Christian SEO Tips For Bloggers: How To Find The Best SEO Keywords For Your Content!

As Christian business owners, it can be a bit difficult to know what kind of content to create for our audience.

Because my blog is about serving Christian influencers, bloggers, and writers trying to build their businesses, it’s super important for me to know what it is that people need help with.

One way to know is to ask them and another way is to listen to what they say they need help with and then give it to them.

You’ve got to keep your ear to the ground so to speak, know what I mean?

So I was in one of my Facebook groups and I saw someone needed help with SEO.

The thing is SEO is such a huge topic that it would be hard to truly help someone just in a comment on Facebook so I created a post about it.

So the question I got on Facebook from Simone was this: “How do you find your keywords and how did they fit in with your already written book?”

Okay so I wrote a book and I did no keyword research on it but I did do market research on it.

There’s a difference between the two but in this post, I will only focus on keyword research.

 

What Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

First things first, let’s define what search engine optimization (SEO) is.

In its simplest terms, SEO is when you optimize content to show up in a search engine for a particular term. It’s an organic form of internet marketing as opposed to paid online marketing like PPC or pay per click. 

Of course, there is far more that goes into SEO than what I’m going to cover today.

Web design, on and off-page SEO, and technical SEO all play a role in how well your website will be received by search engines and your audience. But for today let’s just cover the basics.

The term that you want to show up for in a search engine would be a term that someone in your target audience would be searching for.

For example, as Christian bloggers, you might type into Google search, Christian Blog Post Ideas. 

Now if I, as a blogger who writes content for Christian bloggers, want to show up in Google for that term, I would need to optimize a blog post for that term like I did with the linked blog post above.

Optimizing a blog post for that term signals to Google that this type of content would be valuable to people searching for this term.

Make sense?

You might be wondering what content entails. Okay so let’s cover that briefly.

Types of content could include a blog post, a post on a social media platform, a pin on Pinterest, a picture, a video, etc.

And you might be wondering what some examples of search engines are.

That would include Google, Pinterest, Bing, Yahoo, MSN, etc.

So now let’s dive into what SEO keyword research is. 

 

What Is SEO Keyword Research?

So what is keyword research? 

Keyword research is when you use certain search engine optimization (SEO) tools to research what kinds of keywords your target audience is searching for.

Let’s go back to the previous example.

If I think I want to rank for Christian blog post ideas, I need to enter that term into a SEO keyword research tool to discover the following:

1) If anyone is actually searching for that term (just because I want to rank for a keyword or phrase doesn’t mean that someone is actually searching for it)

2) how many people are searching for it (also known as search volume)

3) how competitive that term is (if the people showing up for or ranking on the first page of Google are bloggers and websites with a million views per month and you are just starting out and only get 200 views per month it will be very difficult to show up on the first page of Google for that term).

I could write on this topic for another 3,000 words probably but hopefully, I’m explaining the basics to where some light bulbs are going off for you.

 

What Are Some SEO Keyword Research Tools I Can Use?

You can use the following SEO keyword research tools…some are free and some are not.

Ubersuggest (free & paid versions)

Google Keyword Planner (free)

Keysearch (paid)

SEMrush ( paid)

 

Want to come back to this post over and over? Then click here to pin it to one of your Pinterest boards for safe keeping :). 

Which SEO Keyword Research Tool Is My Favorite? 

I used to use the Google planner keyword tool but they just don’t offer much insight nor have that many features. 

So here is what I use instead.

Keysearch: This is my favorite keyword research tool. It is not free but it is worth every penny. It’s played a huge role in my marketing strategy. Keysearch offers so many SEO services and features.

It has a content assistant that you can use to help you optimize your blog posts to help you rank better in Google. 

It shows you keyword search volume and difficulty. It helps you get keyword ideas from your competitors.

It is great for helping you do keyword research for Youtube video (yes SEO matters for Youtube as well).

It shows you how many backlinks you might need to rank on the first page for a certain keyword (more on backlinks later).

And I’m barely scratching the surface of what this SEO company has to offer!

Keysearch really is the best way to find keywords for your blog, Youtube, Etsy, Amazon, Ebay, and so many other platforms. And it’s so affordable too!

