Successfully Optimize Your Website with Keywords

Developing a website that interests the search engines is not as difficult as it seems. Creating a search engine optimized website is essential if you want to create a solid stream of internet traffic. Successful optimization designs the webpage in a way that it is visible to the search engines through the proper use of keywords. The most challenging aspect of optimizing your website is ensuring that your website content caters to both search engine spiders and your website visitors. Here are basic website optimization activities you can utilize to ensure that your website is more attractive to search engines and to your customers.

Utilize Keywords TITLE Tag

Place keywords in your TITLE tag. Use keywords within the TITLE tag at least once. Keep the keyword at the very beginning of the title tag. A good rule of thumb is to identify the copy’s general content by placing a title tag at the top of each page.

Keywords at the Top

Once prominently near the top of the page. Utilize your primary keywords near the top of the page, especially within the header tags. Some websites give extra credence to text positioned within header tags when calculating Page Rank (PR).

Keyword-Rich Copy

Strategically place keywords throughout your body copy. Using keyword-rich content is the critical to presenting well with search engines. Use important keywords 2-3 times, including keyword variations, within the body copy. Try not to repeat a single keyword phrase more than 3 times within the text on a single page. Excessive keyword density may trip search engine spam filters. A rule of thumb is to use the keyword every 100 words or so.

If you do not know which keywords to utilize within your website copy, there are various software options available to assist you. One free-to-try option is Wordtracker.

Utilize Keywords in ALT Image Attribute

Use the keyword at least once within the alt image attribute of an image. This assists with web and image searches.

Keywords in the URL

Ensure you use the keyword once within the URL. Certain search engines highlight the search terms on the search engine result pages (SERPs) anywhere they transpire. This includes the URL.

The Important META Description Tag

Use the keyword once within the META Description tag. This tag is not used by search engines for rankings. The META Description tag describes your website in the search engine results page (SERPs). This is vital to getting “discovered” by search engines.

Inspect Your Website

Inspect your website frequently after updates. Make sure that you do not have any broken links. Occasionally, links will become broken giving your webpage an “Error 404” message. Having “Error 404” messages does not weigh favorably with search engines.

Do Not Spam

Using too many keywords on your website can be just as damaging to your website ranking as not using enough. Website spam is defined as the exploitation of a webpage in order to give it an artificial boost in search engine rankings. Generally, spam is individually defined by each search engines.

While it was previously used to assist in proper optimization of websites, META keyword tags are no longer used for indexing by search engines. Using META keyword tags now can signal spam by particular search engines.