Keyword Placement: Page Optimization Basics
Robnant asked:
I have found my Keywords & Phrases – in order to generate traffic, where do I insert these? Are they to go inside the “Keywords†tag or simply in the copy text?
Keyword Placement: Where To Use Your Keyword Phrases
Once you choose keywords that are related to your website, there are a variety of ways that you can use your keyword list strategically to generate traffic. The actual placement of your keyword phrases on your web pages is important, as is use of keyword phrases off your web pages, so I will cover both in this tutorial…
- On-Page Optimization
Each page of your website should be optimized for keyword phrases that are specific to that page. Keep in mind that the search engines rank pages, not sites, so you want to optimize each page of your website to rank well for a specific keyword phrase. If you have a pet site, for example, you may have pages optimized for: dog training, cat grooming and parrot tricks.
It is best to choose very specific keyword phrases, and to have 2-3 phrases per page. You will often hear the term Primary Keyword Phrase – this is the keyword phrase you most want that page to rank well for in the major search engines. Secondary Keyword Phrases are 1-2 additional phrases you would like that page to rank for as well.
note: The most important thing is that your web pages read well to your visitors, so keep this in mind during keyword placement. If it doesnt make sense, or reads strange, getting a lot of traffic to the page wont give you the results you are looking for – its the actual readers that take action (subscribe, click ads, make purchases) so you must optimize for the visitors as well as the search engines.
Your Primary Keyword Phrase should be used in these places:
- File Name (ex: filename.html or file-name.htm)
- Title Bar, or the Title Tag of the web page
- Text Header, or the heading at the top of your page (h1 tag)
- Sub Headings (usually using h2 or h3 tags)
- Within the actual content on the page
- As the Anchor Text in reference links or outbound links
To give you an example, this web page currently ranks #4 for the term think and grow rich. Outside of the file name, this page contains all of the placements outlined above. (No one “on the page” element is going to “make or break” your rankings)
As for the “keyword meta tag” in the actual HTML code of your page, this is not necessary. You can place your keyword phrases here for good measure, but only your primary and secondary keyword phrases (no “stuffing” – it looks spammy). That said, you DO want to use the Description meta tag to write a descriptive sentence or two about the web page, as this will show up in the search results.
- Off-Page Optimization
Your off-the-page optimization will actually carry more weight in Google than your on-the-page optimization. While the content must be relevant and the page elements need to be in good order, what your links say about your page is much more important than what your page itself says.
To put that in perspective, lets say that you have a web page that you tell Google is all about “yellow”. However, 10 different authority sites say that your web page is about “blue”. Which do you think Google will believe? Similar to the way society views people, Google views web pages by the company they keep and their general associations.
This means that you want to pay special attention to who you link out to, and who links to you. While you cant fully control who links to your pages, you can seek out high quality inbound links that will give your page a “good reputation” and specific association with your topic.
It is better to have one link to your pet page from a pet-related page on another pet site, than to have 10 links to your pet page on general link pages on general sites. Make sense?
With that in mind, you want to use your keyword phrases to search out related sites. These established sites that rank in the top 20 for various related keywords are your best link partners, as they are most relevant.
In addition, and most importantly, you want to use your keyword phrases as the Anchor Text or Link Text for any links that point to your web pages. You will want to use some variation, so this is where your Secondary Keyword Phrases will come in handy again.
Using my Think & Grow Rich page as an example again, that page ranks in the top 5 results on Google for all three of these phrases:
- Think and Grow Rich
- Download Think and Grow Rich
- Think and Grow Rich Audio
Not only does that appear natural to Google (not everyone will link the same, except a spammer), but it gives you a wider reach in the search engines. You can now funnel traffic from a variety of keyword phrases that your target market may use.
Anchor Text (or Link Text) is simply the text that you link a URL to. The Anchor Text defines the web page you are linking to, and associates that page with a specific word or phrase. So when I link to my T&GR page like this: “Think and Grow Rich Audio“, it tells the search engines that the page is about Think and Grow Rich Audio.
Your goal is to get links pointing to each of your web pages (not just your home page!) from relevant web pages on related sites, that contain relevant keyword phrases as the anchor text.
In addition, you want to optimize your Internal Links. These are links within your own site that link to pages of your site. They might be Navigation Links, or links within content areas. While these are not as relevant as links from other websites, they do still count and should be optimized properly.
