Search Engine Optimization

SEO – Keywords 101

by Kenneth Catto

Keywords are search terms that are entered into a search engine for finding particular items of interest or topics relating to your website. You will need to optimize your website with relevant keywords in order to get the best possible placement. You should use your keywords and keyword phrases effectively within your site so when a search engine spiders your site, the keywords get picked up. There should be a variety of keywords and keyword phrases used.

Within the HTML of your site, you should use keywords in the title tag. These keywords should be used in a descriptive sentence for each page within your site. The most relevant keywords and keyword phrases should be used in the home page title. You should repeat the keywords phrase two or three times but make sure that the title makes sense.

Use of Meta tags is also important. You should place all relevant keywords and keyword phrases in your Meta tag. Check back on this often as you add content to your site. Using keyword phrases as opposed to single keywords is generally helpful as single keywords can be very competitive. Avoid overuse of a keyword. This can actually hurt placement with some search engines if it is used too often. Use commas or spaces to separate the keywords but do not use both. It is also helpful to add common misspellings of a word as well as both the singular and plural forms of the word or phrase. It is also advisable to upper and lower case words and phrases.

In the Meta tag description, use your keywords and keyword phrases and repeat them two or three times. The Meta tag description should be relatively short and not exceed twenty five words. It should also make sense and entice users to click to your site when they view it on a search engine.

Content of your site is the most important part of keyword placement. Search engines often concentrate on the first 250 words for relevancy and density so use the majority of your keywords there. Try to get a five to seven percent density but do not go over this. Search engines will consider this spamming and it will damage your placement. Make sure the content makes sense without sounding too repetitive. It may be helpful to write your content without using keywords first, then modify the content to incorporate your most relevant keywords.