Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Using Keywords for Search Engine Optimization

A site has to be found to get traffic. This is a simple truth on the internet. Search Engine Optimization is the method of accomplishing this. Without it, getting your site noticed is very difficult. You want two things to happen: getting to the top of the first pages of search engine results and high page rank.

Most people equate keywords with search engine optimization and that is very important. Using the right keywords in the best placement is crucial. Keywords must be relevant or you could be penalized by the search engines. All your work in getting your site up will be for nothing if you use irrelevant keywords simply because they get a lot of searches.

Choose keywords relevant to your niche that are used when people search for information on your topic. Keyword research and being intuitive about how people use search engines will yield the keywords that will bring traffic to your site and put your site on the first page of search engine results.

A few years ago, everyone was saturating their sites with keywords without regard for quality and readability of the content. That just doesn't work anymore. Using a keyword too much is known as keyword spamming and is death to a site. Search engine optimization requires that content be relevant, informative and readable. It doesn't help if visitors to your site don't have any reason to stay and read your content.

One thing many don't know yet and others are beginning to learn is to use variations on keywords. This helps with readability and search engines now look for these variations. Instead of using an exact keyword 15 times in a 500 word article, use it about 6 times and use variations several more times. Use keywords and variants in a natural way so the content is not awkward to read.

The use of keywords for search engine optimization has many theories regarding placement. There isn't just one hard fast rule and it is really a matter of which you prefer. Some people prefer the primary keyword used in the first and last sentences and 3 more times in between. Others want the primary keyword twice in the first paragraph and twice in the last paragraph and once in each paragraph in between. There are other placements that can be used but these are two of the most common.

If you are using a secondary keyword, it should be used less often than the primary keyword. Two or three times is usually enough for search engine optimization purposes. More keywords can be used but, again, you don't want to overload with keywords. That can prove to be more harmful than helpful. The result of using more than 3 or 4 keywords per article can be content that appears written for search engines and not people. Changes in the way search engines look at sites now favors content that is meant to be read by humans, not software.

Learning about how to find the best keywords and how to use them are important. It can mean the difference between getting a lot of traffic to your site or never being found by people searching information in your niche. Getting your site up high in search engine results where it is seen quickly is the whole point of search engine optimization.

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