As a publisher who’s always on the lookout for good content to develop, it is important to know what a good focus keyphrase is.
In this article, you’ll understand the meaning of the term and how it differs from keywords. Also, you’ll find out how to choose a good focus set of words to optimize for.
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Why Choosing A Good Focus Keyphrase Is Necessary
As a good SEO, it is important to optimize your content for more than one keyword or keyphrase. This enhances your chances of being discovered on the Search Engine via multiple channels (keyphrases) for the same content.
So, let’s assume that after your keyword research, you now have about 4 keyphrases to optimize for. Which would you choose as your main keyphrase?
The essence of this article is to enlighten you on which keyphrase should be the main one and why.
Choosing a good focus keyphrase would definitely improve your chances of getting higher organic traffic.
Before going further, let’s understand the meaning of the term.
Keyphrase Meaning
Keyphrase is a set of words or a phrase that is carefully researched for the purpose of SEO.
Ideally, keyphrases are a minimum of 2 words.
Keyphrase vs Keyword difference
Although they are often used interchangeably, there is a difference between Keyphrase and keywords in SEO.
Keyphrase is a set of three words or more or a broad phrase that people search for on the search engine while Keywords are words that are more specific or pointed.
To understand better, let’s consider some examples
| Examples of Keyphrases | Examples of Keywords |
|---|---|
| How to write a good blog post | Blog posts |
| what is a good content strategy | Content Strategies |
| Why WordPress is free | WordPress |
| how to make money with Ezoic | Ezoic |
| Types of Content Management Systems | Content Management System |
Focus Keyphrase Meaning
In a situation when you have more than one keyphrase for a particular article, you need to choose one as the main.
A focus keyphrase is a keyphrase that gets the most SEO priority out of all researched keyphrases for a particular article.
Usually, the focus keyphrase must be inserted in:
- H1
- First paragraph
- Subheadings
- Meta description
- Image Alt description
- Conclusion
Other (non-focus) keyphrases you are optimizing for do not have to be in all these places highlighted above, especially H1.
In some rare cases, you have more than one keyphrase in your title, if not that’s ok too.
What makes a good Focus keyphrase?
To get the best out of your keyword research exercise, you need to strategically choose a good focus keyphrase.
A good main keyphrase must have a good blend of high search volume, low SEO difficulty, and must align with most parts of your content.
Let’s shed more light on these.
Volume
During your keyword research, search volume is important. Similarly, the search volume of your keyphrase is a thing to consider when choosing your focus keyphrase.
However, keep in mind that the keyphrase with the highest search volume may not necessarily be the best main keyphase for your article.
Let’s consider other factors.
(Keep in mind that keyword research tools are not accurate. Some keywords with zero search volume may have over 1,000 search traffic.)
Related: Find out why Keyword Research Is Overrated
Keyphrase SEO difficulty
Keyphrase SEO difficulty is how easy it is for your article to show up as a top 10 solution on the Search Engine for the query.
It’ll be a complete waste of time and effort if your focus keyphrase can hardly get on the top 10 search engine results.
In essence, a good focus keyphrase must have a low SEO difficulty, (say 0 to 25).
Which Keyphrase aligns with your Entire Content most?
Some of your keyphrases may only resonate with just a small section of your content – maybe just one subheading.
On the other hand, other keyphrases may revolve around your entire content. The latter is a better choice.
What is the ideal length of a keyphrase?
The ideal length of a keyphrase should be 4 or 5 words (excluding prepositions and conjunctions).
A very long keyphrase may not be a good SEO practice because the longer or more specific a keyphrase is, the lower the search volume.
Final Thought
Pointedly, a good focus keyphrase must have a good search volume, low SEO difficulty, and must align with your entire content.
So when you have multiple keyphrases, these factors must be considered to choose which of them must be the focus keyphrase.
Learn how to add focus keyphrase in WordPress.
