Home

By Chris Blair

If you’ve ever worked with websites, you’ve probably heard the term “keywords.” If you’re not familiar with it, the term refers to the words and phrases used to describe your organization on your site. Keywords are important because search engines like Google use them to determine search rankings. Theoretically the more accurate the keywords, the better your ranking. Keyword frequency on a site (often called keyword density) can also help with rankings. Of course website rankings involve other things, but using the right words, terminology and phrasing is important to getting found on the internet.

You might be saying, “Ok…easy enough,” but where do I put those keywords? That’s where the confusion begins. We occasionally work with companies that offer SEO (Search Engine Optimization) services. They’re supposed to help clients optimize their search rankings…but I’ll admit up front that I’m not a fan of the some of these companies.

Why you ask? Simply put, many of them don’t understand how to properly use keywords on websites. The most common myth these companies promote is recommending use of the keywords meta tag, which is a type of HTML tag placed in the source code of a webpage. It generally looks something like this:

<meta name=”keywords” content=”your keywords here”>

The problem with this advice is that it has NO effect on your search rankings and is so outdated that its relevance pre-dates the creation of Google! That’s right, search engines haven’t used the keywords meta tag in determining a page’s rankings since 1997! The keywords metatag issue is a prime indicator of whether an SEO company knows what they’re talking about. If they tell you the keywords meta tag is important to your site’s rankings, run away….fast.

Don’t believe me when it comes to the irrelevance of the keywords meta tag? Read here:

http://www.thesitewizard.com/sitepromotion/keyword-meta-tag.shtml

So let’s look at where keywords DO work. The first place is in the body copy on your site! That’s right…the best way to improve your site’s rankings is with good writing.

But before you start writing, you need to make a comprehensive list of keywords that define your business, including words that describe the company, where it’s located, the services and products it offers and the skills your people possess. Use those words and phrases religiously on your site. Use them for page headings, in body copy, in photo captions and video descriptions. Use them often (within reason).

It’s actually pretty simple stuff. The more times you use relevant keywords and phrases on your pages the better your search ranking will be. Of course, you have to use common sense. You can’t just load your page with keywords without writing something of value. I personally believe good writing on a website is more important than high keyword density. It doesn’t matter if 1000 people find your site, only to be turned off by the obvious loading of keywords in your copy.

There are also a couple of relevant code based ways to improve rankings, like putting accurate and properly worded HTML title tags on each page. These tags appear in the header of your HTML code and describe what the page is about. This text isn’t visible on the page itself, but appears in a web browser’s title bar or tab. Search engines use this tag as part of its algorithm to determine what your page is about, so it’s important to use relevant keywords and descriptions about each page in the title tags.

Another helpful code based method is to use the meta description tag. Search engines use this tag to describe your page in their summaries. If your page doesn’t have a meta description tag, the search engine simply grabs the first bit of page text and uses it for the description. So you can see how using this tag can improve the quality of the information displayed in search results. A good page description improves the probability that someone will click on your link when reviewing their search results.

Remember, most search engines read only text. So a well-written site that uses relevant keywords and good descriptions in the HTML title and description tags will typically get high rankings. So developing that list should be one of the first things you do when you’re creating or changing a site. Create a list of every service you offer and every possible phrase that might help a potential customer find you. Use the old journalistic method of asking ”who, what, where, when and how” about your organization. Think about your wording from a customer’s point of view. Ask yourself what problem customers are trying to solve and use terminology that fits the problem and the solution. Once you’ve got the list, use it to develop menus, page headings and company descriptions.

I should point out that there are excellent SEO companies out there. But it’s the bad ones that give the industry a black eye. They spread more misinformation than fact and make performance claims that cannot be trusted, such as guaranteeing a certain number of first page Google rankings without telling you how they plan to do it. Noboby can guarantee that without a plan of action and a substantial web advertising budget. SEO companies are most beneficial when companies need to target specific geographic areas or want to purchase adwords to insure high rankings.

Website development and administration is still mystifying to most people. Heck, it’s mystifying to me and I spend a lot of time doing it. So it really bugs me when companies try to take advantage of people by using the complexity of the web as a disguise. That’s the root of my dislike for the SEO industry. It’s like the unscrupulous auto mechanic who replaces unnecessary stuff on your car because he knows you’re clueless about automobiles. It sucks.

Just remember that many of the things that lead to high search rankings can be done by web developers with modest web administration skills. And good writing is king when it comes to improving rankings without spending a dime.

The best do-it-yourself information I’ve found on SEO (and website creation in general) is on Christopher Heng’s blog here:

http://www.thesitewizard.com/

And here are his excellent tips for improving your search rankings:

http://www.thesitewizard.com/sitepromotion/search-engine-friendly.shtml

If you’re going to pay for search engine optimization, probably the best thing to buy is Google Adwords. It’s complex enough that it helps to use an SEO company knowledgeable about how it works. In simple terms, you select keywords, write a search engine listing, and when people search on Google using one of your keywords, your ad appears next to the search results. So you’re in essence buying a high ranking. But it can become extremely complicated when it comes to buying in certain regions, tracking the ads etc. So a good SEO company can really help when clients want this type of search engine help.

But I have to admit that when I’m looking for unbiased information online, I typically ignore the Google ads returned in my searches. Maybe it’s because when I visit those sites, the keywords always seem only vaguely related to the services the company offers. I always feel like they’re using the keywords in a blatant attempt to drive as many people to their site as possible. It just pisses me off, so I tend to not even click on them. I prefer the unpaid search listings and find they almost always better match what I’m looking for.

It’s probably heresy for me to admit that, but I’ve talked with a lot of people who feel the same way. But obviously using adwords works since Google’s main source of revenue comes from this service and in 2008 that revenue topped $20 billion.

But if you’re a small to medium sized business, just putting a little thought into what you say on your site, and making sure you put good descriptions in a few places in your HTML code can put you on the first page of most search engine results.

Here’s another link to some common SEO scams:

http://unstuckdigital.com/8-seo-scams/

Filed under: Online Marketing on July 3rd, 2010