Search engine optimisation (SEO)

Keywords help search engines and users understand what your page is about. They should reflect the words and questions customers use when looking for your products or services.

Keyword strategy should support your wider content and search marketing plans. It should consider search intent, long-tail queries, plain English, local terms and related phrases, not just individual keywords.

Choosing keywords

Choosing keywords is the most important step in building a search engine-friendly site.

As well as generic terms, think about long-tail searches: more specific phrases and questions linked to your product or service. These searches may have lower volume, but they can attract users who are closer to taking action. For example, if you sell tropical fish in Northern Ireland, 'tropical aquariums Belfast' may be more useful than 'fish'.

Keyword research

To find potential keywords, brainstorm the words and questions customers might use.

There are several tools available to assist in the process, such as:

• Google's AdWords Keyword Planner - a free tool (though registration for AdWords is required) for helping you discover relevant keyword suggestions and insights
• Moz Keyword Explorer - a user-friendly platform for discovering keywords and analysing competition

Also review related searches and common questions to understand user intent.

Optimising keyword usage

Avoid focusing on keyword density. Instead, use keywords naturally in page titles, headings, introductory copy, image alt text, metadata and internal links where they help users understand the page. Review competitor pages to identify useful topics and content gaps, not to copy wording.

Plain English works best

Use real sentences and plain English rather than repeating keywords. Do not sacrifice the quality of your page to fit in more keywords. Search engines may treat keyword stuffing as a spam tactic. See search engine optimisation dos and don'ts.

Keep up to date on how your keywords are performing

In addition to doing the obvious searches on keywords to see where your site comes in the listings, most search engines allow sites to check their status in their indexes. You can use these to monitor your search position to see how changes affect your search rank, and to determine what keywords to add in future.

If you are also using pay-per-click advertising, you can use this to test and refine your keyword strategy by working out what has and hasn't worked in your advertising campaigns.

Search engines often return results as users type using predictive software - this may affect your keyword strategy. It is important to keep up to date with how search engines are indexing and how any changes to functionality may impact your search ranking and keyword strategy.