Search Engine Optimization: Identifying and Using Keywords

When mastering search engine optimization (SEO), you must learn how to identify and use keywords within your webpages. By using keywords well, search engines will better understand what your particular webpage is about and will be able to index it properly.

The first step to using keywords correctly is to identify the best keywords for your webpage. To do so, you have to think like an Internet user who is utilizing a search engine. Which search phrases should bring the user to your webpage? Think of between three and five phrases.

With that step completed, you need to then use a keyword service to see how often each of the phrases is searched. Google offers a free service called the External Keyword Tool that works great for this purpose. Enter each phrase and notice how much traffic each phrase generates. The phrases with the highest traffic rating are the keywords you should use going forward. Once you have identified those keywords, you will have figured out the best keywords to concentrate on for your webpage!

Now that you have your keywords or keyword phrases, you need to learn the tricks of using keywords on your webpage. In the text of your page, you should write the keywords at least once every couple paragraphs. You don't want to overdo it but if you have five hundred words of content, you want to say each keyword phrase between four and five times. Make sure that you don't sacrifice readability when implementing the keywords because the human readers are still the most important element and you shouldn't compromise their experience at your webpage.

You should also put the keywords in the title of your webpage, in any bolded section headers, in the meta tags and as the alt text for any images on the page. By saturating your webpage with the best keywords, you will be using keywords as a means to help search engines when they visit your webpage.

Beware of a common pitfall when using keywords. Some webpage authors believe that the best keywords are the keywords that rank the highest. While that is somewhat true, you have to ensure that each of your keywords is related to your content. If you are caught trying to deceive search engines by using keywords that are irrelevant to your content, search engines may opt to ban your webpages from their search results.

While it may be tempting to try to mislead search engines, the best strategy is to remain honest with your SEO techniques. Besides, you should be able to always find plenty of keywords you can use to draw people to your website. After some trial and error, you will learn how to succeed with any keywords by identifying the best keywords and using those keywords properly.