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.
Frequently Asked Questions
🚦 How do you find good focus keywords?
The best keywords have a balance between monthly searches, low competition, and high profitability. You can usually only pick two. For example, if a highly profitable keyword doesn't have a lot of searches but has low competition, go for it.
🚦 How do I learn how competitive a keyword is?
Google the keyword and look at the top results. Do they do a good job at covering the topic? Is it from an authority website? Do they have high domain + page authority (you can check this in MozBar's Chrome Extension)? If yes, that keyword may be too competitive.
🚦 What are the best keyword research tools?
My top 4 keyword research tools are Google Autocomplete, MozBar Chrome extension (for checking competition using each search result's domain and page authority), HubShout WebGrader (for finding competitor keywords), and Keywords Everywhere to learn a keyword's monthly searches and estimated competition.
🚦 How do I learn how many searches a keyword has?
Keywords Everywhere and Ahrefs tell you how many monthly searches a keyword has.
🚦 Should I target broad or specific (long-tail) keywords?
I recommended targeting specific, long-tail keywords 95% of the time. They are much less competitive and bring a more targeted visitor to your site. New websites, or those having trouble with SEO, should always start by targeting specific, long-tail keywords.
🚦 How do I target multiple keywords (synonyms)?
Find 2 keywords that are very similar. These can be synonyms or even date keywords that include the current year if it's a time-sensitive topic. Use the primary keyword in your page title, URL, SEO title, meta description, and a couple times in the content. The secondary keyword should be sprinkled in these areas as a partial match - it does not have to be an exact match!
🚦 What about Google Keyword Planner?
Do not use Google Keyword Planner to research SEO keywords. It's designed specifically for AdWords and the competition is also reflected in Adwords, not organic search results.
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
Sorry I do not agree with you about Google ads. Google ads is a really good tool to discover new keywords. Once you paid couple of dollars for its ad service, you will be able to access full detail of keyword list with the graph plus the graph of mobile,table and computer devices for a while. If you choose keywords between 10-100 bar of course it would not work. You must do analyze and research to target. You just created this post to appear on Google and people reach out to you like the other popular seo platforms tools. I… Read more »
Nowhere in your comment have you convinced me that Google Keyword Planner is a good SEO tool.
as I said you created this post to sell your service like a marketer hawaiian guy.
Nah.
Hi Tom
I am begining my aff site and you’ve pointed a LOT of useful information.
Also you are the first guy who really likes to help, lots of other guys end their posts with a “buy my aff course for $500”
Thanks a lot :)
Hey Mario,
Yeah they usually want something in return don’t they? Glad you found it helpful and let me know if you have any specific questions. No affiliate course here!
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.
Ubersuggest.com by Neil Patel is another great keyword search tool. It’s FREE too!
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.
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.
Of course Vimlaxh! Glad you got something out of it. That fill in the blank autocomplete trick is money.
Didn’t this page used to be just one easy to follow video? Why did you switch to this convoluted format?
You’re right Devin, I tried to include new tools but it got to be too much. I added the video back.
Great SEO tips. Thanks for share
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.
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.
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.
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… Read more »
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… Read more »
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!
great insight , i like the idea to stay away from keywords around which relevant and enough info provided by high sites .
Very helpful article.
Thanks!
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
Thanks, man. I just reconfigure my yoast using your settings
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
Redirect them to the URL of the correct category.
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?
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.”
it’s very useful article to learn about Yoast
thanks you
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
Sent you an email :)
StudioPress, SiteGround, Cloudflare, MaxCDN. It’s a great combination.
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…
It’s all about that long-tail. You are welcome!
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
I think so, not sure about Moz Keyword Explorer but Google Autocomplete and MozBar work with Spanish keywords. You’re welcome :)
Yoast Plugin is the best and I’m using for now and works out to be very efficient.
Nice Articles
WOW, WOW, WOW!!!
Impressive, thanks for the info, I watched it all through the night.
Thank you!
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.
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 :-)
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
Great post wonderfully explained. it is very helpful to me. Thank you so much
good
my question is why we use focus keyword in yoast plugin..if my post have 300 keywords.. focus keyword ignore my full post ?
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.
thanks Tom
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… Read more »
I have been searching for a long time to get this article, today I got this effective resources, thanks
I have got a more necessary idea from your website. thanks for this
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.
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.
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
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!
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.
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.
