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Using Effective Keywords for Search Engine Optimization & Marketing By David A. Salinas This article focuses on how to use keywords correctly in marketing a successful website business. Published:    Mon Dec 10, 2007 Last revised: Tue Feb 5, 2008

In the first article of this keyword  series, choosing the correct keyword  phrases for promotion of a successful online enterprise was discussed in  detail.  In this second article, the focus  will be how to use these keywords correctly in marketing a successful website  business.

Keywords are used in more areas of a  website than is readily noticeable by most business owners.  Website content is probably the most obvious  place for the right keywords.  They are  also used within many strategic fields of the site.  These include title tags, meta data tags,  alternative tags, header fields, and anchor text for links.  Keywords can also be used very effectively in  search engine optimized press releases, articles, Blog entries, and pay per  click advertising campaigns.

Writing  SEO Friendly Website Content:

As in any form of marketing writing,  website copy needs to target the ideal customer first and be written in an  interesting, easy-to-read manner that encourages the visitor to stay with the  piece.  Keyword density is the ratio of a  specific phrase to the rest of the words on the page.  Using keywords correctly in site  content is a matter of balance for both the search engines and the website  visitor that can take some finesse to master. 

In most cases, website page content should  show a keyword density of 3-5%.  Anything  over this percentage can result in copy that is repetitive or lacks flow, and  could be considered “keyword stuffing” by the search engines.   Keyword stuffing is the practice of cramming  as many keywords as possible into website content, title tags, and meta data.  Google is especially sensitive to this practice and tends to set their warning  flags at a lower percentage of density than Yahoo and MSN.

“Using keywords correctly in  site content is a matter of balance for both the search engines and the website  visitor that can take some finesse to master. “

In general, keywords should be sprinkled  liberally throughout the page content in a manner that is consistent with  writing well for the website audience.   The most effective keyword phrases should be included in the title of  the document and any headings within the body of the writing.  The most important keywords should always be in  the first and last paragraphs of the page content.

Some search engine optimization experts  recommend that the most crucial keyword phrases be included as close to the  beginning of a paragraph as possible.   Others recommend that all important keywords be included in the first  250 words of the page copy.  The rules  the search engines use to rank websites are constantly evolving and this holds  true for website content as well.

Measuring  Keyword Density:

Easy to use, free tools for measuring  keyword density abound on the internet.   Most are very simple to use and only require the website page name for  analysis.  A couple of sites offering  free keyword density checks are:
http://www.virtualpromote.com/tools/keyword_analyzer/

http://www.seoresearcher.com/googles-new-algorithm-to-rank-pages-and-detect-spam-phrase-rank.htm

In order to check the keyword density of a  text document to be used in the site, the number of occurrences of the keyword  phrase is divided by the total number of words in the document.  Most word processing programs offer a word  count tool and the number of phrases can be counted by using the “find” option  to check for repetitions of the term.

Using  Keywords in Strategic Fields of the Website:

Successful websites use the right keywords  in many different areas.  One of the most  important fields for effective keyword placement is the title tag.  This information is coded into the Meta title information of the site and displayed at the  very top of the website page.  The  homepage title should contain a phrase or sentence with the more general type  keyword phrases indicative of the overall service or product line.  Internal page titles should include keyword  phrases specific to the products or subjects of that particular page.  The key again is not to cram every keyword in  the title, but to use the most important search terms one or two times.

Contained within the meta data of the  website are the meta keyword and meta description tags.  The Meta  keyword field has been abused as a place for keyword stuffing by many  webmasters.  This practice is completely  ineffective at this late date and can lead to being labeled as a “Spam”  site.  The best practice for this field  is to list specific keyword phrases separated by commas that are specific to  that particular page.  Some sites give  long lists of single word keywords and modifiers which is a much less precise  or effective way to target the right traffic for the website.

“Website descriptions that  list the actual keyword searched for have been shown to create a higher level  of conversion”

Meta descriptions should contain a sentence with the top two or three  keywords for the topic and be descriptive of what is actually offered on the  website page.  This field is especially  important because it includes the information that is displayed under the  website title in the search results.   This field should be written with target customers in mind also in order  to encourage the searcher to click through on the website.  Website descriptions that list the actual  keyword searched for have been shown to create a higher level of conversion.

Alternative tags are fields that label the  images within a document and were originally designed to describe pictures for  the visually impaired.  These are also a  good place for effective keywords if they are appropriate to the image and  worded well for the visitor.

Using  Effective Keywords in Website Links and Page Names:

Anchor Text or Link Labels are the visible,  clickable text for a hyperlink contained within the body of website  content.  Links are an especially  powerful place to use effective keywords and are very attractive to search  engines.  Anchor text for links should be  written to be descriptive of what kind of page or information the link will  lead to.  Keywords can be used for both  incoming and out bound links.

It is always a plus to have the most  important keywords for the business in the name of the website.  So many website names have been used or  bought up now that it is not always possible to obtain one of these valuable  sites.  Also, using the name of the  company as the website name may be more imperative for branding and recognition  purposes.