Not only does that tell the search engines what your web page is about, but it is very helpful for your actual readers as well. “Download Think and Grow Rich” is much more obvious to someone scanning the page than “Click Here”.
If you have any questions about Keyword Placement, or additional tips on where to use keywords, feel free to leave a comment below!
Best,
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Good post Lynn; this is a touchy skill but when mastered the skies the limit.
This is excellent, Lynn. You have a way of saying things that make it very clear.
Thank you!
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Thank you – glad you enjoyed it!
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
Thank you for the information Lynn. Keyword research has always been a mystery to me; this post was a huge help.
Glad to hear it was helpful
If you have any questions, there is a Market Research category at the forum.
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
Excellent! I think it’s time I utilze keywords and phrases.
Lynn,
Was there a particular reason why you choose not to optimize using the File Name (ex: thinkandgrowrich.html), instead opting for tagr.html? I’m just curious… I’m learning from you that everything is done with a purpose in mind. BTW…are you a chess player? Your writing always seems to stay a step ahead of my thoughts.
Lynn, thanks for the great article. It’s clear and easy to understand – I think I can put this to use right away!
One question – on my blog, more than one post may show on a page at a time. How does this affect page rank, since each post is maximized for it’s particular keywords?
Lynn,
This is a great post for someone that is new to keyword placement like me.
Now I know the where to use keywords on my blogs.
Thanks!
That’s only on the main page and category archives and such. Your main goal is to optimize those individual posts so that the pages get good rankings for their keyword phrase – as each post is a page of its own.
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
Good question! I created that page several years ago, and originally it was just a page where I offered the ebook as a free download. I made it a short link as I sent it out via email to my subscribers.
Later, when I realized it was getting good traffic from the search engines, I decided to monetize it and better optimize it.
The filename is something I generally choose purposely, as you pointed out, but is not a huge ordeal. It holds very little weight in the grand scheme of things – in regards to search engine rankings. So it was better to leave it as it was (already indexed) than to start fresh with a new file name at that point.
LOL Wes – Nope
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[...] All of a sudden your pages are showing up in the top 3 search results all over the place – for a wide variety of related keyword phrases! All the while your competitor is still pulling their hair out trying to get in the top 10 for that one keyword phrase (ha!). Â Note: If you aren’t sure how to optimize your web pages for certain keyword phrases, then you’ll want to check out my simple tutorial for “Where to use keywords” at: Â http://www.clicknewz.com/634/keyword-placement/ [...]
[...] Keyword Placement: Where To Use Keyword Phrases [...]
Thank you, this was very informative. I am so new to this but I found this answered many of my questions.
Glad you found it helpful John Paul – welcome to ClickNewz
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Great blog topic you got there. Hopefully someday i’ll became a good blogger too. Hehehe…
[...] you want to make sure that each page of your online store is properly optimized. Consider creating a page for each individual product in your store so that you can take advantage [...]
Lynn,
Do you have this article in EA or elsewhere so I can use it in my newsletter?
[...] Caution: Dont Over-Optimize! Obviously you want top search engine rankings for specific keyword phrases, but be careful… because there is such a thing as over-optimization. Using the same anchor [...]
[...] web pages to rank well in the major search engines for specific keyword phrases. I have a very simple tutorial on that here at [...]
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I dont, Greg – but you are welcome to link to it.
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
Thanks Lyn, I was only creating backlinks to my index page, now I will mix things up and link to other pages as well. No doubt I will see a difference.
Lynn – What a great guide to on page and off page factors to consider. I appreciate that this post is so actionable and will have a high ROI as these are skills that will maximize your blogging and site creation efforts.
James
http://Twitter.com/AskJamesHolmes
This is great advice for those that do not know much about SEO. As a Realtor, I know how important it is to my business to rank well online. I took an interest in SEO years ago and it has been a tremendous benefit to my business.
good topics Lynn, I have just started on page optimization because I’m newbie here. thank you!
FYI, make sure you download http://www.seofaststart.com by Dan Thies. It’s free, less than 100 pages, and the BEST information on search engine optimization (SEO) that you can read.
Should be required reading for ANYone starting a website or hoping to make money online
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
Lynn,Thanks for the download link to seofaststart. I have read it and about half way through the second time around. It is even better now because I feel like I know a little bit about what he is talking about.I wish I had read it a year ago.Thanks again
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