitable keywords. Google Auto Suggestion is awesome and you have instructed well about it!
I use Moz and its Chrome extension, however, the webgrader is new to me. I’ll check its details.
Thanks for the complete details about focusing the keywords in the Yoast setup.
Tom Dupuis says
For sure Nirmala, The WebGrader is really good… it was always the first tool I used when looking at client sites to check their domain authority, keywords, etc. You’re welcome :-)
Jamie Rockers says
Actually being a blogger myself I am looking for answers to typical issues that everyone faces. On the same way I came up on this page. I think you could help me clear up some confusions. As your explanation skills are top notch. I’ll surely go through your website for further leads.
Thank you
Pratibodh says
Great post wonderfully explained. it is very helpful to me. Thank you so much
antarvasna says
good
Kasam says
my question is why we use focus keyword in yoast plugin..if my post have 300 keywords.. focus keyword ignore my full post ?
Tom Dupuis says
How does your post have 300 keyword, you mean 300 word count? Maybe you are using a page builder? Yoast only detects words in the visual editor so if you’re using widgets, page builders, etc Yoast won’t detect it.
Kasam says
thanks Tom
Barakha says
In fact, I think you cannot rely on anyone Keyword Research tool as such because, in the long run, the search behavior keeps on changing and also fluctuates from country to country. Keeping all options open for a global traffic and targeting for the maximum possible targeted keyword phrases should be the aim for the keyword research phase.
Instead of focusing on only the keywords recommended by keyword research tools and Adwords also concentrate on the possible psychologies of users from various geographic areas unless you are concentrating only on a very particular area where only the language and slang of that place concerns for the search of that site. Online users from different places, of different age groups and the various educational backgrounds, think differently and use different language and jargon.
Instead of focusing on only specific fixed key terms we should work to keep the possibilities of a wider circle of permutations and combinations of key phrases open for the site. The analytics data, in fact, can give a proper meaning of what searches are actually taking place countrywide.
Anyways, very informative article. Delivers some great points to light…
MD Rasel Khan says
I have been searching for a long time to get this article, today I got this effective resources, thanks
Shayla khan says
I have got a more necessary idea from your website. thanks for this
Michael C Rogers says
Hello,
Great straight-shooting article.
If you have a website with 10 blog posts can you use the same keyword in each article if it’s relevant to the main topic without taking a hit from Google? Or will big G flag that as spam or over-optimisation?
Thanks.
Tom Dupuis says
I would avoid it… it’s always best to make 1 really good article about a keyword rather than using multiple posts. I don’t think you will get spammed, but you certainly won’t get as good of results as you would targeting multiple keywords.
banglazing says
I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your
sites really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your website
to come back down the road. Cheers
sven says
Hey Tom,
Thanks a lot for this helpful article and wesbite :)
What to do if our service is a real niche and very few queries are made on google? few results and almost no predictions
Thanks for your light
Cheers!
Tom Dupuis says
Hey Sven,
Try targeting people searching for a problem your service can fix (eg. my “why is wordpress slow” example brings me people who need speed optimization help). Or “how to fix dent in hardwood floors” might need a wood filler product. Be creative and write blog tutorials about how to fix these problems, while mentioning how your company can also help.
I usually have to spend a fair amount of time doing keyword research for these companies until I can find a decent list of keywords people are actually searching.
salma says
very informative post. I will use the suggestions discussing here for optimizing my new blog site.This post will be very helpful for the begaineer SEO worker who are new in this field.
Keep posting this type of helpful post.
With best wishes.
Nikhil Nikam says
Really shared valuable Article bro, i am waiting for this tips from many days. Now following all this tips & getting rank. Thanks for sharing
Tom Dupuis says
Let me know how it goes! All about that keyword research, good content and CTRs ;)
paras dhankecha says
Such a amazing article. With deeply explained. i love to read even more from you. Thank you for sharing this tips.
Tom Dupuis says
Let me know if you have article suggestions, need to pump out the videos too.
vik says
ahha!! perfect article,
Tom Dupuis says
Thanks :-)
mr singh says
Great info i using same as above you write well..have ranked my page …
Yuni Triasih says
thanks for this awesome idea
rasel says
This is a very necessary idea about a website promoting. thanks a lot for this great resources
Tom Dupuis says
Anytime, anytime :0
Tara says
Great article! I have a question about focus keywords when there are several spelling variants of the key concept. The topic of my blog is a referral marketing technique called a popby gift. The trouble I have is that sometimes people spell this as popby or pop-by or pop by. If I create a focus keyword such as “Halloween popby idea” – will that include these variants as well? If not, how should I best handle these?
I’ve looked at Moz and Google, but I’m not clear how I should best handle these spelling variants in my focus keywords. Do you have any suggestions or articles to read? Thanks for any help / pointers / tips!
Tom Dupuis says
Hey Tara!
Short answer is yes – Google handles misspellings/spelling variations very well and as long as the search intent is the same (people expect to find the same info if they Google each keyword, and search results are similar) then it shouldn’t matter. But you should use the correct variation :)
Vijay says
@Tara
You can solve this problem by using these keyword variations in your post/page tactically popby in title,pop by in meta description and pop-by in the body of your post in natural and contextual way
Jackie says
Awesome! Very easy to understand.
