{"id":146139,"date":"2022-08-30T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=146139"},"modified":"2023-07-03T10:22:07","modified_gmt":"2023-07-03T15:22:07","slug":"keywords-for-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keywords-for-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Target Keywords With Blog Posts (& Get More Search Traffic)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
You\u2019ve probably heard a lot about the importance of targeting keywords with your blog posts.<\/div>\n\n\n\n

But why should you do that? And how exactly <\/em>do you target keywords?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll learn how in this post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why target keywords?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If your content ranks high on Google<\/a>, you can get traffic consistently over time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, we published this post on advanced Google search operators<\/a> in 2018. To this date, we\u2019re still getting tons of organic traffic: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Line<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But you can\u2019t just publish any random post and expect search traffic to come your way. To get consistent organic traffic, you need to write about topics that people are searching for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why you should be targeting keywords with your blog posts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to target keywords with blog posts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You now know why it\u2019s important to target keywords. But how exactly <\/em>do you \u201ctarget\u201d them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Find keyword ideas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The process begins by figuring out what keywords you want to target. We\u2019re not just looking for any random keywords\u2014we\u2019re looking for relevant keywords that people are searching for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The easiest way to do this is to use a keyword tool. Keyword tools are databases of words and phrases with their SEO metrics<\/a>. They show you a list of ideas based on the seed keyword idea you\u2019ve entered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can use any keyword research tool. Many of them are free<\/a>. However, most of the free keyword tools are limited in some way\u2014they may have a small database, have poor or no filters, lack SEO metrics, and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That can make it difficult to make good decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we recommend that you use a \u201cprofessional\u201d keyword tool like Ahrefs\u2019 Keywords Explorer<\/a>. Here\u2019s how to use the tool to find keyword ideas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Enter one (or a few) relevant seed keywords, e.g., try plugging keywords like \u201ccoffee,\u201d \u201clatte,\u201d \u201cfrench press,\u201d etc., if you have a coffee blog<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Go to the Matching terms <\/strong>report<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Switch the tab to Questions<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \"Matching<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    You\u2019ll see that there are over 300,000 potential keywords you could target. That\u2019s too many\u2014and most of them are probably too competitive. If you\u2019re just starting out, it\u2019s better to target keywords that are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n