Really shared valuable Article bro, i am waiting for this tips from many days. Now following all this tips & getting rank. Thanks for sharing
Let me know how it goes! All about that keyword research, good content and CTRs ;)
Such a amazing article. With deeply explained. i love to read even more from you. Thank you for sharing this tips.
Let me know if you have article suggestions, need to pump out the videos too.
ahha!! perfect article,
Thanks :-)
Great info i using same as above you write well..have ranked my page …
thanks for this awesome idea
This is a very necessary idea about a website promoting. thanks a lot for this great resources
Anytime, anytime :0
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… Read more »
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 :)
@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
Awesome! Very easy to understand.
Hi there can you please explain about the Meta Keywords and how to enter this?
You don’t, it doesn’t do anything.
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
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
thanks for the info, please I will like to know if the stop word in Yoast focus keywords really matter
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!
Hi I am very curious about to know which plugin you use for “Table Of Contents”
No plugin needed :) here are instructions. I had my developer create background colors in CSS then I just created an HTML table of contents.
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.
For sure Donif. You sum it up nicely… green bullets and Google Keyword Planner aren’t great for SEO. Glad you liked it.
Really nice article – thank you so much!
Of course!
I have been using Yoast SEO plugin but I never used to these extent .Thanks for sharing.
Glad to help :)
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… Read more »
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… Read more »
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.… Read more »
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… Read more »
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.
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!
Awesome, I’m really impressed with this blog.
Thanks Sandeep, I’ll be adding more tutorials soon – working on Google Anaytics now.
One of the best Yoast how-to guides I’ve ever read! SUUUper helpful. Have this one bookmarked for later!
Thanks a lot!
Thanks Bjorn! That means a lot, glad you like it :)
some tool like keyword planner work nicely to find keywords that i need..
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
Your topic is very helpful.
Great Stuff guys!
Really helpful in finding the right focus keyword.
Keep it up.
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.
Thank YOU for saying that!
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.
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
Simply awesome , thanks .
Thank You Very nice and helpfull Tutorials, Really, I can get traffic in mya blog with your tutorials. Thank You very much, Brother
Anytime :)
Mr. Tom Dupuis everything you mention in this article is really helpful for everyone, this article contain almost everything about keyword research.
Almost everything??? :) if there’s anything I missed that is critical let me know!
A very nice detailed article. I was using the default configuration for the past one year. This helps me alot.
Hii…Tom Thanks!! Really this post is helpfull for me now i am using yoast plugin and focus keywords
Awesome Suraj! Let me know if I can be of help.
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.
I’m all about efficiency and leaving out the fluff – glad you liked it :)
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
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.
Does the readability matters in Yoast plugin?
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?
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.
Anytime! You can always hire an English proofreader on freelancer.com or upwork.com too! Glad you liked the tutorial :)
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.
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 :)
Sir really you are a genius in seo market
Thanks Abdul :) I spend enough time doing it that I hope so!
I think your articles is full valuable. I try your technique
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.
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.
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.
Glad you liked it Sonali :) it’s still one of the most useful SEO articles on my site I think. Will keep posting!
I have been using yoast seo plugin.Thanks for sharing.
Awesome!
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?
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.
Yoast seo plugin is helpful to do right on page seo. Almost 80 percent webmasters use it to improve ranking. Thanks for sharing it.
Anytime!
i’m using “Yoast SEO Plugin” , the results are so fantastic .
Thanks for sharing :-)
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.
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.
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.
Thanks! That is a really good suggestion and will probably do that very soon.
Really amazing article …. very nice …. Thanks for sharing this!! :) :)
You are welcome!! :0 :0
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!
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 :)
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… Read more »
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… Read more »
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.
Thank for this useful article Tom Dupuis sir. This Focus keyword tutorial will definitely change my website traffic graph.
Keep me updated :)
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).
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.
You are the Best :D I found everything I need all around your Web Site. Thank you!!!
Anytime!
Great article. Thanks. Would love a pdf download of it for reference.
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.
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
Of course Harpreet, hope it gave you some ideas and good luck! Feel free to reach out anytime.
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.
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!
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?
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.
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!
Thanks Erik, I feel the same way. Even their paid ebook was filled with fluff in my opinion. Glad you liked!
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!… Read more »
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… Read more »
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!
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.
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
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.
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… Read more »
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.
Thank you so much for your time and suggestion, i will definitely keep it in mind for future posts.
Stay blessed.
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. :)
https://www.semrush.com/
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.
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… Read more »
amazing article … i really like it
Thank you Imran, glad you did.