Praveen Singh Negi says
Hi there can you please explain about the Meta Keywords and how to enter this?
Tom Dupuis says
You don’t, it doesn’t do anything.
Remi says
Hi Tom,
Amazing articles, thank you for that! Was reading: https://onlinemediamasters.com/yoast-wordpress-seo-settings/ which is a blast.
However i’m facing an issue, on both these post you speak about “never show instant results.” on google settings.
Not sure if this has changed since the post was written but i do not have that option and i only get 5/6 suggestion which arent’ great…
How can i get it?
Thanks
Remi
Tom Dupuis says
I think this changed… ay I have also had this problem many times and can never seem to find a solution.
Try this Chrome Extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/searchbar/fjefgkhmchopegjeicnblodnidbammed
abdulmuluq says
thanks for the info, please I will like to know if the stop word in Yoast focus keywords really matter
Tom Dupuis says
I would not remove stop words from URLs, it can make you permalinks read weird and unnatural. Yes, it matters and don’t do it!
sushil pandey says
Hi I am very curious about to know which plugin you use for “Table Of Contents”
Tom Dupuis says
No plugin needed :) here are instructions. I had my developer create background colors in CSS then I just created an HTML table of contents.
Donif says
its a great article which doesnt care about green bullet on yoast. you keep the bullet going red for sure.
this all change my mind about yoast. Someone always told me the easy ways is make the bullets become green. And you break it all dude, i know if i follow all green bullets yoast make my article harder to read and not interest.
i just know if GKP is for not organic search. Its mean something to me who always depend on GKP for my keyword research.
Thanks Dude. That was awesome article.
Tom Dupuis says
For sure Donif. You sum it up nicely… green bullets and Google Keyword Planner aren’t great for SEO. Glad you liked it.
Lee Sandwith says
Really nice article – thank you so much!
Tom Dupuis says
Of course!
Pooja Mishra says
I have been using Yoast SEO plugin but I never used to these extent .Thanks for sharing.
Tom Dupuis says
Glad to help :)
Jeff Campbell says
Hi
Great post (and others of yours as well). I’m feeling a little stuck with Yoast and keyword phases and how that fits into the post title and content and thus far I have not found a definitive answer.
Let’s say, as a random example that I Google the phrase “how to tie my shoes”. Let’s assume the competition is low and I decide to write a post on that keyword phrase.
I know Yoast doesn’t like stop words, but I believe I saw in one of your other posts to not exclude the stop words from the URL. But would I still enter that full phrase in the keyword phrase box in Yoast?
And for the post title, in formatting it for a reader it would make more sense to title it “how to tie your shoes”. But if I do that, does that affect my ability to rank?
Lastly if I just entered the keyword phase “tie shoes” in Yoast but my title remains “how to tie your shoes” I know Yoast’s SEO circle will stay red. Does that matter?
Thanks so much!
Tom Dupuis says
Hey Jeff!
My general rule is that if stop words actually play a role in the phrase (how to tie my shoes) then you should keep them. If they don’t then you can shorten the permalink and adjust the post title.
Switching it to “how to tie your shoes” is perfectly fine especially since Google is getting better and better and determining search intent.
About Yoast’s red bullet… no, it does not matter if some bullets are red. Yes you should generally use an exact match (or close to it) in the title, meta description, permalink, etc. As long as you’re writing about tieing shoes (and the content is strong and you’re mentioning shoes, tieing, etc in your content/images)… you’re good to go :)
Great question.
Amaan Aalim says
Hi Guyz,
Your articles were a crazy help in understanding SEO stuff.
I have few questions and I will be glad if you could help me out.
I made a list of keywords and they are around “33”, and I checked their volume individually and categorized them in volume. I did location specific targeting also. 10 out 33 have the traffic of 100-1K/month and rest have 10-100/month. I did competition analysis by Google keyword planner (low, medium & High).
Now, I am planning to take keywords from those 10 which have 100-1K traffic and specifically, low & medium competition keywords.
I am I doing the right thing??
Having keywords of 100-1K/monthly searches. I am I targeting right amount of volume??
Thanks
Tom Dupuis says
Hi Amaan,
The competition in Google Keyword Planner is for AdWords, not organic results. The competition for organic results should be examined manually by Googling each keyword to make sure you’re not competing with authority websites/content (eg. they have high DA (domain authority) and PA (page authority) in tools like Mozbar’s Chrome Extension). I generally try to just find long-tail keywords in Google Autocomplete that have weak content in the top results, but if you’re going to measure monthly searches Moz Keyword Explorer does a better job than Keyword Planner since you can also group keywords with “lexical similarity” (so you can account for variations).
General rule is the higher your domain authority, the more competitive keywords you can target. But still I think finding long-tail keywords with low competition (through manual research) is the way to go.
siful moni says
It’s amazing for beginner. I just loved the way you describe completely how to search out perfect keyword. I have read a few other posts where they only mentioned what tools are good for keyword research and they didn’t described with photo to do it efficiently.
Tom Dupuis says
All about those screenshots! Ya using the tools is the first step (not a fan of Google Keyword Planner) but learning how to use them and how to analyze competition in search results – is really what it’s all about. Glad you like the guide!
