How to Increase Your Google Ranking With Search Engine Optimized (SEO) Keywords

Whether you’re creating a new website for your business or simply looking to revamp your current site to better reach your target audience, Search Engine Optimized (SEO) keywords are something you should absolutely be using. Effectively incorporating SEO keywords into your website copy is key (😉) to generating relevant traffic to your page. 

After all, the whole purpose of your website is to increase exposure to your business and attract warm leads to your pipeline. If your website isn’t attracting any leads—or if it’s attracting leads who aren’t such a great fit—there’s likely a problem with your SEO. Luckily, there are things you can do to increase the power of your SEO so your website attracts the leads you want for years to come.

What Are SEO Keywords?

Keywords and keyword phrases refer to the terms that search engine users type into a search bar on a search engine like Google. For example, someone who wants help creating a budget might type “how to create a budget” into the search bar. “How to create a budget” is their keyword phrase.

SEO keywords, therefore, are the words that phrases that online content creators incorporate into their content so they can be found by search engine users. Incorporating the right SEO keywords into your business website makes it easier for a potential client to locate your website and therefore the services you are offering.

Here’s the thing—you have to know your ideal clients well enough to know what keywords they might use when they’re looking for answers to their questions—and then use those keywords effectively!

Internet content is considered to be search engine optimized when the right keywords have been strategically incorporated. The right keywords help your website rank as high as possible in search results when users type those keywords into the search bar. This is vital because higher rankings for the right keywords lead to more traffic, which means more business. 

You may be wondering, how do keywords work for SEO?

Simply put, Google has a bunch of very smart algorithms whose entire purpose is to sort through as much content as quickly as possible. The algorithm then returns the best results to users. Although no one knows exactly how Google’s algorithms work, we do know that the algorithms look at multiple aspects of a web page to judge the quality and relevance of the content to rank the best matches for the user.

Keywords are one of the main tools used by the algorithms to match the user to their ideal result. 

While some companies choose to pay for their ads to be promoted at the top of the search engine results page (SERP), SEO is an effective marketing strategy for producing organic search results, so we’ll focus on that today.

Now that we have a good understanding of what SEO keywords are, follow the steps below to best implement target keywords into your website copy. 

1. Get Clear On Your Ideal Client

The best place to start is to determine exactly who your ideal clients are. This is essential for any business, but especially for financial services folks. Because finance content is abundant online, the only chance you have at ranking in search results is to develop content for a very specific audience (more on this in Step 2). You must know who your ideal client is and be able to describe their characteristics, problems, and questions before you attempt to incorporate SEO keywords into your website copy.

If you don’t already have a client avatar (or ideal client profile), create one before developing a list of keywords for your website copy. Here’s how to do so:

• Imagine your favorite client.

• If you could replicate that client, what characteristics would they have?

• What problems do you help them solve?

• What questions do they come to you with?

• Create a profile for a hypothetical client by answering the questions above, and voila! You know who your ideal client is and why you’re best suited to serve them.

Knowing your ideal client is important because their avatar, or profile, should drive every piece of content you create. The content you create for them will (hopefully) be returned to search engine users with similar characteristics and similar problems. If you don’t have a clear picture of your ideal client, you won’t be able to create an effective keyword strategy.

2. Create a List of Keywords

When coming up with your keywords, you should think about the problems and questions your ideal client is Googling in relation to your services. For example, imagine you specialize in helping people create a repayment strategy for their student loan debt. You’re an expert at this! Therefore, the keywords you use on your website should let people with student loan debt know that you can help them.

However, you don’t have to simply guess at the search times your audience is using to find solutions to their problems. You can perform keyword research to ensure you know exactly what the most common search terms for that problem are.

One way to do this is using a tool such as Ubersuggest, which allows you to view the search volume of a particular keyword. A tool like Ubersuggest also provides suggestions for similar keywords that may be more or less common than the keywords you originally thought of.

Something to consider when creating your list is the difference between short-tail keywords and long-tail keywords. While both types of keyword phrases are necessary, long-tail keywords can be used to target a more specific audience.

For example, a short-tail keyword such as “financial advisor” will have many more results and be difficult—if not impossible—to rank for. A long-tail keyword like “financial advisor for real estate professionals” will have much less competition. (Plus, this specific keyword will actually attract the right prospects to your site!) 

Additionally, if your business is location-based, consider adding a keyword phrase that includes the location of where you provide your services. 

3. Incorporate Keywords Into Headers and Subheaders

Once you’ve come up with the keywords that will attract the right prospects, it’s time to implement them throughout your website copy and content. First, there are two main headers that you should pay special attention to, H1 and H2 headers. It’s important to make sure that you are putting some form of your target keywords into these two types of headers on each page of your site.

Although incorporating your keywords throughout all your website copy is important, Google places added value on headers and subheaders when combing through possible search results for the best matches. This is because the headers and subheaders should tell a reader exactly what the webpage or section is about.

4. Avoid Keyword Stuffing

One of the biggest mistakes you can make when trying to add keywords to your content for SEO purposes is keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing is the practice of intentionally overusing keywords in your content to try to manipulate search engine rankings. While it may be tempting to use your keywords as much as possible to boost your ranking, it’s a move that’s considered both risky and unethical. 

Google’s algorithms are smart enough to locate pages that intentionally use keyword stuffing to mask low-quality content. If discovered, keyword stuffing can result in a drastic drop in your ranking as well as a ban from the Google search results list entirely. Remember, Google’s business model is to provide users with content that answers their questions or solves their problems. High-quality content provides real value to users and contains keywords that are naturally incorporated.

5. Write Naturally

Although the idea of writing the body of your copy may be a little intimidating, just remember to write naturally. The keywords you’ve chosen for your website copy should be relevant enough to your content that it is easy to naturally incorporate them. 

Novice SEO writers may be tempted to write their content and then go back in and add the target keywords after they’ve finished writing. This is something I would try to avoid, as it may cause you to inadvertently engage in keyword stuffing. Just make sure you’re staying on topic, and the keywords you’ve chosen to target should naturally occur in the text.

Additionally, it’s okay to use synonyms and plurals of your keywords when needed! Using synonyms and plurals makes your content more natural, and it’s more likely that your content will be returned to users who are using synonyms and plurals. Plus, Google’s algorithms are smart enough to recognize synonyms, plurals, and other variations of your keywords.

6. Maintain Your SEO Strategy

While it would be nice to create an optimized website once and be done, an SEO website is in fact a long-term commitment. 

As the needs of your potential clients change and progress over time, your website copy should be updated to continue being best-tailored to them.

Additionally, the more frequently a website is updated, the more likely it is to draw traffic and perform well in search engine results. Google recognizes that routinely-updated websites are of higher quality to its users. 

Or, Hire a Pro to Boost Your SEO

If you’ve read through this guide and you’re still feeling a little lost or intimidated, don’t worry. There is always the option to hire a professional SEO content writer for the job.

Although it is entirely possible to write optimized website copy on your own, it’s also okay to need a little help. An experienced copywriter can produce high-quality content to increase your SEO, establish your firm as an industry authority, and attract warm leads to your business.

At Gale Creative Agency, our copywriting services are specifically tailored for financial advisors, coaches, and fintech companies. The content we produce for you is entirely custom to your business—we match your brand’s voice and style, write about the topics that are relevant to your audience, and incorporate expertly-researched SEO keywords to boost your rankings so more ideal prospects can find you.

If you’d like to find out more about how we can help, send an email hillary@galecreativeagency.com or schedule a free 20-minute consultation call here.