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Choosing Keywords Efficiently for SEO

16 Rules of Thumb

(page 2 of 2)
Published on: December 21, 2006

There are some basic rules that you need to follow when choosing keywords in order to receive relevant traffic on your web site:
  • Don't use single words. Phrases are better than words.
  • Be relevant. Make sure that the description of your web site reflects what you have to offer.
  • Be a mind reader. Try to anticipate your prospective visitors' needs and meet them.

  • Be specific. Choose keywords with a narrower focus to face less competition.
  • Localize your keywords: make use of your geographical location, but avoid getting too specific. Also, be aware of the differences between words in different locations (e.g. elevator (US) - lift (UK), sweater (US) - jumper (UK)). Perform your optimization process accordingly to get the best results.
  • Choose a primary keyword for which to optimize your web page, and some secondary keywords that can be helpful in increasing the number of your potential visitors who use them in their search.
  • Use the available keyword research tools. They can be of great help, but don't neglect your own abilities.
  • Test your final list on Google (home page). It's time consuming, but it's a must. Otherwise you will end up using keywords that have very little chance of ranking at least reasonably well in search engines.
  • Make sure you use 3-4 different (but related) keywords on each of the pages of your web site. This approach has been proven to be quite successful.
  • Pay attention to your keyword placement. The best places in the HTML layer are title tags, header tags, ALT tags, anchor texts, bold/italic tag content, URLs, meta-tags and comments. You can use Page Primer, a tool that "gives you detailed, customized tips to boost your search engine ranking by analyzing your page and providing personalized recommendations for your individual pages".
  • Don't overlook misspellings of your selected keywords. Add them to your list.
  • Review and rewrite your site to include the keywords you have selected.
  • Use an internal site search function if you have a large site. Your visitors will navigate and find the info they're looking for much easier. You can also see exactly the terms they're searching on.
  • Check keyword density (how many times a keyword is used on a page divided by the number of words on that page). Theoretically, the higher it is, the better, but this could turn against you. You could risk getting penalties form search engines.
  • Target highly searched terms that have as little competition as possible. Nevertheless, if you happen to find a keyword with little competition, don't include it on your web site just for this reason alone.
  • Focus on the conversion rate: the percentage of Internet users that perform searches using the keywords that you have selected and convert into buyers (of goods or services).
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Finally, make sure that you have seen this process through, and that you haven't overlooked any of the steps and procedures that are recommended for SEO. And don't forget that less traffic with more sales is always better than more traffic with fewer sales.
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Comments (2)
Michelle says:
February 23rd, 2008 at 5:41 am

For your keyword research try using KeywordSpy.com - a keyword research technology that will help you know what keywords your competitors are using and how it generates money for them, you can use those keywords to drive traffic to your site and give your business the exposure it needs. It offers Free trials.- http://www.keywordspy.com/
Web SEO says:
April 10th, 2009 at 1:38 pm

yes search engine optimization is a permanent business for you but depend on seo all over trick..if you use correctly and right way use then you can get more money.because SEO most important thing is a keywords research if you search related keywords...and my opinion google adwords is all over search keywords best tool..

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