Sandeep Reddy says
Awesome, I’m really impressed with this blog.
Tom Dupuis says
Thanks Sandeep, I’ll be adding more tutorials soon – working on Google Anaytics now.
Bjorn says
One of the best Yoast how-to guides I’ve ever read! SUUUper helpful. Have this one bookmarked for later!
Thanks a lot!
Tom Dupuis says
Thanks Bjorn! That means a lot, glad you like it :)
winarno says
some tool like keyword planner work nicely to find keywords that i need..
Tom Dupuis says
Yes, not very good for SEO though since a) everyone uses it and b) it’s designed for AdWords and c) it does not show competition for organic results
Waqas Ahmad says
Your topic is very helpful.
Bloggers to follow says
Great Stuff guys!
Really helpful in finding the right focus keyword.
Keep it up.
bhaskar dhiman says
Just have 2 words LOVE YOU . great article , finally learned how to rank high with focus keywords . thanks . great and one of the best post on the internet.
Tom Dupuis says
Thank YOU for saying that!
Priyanshu Raj says
Hi, I am thankful to you for sharing this awesome article with this helpful knowledge. this is the blog that provide the lots of good information thanks for provide such a good information.
waseem khan says
you are genius your article are very interesting and full of information and knowledge,
your article is clear enough thanks for sharing meaningful information with us
bhaskar dhiman says
Simply awesome , thanks .
Raheem Tabet says
Thank You Very nice and helpfull Tutorials, Really, I can get traffic in mya blog with your tutorials. Thank You very much, Brother
Tom Dupuis says
Anytime :)
Amit says
Mr. Tom Dupuis everything you mention in this article is really helpful for everyone, this article contain almost everything about keyword research.
Tom Dupuis says
Almost everything??? :) if there’s anything I missed that is critical let me know!
James says
A very nice detailed article. I was using the default configuration for the past one year. This helps me alot.
Suraj says
Hii…Tom Thanks!! Really this post is helpfull for me now i am using yoast plugin and focus keywords
Tom Dupuis says
Awesome Suraj! Let me know if I can be of help.
Gaurav heera says
Hi,
Really an informative article to go through …. Your article is simple but effective about the matter SEO,
Your ways will really help the readers to for doing their work efficiently.
Thanks for the great article.
Tom Dupuis says
I’m all about efficiency and leaving out the fluff – glad you liked it :)
Jazz says
Fantastic article,
Can I ask how you pick Focus Keywords in a shop where all the products are similar, without repeating?
E.g. we sell TV stands (which is what people search for). All our products are TV stands, just different versions
Tom Dupuis says
What type of versions? Do they have mounts, are they for specific TV sizes, etc? The more specific you can get the better and you can probably get long-tail keyword ideas from Google Autocomplete.
Sami Ullah says
Does the readability matters in Yoast plugin?
Tom Dupuis says
I don’t pay attention to it – as long as you keep people engaged why should I care if my sentences are too short, long, etc?
Warsidi says
Many thanks,
I am a newbie in writing search engine optimized articles. I used to just compose articles when I thought I was good at certain topics. For articles in local languages, it still works good.
Now, I am trying to blog in English. Some of your guidance looks excellent. Some I have implemented but there are still very good ideas I pick up from this post.
Tom Dupuis says
Anytime! You can always hire an English proofreader on freelancer.com or upwork.com too! Glad you liked the tutorial :)
Sonali says
Hello Tom,
Great ways for finding out the best keywords as focusing good keyword will help to boost the rank of the blog,site or article on google …… Your ideas are simply great i loved the concept of autocomplete and long tail keyword..
Thanks for sharing such an informative article.
Tom Dupuis says
For sure Sonali, those are like the 2 things I focus on most when it comes to keyword research (and analyze competition in search results). Glad you liked it :)
ABDUL RAZIQUE says
Sir really you are a genius in seo market
Tom Dupuis says
Thanks Abdul :) I spend enough time doing it that I hope so!
Kedarsan says
I think your articles is full valuable. I try your technique
Josh says
First off Tom…Great article!
Some of the steps I have been doing, some not so much! So this is a big help! My big questions is: so all new material goes through the process described. However, with upwards of 7k pages on the website. Is there any automation methods to pull in keywords till each page can be reviewed an optimized over time? I know it wouldn’t be optimal but would buy time till the manual process can take place.
Tom Dupuis says
Hey Josh,
I wish there was an automation process but everything is generally done manually. Dividing it into chunks can make it easier… research all the keywords, set all the focus keywords, use Yoast’s bulk editor to write the SEO tites/meta descriptions, have your graphic designer create all the social media optimization graphics, etc. This is the closest I can think of to automating it.
Sonali says
Excellent work Tom,
Outstanding article, Seriously great tips to choose focused keywords in Yoast for ranking you site or blog, Your article will ti use for really help me and other bloggers for the better analysis of keyword search and its planning.
Thank you for such an informative article, keep sharing like this.
Tom Dupuis says
Glad you liked it Sonali :) it’s still one of the most useful SEO articles on my site I think. Will keep posting!
kaise kare hindi says
I have been using yoast seo plugin.Thanks for sharing.
sandeep says
Awesome!
