subject: The 15 Keywords Do's and Don'ts For Your Website [print this page] Keywords play an important role in your search engine ranking. Use the right keywords and in the right way to see your organic search engine traffic soar.
To find the right keywords your prospective customers are using to find you, it is recommended you go to the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. This is found by Googling Google Keywords.
Below is a list of 15 do's and dont's when it comes to keywords and your website.
1. Keywords in your domain name
One of the very first things that Google and other search engines will look at is your domain name. So it makes sense to try to include the main keyword you wish to be found under within your domain name. For example if you are a dentist in Sydney, you more than likely would need the word dentist and Sydney appearing within your domain.
2. Keywords in your metatags
Your meta tags include the title tag, description and to a lesser extent, keywords tag. The majority of search engines analyse your title and description tags when looking for keywords. It is imperative that thought is put into these tags as they will be the first thing your prospective customer will see when they find you via the organic search engine results.
3. Keyword density
When a search engine spiders your website, they will be looking at your website content and one way they determine relevance is by the number of times a particular keyword is mentioned. The accepted percentage is around 3 to 7 percent where a keyword is repeated. The sole aim of writing website copy is to write for your potential customers -
not for the search engines. Writing for your potential customers ensures that your text is written as natural as possible - which is what search engines love!
4. Webpage Introduction
Google and the other search engines like Bing and Yahoo look at the order and position of keywords on your website. The higher up a particular keyword appears on the page has a bearing on how you will rank for that keyword. It is recommended that you mention the main keyword you wish to be found under within the opening paragraph of your website.
5. Anchor Tags
Search engines pay close attention to the keywords you have in your internal anchor tags. If you are linking from your home page to an interior page, describe the page you are linking to in as much detail as you can. For example, if you are a plumber, a link from your home page to your services page will say something along the lines of Click here to view our plumbing services as opposed to a simple Click here.
6. Headings
All search engines make a distinction between headings on a page and ordinary website text. It is ideal to place your website text on the page using H1, H2 and bolded tags.
7. Alt tags
Search engine spiders do not read images however they can read Alt tags attached to images. Be aware to not go overboard and stuff Alt tags with an excessive amount of text as this would be considered as spam, which the search engines frown upon.
8. Proximity
An important consideration when it comes to writing your website copy is the proximity of keywords to each other. For example, let's say you wanted your website to appear on a search relating to search engines. Having the word search and engine in different paragraphs is not as effective as having the words search engine next to each other in the
same paragraph.
9. Phrases
In addition to optimising for singular keywords, you will want to be found under various different keyphrases. You will be able to see what they most popular keyphrases are by using the Google Keywords tool and also by analysing your website statistics.
10. Secondary Keywords
When it comes to optimising a site, one has to look at how competitive keywords are. Optimising for phrase "real estate" is extremely competitive however optimising for real estate in your area will not be as competitive. Secondary keywords will get you less traffic but more targeted traffic.
11. Stemming
Keyword stemming relates to words that come from the same root. For exmaple the words search, searcher, searches and searching are all examples of keyword stemming. Search engines will display your website for related keywords. It is also a good idea to includ variations of related words within your website copy.
12. Synonyms
Another keyword technique related to stemming is synonyms. When completing your keyword research and when writing your website text, be sure to included commonly recognised synonyms to the keywords you are optimising for.
13. Misspellings
Google and other search engines prefer to see websites using the correct spelling. Optimising for misspellings is not a good idea as it gives a bad impression to search engines and to your prospective customers.
14. Dilution
When search engines analyse your website, they look for keyword schematics. Meaning they are looking to see if your website fits into an overall theme. The words you use within your content must fit into a recognised theme. By placing keywords that are not related to your core business, you risk diluting the performance of keywords placed within your website.
15. Keyword Stuffing
One trick that webmasters should never employ is keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing is the risky practice of artificially inflating the number of times a keyword appears within a webpage. Around 10 percent is the figure that would be considered as keyword stuffing.
In life, it's often not what you say but how you say it. The same applies in the online arena. Find the right keywords and using them effectively will ensure your online search engine success.
