Keywords play a major role in your search engine optimization campaign, as attested to by numerous SEO experts. Just remember that keywords in SEO are the words – or the set of words – that are most likely to be typed in by users on search engines, particularly Google. Aside from using them for SEO purposes, they are also the foundation for your website's content and it also makes your website a lot friendlier to users. First off, let's learn why they are so important:
Back in the day, the use of keywords was highly comparable to spam, with whole paragraphs consisting only of these words. Let's take the Teflon pan example again:
“Affordable Teflon pans and high quality Teflon pans in Indianapolis, Muncie, Fort Wayne and New Castle. Buy your amazing and non-stick Teflon pans from your trusted Teflon pans store in your area right now!”
Using four keywords in two sentences nowadays is not only an eyesore and scorned by SEO experts, but will also result to spam as well, making Google (and possibly other search engines) penalize your website. Just remember that website penalties are as damaging as a hacker intrusion. Nowadays, SEO experts have devised effective ways in using these keywords, which include the following:
- Keywords are the foundation for your website's content. Let's say that you are in the business of selling Teflon pans. Keep on using the phr ase with acceptable density and frequency so as to give both users and search engines information about your site's content.
- When visitors and potential customers type in a search query, they know what they are looking for. When they visit a website in the results pages, they will scan the content in order to check for the keywords they typed in.
- It will allow search engines, particularly the big three (Google, Bing and Yahoo) to crawl and index your website, as well as parse the keywords to learn about the purpose of your site.
Back in the day, the use of keywords was highly comparable to spam, with whole paragraphs consisting only of these words. Let's take the Teflon pan example again:
“Affordable Teflon pans and high quality Teflon pans in Indianapolis, Muncie, Fort Wayne and New Castle. Buy your amazing and non-stick Teflon pans from your trusted Teflon pans store in your area right now!”
Using four keywords in two sentences nowadays is not only an eyesore and scorned by SEO experts, but will also result to spam as well, making Google (and possibly other search engines) penalize your website. Just remember that website penalties are as damaging as a hacker intrusion. Nowadays, SEO experts have devised effective ways in using these keywords, which include the following:
An acceptable keyword density
SEO experts would tell you to not SPAM keywords. For reference, just avoid doing the example in the earlier part of this entry. Watching keyword density and using it effectively will allow you to not experience search engine penalties. Be sure to:
- Insert keywords in sentences and paragraphs naturally, as if they are a natural part of the sentence construction.
- Watch the density and frequency – one keyword per 100 words in a 500 word article is acceptable, although you may add a little – just make sure that it doesn't get spammy!
- Also insert minus keywords. Let's take the Teflon pan example again. Aside from the pan, you are selling Teflon spatulas as well, so be sure to include it!
Learn to use the right keywords
Basically, SEO experts would always recommend that you use the right keywords for your website development and for your SEO campaign. There are two types of keywords, which include:
- Broad and general keywords – these types of keywords, cover a broad and general subject. These types of keywords have a huge number of average searches per month and optimizing your site for them would be very difficult in SEO. In the Teflon pan example context, here are some examples of broad keywords: Teflon Pan, non-stick pan, fire-resistant pan, durable pan, Teflon cookware.
- Specific and long-tail keywords – let's say make use of the Teflon cookware example again. These keywords are specific to a company, industry and product. Here are some examples: Teflon pans in Indianapolis, non-stick pan in Muncie, Teflon cookware Indianapolis.
SEO experts would always tell you to strictly use specific keywords because after all, you are looking to sell your products in a local scope. You could try to use the general ones, but these will come later after you've fully optimized your site for the specific keywords. Just remember to choose ones that are related to your business, website and are likely to be typed in by users!