Emmerey Rose says
Hi Tom!
Awesome post. Thanks for sharing. Bookmarked your article for future reference :) By the way, I was wondering do you think keyword density still matters? if yes, what’s the preferable percentage for your main keyword?
Tom Dupuis says
Keyword density is pretty outdated but I still try to use it a couple times, once in the beginning like Yoast says. But if it doesn’t sound natural I’ll completely forget it. I also try to use a couple synonyms if I remember – but Google will continue to get better and better and grouping related keywords. Wouldn’t spend a lot of time worrying about this though.
Harpreet Kumar says
Yoast seo plugin is helpful to do right on page seo. Almost 80 percent webmasters use it to improve ranking. Thanks for sharing it.
Tom Dupuis says
Anytime!
Adam says
i’m using “Yoast SEO Plugin” , the results are so fantastic .
Thanks for sharing :-)
Luqman Khan says
i am old user of yoast seo plugin and using since 3 months but i read this post and yes i learned something new about yoast which was completely new for me. Your article is 100% helpful for new yoast visitors. i will recommend.
Tom Dupuis says
Thanks Luqman. I’ve been using it for 3 years and it’s hard for me to keep up – they update the plugin like every week. Glad you learned something new.
Aasem Javed Syed says
Well researched post and you’ve got a fan in me!
Would appreciate if I didn’t have to come all the way down here to comment though, could have been before all the comments.
Tom Dupuis says
Thanks! That is a really good suggestion and will probably do that very soon.
HindIndia says
Really amazing article …. very nice …. Thanks for sharing this!! :) :)
Tom Dupuis says
You are welcome!! :0 :0
Anka says
Thank you for this article! Now I can see the light! I struggled to understand Yoast plugin and I used it quite blindly following their path. I was confused because they give green light when you put exactly the keyword while Google says variations are preferred.
I checked the competitions as you told with PA and DA but it seems there are no keywords for my website to reach the first page soon because it has DA=9 and PA=21. I have to wait it gets older…
PS Thank you for your SEO Workbook too!
Tom Dupuis says
Anytime Anka! That’s cool you’re looking through the SEO workbook… I started that months ago but need to get around to publishing it, like for real. There are no keywords you can get on the 1st page for? Surely there has to be some. If your PA/DA are low just start targeting the lowest competition phrases… gotta start somewhere :)
Kelly says
Hi Tom!
I want to say that I started reading your blog just few days ago and I already learnt so much.
So far my favorite post of yours is this one – https://onlinemediamasters.com/seo-friendly-wordpress-themes/
It’s because it helped me choose theme for my website. Mindfulness. I like how simple and interesting it is.
As for this post, I still have a little problem understanding how to choose more specific and not too competitive keywords.
I also have read about Ubersuggest here – http://www.keywordnotprovided.com/what-is-the-best-keyword-tool/ Have you heard about it?
I also think that localized keywords are best for small business. I hope I’m moving in the right direction.
Thank you for your time and hard work, Tom!
Tom Dupuis says
Hey Kelly, glad you’re digging the blog articles! I just migrated most of this content to my main Yoast tutorial (in the nav menu) which covers the new settings, AMP pages, plenty of other goodies. I have used Ubbersuggest but honestly don’t find much value in it. There’s no data on volume, competition, or anything else. I like Moz Keyword Explorer much better. Yes, localized keywords are usually the way to go for small businesses. Much less competition than national and I actually find local SEO to be much easier since a lot of the off-page process (mainly citations) is simply Google My Business –> Moz Local –> Whitespark. Feel free to reach out anytime if you have other questions!
Ashraf says
Initially I love Thank you for the explanation and clarifications task .. honest, I have benefited a lot from the article you need to understand a few things in order to seo words and words that are basic to the site and discovered the many things have benefited from it or try them as less appreciation thank you for your site submitted.
Sheli says
Thank for this useful article Tom Dupuis sir. This Focus keyword tutorial will definitely change my website traffic graph.
Tom Dupuis says
Keep me updated :)
Jay says
Hey brother! thanks for the great article.
I have one question, can we use multiple keywords using separator like comma in basic free version of yoast (Not the premium one).
Tom Dupuis says
Hey Jay,
The multiple keywords thing comes down to search intent. If people intend to find different information when they search both keywords, then create a new page for both. If search intent is the same then yes, you can use them in a separator but it’s more important to create a nice headline (since that will increase clickthrough rates) rather than listing keywords.
Luigi Florimo says
You are the Best :D I found everything I need all around your Web Site. Thank you!!!
Tom Dupuis says
Anytime!
Trina says
Great article. Thanks. Would love a pdf download of it for reference.
Tom Dupuis says
Great suggestion Trina. Haven’t officially released it yet but here’s a PDF of my SEO workbook which is the same workbook I use for my Adobe class. Includes everything from Yoast focus keywords to speed optimization, Search Console, and basically a “condensed version” (161 pages) of my best SEO guides.
Harpreet Kumar says
as am using Yost seo plugin from last 6 months as i got positive results in my WordPress blog. but i juat want to say thanks u sir for this deep information about Seo
Tom Dupuis says
Of course Harpreet, hope it gave you some ideas and good luck! Feel free to reach out anytime.
