How to Use Keyword Phrases for Revenue Share Articles

By Demand Studios Review Editorial

Posted On 9/14/10:

Part of the purpose of Demand Studios Review is to offer tips to Demand Studios writers so they can get the most out of their time with DS.

Today’s Demand Studios Review tip will help you rank higher and earn more off your revenue share articles by taking a look at keywords: What they are, why they’re important and how to best utilize them to get Google love and bigger Demand Studios ad share payouts.

What Are Keywords? Why Are They Important?

Keywords are words or phrases that people type into search engines to find relevant content on the Web.

Search engines are concerned with keyword phrases appearing in articles because it tells them what your article is about and allows them to offer up the most relevant content for each individual search.

For example, let’s say you are interested in planting a maple tree in Michigan. You might search for:

• “Plant maple tree” 
• “Plant maple tree in Michigan” 
• “Planting maple trees” 
• “Planting maple trees in Michigan” 
• “Michigan maple trees” 
• “Maple tree info” 
• “Maple tree planting information” 

And so on.

All of these are keyword phrases.

Keywords can also be a single word (technically a keyword) such as “tree,” but a single keyword is very difficult to rank for no matter how well optimized the article may be for the search engines.

While there are lots of people searching for “tree” the chances of ranking well for that word are extremely low because there is also a lot of competition.

Even “planting tree” will be tough to rank for, but easier than just “tree.”  It’s best to stick to two, three and four word keyword phrases.

While two word phrases can be tricky to rank for you have the benefit of publishing on eHow, which ranks well in general.

Google takes a number of factors into consideration when ranking sites, including the age of the website and the number of total backlinks that site has (links from other sites pointing back to the site on which the article is published).

Fortunately for Demand Studios writers, eHow does well in both of these categories. That means two word phrases are in play, but don’t discount the power of longer keyword phrases as well.

How To Choose Keywords

 Your keyword phrases should be relevant to your article. If they don’t match the topic, your readers will quickly realize they have landed on an irrelevant page and hit the back button. That means no Google ad love for you.

You also want to avoid writing to too many keyword phrases.

For one thing, you risk confusing Google and may wind up not ranking for anything.

For another thing, your article is likely to sound clunky and read as if a keyword happy robot wrote it instead of a human being, which will again cause your reader to go elsewhere.

It is best to focus on optimizing for two or three keyword phrases.

You also want to make sure you’re writing to keywords that are actually being searched for in the search engines.

The best way to see if a keyword is being searched for is to use the Google Keyword Tool.

Simply type in your keywords and see if they get a good number of global monthly searches. Aim for keywords which are searched for at least 1,000 times a month or so. And remember, if a keyword phrase has two million global monthly searches, the chances are that lots of people have noticed that same thing and are competing for that phrase. That means ranking for it will be tough.

Another great resource is Traffic Travis, which will tell you how difficult it will be to rank for the phrases you’ve selected. Best of all, Traffic Travis is free. There is a pro version which only costs a few bucks and has even more features, should you want to step it up and get even more information, but the free version will work just fine.

Click here to download Traffic Travis.

How Often To Use Your Keywords

Each keyword phrase should account for approximately 1-4% of the article’s overall content. So if you’re writing a 400 word article, each keyword phrase should appear at least 4 times and no more than 16 times.

 You’re probably better off erring closer to 4 times to avoid your article sounding unnatural.

How To Use Your Keywords

Don’t just stick your keyword phrases in randomly, wherever they sort of make sense. This will cause your article to read poorly and will likely trigger a rewrite from the copy editor reviewing your piece. Place them in where they make the most sense and where they fit the flow of the article.

Make sure to include them in your overview as search engines pay most attention to the first 50 words of your article. After that, sprinkle them in throughout the rest of your article in as natural a way as possible.

A good trick is to write the article first and then insert the keyword phrases after. That way you’re not so concerned with these phrases during the important crafting phase of the writing process.

You might also try to include a keyword phrase or two in the picture description, but only if it’s not forced.

Usually you want to use keyword phrases in the title of the article, but since the title has already been determined by Demand Studios you won’t have this option. This is another reason to use keyword phrases that suit your article topic, as that way the keyword phrase is likely to already show up, in one form or another, in your title.

Once you’ve gone through and added your keyword phrases, review the article and make sure it reads naturally and fluidly. If it does, you’re all set to go. Hit submit, wait for your approval and then sit back and watch the revenue share money start adding up.

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