How to Write a Keyword-optimized Article

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By eHow Contributing Writer

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There are three things to think about when writing articles. The first is the most important: make it interesting with valuable content. Readers don't care about keywords. They care about information. Write your articles first for the reader and second for the search engine.

That said, keep the search engine in mind. The other two things to think about are related to keywords: don't use too many and don't use too few. When it comes to keywords in your articles, you should think about it as like sugar in a cake. Too much and it won't taste right; not enough and that's not good either.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Step 1

If you've done the proper keyword research, then you know which keywords to focus on for you articles. Write them with the foremost thought to provide excellent content and valuable information for your readers.
Step 2

Make sure you have your specific keyword in the title. If the keyword is "real estate investing," make sure your title says "real estate investing" and not just "real estate."
Step 3

You'll also want to be sure that your specific keyword is in the first sentence of your article. Just once is enough.
Step 4

Put the keyword in twice (including the first sentence) within the first 100 words of the article. Then leave it alone.
Step 5

Some people say your article should be optimized with a keyword density of 2 to 5 percent. That's not necessary. Just don't put your keyword into every sentence. Sprinkle it throughout your article in natural ways. If a sentence reads well with your keyword, then include it, but don't just include the keyword so you can get it in one more time. That's considered spamming and search engines don't like it.
Step 6

Put the keyword in twice more in the last 100 words of your article.

Tips & Warnings

You want your article keyword heavy at the beginning and the end and light in the middle. Heavy means twice in 100 words. Any more than that is too heavy.
Sprinkle your keyword lightly throughout the middle of the article. Whether it is a 500 word article or a 2,000 word article, you want it to sound natural to your readers. If you read it and it doesn't sound natural, you've got too many keywords.
If it appears to search engines that your article contains spam, then it will likely not appear search results even if 1,000 publishers pick it up. Don't include keywords just to impress the search engines.