Dhiraj says
Hey Tom
You removed many misconceptions from my mind through your great article. I am a very newbie in blogging and seo stuffs. I think you can answer me this question, which is eating my head since i installed seo plugins in my wordpress – if we do keyword research and so many stuffs to find a suitable long tail phrase to use it in our blog title, why do we need a seo title? Is it just because of the meta description only? Forgive me if I am sounding lame.
Tom Dupuis says
No forgiveness needed! The blog title is the actual title that appears on the post. The SEO title is the blue link that appears in search results which is part of the blog post’s snippet. Often for blog posts, these are the exact same text. Many companies add their brand name at the end of the SEO title too (eg. Choosing Focus Keywords In Yoast’s WordPress SEO Plugin – Tom Dupuis) but should ONLY be done if it fits within the character limit. But yes, they are 2 different things. Let me know if that answers your question!
Dhiraj says
Thanx for the reply Tom. I am all convinced with your reply. Just having the feeling that – if we can phrase the blog title, keeping it within the suitable and permissible dimensions as prescribed by seo plugins, then perhaps bloggers like me don’t need to touch the seo title tab. Oh yeah, what the seo plugin gave us is the meta description tab which we can phrase for better seo, otherwise which is almost impossible without a plugin. Am i correct?
Tom Dupuis says
Yes sometimes you don’t need to touch the SEO title as long as the blog has a good headline. What’s your other other, can you give a custom meta description without a SEO plugin? I don’t believe so.
Erik Molenaar says
Finally a blog post with some understandable, practical information. Yoast posts a lot of articles on this subject, but they tend to be vague to buy a course from them. This post is easy and way better. Thanks!
Tom Dupuis says
Thanks Erik, I feel the same way. Even their paid ebook was filled with fluff in my opinion. Glad you liked!
Erik Molenaar says
Hi Tom. One more thing I am wondering about in my quest for choosing the ultimate focus keyword.
Measuring the competition by the amount of search results might not be the best clue, do you use any tools to quantify competition?
I played around with kwfinder.com a bit -> http://screencast.com/t/vkas7vKZH6. This tool calculates a difficulty score, based on the websites of a search term. I notice a high traffic search term may have the SAME difficulty as a low traffic search term. So why would you settle for the lower traffic keyword in such case?
Looking forward to your perspective! :-)
Tom Dupuis says
Great question Erik.
I use Moz Bar to research competition which is an extension for Chrome. Once installed you can Google a keyword and it will show each result’s PA (page authority) and DA (domain authority) plus a link analysis section to see all links pointing pages you see in search results. You can compare these to your own authority using OSE.
Why settle for lower traffic terms when a higher term has the same difficulty?
Because keyword tools calculate ‘difficulty’ differently and many only take into account a few metrics like volume, CPC, # of results, when they DON’T taken into account your own website’s DA + PA, plus other signals I listed in that keyword competition photo.
Long-tail keywords also have advantages over broad keywords (less traffic but more targeted visitors to your site = higher conversions, less bounces, lower difficulty). It’s the whole ‘go for low hanging fruit’ thing. If you run a large authority site like Newegg you may be able to compete for those broader terms, but if you haven’t gotten to that point… yet, the longer-tail phrases simply have better success rate.
You could go even more long-tail if your site is new and has low DA/PA, see here. Just depends on where you’re at :)
Ashton Kimberly says
Hello Tom,
Thank you for helpful article. I have one quick question regarding point number six.
In case I am targeting second keyword, where do I input it?
According to example, second keyword should be included in meta description. Am I correct?
Thanks!
Tom Dupuis says
Hi Ashton,
Meta description is a good place to include it if it sounds natural. There is no place to input a secondary keyword unless you buy Yoast SEO Premium. To be honest though, I don’t have it and I think the concept of targeting secondary keywords through a checklist isn’t going to help – I would just focus on your primary unless you’ve had good results and know what you’re doing, then test out the secondary keyword bit.
jasmine says
wow!
this is the most complete and accurate information regarding yoast seo plugin.
thank you so much for creating this topic for newbies like me.
I want to ask something.
i currently own a website where i post latest songs, so i always try to post the latest songs as soon as possible.
as you know every day new songs are released, so how can i research for a specific song which have just released?
because google tells what people search but it cant predict itself, right?
looking forward.
Jasmine
Tom Dupuis says
Hey Jasmine,
Yes, you are right. There may be other websites that show songs that were just released but Google only shows keywords based off previous searches, and you can look up trends… but it won’t predict songs people are about to release. I would see if there are other websites (or maybe newsletters) that do.
jasmine says
Thanks for the response.
Is it good practice to use all related keywords in video description while using only one focus?
i have seen many websites doing this trick, they write all the related keywords that people are going to type while searching that particular song.
In my case (video songs,mp3 songs), actual video/mp3 description is not that important, like people don’t (or very few) search for ‘producer’ ‘drum beater’ ‘sound engineer’ ‘studio’ etc that is available in video description.
