You will notice “N/A” listed for keyword difficulty for the keyword “online building permit software”. A result of N/A simply means there isn’t enough data to show an exact number, but the keyword is still valuable because it is being searched 20 times per month.
With this list, I will define primary and secondary keywords, then begin to create my content outline.
Creating a content outline using keywords
A key step in writing search-friendly content is to create a content outline, which you can do by using the list of keywords we found in the previous step.
You will use these keywords in the body copy, headings, and subheadings to help guide the direction of your content. Try and incorporate these keywords wherever possible, but make sure the copy still makes sense and is saying what you need it to say.
It’s important to identify primary and secondary keywords before creating your outline too. You should be looking at relevancy, difficulty, and volume when selecting these keywords.
In my example, I would choose “building inspection software” as the primary keyword for a couple of reasons:
- This query has ample volume compared to the other queries
- This query is considered easy to rank for, which is important because it should translate into more traffic, sooner.
The remaining keywords would be considered secondary. These keywords are good to use in subheadings and content throughout the post.
On-Page SEO Checklist and Off-Page SEO Best Practices
There’s plenty of information online about on- and off-page SEO best practices but I can sum it up for you in simple terms.
Your primary keyword should be used…
- on page: 1x in the heading in a H1 tag
- on page: 2-3x in the body content in a paragraph tag
- off page: 1x in the meta title tag
- off page: 1x in the meta description tag
- off page: 1x in the page url
Your secondary keywords should be used…
- on page: 1-2x in sub headings in H2 or H3 tags
- on page: 2-3x in the body content in a paragraph tag
- off page: 1x in the title tag
- off page: 1x in page url
Following these best practices for on- and off-page keywords will help you rank without risking Google flagging your content as being stuffed with keywords. Basically, you don’t want to overuse keywords at the expense of good content.
At this point, you are ready to start writing content, taking SEO copywriting checklist items into account. Using the headings and subheadings, you should be able to write content that flows and makes sense to your audience.
Submitting to Google Search Console Post Publishing
The final step after publishing your search-friendly article is to submit it to Google Search Console. If you don’t have an account, it is something you should create.