Getting the Honey Out of SEO

Not having keywords is like not having bees to pollinate flowers which create the honey. Ultimately, money is the honey that internet businesses are optimizing for, and this process is achieved through the correct implementation of keywords into the content of your website.

The Importance of Keywords for SEO                                                           

Positioning the correct keywords in the text of your website will make or break your success in ranking high with Google. Keywords and Keyword phrases should be placed naturally in the content and not be forced or overly redundant to avoid artificialness to your readers. The relevancy of your keywords throughout the website will determine how well your target audience responds as well as how high you rank with Google.  Google will “see” your site as beneficial for users when keywords are specific to search queries and not too broad.

Research and Placement of Keywords

Keyword research tools and other methods has enhanced the ability to accurately choose the correct keywords that users are searching for. Securing the thorough facts and data about key search terms can also be done by traditional methods such as group brainstorming. Keyword selection is becoming more complex because of the saturation of users on the web. Single or generic keywords are becoming more and more irrelevant while keyword phrases and long-tail keywords are becoming more effective. Long-tail keywords simply mean keywords longer than the original keyword. For example, a generic keyword would be “jewelry”, whereas a long tail keyword phrase would be something more specific such as “online jewelry wedding rings”. The reason why you want to focus on both is to make sure that you cover the whole market and therefore maximize your search engine optimization results.

Keyword Density

Keyword density is how many times your keyword appears on your page, divided by the total amount of words on the page. For example, if your webpage contains 500 words of text and one keyword is mentioned 5 times on this page, your keyword density for this keyword would be 5/500 (1% keyword density). To calculate the keyword density of a keyword phrase, this is done a little differently. For example, a website about “dog training videos” and it appears 2 times on your page, where the total amount of words on the page is 500. Simply take the number of times this phrase appears on your page which is 2, multiply the number the amount of words in the phrase “dog training videos” divided by the total amount of words (500). 2*3/500=1.2% keyword density. Keyword density should be around 2 to 6% for major keywords and 2 to 3% for minor keywords. To understand the value for each keyword, you need to know which keyword phrases drive most of the visitors and convert well for you. For example, let's say you receive 3,000 visitors from keyword “x” which generates 50 orders; your conversion would then be 3.33% (100/3,000). If you notice that keyword “y” generates 1000 visitors, but only one order (0.1% conversion), you would know which keywords to focus your time and efforts on in your search engine optimization strategies. If you have optimized for many long tail and generic keyword phrases, you are most likely going to find a mixture of both in the conversion.

Citations:

• Hedin, Johan. “Keyword Research and Selection-How To Get The Most Out of Your SEO Campaign.” Training Module #2.2.2010. Marketing Ignite Co. Ltd. Web.July10, 2012.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Johan Hedin is the MD of Marketing Ignite, one of the leading SEO Reseller Companies.