Let suppose the keyword is ‘abc xyz song’ where ‘abc’ is song name and ‘xyz’ is movie name, so people will be searching for abc mp3 song, mp3 song abc, xyz songs, abc hd video songs, abc 320kbps songs and so on…
So what will you suggest in that particular scenario?
should i use the above mentioned example keywords in the description or use original video description?
Tom Dupuis says
Hi Jasmine,
I would avoid keyword stuffing and just use the natural, original video description. Stuffing keywords in the description looks spammy – so just writing everything naturally while focusing on 1 primary keyword (used in the file name, video title, maybe once in the video description, etc) is the best way to go. Definitely check out Youtube Autocomplete where you start typing a phrase and Youtube will fill in the blank with keyword suggestions.. it’s just like Google Autocomplete only for videos.
jasmine says
Thank you so much for your time and suggestion, i will definitely keep it in mind for future posts.
Stay blessed.
Alie Pinto says
Hi!! Tom Dupuis, I recently found your post. Its a great. I have one question for you. That is which other tools i used to find competitor’s Keywords. Can you please suggest me?
http://hubshout.com/ that you mention it not give me any result, that you shown in your video tutorial. Please give me guidance on it. :)
Tom Dupuis says
https://www.semrush.com/
Nikolay Stoyanov says
This is what they call “Evergreen article”. Awesome post Tom! I love the part about LSI keywords. Do you think that Google will change their approach as people start exploiting these keywords? I mean, it makes sense. LSI keywords lead to better content. Yet, I see it as something that can easily be taken advantage off. Then again, most of the things can when it comes to SEO.
Tom Dupuis says
Thanks Nikolay! I think Google will continue to improve their algo to give better results on LSI keywords but I haven’t (and don’t plan on) changing my approach. I target 1 primary keyword in most articles, in some articles I’ll also target a similar secondary keyword if I can craft my headline/SEO title/meta description to include it naturally. I don’t always use exact match keywords in my content body but include a few variations – not too actively though, I really just focus on content quality, spending time creating videos, etc.
So glad you like the “evergreen” article! Yoast did update their plugin so I probably need to make changes on content analysis section since it’s not a tab anymore.
imran says
amazing article … i really like it
Tom Dupuis says
Thank you Imran, glad you did.
mehul singh says
Hey Tom amazing article you can tell yoast seo very deeply in single article step by step its very useful for newbi.
thanks
Tom Dupuis says
Of course Mehul, glad you found it so useful!
Rob Burnell says
Hello Tom. I’ve just started developing my website and your articles are incredibly useful so thanks. You’ve given me confidence to proceed under an orange light!
I notice that Yoast has changed the layout of their SEO plugin, does this give rise to any significant changes in the tips you have recommended?
Tom Dupuis says
Hi Rob, thanks so much – I really appreciate that and I’m glad to hear that about the orange light!
Yes, they have made some updates and not sure what version you have, but no changes on the content optimization side. The “page analysis tab” is now built-in (instead of a tab) and the “on-page SEO indexibility check” in the settings can be left unchecked. I need to update my Ideal Yoast SEO Settings article and will know more when I update it.
Geekyard says
I use Google Search for finding right keywords for my blog posts and it works fine.
Ivan says
Hello,
I have a question regarding the focus keyword and the post title.
When I want to write a post I must put the keyword in the title exactly as it is, I cant separate the keyword.
For example if my keyword is “NEW CAR” my title has to be “I got a NEW CAR that is great” and not “I got a NEW eco friendly CAR”
The plugin wont recognize the keyword.
The same thing happens when i put the keyword in the post URL beause the words are separated with dashes (-)
I see that you have separated your keyword in the title in the video at the beginning of the post and the words are still bolded and recognized by the plugin
I was wondering if you could explain this to me?
Thanks
Tom Dupuis says
It’s best to use the exact keyword IF you can make the title sound natural (eg. The Ideal W3 Total Cache Settings). Other times it makes more sense to break your keyword up so the headline sounds nice (if my keyword is Yoast Focus Keywords a nice title would be How To Choose Focus Keywords In Yoast). A nice headline will also have a better CTR/click-through rate. So if an exact match with a nice title can be done, do it. If not, I would focus on writing a nice headline with partial matches instead of focusing on using an exact match.
Josh Cashman says
Awesome post, Tom. You’re stuff is super-helpful, and right to the point. I’m new to all of this, and overwhelmed with all of the information out there. This gives me a great start. I’ll be back in touch for more help in the future. For now, I’ve got my hands full implementing these suggestions.
Tom Dupuis says
Thanks Josh, appreciate you saying that. Oh yeah there’s tons of information out there but stick with creating a long-tail keyword list and getting your content development strategy down… that part is so important. And making sure your blog articles have long, descriptive/keyword-rich titles without going over the character limit :)
Sandra says
Thanks @Tom Dupuis
Thanks for guiding us, how to choose keywords in high competition.. This is really valuable post for me i have lean many thing. ..
Tom Dupuis says
Awesome Sandra, thanks for your feedback and let me know if you have any questions – I’m here to help.
harinder says
First of all i would like to thanks for this wonderful post Tom Dupuis :)
Currently i am using yoast SEO plugin, which i think is a very powerful tool for SEO. But i am having problem with focus keywords-when i about to write any post in my site i am unable to focus on that small keyword. If i uses a long tail keyword as FOCUS KEYWORDS then my density reduces in my post through which i am unable to get GREEN LIGHT in SEO.
