Key Words are the words people type into search engines when looking for articles on topics which interest them.

Blogging platforms give you a chance to list some key words before you post. Writers should also use identifying key words in their headlines and within their article.

Search engines analyze everything going on everywhere on the web and present lists of what they find relating to those words. Key Words introduce writer and reader.

People wanting to know how to bake bread will type “how to bake bread” into their search engine. Often the science of key words is just that simple.

The problem is that there are probably thousands of people worldwide writing about baking bread. All of them want search engines to notice their web site first. The trick, therefore, is to find the words which make your article stand out. 

There are people who will help you with this for a fee. They will run a “key word search” and give you a list of how many people looked for “how to bake bread” as opposed to “baking bread” or “bread recipes.” Often, the results are unimpressive because they are obvious. Yep, your key words are “how to bake bread.”

Key words were once critical. Search engines concentrated on them. Today search formulas measure other things — like incoming and outgoing links. But don’t worry about all of this. There are strategies you can use that will work without stressing about search engine algorithms. Here are a few:

• Use the words that are obviously important to your story in the headline and also in the first paragraph or two.
• Craft your headline using popular formulas. (We’ll have a separate post about this). For now, we’ll share that headlines with numbers draw readers (7 Secrets for Baking the Perfect Loaf of Bread). Also headlines with “How to” are effective (How to Bake the Perfect Loaf of Bread).
• Use common sense. Write for your readers — not the search engines. For a while some bloggers repeated the “key words” so often that their writing became dull and search engines caught on and adjusted their strategies.
• Use photographs or video (both of which attract attention) and make sure that you use the key words in the description and alternate text boxes which present themselves when you load the picture.
• Be authentic. Don’t use words that are popular but have nothing to do with your story. This trick has been used unscrupulously to lure people into finding their web site. It is dishonest. Search engines watch for this. It is one reason they changed their search tactics to measure more than key words. (When we posted this article, WordPress suggested we use “baking bread” as key words, but this article is not about baking bread!)
• Write about things people want to read about. People will find you faster than you may think!

Our experience: About three weeks ago, 2×2 started this series of articles on Social Media Ministry. If you are reading this, you found us! So have 600 others. When we plugged the words “social media ministry” into a popular search engine last week, 2×2 ranked #1. We paid for no analytics. We just used the strategies listed above.

A word of warning to churches: Your key words should be what the people you want to reach are looking for. Use key words that describe your ministry, not just the name of your church. If the name of your church is Trinity, that word will not work as a key word. It has too many meanings and there are many churches named Trinity. Also, you will miss out on traffic that is looking for topics and not just your church. (Trinity Smithtown Feeds Homeless, Trinity Smithtown Youth Walk for MS, Day Care in Smithtown, might be more effective.) You can pay to have someone figure this out, but just get started. Keep your current audience — and most important — your target audience in mind. You’ll do just fine.