This week's tip comes from the "Ask Bob" form.
QUESTION:
Bob, I've read your keyword info, but can't find the answer to the following. How many of the same word can I include in my keywords.
ANSWER: Unfortunately there is no right number. With at least 100,000, ( up from 30,000 last year) new websites going on-line every day, it's no wonder that it's difficult to get a top ten placement.
The search engines don't follow any rules, THEY MAKE THE RULES. They are independent and in every case they will list sites according to their needs not yours. They don't publish their priorities so it's up to us to figure it out.
Most search engines allow you to use the same word in combination with other words as long as the words you use accurately reflect the actual content on the page itself. In most but not all search-engines you can usually get by with up to 7 instances of the same keyword. Just don't use the same keywords over and over anywhere on your pages.
Search engine placement professionals often understand ranking formulas. They are selling their time, often for hundreds an hour to corporations. They can't really guarantee they can get you the ranking you need.
The keywords should reflect the content of the specific page NOT the content of the website.
You want to actually USE the important keywords in the page itself as well as the Meta code. I would suggest choosing one word phrase to concentrate on for each page. If you use 10 keywords your keyword density will actually be reduced overall with each additional word.
In order of importance, use your keyword phrase in combination with your most important keyword several times. FOR EXAMPLE:
TITLE: Use your keyword phrase as the first word in the title; use it twice in the title in combination if possible. The longer the title is the less effective your keyword will be. Several search engines look to your title to establish your keyword density. Your title can range from a single word up to 12 words is OK depending on the specific search engine.
DESCRIPTION: Again use your most Important keyword early in the page description. Keep your description short, 25 words is good 20 words is better. Use nouns (person, Place or thing) as keywords if possible, nouns usually carry the most weight. The search engines don't want to waste the user's time reading listings, they want to send you as directly as possible to the information you seek.
KEYWORDS: Using your keywords in your keyword Meta tag is not as important as it once was. For example you will find that many top sites in Alta-Vista don't use Meta tags, they index the entire page and determine ranking. Be careful not to use keywords that are NOT to be found on your page. Use your main keyword in 3-6 phrases. The search engines will remove pages that overuse a keyword. You may use several spellings and in combination in other phrases.
Use keyword phrases someone might actually type in. Sometimes a common misspelling of a keyword will get you more traffic than the correct spelling because there are fewer people that spell a word incorrectly, Incorrect spelling has been very helpful to me. Use common incorrect spellings in the keyword section and use as many derivatives of the same word as possible. You may also use connecting words like "how-to" that may be typed in the search engines, however don't over-do it as many search engines ignore many common words, "a, the, and, etc.
HEADLINE: Your headlines, especially your first headline and your biggest headlines are usually an accurate description of your page's content. Use your important keywords in the headlines.
BODY TEXT: When you proofread your page look for opportunities to work in your keyword or phrase. The first paragraph is the most important place on the page to include your keywords. The first paragraph may be a more important in ranking than the Meta tags.
IMAGE ALT TAGS: You can use your keyword phrases in your image's alt="tags". This technique is often overlooked however the results can be very helpful.
COMMENTS: Putting your keywords in HTML comments on your page still works but only in a few search engines.
INVISIBLE TEXT: Placing keyword phrases in the same color as the page background is considered spamming (keyword stuffing) by most search engines, some people get around this by changing the color VERY slightly from the actual background color in your page. I list it last because it's the least effective. In fact it may result in the search engine's dropping your pages, even banishment. If you use this technique be very selective in your choice of search engines. The comment must fit the content.
YAHOO
Yahoo is the number one search engine used. This is partly because Yahoo's editors review each website in person. People have become accustomed to finding quality content using Yahoo searches. Submitting to Yahoo may seem difficult, and you MUST read and follow their submission guidelines to the letter in order to get listed. It usually requires several weeks to get your site reviewed.
Only submit your main index.html file to Yahoo and don't submit it over and over, Yahoo will remove pages that are submitted too often, they want you to edit your existing listing rather than resubmit it. It's a good idea to start your title with a number or a word that starts with "a" as their listing results are listed alphabetically.
A good Yahoo listing is worth all the effort. Almost 50% of my traffic comes from one single Yahoo listing. Needless to say I don't change anything with my Yahoo listing.
YAHOO TIP
Recently Yahoo changed the engine they use to list results not already indexed in their directory. They are using Google's engine because they have a huge index based on "Link Density". A good strategy is to submit your pages to Google because you stand a better chance of getting found in Yahoo's results.
Google, Alta-Vista and several others are moving to a rankig criteria based on link density. Link density is a placement strategy based on the theory that the more pages that link to you the more likely the site contains good content. Content still rules on the Internet. The more content and the more popular your content is the higher you ranking will be.
KEYWORD STRATEGY IN A NUTSHELL
1) Start at goto.com to determine which keywords to use. You don't want to use the very most popular keywords. Use keywords that rank in the top ten not the top two.
http://inventory.go2.com/inventory/Search_Suggestion.jhtml
Type in a prospective keyword and you'll get back several keyword combinations and the number of times they have been used recently. For example if I type in "Internet Marketing" in goto.com I get the following results.
- 6008 internet marketing
- 357 internet marketing strategy
- 170 internet marketing consultant
- 155 internet marketing course
- 148 marketing on the internet
I would use all the combinations except "Internet Marketing." as Internet Marketing is too popular to achive a good listing.
Jim Tools also has a great tool for finding additional actual keyword phrases
http://www.jimtools.com/keywords.html
MORE RESOURCES
WebPosition.com is an excellent web-page positioning software program. The free demo will work on several important search engines. I got a great listing in Alta-Vista using the demo. The software requires going through a learning curve, however anyone can master the software and achieve great placements.
WebPosition.com also publishes an excellent newsletter. They stay on top of current trends and update their software often. Positioning strategy by its nature changes all the time. Remember there are only ten top ten positions, if it was easy everyone would have top listings.
http://www.smithfam.com/wpg/index.htm
Traffic Seeker Pro is automated submission software. It can automatically extract information from your web pages. Traffic Seeker Pro includes a program to create your Meta tags as well as a tool to spider your entire website and automatically fill out the submission forms saving me hundreds of hours.
Traffic Seeker also submits to about 8,900 Free 4 All and free classified sites. Whenever these free 4 all and free classified sites get indexed the search engines your link density ratings will go up resulting in higher search engine placements.
http://www.smithfam.com/ts.html
I have developed an archive of articles about search engine positioning strategies.
http://www.smithfam.com/1search.html
A good positioning strategy requires a significant investment of time. Its going to take time to develop a strategy, more time to implement the strategy and it requires more time to keep up to date on the leading edge strategies.
I believe that a good search engine placement strategy is by far the LEAST COSTLY METHOD to develop highly targeted traffic. Using the automated tools I still invest at least 20% of my time developing traffic through the search engines.
The reason why you will hear different experts suggesting conflicting strategies is actually simple. Positioning strategy changes all the time. A strategy that works well for one business might not work at all for another. This is because the search engines change their ranking strategies in order to deliver most accurate results possible.
It makes sense to research the search engines BEFORE you attempt to market any product of service on-line. I choose products that lend themselves to developing traffic via the search engines. If you don't think that is important try typing "free", "MLM" or "Home Business Opportunity" in any search engine and look at the number of search results returned.
Staying on top of the search engines is a lot like surfing, if you move to far in one direction and you lose the wave, too far the other way and the wave swallows you. The trick is to develop YOUR OWN long-term search engine strategy. Find tools and techniques that work; use them until they don't work as well then re-develop your strategy.
Best Wishes
Bob
Click Here to Email Bob Smith
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