Role of Keywords and Key-Phrases in SEO

By: Nidhi Modi
Submitted: 2007-01-17 13:47:15
Print this article | Tell a friend | For publisher |

Rating:

 

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a necessity for the success of almost every site. SEO is the use of keywords from the beginning of the site that is called page title to throughout the website content. In particular, the density, placement and the actual keywords phrases themselves.

The first thing you need to do when you begin chasing a good search engine ranking is decide which words you want to rank well for. This is called keyword analysis.

There are many tools which provide you data to choose your keywords and phrases. Some of the popular ones are:

http://wordtracker.com

http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/

http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Do you think that to get the keywords and put them in your site content will give you the top rank in the highly competitive market. Absolutely not. So here are some guidelines regarding keywords and phrases which you must bear in your mind:

Relevance: Keyword should be relevant to your site at the same time excessive repetition of one keyword is considered "Spam" by most engines. For example you have your site domain name is “xyz” if you repeat it 100 times in the space of keywords you are making several mistakes and not taking the full advantage of keywords power.

Use Power Combinations: Some search engines look at the first 200 characters or keywords (in Meta tags). Use the space effectively like if your site is offering different deals so you can use “digital camera, handy cam deals” instead of digital camera deals and handy cam deals. This way people searching for both keyword combinations will pull up the page with less space used.

Use Phrases: In a recent study conducted by one of the major search engine, it shows that over 65% of all searches made use phrases rather than single words. Try to put more key phrases instead of single key word.

Number of Keywords or Phrases per Page:Search engines look at only a certain portion of your page. The more pages your site has, the more keywords you can target. I would say you can optimize one page with 3 keywords or phrases. I would urge starting with one or two.

Keyword font:Write the keyword in bold and italic. Keyword text should be larger then other text size. Put keyword in to bulleted list.

Belongingness: If your site offers a product from a well known company with brand recognition, include that company name in your keyword.

Branch out your keyword: Try to get into the mind of someone else who would find your site/product useful. It means you have to pick up more words which someone can use to fetch the information your site contains. Use plurals and put the hyphen to separate the keywords or key phrases.

Places to put keywords: Search engines give higher relevance to certain words and phrases within HTML documents so it's vital to put your keyword phrases in the right places. Keywords should ideally be placed in the following sections of your web page:

Page Title - you must creatively include your keywords in a professional looking title. Google's maximum character count for page title is 83. Yahoo's maximum character count is 111.

Headings tags like H1 H2 and H3 - Placing the primary keywords in these sections is equally important as putting them in page title. Don't use filler words like: and, for, the, or etc.. they are neglected anyway by the search engines. You should strive to make optimum use of this place.

As links - Start the link with keyword. Use more text internal links between the body content. Don't create simple link like “click here” instead you can use few other words which will work as a keyword for you and acquire a better rank in search result.

Meta Tag - Till few months back we considered it as the most significant part of the site but dependency on the Meta Tag is diminishing. However we should not get complacent and ignore the importance of it. Be careful when you put keywords in keyword meta tag and description meta tag. It should be meaningful, informative and relevant with product or service you are offering.

Alt tag - Alt tags are also displayed as a quick pop-up when you point mouse over an image. Images don't show in text browsers so ALT tags tell the visitor what it's about. You should frame main keyword(s) in the ALT tags, but don't over do it because you could get dropped in the result.

Local based site: Suppose you are offering some service which is limited in the particular city that is called local based site. Here you need to mention your complete address with city name an zip code in the header of your home page. Use city name as a keyword in the links which you put in the bod body text.

One final tip I would suggest on using keywords and key phrases if your site is having separate pages use different keywords phrases for each page. This tactic will work as a magic to optimize your web pages and getting good rank in the search engines. Ultimately more traffic on your website.

By: Nidhi Modi

Nidhi is a Search Engine Optimization expert. She has keen interest in Internet and serch engine related marketing. Besides work she loves preparing Indian cuisines and shooting natural photographs. Nidhi lives in Seattle,USA with her husband.

To contact Nidhi, e-mail her at nidhi.great@gmail.com

Article source: Expert Articles