I would be very thankful if you can suggest me some tips so that i can differentiate between a long tail keyword and focus keyword in SEO.
Tom Dupuis says
Hi Harinder,
The long-tail keyword is the focus keyword. The most important part of content optimization is writing/creating awesome content around that phrase – incorporating a video or doing whatever it takes to make your content the most useful piece out there. Keyword density helps but is overrated… as long as your content is awesome and your page title, seo title, url, and meta description all include the long-tail keyword (doesn’t have to be a completely exact match but should incorporate the phrase somehow… “crafting” your titles to read well AND incorporate your keyword is the key, just like I did in this very post… the title doesn’t have “yoast focus keywords” as an exact match but it’s still in there)… then you’re golden.
Kamil says
I have just stopped reading after “You are only allowed to set 1 focus keyword.”. What a lie. If you would focus only on 1 KW then your site would be punished. You has to focus on 1 MAIN Keyword, few secondary keywords and some Long Tails ;)
Tom Dupuis says
Yes, you can do that… up until about 5 days ago when a new update was released, the plugin only allowed you to set 1 focus keyword though – now the premium version comes with secondary keyword targeting options. It depends on your site too. If you have low domain authority (low content/links) then your main keyword probably should be long-tail since you’re probably not going to rank for competitive phrases. But yes you’re right in that you can target secondary keywords regardless by including it in your meta description, content, and “crafting” your titles. For many people “properly” targeting 1 keyword is a challenge in itself :)
Wattson says
Thanks for nice article. I am trying to select keyword for my client’s website proforbes but not getting the place to put on homepage. Could you please help me on this??
Thanks in advance
Tom Dupuis says
Hey Wattson,
It’s probably a widgetized homepage which means you won’t see a section to enter a focus keyword… so just follow the same content optimization tips as you would on any other page. You should be able to edit the homepage’s SEO titles/meta description under SEO –> Titles & Metas –> Homepage.
Let me know if that helps.
Wattson says
Thanks @Tom Dupuis
It works for title description only.
But Client is still saying he is not giving any keyword on page but automatically caching few keywords. Now he said he want to put their own keyword. Now i am confused what should i suggest him.
Thanks again for help…
Really nice helpful plugin you have. I always gives 10/10
Tom Dupuis says
Hey Wattson,
Yes, Yoast only allows you to optimize the homepage’s title/description only. Since the homepage is a blogroll you won’t be able to really optimize it besides that.
As a general rule though, I suggest your client not just focus on 1 keyword only. It’s a bad strategy. First research 1 relevant keyword for each category (Auto, Energy, Europe…) then optimize the category page’s title/description. Next, research 1 relevant keyword per blog article (current or existing) and make sure they have well-written, optimized content for each keyword. For “link building” you can start incorporating more internal linking. They should also make sure each category is populated with content – especially if they want that page to rank higher. You can’t rank higher for a keyword if you don’t have content about it.
I’m here to help with any other questions you have.
Emma says
Thank you for the great post! I was wondering – is it bad protocol to use multiple keyword phrases as Yoast’s Focus Keyword. E.G on a page I would enter a focus keyword as “business valuation services”. However my colleague inputs “business valuation services, business succession planning, transition planning”. Which one of us is right? Thanks!
Tom Dupuis says
Anytime Emma! Yes, those keywords should be targeted on different pages since they are very different from each other. So just set “Business Valuation Services” as the focus keyword then use Yoast’s green lights and the page analysis tab to optimize the content. Also don’t forget to use the social tab to upload custom Facebook/Twitter/Google+ graphics so if the content is shared on those social networks it formats properly – which is a very small ranking factor but is still good practice.
Let me know if that makes sense and if you need anything else!
Sanjeev Yadav says
Awesome Post wonderfully explained it help me alot thanks again
Tom Dupuis says
Anytime.
Sid says
Awesome post, thank you! I am focused about one thing. I see a lot of blog posts dedicated to focus keywords, and all the examples show multiple words, including yours, but you say to only use one keyword?
Tom Dupuis says
Yes, only target 1 keyword per page. However you can target multiple keywords (only if they’re similar, these are called LSI keywords) by incorporating it in the meta description/content. See the example:
Primary Keyword: SEO-Friendly WordPress Themes
Secondary Keyword: SEO-Optimized WordPress Themes
Meta Description: Browse over 25+ SEO-Friendly WordPress Themes which have mobile responsive and HTML5 design, all of which are SEO optimized via the Genesis Framework.
Khim says
This is wonderful. Now I know where are my mistakes. you explained it so beautiful way. I am glade I find your this on Google. Thanks again
Leonardo Dicaprio says
Brother Thank you so much for the article, I actually setup my yoast plugin after i read your article on yoast settings. However, I have a question that is bothering me for a while now. I upload a weekly show that comes on tv wwe raw, how do i chose the keyword for that show?
