Keyword research and bullet style format

[seoanalytics]

Hi,

1. If my keyword is SEO consultant when I write a paragraphs with with my secondary related keywords do I always need to have my primary keyword used in the secondary keywords. "SEO consultant prices", "SEO consultant training" etc.. or can I just surround my primary keyword with the words with the words "prices" and "training" in a sentence ?

2. In a bullet style format if my title is SEO consultant, do the bullet need to include the secondary keyword with the primary keyword in it or not like that

SEO consultant

• SEO consultant training* SEO consultant prices

or can it be like that

SEO consultant

• Training* Prices

Thank you,

[WebElaine]

I don't think there is a hard and fast rule here yet, but there are some red flags that pop up in my mind with both of your questions. Both have to do with over-optimizing, or keyword stuffing, which Google warns people about.

In both cases, you need to do whatever sounds most natural to your visitors. If you keep repeating a core keyword throughout your other keywords, you will begin to sound spammy and repetitive to humans. That also appears unnatural to spiders and they may flag your page or even your site for being too stuffed. On the other hand, it's not a problem to repeat a keyword in another keyword occasionally, when it sounds natural. Sprinkle it in. It's more of an art than a science.

In your lists, also do whatever is best for the human users of the website. If you have a long page with a ton of services and you are risking repeating yourself - such as,

SEO consultant

• Training

• Prices

Local SEO services

• Training

• Prices

then I would say it is useful to the user to have your keyword included, like "Local SEO training" and "Local SEO prices", for a couple of reasons. One, as an average visitor skims down the page, he can very easily see what these prices and training apply to. Two, if you have any visitors who may be using assistive technology, like a screen reader, they often bring up menus of say all the headings or all the lists on your site. If you have repeated content then they have no context - but including the context in the document itself makes it easy for them to skim through and not have to listen to every word of your document, but just pull out the headings or list items and understand quickly.

So again there is no hard and fast rule in either case. Always think about all your potential website visitors - with a hug emphasis on people and a much smaller emphasis on spiders - and by improving the user experience you will also be helping improve accessibility and SEO.

[seoanalytics]

I know it needs to stay as natural as possible but sometimes it is hard if you stick with the original keyword as a secondary keyword and one that a relevancy of 5. Not to sounds spammy is it better to use a keyword that might have relevancy of 3 instead of 5 but that doesn't have the original keyword in it ?

Thank you also for the clarification about the bullet points.

[WebElaine]

I'm not sure what you mean by relevancy of 5 vs. 3, but it sounds like you're trying to measure too quantitatively.

[seoanalytics]

It is based on moz keyword tool. 5 most relevant related keyword, 1 least relevant.

[WebElaine]

Ah, I guess I'd visualized those bubbles more as percentages. I suppose you could lean toward diversifying by using "less relevant" scored keywords if you're really struggling with what to write. It's still an art rather than a science. You should weigh monthly volume as well as keyword relevancy, since super-relevant keywords may still get little to no searches in your area. You also should consider searcher intent - a super-relevant keyword may get someone to your page but if the search intent was say research a product rather than buy a product, that relevant keyword is actually not that relevant to your content.

[KaneJamison]

Based upon your initial question which mentioned the following format:

SEO consultant

• SEO consultant Training

• SEO consultant Prices

I would agree with RedSweater that your example is over-optimized. You'll be fine with a list of text like this in a page that contains other content on it.

SEO consultant

• Training

• Prices

Local SEO services

• Training

• Prices

[seoanalytics]

Thank you for clarifying about the over optimisation.