How Do Keyword Rankings Work For Business?

What Are Keyword Rankings?

Keyword ranking is a key part of search engine optimization (SEO), which is how you promote your business website on search engines.

Search engine keyword ranking includes how difficult it is to rank for a certain keyword and how many people search for that keyword each month, or the average search volume.

A keyword doesn't have to be just one word, but can be an entire phrase, too. Ranking for a keyword means how well a specific webpage ranks for a certain keyword.

How Does Keyword Ranking Work?

When you write and post content onto your website, search engines will scan it and then serve it up to search queries it thinks fit best. For example, if you write a blog post about finding the best gym, then your post will probably have the words “best gym” and “finding a gym” and “finding the best gym” in it.

When someone does a search on Google for “How to find the best gym,” your blog post will show up in the results. How high up your blog post appears in the search results depends upon several factors, one of which is your keyword ranking. In general, the higher your keyword ranking, the sooner a person sees your blog post as a search result.

How Do I Optimize Keywords?

Pick a Topic

To optimize your keywords, you need to write with a specific topic or search query in mind. If you're writing about finding the best gym, then make sure to include that phrase and similar phrases and synonyms within your blog post.

Perform keyword research using keyword research tools like Google Search Console, which can also be a keyword rank tracker and help you parse keyword data. Words with a higher search volume may be hard to rank for, so make sure your keyword research includes longer strings of words that you can focus on (rather than going up against enterprise businesses).

Place Keywords in Key Areas

After the SEO tool gives you insight regarding the proper words to choose, it's best to let the words come naturally and place the keywords where it makes sense. Definitely place your keywords in the page title (also called Heading 1 or H1) and meta title, as well as the meta description of your blog post.

Then also place keywords, keyword variations, and related words in headings throughout the article, using the headings to break up different sections. Again, use rank-tracking tools to see how the page is performing and if you are drawing customers in with a particular ranked keyword.

Let the Writing Flow Naturally

Then, as you write the blog post, keep the keywords and keyword variations in mind and have a good splattering of keywords across your article. You don't want to make it too dense so that the language seems unnatural or so that it's obvious you are just trying to repeat your keywords over and over. Google can detect artificial attempts to boost keyword ranking like this and will actually demote your blog post in search results. If you see a dip in your keyword tracking software, this might be the reason why.

One Main Keyword Per Page

Another thing to look out for is to not try to rank for more than one main keyword per webpage. For example, if your blog post is about finding the best gym, then don't also write about “how to use everyday household items as fitness equipment” in the same blog post; make a new page for that topic instead.

You may also want to make a new page based on how customers are interacting with the original page. Google Analytics can help perform site audits if customers abandon the original page and you need to draw them back via a new page.

What Are “SERPs”?

When a user makes an organic search query then the result page in return is known as the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Google's response to your query is SERP. Most of the time, Google shows paid ads at the top of any search result and then the list of organic results.

The search engine will show your webpage as the result of a search made by the user only if your content has high keyword rankings, high page authority, and other factors. Larger companies may be favored because of their higher enterprise keyword ranking.

Keyword Ranking Definition vs Search Queries

You might think that they both are the same in an SEO strategy to promote your content, but this is not the case. A search query is what's entered by the user into the search engine. On the other hand, a keyword is the extraction of the search query word from different websites.

In other words, a search query is what you type into Google to look something up, and a keyword is a match for that query found on various webpages.

Get the SEO Services You Need

Clarity's SEO experts can help you get started, whether you're a startup or an established business wanting to make the most of enterprise SEO tools. Get a free discovery session with our experts to find the right solution for your business, no strings attached. You can gain insight from the session and then take the information anywhere. There's no risk, so why not give it a try?

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Autumn Spriggle is a Content Writer at Clarity Ventures who stays up to date on the latest trends in eCommerce, software development, and related topics to provide readers with the latest and greatest. She strives to help people like you realize the full potential for their business.