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Keywords Keys to the Internet
By: Gene DeFazzio
Keywords and the Internet
If you have been on the internet for any length of time you have probably discovered 'keywords', certain words that can, when properly used, help to generate traffic to your website. This term actually has two meanings on the Internet.
Meta Tags
The first kind of keyword is a "Meta tag" - non displaying text within your source code that search engines use when crawling your website to determine its content. There was a time when these tags could be manipulated in such a way as to give an edge in the ranking of a website/webpage. But, these days "Meta Tags" are rarely considered in the organic search positioning of a webpage. Most search engines today value the content of a webpage more than they do "Meta Tags". There are only two "Meta Tags" that you need to consider when developing a webpage. They appear in your source code as;
- This should be a short description of the content of the webpage. Be sure to use your primary keywords when composing your description but don't over do it. One or two sentences that are written clearly and to the point will do.
- Your input here is exactly what the name implies. A list of keywords that provide an outline of your webpage content, used by search engines, to rank your position in search results.
Don't think that stuffing a lot of keywords into this tag will help position you better in the search engine rankings. Multiple occurrences of words will look like spam to the search engine spiders and may actually hurt your chances for a top spot in the search results.
An effective use of the "keyword meta tag" is to list the most important keywords on the webpage from top to bottom. Keep them simple and exactly as they appear in your content.
Keywords and Phrases in your Content
This second type of keyword/phrase represents the exact words that people are typing in to search engines during a search on a specific topic. Using web savy words and phrases in your content will enhance your chances of being found on the Web. These keywords are the most important of the two keyword types.
Keyword Phrases and Internet Searches
When people do a search on the Internet they usually type in more than just one word. They will more than likely enter a phrase, composed of two or three words or sometimes more, in order to narrow down the search results. Keep this in mind when composing your content. Don't limit yourself to single words as keywords. Think in terms of the phrases that a visitor might use to find your website and include them in your content.
Keywords and Webpage Content
When a search engine spiders your webpages it is looking at the body or content text more than anything. Even though you have included your keywords in your "Meta Tags" it is the bulk of the text that the spider encounters on the document that will actually determine how the page is ranked in the organic search results. "Meta Tags" play a secondary role in how your webpage is indexed.
Keyword Placement
Page Title - When naming your webpage include your keywords for that page in the title. Express the essence of your webpage with a brief phrase (e.g. usually five to seven words) containing your keyword or keywords as they appear on the page. This is the first thing that a search engine will see.
Keyword Density
Search engines retrieve keywords from your page contents and rank your web page based on its keyword density. Keyword density is the number of times a word or phrase appears on a web page. But, if you try to repeat them too often it will be considered spamming by the search engines and will penalize your positioning in the search results. The best rule of thumb that I know of is to have your keywords appear at the top of the page content, somewhere in the middle of the page and in the last paragraph.
Gene DeFazzio is the webmaster and author of the Rocketface(R) Workshop http://www.rocketface.com/ - A website for beginning webmasters and home of the webmasters tutorial "How to Design a Website". |  |
