Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last ten years, you probably know that the foundation of any Search Engine Optimization plan involves choosing the right keywords. Keywords are critical to an internet marketing strategy, it’s true. But there is a difference between being mindful of keywords and becoming keyword obsessed. Keyword rankings can help you track your SEO performance, but if you fail to venture out beyond that, your entire campaign will likely suffer.
March of the Google Penguin
Last year, Google’s Penguin update sent shockwaves through the SERPs. Prior to Penguin, keyword stuffing was a viable SEO strategy, but the algorithm update began to penalize sites with content that went overboard with keywords. According to Google’s content guidelines:
“Keyword stuffing” refers to the practice of loading a webpage with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate a site’s ranking in Google search results. Often these keywords appear in a list or group, or out of context (not as natural prose). Filling pages with keywords or numbers results in a negative user experience, and can harm your site’s ranking. Focus on creating useful, information-rich content that uses keywords appropriately and in context.
SEO professionals began to advise clients to utilize a lower keyword density on their pages. It was suddenly ok to write for the actual humans who would be reading the content, and thanks to Penguin, keywords could be expanded into similar phrases and synonyms. The focus of SEO began to shift form keywords to quality content.
Or did it?
Even though Penguin gave people permission to step out of the bonds of focusing on 5 – 10 important keywords, many people are still obsessed with keywords. Rankings are what SEO professionals use to determine how well a campaign is going, and businesses are constantly Googling their favorite keyword phrases to see where the rank. It seems that keyword obsession is harder to shake than anyone originally thought.
Keyword Obsession Stifles Content Creation
In the wake of Penguin, the new battle cry of the SEO world became, “Create killer content that people will want to share!” However, they often turn out content that isn’t so interesting because they are still hyper-focused on keyword rankings. Creating quality, sharable content is a process. It involves really understanding your audience and knowing what people want to see. It takes time, energy, research, and money. Quality content creation is truly the right SEO strategy, but if you’re only focused on specific keywords, your content becomes repetitive and predicable.
Nobody wants to read the same type of blog post or watch similar videos over and over again. People ignore information that isn’t useful or innovative – and it’s unwise to underestimate your audience. Users get it. They know if you’re truly out to help them or if you’re engaging in self-serving tactics. They’ll tune you out and move on to a competitor who is more interesting.
Focus on Users, Not Keywords
The only way to create sharable content is to stop trying to jam keywords into everything you do. If you create useful information for the benefit of your audience, they’ll share it. Anymore, it’s just natural for users to click “Like” or “Share” at the end of a post or video that they enjoyed. People do it without thinking. But they have to be engaged in what they are viewing before they’ll share just anything. And a great way to ruin a blog post or a video is to make it plainly obvious that you’re obsessed with a few specific keywords. Take the focus off the keywords and put your energy into serving your customer. You may be surprised at what ends up happening to your traffic and your rankings.