What is a focus keyphrase? – Yoast SEO for WordPress training

This video is all about the focus keyphrase.

I'll explain what it isand why it's important.

In addition, I will tell you more about the factors you should take intoaccount when choosing a focus keyphrase.

And finally I'll explain the difference betweenhead keyphrases and long tail keyphrases.

So, what is a focus keyphrase? The focus keyphrase is the phraseyou'd like your post to rank for.

If people search for this phrase in Google, you want your post or page to pop up.

In the past, we used to call this the focuskeyword.

But, since the internet grew bigger, and more and more content is out there, it's getting harder to rank on just one word.

This doesn't mean a focus keyphrasecan't consist of just one word, it means it usually consistsof multiple words.

Let's consider an example.

Imagine you have a dog training schoolin Bakersfield, California.

You might think: I'd like to rankfor the focus keyword [dogs].

But ranking for this focus keywordwill be very hard, or even impossible, as it's a highly competitive term.

Lots of websites will be tryingto rank for this term.

In this case, it's more realistic to try to rank for, for instance, [dog-friendly puppy training in Bakersfield].

As you can see, this is a focus keyphrase, consisting of multiple words.

It will give youa much higher chance of ranking, because there will be fewer websitestrying to rank for this phrase.

Also, people searching for this phrase, are more likely to be searchingfor the service you offer.

So, why is the focus keyphrase important? When you're optimizing for a specific term, you want people to actually searchfor that keyphrase.

Choosing the right focus keyphraseis important because otherwise, you will do all that hard work for nothing.

However, it can be really hardto choose the right focus keyphrase.

While choosing a focus keyphrase, you should consider two things: your audience and your competition.

So, first of all, you should consider your audience: what are they looking for, what are they searching for? Which words are they using? You should get inside the headsof your audience and try to figure this out.

You can use tools like Google Trendsto analyze which words people are using.

With Google Trends, you can compare keyphrases to see which one people searchfor most often.

For example, if we compare[puppy training] with [dog training], it's clear that people searchfor [dog training] more often.

So, for the dog training schoolin Bakersfield, it could be a good idea to optimizefor [dog training] instead of [puppy training].

But you should also considerthe competition.

If you're focusing on keyphrasesthat are rather competitive, then you will have a hard time ranking.

You can imagine that it could be difficultto rank for a keyphrase like [dog] or even [dog training] because you are definitely notthe only one trying to rank for that term.

If you want to analyze your competition, the best thing you can dois google your keyphrase.

Check the first two pagesof the search results and see whether the post you want to writewould stand out between those results.

How big are the companiesthat show up here? Does your site have enough authorityto stand out between them? Is your post able to rankbetween those search results? Finally, it's very importantto use a focus keyphrase only once.

If you have optimized a postfor a specific focus keyphrase, you want that post to be foundwhen people are searching for that phrase.

If you have optimized two postsfor the exact same focus keyphrase, Google won't know which one to showin the search results, and they will both rank lower.

If you optimize two postsfor the same keyphrase, you're basically competing with yourself -rather than other websites.

That's why you should usea focus keyphrase only once.

Of course, you can have multiple articlesabout similar topics, but try to optimize themfor different aspects of one term.

So, if you're writing about puppy training, you can have one article optimizedfor [the benefits of puppy training], one for [what to expectfrom a puppy training class], and another one for [when do you takeyour puppy to training classes].

Now, let's gointo the different kinds of keyphrases.

Some keyphrases are rather generic, others are more specific.

We distinguish three kinds of keyphrases: head keyphrases, mid tail keyphrases, and long tail keyphrases.

Head keyphrases arethe most competitive keyphrases.

They are very generic, and a lot of people search for them.

They're also the hardest to rank for.

A head keyphrase could be[puppy training].

Mid tail keyphrases are more specific, derived from the head keyphrasethey tie into.

For this particular head keyphrase, mid tail keyphrases could be somethinglike [dog-friendly puppy training] or [the benefits of puppy training].

Long tail keyphrases are very specificand they have very little search traffic.

An example of a long tail keyphrase could be [what to expect from a dog-friendlypuppy training in Bakersfield].

But although long tail keyphrasesget less search traffic, they usually have a higherconversion value, as they focus moreon a specific product or topic.

Whether you should goafter long tail keyphrases or after head terms largely dependson your competition.

If the competition in your niche is high, you'll have a hard timeranking on competitive head terms and you should probably focuson longer tail keyphrases.

If you have little competition, you might be able to rank for head terms.

So, what are the key takeawaysfor this lesson? We've seen that the focus keyphrase isthe word that you are optimizing your text for.

Choosing your focus keyphrasedepends on the search volume, the words your audience is using, and your competition.

It's also important to think aboutwhether you want to focus on head, mid tail or long tail keyphrases.

In the next video, we'll explainhow the Yoast SEO plugin can help you with optimizing your textfor the focus keyphrase you've chosen.

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