How Do You Choose A Keyword For Your Blog Post?

But let me back up though because I’m making a lot of assumptions.

I’m assuming you know what a keyword is and what kind of keyword to even put in the search.

Sorry, I’m going to interrupt myself right now.

I think it’s fitting to address the other questions I was asked on Facebook:

Question: ” My main title for most of my books is God’s Daily Portion. How do I know which one of these is a keyword and what do I do with it”?

Okay, so yes girl how do you know what a keyword is, which keyword to use and what to do with it.

So I want to go over some SEO keyword basics and then in the next post, I will show you which tools I use for SEO.

A keyword or keyword phrase is a word or phrase that users search for in a search engine.

For instance “the” is not a keyword because no one searches for that (I wouldn’t think).

However, “what is the origin of the word the” could be a keyword phrase.  It really is that simple.

SEO or search engine optimization is when you use targeted keywords on your blog/site/etc. that enable search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing to be able to find your blog and list it in search engine results for that targeted keyword.

Now here are some important things to know about keywords.

Important Things To Know About Keywords 

First off and most bloggers and writers don’t realize this…

If you’re planning to use SEO as one of your main ways to drive traffic to your website, you should do the keyword research first as a way to come up with a title for your blog, books, etc.

In other words, ideally the process would work like this: you get an idea for a blog like ” Hey, I should start a blog about anxiety and how to use prayer to overcome it”.

Then you would go to Keysearch and input words like “anxiety prayer ” in the search bar.

Then Keysearch will tell you how many people are searching for those terms in Google (I believe that’s per month).

 Are SEO Keyword Tools Accurate Though?

Important Note: Most of the numbers, data and metrics found in keyword tools are wrong.

For instance, a keyword tool said that Christian SEO only gets 30 searches per month.

 

But according to Google Search Console, I get 105 impressions per month for this keyword.

And my average ranking position is 38. 

Put another way, Google Search Console is showing that one of my posts shows up in search for the keyword phrase Christian SEO and I’m in position 38 for that keyword…meaning I’m not on page one for this term and 105 people still see my listing in Google search.

Imagine how many impressions I would get if I was on page one? Far more than 105.

See what I mean?

If only 30 searches are done on the keyword phrase Christian SEO why would I get 105 impressions (meaning 105 people seeing my listing) at the 38th position?

It doesn’t seem to add up unless I’m missing something. 

 

 

But back to our regularly scheduled program.

If you type in those terms and it turns out only 30 people are searching for that keyword then it could mean that’s not a viable idea for your blog.

But then again maybe it is…Please see the important note above. 

But if 3,000 people are searching for it then you’re on to something

Is The Keyword You’re Targeting For Your Blog Post Searched For On Google?

 Now in regards to the specific question I was asked on Facebook…

God’s Daily Portion (that’s the name of Simone’s blog who asked the question about SEO) may not be something that people search for in Google but that’s okay.

But if her blog is about studying God’s word then that is something that people are searching for.

And it would be a great (and very competitive) keyword to try and rank for. 

 

 

Does Having Your Target Keyword In Your Blog Name Help You Rank?

If you could get your blog name/URL to contain your keyword, ranking in Google CAN be so much easier.

For instance, let’s say you searched for “anxiety and prayer” in Keysearch and there were 13,000 searches a month on Google. Yes! Jackpot, right?

So then you could go and buy your domain name with those keywords in it.

You decide to name your blog www.overcomeanxietywithprayer.com.

You search for it and it’s available so you buy it. Score!

So now when people search for how to overcome anxiety with prayer, if you produce high-quality content and promote your posts, you could one day be on the first page of Google for the keywords “anxiety prayer”.

See how that works. Of course, more goes into than that but that’s a good starting point.

There’s no guarantee that having the keywords in your blog’s name will help you rank more in Google but I have seen many times where it has. 

Overall What Is The Best Way To Choose Your Keywords? 

So how should Simone choose her keywords? 

So even though your blog is called Gods Daily Portion, the overall theme of the blog is probably about reading and studying the scriptures, right?

So then you would write down keywords dealing with studying the Bible and then search for them using Keysearch or one of the other tools I will tell you about (in my next post lest this one get too long).

