Spurred from hearing ‘I have had these keyword thingies added to my site’.

Last week we compared a website without SEO to a library with no index, and keywords are where you start to put the indexing system together. Where libraries use the Dewey Decimal System to index books into relevant categories and business directories use categories in alphabetical order to allow the user to find what they are looking for, search engines work in a similar fashion, only rather than categories they use keywords.

You turn on your computer, bring up your favorite search engine and ponder for a second on the best words to type in to bring up the information you are looking for. Search engines have become increasingly popular due to the relevance of information they present the user with.

You need to carefully decide which keywords reflect your business and then incorporate them onto your website. Outlined below are some very basic guidelines of how we integrate keywords throughout websites.

Keywords in your copy: Believe it or not search engines are not clever. Your keywords need to be :

• Included in your copy as an exact match.
• Repeated naturally throughout the copy on the site.
• Included in the headings, sub-headings, first paragraph even better in the first sentence.
• If at all possible in a list.

META tags:

• The page title is the blue underlined writing you see on your search results, although the characters are limited on Google to 69 characters it’s a prime location for keywords.
• Description needs to be a short yet comprehensive summary including your keywords, you need to clever about this as it needs to grab the attention of anyone reading it to ensure they click through to your site.
• Keyword tag has no limit on length and should include all the keywords you are choosing to optimise on that page.
• Remember to make every page unique!

Make use of ALT tags:

• An alt tag quite simply is an alternative description for an image, if the images are appropriate to the site they should be appropriate for you to add a keyword rich description but don’t abuse them!

Domain name and keyword rich page names:

• Having a keyword rich domain and pages throughout the site that appropriately named with keywords.

While keywords alone won’t get you the number one spot in the search engines, they are one of the vital elements that contribute to a successful SEO campaign. As with the Dewey Decimal System, consisting of numbers, index cards filled alphabetically complete with keywords, author and the title of the book, giving the user three possibilities to find the same outcome. Keywords, a professionally built search engine friendly site and industary specific backlinks will all do the same to support your SEO and help your listings in the search engines.

Common Mistakes and Solutions associated with SEO Keyword Distribution…

Keyword distribution for SEO purposes at face value appears to be a simple concept. Distribute your selected keywords evenly across your site and wait for your ranking to rise! Unfortunately, like many things to do with SEO it’s not quite that simple and many an individual misinterprets the basic principles or quite simply gets it wrong. Below is a small snap shot of some of the common mistakes and problems associated with keyword distribution and some suggested solutions:-

1. Bunching of keywords and high density of the same keyword can have a negative effect on your site as this can be interpreted as SPAM. Use common sense when distributing your chosen terms so the content reads well, makes sense and appears natural to the search engines.
2. Poor quality, repetitive or just not enough content is bad and a common problem. A simple re-write of the content to improve flow and naturally include keywords helps the site appear less manufactured to visitors and search engine robots.
3. Extremely competitive keywords can often be too expensive to pursue so are dismissed. Don’t miss out on some bonus hits by including these terms in a ‘FAQ’ or ‘About’ pages. This will also help boost internal linking strategy.
4. Not utilising long-tail keywords to draw secondary visits is a sin as not everyone searches for the same things under the same terms. Pick up extra visits by placing long-tail keywords in the main body as well as post titles, distributed PR and relevant image alt tags allowing your site to appear for alternatives.
5. Missing out on opportunities to use keywords across the different facets of a site can quite often be a simple lack of planning. But why miss out on an opportunity, make sure your site has keywords in title tags, meta descriptions, H1 & H2, navigation, category names, post URL’s and image alt tags to name but a few. Basically there are so many opportunities embedded within a site to distribute keywords there is no need to cram them in wherever possible.

In this article I have hoped to highlight just a few of the everyday mistakes associated with keyword distribution. If your have any advice you would like to add to this post in the aim of it becoming a bit of a problem solving guide for SEO keyword distribution please leave a comment below.

