Expert
Article
SEO
Keyword Placement Strategies
by Ivana Giardi
Have you ever questioned why
some highly relevant websites
show very poor ranking in the
search results? The answer might
as well lie in bad keyword placement
decisions. See, there are many
places on your website where you
can place your keywords - and
they differ in the effectiveness
with which they help you achieve
higher ranking positions.
The major keyword placement locations
usually are:
1. Title Tag
Search engines usually give the
most weight to the page's title,
because it tells them what the
web page is about. Therefore you
should place your most important
keywords between the <TITLE>
tags. For best results, it is
advised that you keep it within
5 - 10 keywords and to-the-point.
If you make the title too long,
you risk that part of the title
will be cut out by some search
engines and won't get displayed.
Also, since search engines return
the title as the search results,
your HTML title should be both
descriptive and attractive because
that's what makes visitors click
through your website.
For example, the following title
describes well the web site, and
therefore is a good choice:
<TITLE>Web Submission
- search engine optimization SEO
and submission software</TITLE>
2. Meta Tags
Meta tags are special HTML tags,
usually within the <HEAD>...</HEAD>
portion of the web page. Unlike
normal HTML tags, Meta tags do
not affect how the page is displayed.
Meta tags allow you to control
how search engines catalog your
web site. Not all search engines
make use of these tags, but using
them will definitely improve your
position in those that do. The
most commonly used Meta tags are
Description and Keywords tags.
Meta Description Tag:
The <META> description
tag lets you specify a short summary
about your web site. Most search
engines use the Description Tag
for their summary description
when they display your website
in the search results. This is
also very important from the visitor
point of view as it tells the
searcher whether your website
is relevant to his search and
worth the visit. Therefore this
tag should clearly describe what
one can find on your web site.
Here's an example:
<meta name="description"
content="Web Submission -
Ultimate All in One Search Engine
Submission & SEO Search Engine
Optimization Software to promote
your web site to all major search
engines">
The actual size used is not as
important as the message it conveys,
but do not exceed the limit –
the recommended summary size is
between 200 - 250 characters maximum.
Meta keyword tag:
The keywords tag is used by search
engines to help them in indexing
your website. This is important
because search engines use this
information to determine what
queries your website will come
up under.
The basic HTML format of the
Meta keyword tag is:
<meta name="keywords"
content="keyword1,keyword2,keyword3,keyword4,...">
OR
<meta name="keywords"
content="keyword1 keyword2
keyword3 keyword4 ...">
Sample:
<meta name="keywords"
content="dog food,dogs,pet
food,pets,dry,wet,canned dog food,pet
supplies">
(Notice that it includes
both words and phrases)
Note that inclusion of commas
is not necessary so they can be
removed if you are hovering around
the limit. Including them however,
makes the tag much more readable.
The common abuse of the Meta
keyword tag was -- and still is
-- the repetition of words in
the tag, which is called spamming.
Never insert the same word twice
in a row in this tag, even if
you're using different variations.
You can use the same word in different
phrases, but avoid repeating keywords
in this tag. The recommended length
limit is between 10 to 20 keywords.
3. Body Text
When creating your keyword-rich
web page copy keep in mind following
2 concepts: Keyword Prominence
and Keyword Proximity.
Keyword Prominence:
Keyword prominence refers to
how keywords are close to the
"beginning" of the web
page. The closer the keywords
are the better. The reason behind
this is that Google for example,
usually picks up description from
the first 2 paragraphs. If the
first paragraph is keyword-rich,
your web page has a good chance
to rank well for these terms.
Keyword Proximity:
Keyword proximity refers to the
closeness between your keywords
on the page. In general, the closer
the keywords are to each other,
the better.
The following is a good sample
of a well optimized phrase for
the keyword London flower shop:
Red Rose Ltd is the leading
London flower shop.
As oppose to:
Red Rose Ltd is the leading
flower shop for the London area.
Note: Keyword Density
Keyword Density used to get (or
may be still gets) lots of undeserved
attention. It tells you many times
a keyword is used on a web page
in relation to the rest of words
on the same page.
There should not be such a fuss
around keyword density as it does
not really help to optimize your
web page. And that’s because
is simply does not take in account
both concepts above: it does not
tell you where the keywords are
located and what the distance
is between them.
When creating your webpage copy
writing don’t forget who
you wish to impress – search
engines or your potential customers?
Keep in mind that it does not
matter how well your web page
is optimized or how well your
website ranks. If you fail to
impress your visitor, you lose
the sale and you make no profit.
And profit is what matters on
the Net.
Tips
and Strategies
SEO
for Blogs
While there are many reasons
to blog, there are two primary
uses that are becoming more widespread
with blogging: To game Google
Adsense, and to also game the
search engines for better rankings.
Since Blogs are known to the
search engines as daily snippets
of information that are updated
on a frequent basis, they get
a lot of preference in the search
results.
So from this, how do you optimize
your blog?
Depending on the service you
utilize, there are still some
basics that you can apply. The
two biggest blogging sites are
WordPress and Blogger. If you
are looking for an advantage with
SEO, you should use Blogger since
they are owned by Google, and
you'll be indexed quicker.
Blogs aren't all that much different
than a site. The power of a blog
is from the frequency of the posting.
If the search engines see a pattern
of 3 postings per day, they will
be very active on spidering that
site. Depending on the topic of
the blog, you may be able to boost
your blog in the rankings if it's
related to a hot topic on the
Internet.
Now, to the actual optimization.
Since blogs are typically a few
pages long, you only need to establish
a few rules that will be applied
sitewide:
- Use an interesting
title - Also known
as linkbaiting - your title
should captivate the user to
read more
- Try to use your blog
keywords in the title
- while it may be hard to always
do this, by keeping the title
related to the topic, your blog
will always be relevant
- Use the H1 tags
- All blog editors allow for
custom templates, so be sure
to stylize your blog title in
the H1 tags
- Link to other blogs
- Find other related blogs that
your readers might find interesting,
and ask for a link in return
- Don't forget about
your archives - You
may post a topic that isn't
hot at the moment, but comes
up later - make sure your readers
can find that posting
- As stated above, the key
to a successful blog is frequent
postings. You don't
need to write up an article
everytime, two paragraphs and
maybe some resource links is
what a typical posting should
be comprised of.
-To your online success!
Paul Bliss, CeM
SEO Certified Professional
www.SEOforGoogle.com
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