Search Engine Optimization & Keyword Placement

When you are working with your web site, you always need to keep search engine optimization in mind.  You need to make the effort to use your keywords effectively in your content so that you will rank higher in the search engines and lure in more traffic to your site.  Below are some strategies to help you make the most of your keywords in your site’s content.

Where Should I Place Keywords?

After you’ve chosen your keywords for your site or for pages of individual content, such as an article or a blog, then you need to know where to add those keywords to your content so they will be visible to search engines.  There are three main places where you should include these keywords:

·         Your title

·         Your URL

·         Your content

These are the locations where search engines will look for your keywords.

How Often Should Keywords Appear in My Content?

Remember that search engines periodically change their algorithms to prevent professionals from artificially boosting their sites by learning the secrets.  Years ago, more was considered better.  Search engine optimization at that time required the keyword to be used as much as 4 to 5% (20 to 25 times in a 500 word article). Today, search engine optimization improves when you use those targeted words less.  However, there are a few strategies that you also want to pay attention to when it comes to placing your keywords in your content.

·         Use primary keyword most frequently – If you’re going to use multiple keywords in your search engine optimization, choose the one which will be the most searched for.  You should also choose 2 or 3 other words that you’ll sprinkle throughout the rest of the content in small numbers.

·         Keep density high at the top and bottom – Like most of your readers, search engines aren’t going to read your content word for word.  Instead, they are going to pay attention to the top and bottom portions of the content.  That’s why you really want those parts of your page to be packed with your primary keyword.  Make sure these parts also contain highly relevant content, perhaps a preview or a summary of what you’ll be discussing in the rest of the article.

·         Use keywords naturally – One of the biggest mistakes in search engine optimization is to force keywords into content at the expense of readable material.  If your visitors can’t stand to read your content, then they aren’t going to stick around.  You want to use the keywords naturally.  Keep that in mind when you are selecting keywords and phrases for your site.  Some are going to be more difficult to use than others.

Using the above strategies to guide your keyword placement will definitely improve your search engine optimization results.  Remember to follow the same ideas whether you are writing the main content for your site, adding new entries to your blog, or putting together a series of articles that you’ll submit for other search engine marketing efforts.