If you’re a virtual assistant (VA), you may already know about the importance of keywords in your content, but you might not have ample SEO knowledge. This article is here to help. 

Search engine optimization enables your brand to show up in results when people search for specific terms. The words and phrases they use — called keywords — allow them to discover your content.

You’ll have a better chance of showing up in the search results if you incorporate keywords into your content. Accordingly, defining your keywords is critical to reaching the right audience for your desired outcome. Taking this into consideration ahead of time will help your content work better for you. 

Below, you’ll learn the best SEO keywords for virtual assistants, why it’s important to vary them, how to choose the best ones, and how to use them effectively.

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Top SEO keywords for virtual assistants

The top keywords to use for your VA business will depend on your goal. 

Your ultimate goal is to generate leads, but there are different approaches to doing so. If your goal is to target based on a specific task or service you offer, you will want to use keywords surrounding that service or task. 

Here are some examples of keywords commonly used by virtual assistants. You’ll learn more about how to know which ones are likely the best for your needs later in this post.

Keywords based on what you do:

  • Project management
  • Meeting arrangements
  • Lead generation
  • Social media
  • Note-taking
  • Spreadsheets
  • Emails

Words based on your role:

  • Virtual assistant
  • Assistant
  • Administrative assistant
  • Personal assistant

Keywords based on search phrases related to your work:

  • Virtual assistant in [location]
  • What does a virtual assistant do?
  • How much does a virtual assistant charge?
  • Hiring a virtual assistant
  • Personal assistants for [job type, ex: doctors]

Other terms for virtual assistants

Keep in mind that the keywords you use may not be the words that potential customers use to search for the services you offer. Think about other terms for the services you offer to help you reach more of the right people. 

For example, be sure to look up virtual admin, administrative services, and business support services. One way to find these alternate names is to use the search feature on Pinterest or Google to discover what other people are searching for. 

"People also ask" feature on Google
Using the ‘People also ask’ feature on Google

Google has suggested terms that auto-populate, or you can look under the ‘people also ask’ box:

  • Virtual admin: admin, virtual administration, virtual assistant, VA, personal assistant
  • Administrative services: admin, administrative assistant, receptionist, front desk help, virtual administrative services
  • Business support services: business helper, business aide, personal aide, personal assistant, support specialist, virtual support

You can also consult a thesaurus to discover other possible alternate names or terms for virtual assistants. WordHippo.com is an excellent site for finding synonyms to keywords. 

At times, a VA might be referred to by their role, such as data entry admin. If you’re targeting clients in a foreign country, you’ll also need to consider what they call their VAs. Here are some other names for virtual assistants:

  • Digital employee
  • Online assistant
  • Virtual web assistant
  • Dedicated personal assistant
  • Personal office assistant
  • Executive assistant
  • Administrative specialist

Choosing the best keywords

You’ve seen which keywords are available to you for your virtual assistant business, and you’ve learned a little about how to choose the right ones. 

There are tricks and tips for selecting the best keywords, and Google is the best resource for gauging keyword popularity at any given time. One tool is their keyword planner. This is typically used for Google Ads, but it is just as helpful when searching for keywords in general. 

Keyword Planner from Google

With this tool, you can search by word, by phrase, or even by website. Most people enter a keyword that relates to their topic, and Google produces 100 relevant results. You can then download these results for future reference. 

Google will provide you with information about each keyword in order to help you identify how competitive the words are, and how many people search for them each month. You can also utilize their color coding to see what’s most popular — the more competitive it is, the greener the bar. 

In general, shorter and broader keyword phrases like “virtual assistant” are going to return more results than a more specific phrase, such as “virtual assistant Boston” or “virtual assistant spreadsheets.” However, the narrowed down versions will help you find more of the right people. 

You can also use Google Trends to search for keyword trends. This will help you identify the times of the year when your keywords are most often searched for, helping you to target specific topics or services. 

Ultimately, your goal should be to find a keyword that produces a large number of search results, but not so many that they overwhelm the searcher. You want longer keywords with at least 500 to 1,000 searches per month that are relevant to your topic. The more specific you can be, the better chance your brand will have of showing up in an organic search. 

Using keywords effectively

Using keywords effectively is about more than just knowing which words to employ. It’s also about when and where you use them. 

You want targeted keywords on every page of your website, starting with your home page. You should also utilize keywords for SEO purposes in your page titles, meta tags, and alt tags. These can be found in your website’s SEO section or your SEO plug-in, should you use one. 

These shouldn’t be just any keywords — they should be targeted to the page’s topic and the audience that you want to view the page. It’s also important that your keywords aren’t overused, used unnaturally, or stuffed in just for the sake of being in your content. This is counterproductive and can hurt your SEO efforts. Here are some great examples of virtual assistant websites that got it right. 

You’ll also need keywords for your other content marketing efforts, such as your blog. 

Every blog post is an opportunity to utilize SEO to rank highly in searches. This is especially helpful for topics of interest to those searching for you, and the right keywords boost your visibility when smartly placed. 

These virtual assistant blog ideas will draw your clients’ attention and, many times, the blog’s topic can also function as the main keyword. 

Using SEO keywords for virtual assistants just got easier with Constant Contact

Constant Contact is your go-to source for all things online marketing. 

When it comes to SEO, Constant Contact supports administrative and business support services by helping them integrate keyword-targeted content to obtain new clients, repeat business, and referrals. 

The built-in SEO tools make finding SEO keywords for virtual assistants even easier. With Constant Contact, you can find more clients for your billing, hiring, or receptionist service with powerful tools and expert advice, all in one place. 

Read more about our services in our marketing guide, The Download