How to Use Keywords for SEO: The Complete Beginner’s Guide

In this guide, I’ll cover in detail how to make the best use of keywords in three steps:

Finding good keywords: keywords that are rankable and bring value to your site.
Using keywords in content and meta tags: how to use the target keyword to structure and write content that will satisfy readers and send relevance signals to search engines.
Tracking keywords: monitoring your (and your competitors’) performance.

There’s really a lot you can do with just a single keyword, so at the end of the article, you’ll find a few advanced SEO tips.

Once you know how to find one good keyword, you will be able to create an entire list of keywords.

Once you have your target keyword, you can include it in relevant places in your on-page content, including:

Key elements of search intent (content type, format, and angle).
URL slug.
Title and H1.
Meta description.
Subheadings (H2 – H6).
Main content.
Anchor text for links.

And, just so we’re on the same page, the target keyword is the topic of the content and the main keyword you’ll be optimizing for and tracking later on.

Use the target keyword to determine the search intent

Search intent is the reason behind the search. Understanding it tells you what users are looking for and what you need to deliver in your content.

To identify search intent, look at the top-ranking results for your target keyword on Google and identify the three Cs of search intent:

Content type – What is the dominating type of content? Is it a blog post, product page, video, or something else? If you’ve done that during the keyword research phase (highly recommended), only two elements to go.
Content format – Some common formats include how-to guides, list posts, reviews, comparisons, etc.
Content angle – The unique selling point of the top-ranking points, e.g., “best,” “cheapest,” “for beginners,” etc. Provides insight into what searchers value in a particular search.

For example, most top-ranking pages for “avocado seed” are blog posts serving as how-to guides for planting the seed. The use of easy and simple angles indicates that searchers are beginners looking for straightforward advice.

Use the target keyword in the URL slug

A URL slug is the part of the URL that identifies a specific page on a website in a form readable by both users and search engines.

If you look at the URL of the page you’re on, that will be the last part, “how-to-use-keywords-seo”.

https://ahrefs.com/blog/how-to-use-keywords-seo

Google says to use words that are relevant to your content inside page URLs (source). Usually, the easiest way to do that is to set your target keyword in the slug part of the URL.

Use the target keyword in the title and match it with the H1 tag

A title tag is a bit of HTML code used to specify the title of a webpage.

<title>How to Use Keywords for SEO: A-Z Guide For Beginners</title>

The H1 tag is an HTML heading that’s most commonly used to mark up a web page title.

<h1>How to Use Keywords for SEO: A-Z Guide For Beginners</h1>

Both are very important to Google and searchers. Since they both indicate what the page is about, you can just match them, like I did in this article.

Titles help Google understand the context of a page. What’s more, even a slight improvement to your title can improve your rankings.

Higher ranking just by changing the title of a page. — My colleague Chris Haines made a small change in the tile and jumped 3 positions.

Google advises focusing on creating good titles, which should be “unique to the page, clear and concise, and accurately describe the contents of the page” (source). It’s hard to think of a better way to accurately describe the contents other than using the target keyword.

If it makes sense for the title, aim for an exact match of the keyword. But if you need to insert a preposition or break the phrase, this won’t make Google think your page is less relevant. Google understands close variations of the keyword really well, so there’s no need to stuff in similar keywords, misspellings, etc.

To illustrate, my old article on how to see keywords that Google Analytics won’t show ranks #1 for many variations of the phrase in the title.

Article header - example of using target keyword in the title.

Keyword variations of the target keyword.

Use the keyword in meta description

However, don’t write meta descriptions solely for Google; Google rewrites them more than half of the time (study) and doesn’t use them for ranking purposes. Instead, focus on crafting meta descriptions for searchers.

These descriptions appear in the SERPs, where users can read them. If your description is relevant and compelling, it can increase the likelihood of users clicking on your link.

Including your target keyword in the meta description is usually natural. For instance, consider the description of the article mentioned earlier. Incorporating the keyword into the sentences simply provides a comprehensive way to describe the issue.

Use the target keyword to find secondary keywords

Secondary keywords are any keywords closely related to the primary keyword that you’re targeting with your page.

You can find them through your primary keyword and use them as subheadings (H2 to H6 tags) and talking points throughout the content. Here’s how.

Go to Keywords Explorer and plug in your target keyword. From there, head on to the Related terms report and toggle between:

Also rank for: keywords that the top 10 ranking pages also rank for.
Also talk about: keywords frequently mention by top-ranking articles.

Also rank for and also talk about reports in Ahrefs.

Now, to know how to use these keywords in your text, just manually look at the top ranking pages and see how and where they cover the keywords.

For example, looking at one of the top articles for “digital marketing”, we can see right away that some of the most important aspects are the definition, a template and importance. You can use the free Ahrefs SEO Toolbar to break down the structure of any page instantly.

Content structure displayed in Ahrefs SEO Toolbar.

Another place you can look for inspiration is the People Also Ask Box in the SERPs. Use it to find words and subtopics that may be worth adding to the article.

Pro tip

Optimizing an existing article?

Use the Content Gap tool to find subtopics you may be missing. The tool shows keywords that your competitors’ pages rank for, and your page doesn’t.

Accessing content gap via a shortcut in Keywords Explorer.

In Content Gap, click on Targets and add the page you’re optimizing in the last field.

Content gap tool in Ahrefs Site Explorer.

Use primary and secondary keywords in the main content

To rank high on search engines, it’s important to include your keywords in your text. Even though Google is good at understanding similar words and variations, it still helps to use the specific keywords people might search for. Google explains that in their short guide to how search works:

The most basic signal that information is relevant is when content contains the same keywords as your search query. For example, with webpages, if those keywords appear on the page, or if they appear in the headings or body of the text, the information might be more relevant.

When writing, it’s important to incorporate keywords naturally. Start your content with the most relevant information that people are likely to search for. This ensures that key points are immediately visible to your readers and search engines.

Close variations of the target keyword included naturally in the intro.

If you have a secondary keyword that’s less critical but still relevant, consider giving it a dedicated section. This approach allows you to explore the topic in detail, rather than briefly mentioning it at the end of your content.

Secondary keywords included in subheadings.

However, avoid overemphasizing the frequency of your keywords. Effective SEO involves more than just repeating keywords. If SEO were simply about keyword density, it would be straightforward, but such strategies don’t lead to long-term success and can make your content feel spammy.

For instance, if ‘content strategy’ is a central theme of your discussion and you mention it only once, Google might perceive your content as incomplete. On the other hand, stuffing your article with the term ‘content strategy’ more than necessary won’t outperform your competitors and could potentially lead to your site being flagged as spam.

Use the target keyword in link anchor text and/or surrounding text

The anchor text or link text is the clickable text of an HTML hyperlink.

Google uses anchors to understand the page’s context. There even seems to be a consensus that anchor text is a ranking factor, although, according to our study, it is likely a weak one.

In situations like these, it’s just best to stick with Google’s advice:

Good anchor text is descriptive, reasonably concise, and relevant to the page that it’s on and to the page it links to. It provides context for the link, and sets the expectation for your readers. (…)

Remember to give context to your links: the words before and after links matter, so pay attention to the sentence as a whole.

So use the target keyword in the anchor text and or surrounding text but keep it natural — add only on pages that are related to the page you’re linking to and use text that will help the readers understand where and why you’re linking.