Keyword Usage for Optimized Pages

This tutorial for keyword usage for optimized pages will discuss considerations for the use of keywords on your web pages.

Ever since Google and other search engines got real smart with their algorithms, it used to be pretty easy for a webmaster to get his or her web pages to the top of a search engine.

I remember that I could hide hundreds of keywords on my pages by making them the same color as the background of the page (now known as keyword stuffing). I could almost always get to the top of the old Web Crawler. Well those days are long gone and so are those old methods of page optimization.

Pages that are stuffed with keywords like that nowadays are penalized and usually completely filtered out of search results. They won't even show up.

You need to write using keywords, but you must remember that you're writing for two audiences: your human readers and the search engines. They both have needs, but you can't ignore either!

The ultimate best way to optimize your pages for keywords is to write great content that is unique, relevant to your reader, and includes keywords where appropriate.

Keyword Usage and Keyword Density

Keyword density is the percentage of times a keyword or phrase appears on a web page compared to the total number of words on the page. I'm often asked, "Well, how many key words should I have on my page?" and my answer is typlcally well, how long is your page... how many words did you use?

Keyword density is an effective way to optimize your pages, but it seems to be less and less a factor for search engines as their algorithms get better and better at the true value of a page and weigh other off page factors more than on page. .

It's still, however, something that should be considered when optimizing your web page. You need to be careful not to use too many keywords in your text (or be penalized for keyword stuffing) or to use too few keywords such that the search engine really can't decipher what your page is about and include it in the search results it returns when someone performs a search on that keyword.

So what is the optimum number of keywords and related text to include in your page to best optimize it for the search engines?

Most webmasters today consider the optimum keyword density to be from one to three percent which means that from one to three percent of the total words on the page are keywords.

Keyword Usage Guidelines and Tips

• Mix Up Your Keyword Usage
  One good strategy for search engine optimization is to mix up your keyword usage on your page. Use both singular and plural forms of a keyword. Change the order of words in keyword phrases. Use Synonyms. Add in relevant keyword modifiers.
  
  
• Include Keyphrases in Headings and Sub-headings where possible
  When writing your content, Aadd one or two keywords or keyword phrases in each paragraph, but focus on writing in a natural language. Don't use so many keywords that it to the point that you ruin your copy. It should sound natural.
  
  
• Use Keywords in Alt tags and for the name of your image files
  
  
• Make keywords bold
  
  
• Make keywords into links
  Where it is practical, turn your keywords into links. Some feel that search engines give more credit to keywords and phrases that are used as links on a page.
  
  
• Include Keywords and phrases in page title
  The page title is an important piece of information for the search engines and having your keyword or phrase in the title is important for page optimization.
  
  
• Include keywords in your H1 and H2 headings
  Search engines place a higher value on the words used in headings on your pages. Where possible, use headings and sub-headings to logically define your page and include keywords and keyword phrases in those headings where it makes sense.
  
  
• Include the keyword in the page file name
  The file name of the page is another very important piece of information that is used by search engines to determine the topic of a page and to determine your page ranking. Whenever possible, you shoud include the keyword or phrase at the beginning of the file name. You can look at it like this... you are directly telling the search engine what your page is about by including your keyword or phrase in the file name. You don't have many opportinties to do that.
  
  
• Include keywords in the names of directories and folders
  If you organize your HTML files into folders and subfolders, naming those folders with keywords may also help your page optimization.
  
  
• Vary the how the keywords are used on your pages, in page titles, file names, and in headings.

 

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