Whenever i put the same keyword i used before the yoast plugin point it as weekness and says i have used this keyword this many times before. Now I can not make to the google top pages where my competitors who use same plugin and upload same kind of shows make it to the 1st pages of google.
I am much worried can you please help me where am i making a mistake? Is using the same keyword for a weekly show is aweful? and if yes then what is your opinion what shall i do when i know users on internet search the show with the same one keyword again and again
Regards
Tom Dupuis says
You’re welcome Leonardo, glad you liked the tutorial!
For the keyword selection for your content (whether it be a page, post, or a video), it looks like it would be something with a date. For example, I see Google Autocomplete has “WWE SmackDown march 17 2015” in their system – so maybe target those types of keywords (the ones with dates)?
Yes, you should only target your keyword on 1 page (or a post/video) and NOT use multiple pieces of content to target the same keyword. If you’re looking to improve rankings for that keyword, instead of targeting it on multiple pages/posts, focus on improving your content and getting links through content marketing (sharing it on forums, other blogs, social media promotion, etc).
Hope that helps!
NITIN SHARMA says
Thanks
I recently started ghostwriting for a few blogs and I was provided with lists of keywords to use in the articles. Thankfully just ONE keyword per article!
It’s made me start to think about my own SEO efforts. That plugin looks easy and effective!
Dar says
I have been using yoast seo plugin from last 1 month and the results are terrific.Thanks for sharing ……..
Tom Dupuis says
You’re welcome Dar. Glad you’re seeing improvements – keep it up!
Jay says
This article is of great help, many thanks for your help.
I have one question, can we use multiple keyword using comma as separator in basic free version of yoast (not the premium one)?
Tom Dupuis says
You can only set 1 focus keyword in Yoast unless you buy the premium version. However you can easily optimize for both by crafting your SEO title, meta description, content body to include elements of both phrases.
Amit Sharma says
Very helpful article for learning about yoast, but i have questions regarding plugin. Is only one focus keyword sufficient for whole article SEO.
Tom Dupuis says
Content that focuses on just 1 phrase has a better chance of ranking for that phrase. Especially when you think about exact URL matches, exact title tag matches, etc. It adds up. You can target 2 keywords by using them both in the content/meta description and even sometimes in the title tag, but I found really focusing on just 1 phrase gets you the best results – especially when a keyword is competitive.
Arpit Roy says
Hi Tom,
I can’t thank you enough for the awesome post. I have always pondered over the ‘Good’, ‘Ok’ and ‘Poor’ ratings of the SEO plugin by Yoast. Most of the times I have tried to stuff keywords just to turn that orange to a green and I so regret it now ! This post has changed my perspective on how to use this plugin and I am sure that I will be using it more intelligently. You rock !
-Arpit Roy
Tom Dupuis says
Thanks Arpit! These are the kind of comments that keep me going. I’m so glad I was able to help you with your keyword research strategy and let me know if there’s anything else you need help with. I’m always looking for new topics to write about.
You rock too!
-Tom
Danielle says
Hi Tom,
Thanks for the article, it was very useful! I’m using the Yoast plugin in my WordPress blog and it’s sometimes hard to know if you should do everything that’s required to get a ‘green’ rating. Can you explain why its not usually a good idea to use the same keyword on multiple posts? I got this message from Yoast before but it didn’t explain why not.
Thanks,
Danielle
Tom Dupuis says
Hi Danielle,
Thanks for your feedback! To me, the main reason you don’t want to use the same keyword on multiple posts is because you are better off spending time on the content for 1 high performing post, rather than writing other posts with mediocre content. The rankings and traffic you will get out of the 1 high performing post will probably to be more than writing even 5 mediocre posts. Also, the mediocre posts might dilute the performance (rankings) of the higher performing post. Does that help?
Molly Dee says
First off, thanks for writing this post! Great to find so much useful info in one place.
I just wanted to add to this discussion, because I have a similar question.
Here’s my situation.
Yoast keeps telling me that I’ve used my focus keywords before. If I’m writing (what I believe to be) useful posts on various aspects of the same topic, how could it be bad to use that topic as the keyword numerous times?
I’m currently blogging twice a week to improve traffic. I have a reasonably long list of keywords with decent search volumes (though the volumes aren’t too high). Also worth noting: I’m in a niche industry with very specific terminology.
I suppose I’m wondering how one might build a successful blogging keyword strategy targeted at one audience without reusing keywords or simply using slight variations of the same keywords with essentially the same meanings.
I hope this question makes sense :)
Thanks!
Tom Dupuis says
I think the rule of thumb is… if you really want to rank for a keyword, spend time creating 1 amazing piece of content rather than creating a bunch of mediocre pieces of content. The variations are tricky to know when to create a new post for 2 similar phrases. If you Google each keyword and the search results are very different (plus you feel like you can add value for both topics), then you can create 2 posts. It’s hard to say without actually knowing the keywords but that is just the rule I follow.
I wouldn’t target the exact same phrase on multiple posts though because of my 1st point. It’s just redundant. I remember when I wanted to rank for “yoast seo plugin settings” and I spent a couple days really improving the content by taking screenshots of the settings, including a preconfigured zip file, etc. That post went from 5 visits/day to 100/day which basically sold me that yes, improving the content is worth the time and the way to go.