The inner pages of the website should  always be named in a descriptive manner including the product or service the  page is about.  Many dynamically  generated websites show internal pages with category numbers only, which tell  the search engines nothing about what the page is about.  These website pages should be renamed by a  competent programmer or search engine optimization company.  Using effective keywords in the page names of  a website can have a dramatic impact on search engine rankings.

“Using effective keywords in  the page names of a website can have a dramatic impact on search engine  rankings.”

Search engines look at the keyword density  of the website’s content and the strategic fields both separately and together.  Because some pages will use more keywords in  the html coding and the links, content density should be adjusted to a lower  percentage for these pages to avoid triggering search engine filters.  In general, product description writing  should contain 1-2% keyword density due to the higher number of keywords in  other areas and links for the page.

Search  Engine Friendly Press Releases:

A well optimized press release is a  powerful tool for driving quality traffic to a website.  The first and most important reason for an  online press release is to inform the public about news and information about  the company.  The release should be  written in a professional, third person style designed to deliver the  information with maximum impact to the target audience.  Comparisons to competitors should be avoided  unless solid research is quoted and a sales type approach should never be used.  A standard press release is 300-800 words in length and paragraphs should be  kept short in order not to lose the reader.

Adding the most effective keywords to the  release in a reader friendly style can be a challenge, but is well worth the  effort.   Keyword density for an online  press release should be around 2-4%.   When the readability of the piece is in question, the density should be  kept to the lower end of the spectrum. The most important keyword should be  used once within the title of the press release and again in any subtitles if  it makes sense for the reader.

A host of information for writing online  press releases is available on the web.   An example template for writing professional releases is available at http://www.prweb.com/template_release.php.  Prweb.com also has several informational  articles on effective press release writing available to the public.

Effective  Keywords in Pay per Click Advertising:

With some minor variation, the same  keywords chosen for optimizing a website for the natural listings are used in  sponsored ad campaigns such as Google Adwords and Yahoo’s Overture.  Using effective keywords in pay per click  advertising (PPC) involves choosing keyword phrases that drive a good amount of  well-matched traffic to the website.  The  second consideration is the cost of the pay per click bid.  Being number one in the sponsored ads is not  always the best strategy.  Often, bidding  to be number three or four for the keyword phrase results in excellent traffic  at a much lower cost per conversion.

Writing effective ad copy for the pay per  click ad is especially important.  A  business has one line of copy to get the message across. Research has shown  that pay per click ads that include the actual keyword searched for in the copy  result in a higher click through rate.

Imminent  Changes in the World of Keywords and Website Ranking:

With Google leading the pack, the major  search engines are always developing new ways to determine which websites  should rank the highest in their natural listings.  With each new development, webmasters and  marketing companies scramble to find a way to help their companies’ or clients’  websites do better than the online competition. 

In the early days of the World Wide Web,  the information within the meta tags of the website was of prime importance to  the search engines.  Many webmasters  started “stuffing” keywords into these fields and, for a while, this was  effective in getting sites to rank well.   Since that time, the algorithms have changed dramatically and meta tags  are only a small portion of the formula used to judge websites.  With Google’s release of their Page Rank  system, website linking became of paramount importance.  Link farms and the practice of buying links  from high page rank sites became rampant.

The major goal of the search engines in  creating new rule sets is so that websites rankings will be determined as  fairly as possible on their ability to provide an excellent experience for the  visitor.  After much research and  development, Google has just recently published their patent for PhraseRank, an  innovative system for ranking websites based on the relation of key phrases or  concepts within the website content. 

The new system will generate a predicted  list of expected phrases for a key phrase and determines a target percentage  for the use of these phrases and their repetition within the page copy.  According to Google’s research, a typical  analysis of a document collection shows that a web page usually contains 8 to  20 related phrases.  Web pages using a  great many repetitions of phrases would be flagged as “Spam” pages.

“The focus of Google’s new  PhraseRank system is to create a way of determining a website’s relevance based  on how human beings really think and write about things.”

From the search engine user’s point of  view, search terms are “concepts” rather than keywords. The focus of Google’s  new PhraseRank system is to create a way of determining a website’s relevance  based on how human beings really think and write about things.  Keywords will remain relevant to website  content, but it will be how they are used within the related phrases of the  site that will be of prime importance.

As with everything on the internet, the way  keywords are used for effective website marketing is ever evolving.  The most important thing to remember is that  effective keywords should be used in a balance for the ideal website visitor  and for the search engines.  With the  major search engines moving towards more complex rule systems, it will be hard  for the average webmaster to “trick” the search engines into ranking websites  well. 

Ethical search engine marketing companies  have long been a proponent of developing sites that are geared toward the user  first, yet also take the search engines into account.  The current move towards judging sites based  upon the overall relevancy of the page content could go a long way towards  curbing “Spam” and encouraging a “Customer-First” movement in internet  marketing strategy.  For the first part  of this article series and more information about effective online marketing  strategies, visit www.Digitalsurgeons.com.