Then you would pick a keyword to focus on for each blog post… one that fits your blog post’s topic the best.

Where Are The Best Places To Put Your Keywords?

You put your target keywords in places like the blog’s URL, blog post title, the first paragraph of your blog post, alt text of your photos, etc.

The Yoast WordPress plugin is a great one to use for SEO purposes because it will tell you if your post is well optimized or not.

Also, keep in mind that you can choose a focus keyword for your blog or choose a new keyword for every post you write. Yoast is a good free tool to use.

I have gotten better results however using Keysearch’s content assistant but this is not a free option. 

 

Tip Of The Search Engine Optimization Iceberg

This post is truly just the tip of the SEO iceberg as it were.

There’s so much to learn when it comes to search engine optimization and digital marketing overall.

There’s keyword research, search engine marketing, on-page SEO, off-page SEO, backlinking and more. 

It’s enough to make your head spin but I don’t want you to get overwhelmed.

It’s a learning process that you should take one step at a time.

 

Two Amazing Books That Will Help You Understand SEO

I’ll tell you about 2 SEO resources that totally made about 200 light bulbs go off for me.

They are 2 SEO books by Debbie Gartner.

One is Easy On-Page SEO and the other one is Easy Backlinks For SEO

Debbie gets over 300,000 page views a month from Google. I believe it’s higher than that even.

I read the On-Page SEO book about a month ago in one day.

It explained SEO in a way that I had never really heard and her easy way of teaching just made optimizing my blog posts for search so easy to understand.

I started reading it and I went to one of my Christian blogger’s Facebook groups and told them to go get this book even though it did not benefit me in any way financially.

I just wanted them to get it because it was truly that helpful and I want high-quality Jesus content all over the internet!

It taught me how to properly optimize my blog posts for organic search engine traffic.

So I went back and SEOed all of my content on my other blog Healthy As You Can and I’m doing the same with Christian Blogging Academy. 

As I went back through all of my posts and saw how I had optimized them in the past, I saw many mistakes that were actually hurting my ranking.

Luckily with SEO, you get another chance to change things and correct your mistakes!

If you want to start out on the right foot with optimizing your blog content for free Google search traffic, then you will want to get this book.

Click here to learn more about the amazing book Easy On-Page SEO For Beginners & Intermediates

 

And optimizing your blog post is just one part of showing up in Google search.

You also need to build backlinks in the right way.

What is a backlink?

A backlink is when another website links back to your blog.

It is a signal to Google that your blog has good quality content.

But you need to build backlinks in a natural way so that you don’t get penalized by Google.

Debbie explains all of that in her back Easy Backlinks For SEO.

She gives you 31 ways to build backlinks that are Google approved & without begging other bloggers for links.

She shows you where to get the backlinks and how you should build them.

Build them in the wrong way and get penalized (ie not showing up in search) by Google forever.

Trust me, I know as this happened to me with a blog in a former life.

You can get her Easy Backlinks book below:

Click Here To Learn More About Easy Backlinks

 

My advice? Get the bundle.

That’s what I did because doing the on-page SEO without backlink building will not help you much and vice versa.

It’s cheaper to just get them both together which is what I decided to do and I do not regret it at all.

 

Click Here To Get Easy-On Page SEO & Easy Backlinks

 

Do you have any SEO questions? Maybe I could help!

Okay, I’m going to stop there on how to choose and use keywords.

I could literally (okay perhaps figuratively) write forever but I hope that at least helps get you started on SEO and keywords.

I will continue to explain about keyword tools in the next post, which I will post later on today, promise!

And if you have a blogging/writing business question please either comment below or email me and if I know the answer I will answer it for you right here on my blog.

Have you grabbed a copy of my new book yet? No… and why not? I wouldn’t have written it if it wouldn’t help you :).

Need help staying on track with your Christian blogging strategy?

Click here to download my free Christian Business Resources so you never get lost in your journey.

More Christian Blogging Academy Posts About SEO

The Top 3 Keyword Research Tools I Use For My Christian Blog

3 Easy Ways To Increase Your Traffic From Pinterest To Your Christian Blog

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