Call me a hedonist, but I like more—more chocolate, more fun, more gusto. “Who doesn’t?” is what I say. When it comes to information (“content”) your website visitors like more too and so do search engine spiders. Spiders? Keywords? More content? What am I talking about? Here's a simple summary:
Spiders are automated programs that search the web to find web pages and categorize them by topic. Their purpose is to help people who are searching for certain information ("surfing") to find that information. Spiders aren't very smart so they need to be told exactly what your site is about. That's where keywords (and keyword phrases) come in.
Keywords and keyword phrases are the words that people type in when they surf at search engine sites like google.com, yahoo.com, msn.com, and altavista.com, to name a few. And keywords are what your website needs to have on it so the spiders know what your site's about.
For content, I’m talking about “keyword rich content”—the good stuff. The spiders compare how frequently they see certain words on your website to the words people are using to surf. This is how spiders decide if your site will satisfy the web surfer's need for information. This decides whether or not your site will come up on the list of suggested sites as a search result.
So many websites have way too little content. I guess the websters who own those sites just figure that people will assume what they’re about…or something. It doesn’t work that way. So, here are some tips on keywords and how to use them on your website.
Tip #1: Identify 3-5 top keywords per web page that you are going to focus on and use them frequently.
Keywords are how your visitors search for you. How do you know which ones to use? You can view your web host info to find out how people are finding you now. You can brainstorm words that you think people could be using to find you. You can look at competitor sites and see what words they are emphasizing.
You can also use keyword analyzer software to help you. Get creative, but figure it out and focus on using keywords when creating content. Once is not enough. More is better.
Tip #2: Put 250-400 words of content on your home page. (Yes, that much and yes, on your home page)
When search engine spiders come to visit your site, they want to know what your website is about. It’s how they send visitors to you. And, spiders are just not very bright at all. You have to tell them clearly and consistently what the theme of your website is.
Once you’ve chosen your keywords, use them skillfully. Weave them in. State the obvious. Saying “my quilting site” is better than just “my site”. Saying “I make affordable, custom bridal gowns” has more keyword punch than “I sew dresses”.
One word of caution here—don’t jam pack sentences with keywords just for the sake of it. Too many keywords listed over and over again without any logical reason will be considered spam. Just be sure to give substantial information that is focused on your site’s main purpose and you’ll be fine.
Tip #3: Make all of your links contain your keywords
Include your keywords in all of your links’ text. Everyone has navigation links that lead to the other pages of their website or to other websites. Everywhere you have links, use descriptions with keywords in them.
For example, my mother has a site about learning to play the ukulele. Instead of just having links like “lessons, groups, sheet music” for her pages, she would instead use “Ukulele lesson”, “Ukulele groups” “Sheet Music for Learning to Play the Ukulele”. It’s a great way to include her main keyword, ukulele, much more frequently on her site.
What about links inbound to your site from other people? Your keywords should be in those links too. How do you do that? You ask and if they don’t know how to do it, you give them the actual code. It’s courteous and ensures that your keywords get in there. Again, using my mom’s ukulele site, instead of a link of “click here to go to Joyce’s site”, using “Click here for online ukulele lessons” is better. Am I making sense? I hope so because this can greatly help spiders figure out what you are all about and ultimately get your more visitors.
I know these are only a few keyword tips, but if you take this week to actually put into practice what I am saying here, it will make a difference. Doing more, not just learning more, is how to get it done and the first step is showing up. So, get to it!
For your free keyword analyzer, go to overture.com
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Contributor's Note
The tips are designed to help the Internet newbie. I hope you enjoy them!
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