Where to Place Those Keywords?

All your hard work has paid off and your list of winning keywords is finally ready. This article covers all the possible places (on-page optimization) where you will need to place those keywords on the pages you want to optimize or tweak up for better rankings in search engines.

There are many conflicting views on this one but logically I have always felt that you should focus one keyword per page only.

Imagine a highly focused page where the keyword is strategically placed in a well written and captivating title , in the beginning of the description tag, in the keyword tag, and other meta tags like H1, H2, link text, and in the body content (keyword weight, every 100 words place keyword appropriately into the content) of that page.

Now is that not better than confusing the search engines with a page that contains six to seven keywords with some keywords placed in the Meta tags and body content. No there are sites with multiple keywords on the homepage that are ranked high, but keep in mind off-page factors like link building that influence rankings as well.

In SEO, we learn that there are always exceptions to the rule (eventually the search engines will become better at removing pages that are not up to mark or using spam), but we are not discussing exceptions cases here but rather those who are serious about their online business.

It's a healthy combination of on-page and off-page factors (link building) that will eventually determine your search rankings so it's best to maintain best SEO practices with long term view.

Let's get started to find relevant places to place your keyword to boost your rankings.

1. Use the keyword in the domain name if possible. Now that may not be possible for many who have existing domains that don't contain the keyword. You can also set up sub-domains with the keywords. Having the keyword in your domain or sub-domain is a good strategy to have to ensure rankings of your keywords.

2. Use keyword in the page name. Eg if your page is About us, rather than having a page /aboutus.html you can create /keyword.html. Use hyphens (-) rather than underscores (_) while naming your pages.

3. Make sure your keyword phrase appears in the beginning of the title and description tag. There are times where placing the keyword somewhere in the middle of the description tag is better, or even placing keyword twice, so don't hesitate and try some combinations. Make sure the title and description reads well and is captivating enough.

4. Use keywords in Meta tags like keyword, H1, H2 (heading tags) etc.

5. Use keyword in the Link text (internal and external links that describe the link to your website).

6. Use keywords in the body content. The first 25 words of your content should be keyword rich and then use the keyword phrase across the remaining content maintaining ideal keyword weight (As a generally rule use the keyword once every 100 words).

7. Check to see where your competition is placing those keywords, in which Meta tags, at what position etc.

The key to success with rankings is to focus and fine-tune your pages so that the content of the page revolves around the keyword.

Note: Be careful not to overstuff your page with keywords as the search engines will label pages that have keyword stuffing as spam. Be moderate!

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