| Choosing the right keywords for a website is an | | | | search engine will find your website in its database and |
| important and informative research task. In the process | | | | display your website in their results. Second, the |
| of improving your website you’ll learn a lot | | | | website title will catch the surfer’s interest as |
| about your industry and your competitors. | | | | they see their search criteria matching your website |
| Keywords are one the main factors that come into | | | | title. Over-stuffing the title with keywords makes the |
| play in the algorithms used by major search engines | | | | title difficult to read and may be seen as abuse by |
| like Google, Yahoo, and Windows Live Search. If a | | | | search engines. The website title is updated by |
| web surfer is looking for home decorating tips and | | | | changing the text located between the opening and |
| types ‘home decorating’ into a search | | | | closing title tags, in the header of the HTML code. The |
| engine, it will search its database for websites that | | | | title length should be kept to handful of words. The |
| contain that phrase and those individual words. | | | | website description allows more space for describing |
| Selecting the correct keywords | | | | your products and services. |
| If you are an expert in your field, you know what your | | | | Website Description |
| customers are looking for. Specifically, you know many | | | | As with the website title, the website description should |
| of the words and phrases your customers would use | | | | also contain a variety of keywords. Unlike the website |
| to describe your products and services. Start with | | | | title, the website description is not visible on any part of |
| what you know. | | | | the website itself. The description is the summary |
| Write out a list of phrases and words that describe | | | | information you see in search engines results, displayed |
| your business. If you have a home decorating business | | | | below the website title. The website description gives |
| you may think of words like ‘interior | | | | you a little more space to describe your website and |
| design’ and ‘furnishings’. Sort your | | | | your products and services. Again, be sure that your |
| list so that the most common phrases are on the top | | | | description is easily readable for your visitors, in order |
| of your list. | | | | to attract them to click your site title. The website |
| You will now want to cross-reference the list of | | | | description can be updated by changing the text in the |
| keywords that you have compiled with other lists | | | | description meta tag, in the header of the HTML code. |
| generated for your industry. This will bring to mind other | | | | Website Keywords |
| keywords that you may not have thought of. I | | | | Along with the title and description entries in the HTML |
| recommend using a popular web-based keyword | | | | code, there is also an area to define a set of |
| research tool named Wordtracker ( Wordtracker | | | | keywords that you’d like to associate to the |
| helps identify additional keywords and phrases and | | | | page. This is called the keyword meta tag. Keywords |
| offers a free trial of their service. It provides only a | | | | are entered as a comma separated list. The industry |
| limited number of related words, but is still a great | | | | consensus is that the keyword meta tag is currently of |
| starting point. Searching for related keywords for | | | | little or no use with today’s major search |
| ‘home decorating’ with Wordtracker | | | | engines. However, search engines continue to |
| produces a list of keywords like 'home', 'decor', | | | | recommend their usage. |
| 'decorating', 'home decor', 'furniture', 'design', 'interior', | | | | Website Content |
| 'interior decorating', 'art', 'wall', and 'fabric'. | | | | This brings us to the meat of our website, so to speak. |
| Other keyword tools, which produce similar results, are | | | | Our chosen keywords should be used throughout the |
| also available. These include, among others, the | | | | website content where it makes sense. Again, |
| web-based tools provided by Yahoo (Overture) ( and | | | | over-stuffing page content with keywords so that the |
| Google ( | | | | message is unnatural can be detected by search |
| After compiling and merging the various lists of | | | | engines. A good practice is to use the keywords to |
| keywords, you’ll be ready to move on to the | | | | make the page content more descriptive. For example, |
| next step. | | | | a pet store may sell a variety of pet foods. This can |
| Using the correct keywords on your website | | | | be written in a descriptive manner, such as, ‘dog |
| Now that you have a clear picture of which keywords | | | | food and cat food’, instead of using ‘dog |
| web surfers may type into their search engine to find | | | | and cat food’. In this example the keyword |
| your business, you need to be sure your website | | | | ‘food’ is used twice. |
| contains these important keywords. | | | | Headings and Hyperlinks |
| A strategy is required when updating your website to | | | | Special attention should be given to the usage of |
| include the keywords in your list. Starting at the top of | | | | heading tags and anchor tags. Keyword usage in page |
| your list, quickly review the keywords. Think about | | | | heading is more valuable than keywords used in a |
| which keywords would naturally be present on your | | | | paragraph of text. The same can be said with anchor |
| website and which keywords you probably | | | | tags (a.k.a. hyperlinks). Using keywords as the clickable |
| wouldn’t use. Using the first list of keywords, | | | | text of a hyperlink is very valuable. |
| you may now start reviewing the different sections of | | | | Keyword Density |
| your website. | | | | Keyword density refers to the percentage of |
| Your selected keywords should be placed in various | | | | occurrences of your keywords compared to the other |
| areas of your site with the proper frequency. Your | | | | text on the web page. Keyword density tools such as |
| website content should focus on making sense to your | | | | Webconfs.com’s Keyword Density Checker ( |
| visitors, not fed with keywords that will hopefully | | | | provides a visualization of the main theme or message |
| improve your search positioning. Search engine | | | | on a chosen page. This tool counts the number of |
| algorithms can detect the over use of keywords, | | | | times each word is repeated on the page, which is a |
| which can negatively affect your positioning. | | | | good test of how you’ve done at inserting |
| Let’s now look at different areas of your | | | | keywords to optimize the content. It is also a good |
| website. | | | | representation of how search engines will see your |
| Website Title | | | | page. ‘More is better’ is not the most |
| Every website has a title. This is not a website logo or | | | | effective keyword density goal. Although the optimum |
| a bold heading found on the top section of a website. | | | | keyword density is much debated, having some |
| The website title is displayed in the web | | | | balance is definitely in order. A density below 1% |
| browser’s title bar. This is the top most area of | | | | makes it difficult for a search engine to understand |
| the window located to the far left of the | | | | your main message, where a density over 5% will |
| window’s minimize, maximize, and close buttons. | | | | start to make the content appear unnatural. At this |
| The website title is also the text that is displayed in | | | | stage in website optimization, the page content can be |
| search engine search results, which is often in a larger | | | | continually edited while the keyword density is being |
| font and underlined. The website title is the first thing | | | | re-checked. Continue this process until your keywords |
| that a web surfer sees when performing a search. | | | | are among the words with the highest density. |
| Web surfers quickly scan through search result | | | | Conclusion |
| website titles to evaluate which website will meet their | | | | Choosing the correct keywords for your website is a |
| needs. This is your first opportunity to grab their | | | | must. Website keyword optimization is not rocket |
| attention. | | | | science, but it must be implemented carefully. By using |
| A website title should contain as many of your | | | | the correct keywords, not only will your site be |
| keywords as possible, while maintaining easy | | | | positioned well in search results, but it will draw visitors |
| readability. This will do two things for you. First, the | | | | to your website. |