One of the most commonly posed questions we get asked in the SEO Department here at Creare is ‘How long before I’m on page one’. When I hear this on the other end of the phone, I must admit I inwardly groan, and feel like quipping back ‘how long is a piece of string?’ - because this is one of the most difficult questions in SEO to answer.

There is no hard and fast answer, it can take a week, or it can take several months. It all depends on several variables, such as the domain age / authority, whether the domain is keyword rich, existing backward links, the competitiveness of the keywords…

Nick and James did a video blog on this back in January, so head over there to watch them discuss this for further information…

Domain Authority

This is important because if a domain has existing authority (trust) in the all seeing, all knowing ‘eyes’ of the Big G then it is more likely to rank higher than a brand new domain. This is because Google is there to serve up relevant websites for every single search query – so a known and trusted site is far more likely to answer the purpose than a brand new one. This is not to say it’s impossible to optimise a brand new site – course it is, we do that every day, it’s just relatively easier with an existing domain.

If your existing domain has a PageRank already then this is definitely beneficial. Although PageRank isn’t the ‘be all, and end all’ and is less valid as a ranking factor than it was traditionally, it all adds up.

Of course, a brand new domain can end up in the black hole of the Sandbox, especially if you ‘over do’ the SEO. So be careful with new domains, treat them gently!

Keyword Rich Domains

I have conflicting views about keyword rich domains – one side of me says, ‘yes, get your keywords in there’ – the other side of me says ‘it’s better to go with the company name as this looks better on printed advertising, etc’.

Suffice to say, a keyword rich domain will definitely help your SEO, but look at the wider implications of choosing your domain, because it may not be the right choice for your business.

Content is King

Yep, you’ve heard it all before, but it’s still true! Content is really important, it is what your visitors want to consume and what Google’s army of spiders crawl through. I cannot stress enough how important it is to make sure you provide meaningful and useful content for your visitors, they vote with their feet after all by using your services. This has the added benefit of being great for the search engines.

Current Performance

How your site performs already for the keywords can have implications on how quickly it will be before it reaches the pinnacle. I’m sure I don’t need to point out why.

Current Competition

You probably already know who your current competitors are in the ‘real’ world… Well, you also have competition online, do a search for your keyword. Look at the first website listed, from an objective point of view you will be able to assess whether your site can ‘beat’ the SEO on this one.

Often it’s ‘beating’ the competition that takes the longest time, if your online competitors are well optimised themselves then it can take a lot longer to ‘beat’ them.

Competitiveness of Keywords

Finally, the time it takes to reach that longed for spot is dependent on how competitive your keywords are. To borrow another advertising slogan ‘Good things come to those who wait’.

Obviously it’s important to remember that the ‘better’ the keyword (generally) the more competitive it will be. So, if your keyword choices are good, then you will have a tougher battle ahead of you, but the rewards will be sweeter.

And Finally…

Remember, SEO is an endurance test, not a sprint!

A key aspect of proper SEO is keyword placement. It is important to remember it isn’t just about the quantity of keywords. In fact, you can get penalised if you over-do the keywords. It can also look unnatural for the reader, and you must make your reader feel as though they are in the right place at all times to ensure your site actually does what you want it to do: get sales, enquiries etc.

Many people believe that if they fill their web pages with keywords then they will ‘get to the top of Google’ – this simply isn’t true. You should ensure your keywords are placed in the correct HTML tags.

Use these guidelines to optimise your page:

• Place your keywords in the Title tag, Meta Description tag, Meta Keyword tag, and if applicable in the Alt tags.
• Place your keywords inside one h1 tag,  h2 tag and h3 tag.
• Ensure your keywords are in the first paragraph of the page – ideally this should be in the first 25 words.
• Place your keywords at the end of the page – ideally in the last 25 words.
• Make sure your keywords are in strong (bold) tags at least once on the page.
• Italicise your keywords at least once on the page.
• Put your keywords in lists.

By following these simple guidelines your site should not only read better than a page stuffed with keywords (and therefore be better at converting a browser into a customer) you are far more likely to get high rankings.