Posted by Web Development | Posted in Web Development | Posted on 01-01-2010
Do you know anything about keywords? Essentially, they educate the search engines about your content. However, using too many is a bad thing. Learn about keyword density and how to mix and match for the perfect combination.
There are also other ways to optimise besides just keywords and density. Use keyword phrases. Many keywords are well known, these days. For example, if you put “chocolate” into a search engine, you will get millions of returns. It is possible that people could wade through 10 pages of results, which they probably are not going to do, and still be confused.
Now, they will try a different tactic. Instead of one word they will enter something like “chocolate peanut butter cookies.” Now we are becoming much more targeted. If you sell recipe books, it would be more beneficial to you to choose the latter phrase instead of just the former single keyword.
Keyword Myth Revealed.
When it comes to online business development, common sense is not always the best approach, especially when thinking about keyword use. You might mistakenly think that if a particular keyword is the right one to attract customers, you should use it everywhere. So far, you are right.
This is where many people take the wrong road. You don’t want to be stuffing your content so that it appears to be a keyword sandwich. At one time, you may have gotten away with that, but search engines have evolved much like anything else. They are smart enough to know that a keyword is not going to appear in every third sentence as the normal course. This is keyword stuffing.
Keyword Density.
A typical search engine is difficult for the average person to understand as it is composed of a tricky mix of algorithms. All we need to know is that the robots will do what they’re supposed to do. They search for keywords that are entered into the search box on thousands and thousands of sites, blogs and the lot, indexed all over cyberspace.
The calculation of keyword density tells us how many of those words appear within a specific piece of text. As an example, a 500 word article should contain a given number of keywords appropriate to that piece of text. So-called Internet experts used to say that “safe” keyword density was anything between 3 and 10%.
Search engines do not think this way however, and have their own ideas about correct density. Today the figure can be as low as between 1 and 3%. This would mean that your keyword should occur only between five and 15 times in a typical 500 word article. Most err on the lower end just to be safe. After all, if you encountered the same keyword 15 times in a 500 word article you would likely think this to be strange, depending on the subject matter.
Keyword density also takes into account the number of words in your target keyword. What is called longtail online business marketing is now popular and can really focus in on your content to reach a tighter and more clearly defined market.
Keyword density is appropriate for your website development, generally. Using keywords in picture tags, as anchor text within content and as subheadings as well as headlines will also get you noticed. The content will get people to visit you over and over, but your entire website will be the linchpin that can help you gain and stay on the first page of search results.
Michelle Dale is The Managing Director of Virtual Miss Friday, a highly-qualified Executive Virtual Assistant Service which helps businesses and individuals accomplish every detail of their professional aspirations. Want to discover more about these insightful online business building success strategies? Contact VMF Today!
