Know where to place your keywords.
In our previous post, we talked about using keywords in the title tag. Below you will know the other places in your website where you should do keyword optimization.
Use the keyword in the Description Tag
The Description Tag is usually used as the descriptive text that appears below the headline in the Google search results and appears in the code, close to the Title Tag.
After the Title Tag, the Description Tag is probably the most important element of Onsite SEO. Each page should have a unique Title and Description Tag, so you should not simply copy and paste.
The Description Tag should be two to three sentences long – no longer- and here is a chance to display you copywriting skills again. Your keyword should be in the Description Tag, but should not appear more than three times. The construction of the Description Tag is different to the Title Tag and is written like this: <meta name= ‘description’ content= ‘Description text.’/>
An example of this can be found by examining the code for the Melbourne SEO Services website homepage and looking a couple of lines below the Title Tag.
It reads: <meta name= ‘description’ content= ‘Want your website to be in position #1 on Google? Melbourne SEO Services will show you how with their transparent 4 stage search engine optimisation strategy. Simple, efficient & cost effective. Click here to find out more.’/>
In the Google search results you will find:
#1 Melbourne SEO Services company
www.melbourneseoservices.com/
Want your website to be in position #1 on Google? Melbourne SEO Services will show you how with their transparent 4 stage search engine optimization…
Place the most important information at the start of your description, because only part of your Description Tag will be shown in the Google results.
Don’t follow an exact formula. Mix it up. You will see that my description is a little longer than is normal, but that illustrates the point that you should try to be innovative and original, not follow a set of rules.
Use the keyword on the page with ‘H’ tags and other formatting.
The H tags are one of the key things Google looks at when it is deciding how to index your page. The ‘H’ tags are used to create headings on your page. When you put your keyword inside an ‘H’ tag, you’re stressing to Google that this keyword is important because you’ve placed it inside a heading.
You may have been using other code for the heading. It is a good idea to replace this with ‘H’ tags. H1 should be used for the main heading and H2 for the subheadings. The format is: <H1>headline Text</H1>.
Other ways to format
Bold and italics can be used to highlight words by using <strong> tags and <em> tags. Highlighting words in this way tells Google they’re important. Don’t use this every time you use the keyword. It’s just not the best practice when it comes to keyword optimization. Once or twice should be sufficient.
Consider keyword density.
If you are writing good copy, the number of times you use your keyword in a page should just come naturally. Probably once in the first sentence on the page and then a couple of times in the body of the text would be about right. If you try to force it in more times, the usability drops away and it becomes irritating for the user to read. If the keyword can’t be used naturally, perhaps you are trying to cover too broad a topic and your content may be better split into two more focused pages.
It used to be taught that there was a ‘magic number’ of times the keyword should be used on a page. Use it too many times, and Google would think it was spam and too few times and the page wouldn’t rank. It is doubtful if this was ever the case, but certainly today, there is no ‘magic number’ for the use of the keyword and you would be well advised not to obsess over it.
The aim of having the keyword there is to help Google have a couple of extra things to give them the chance to index your site, but remember the experience of the user should be paramount.
The keyword should be used in your filenames
If you can, it is advisable to use your keyword in the filename of your page. A URL of www.website.com/seo_services.php is preferable to www.website.com/234864.php
Whether this is possible will depend on how your site is constructed. WordPress sites allow you to specify what you want each blog post filename to be.
Do not, however, rename existing web pages. Google will think the renamed page is a completely new page and you will lose any existing search engine rankings, unless you use redirects. So this would be best to be left alone, unless you know exactly what you’re doing. This aspect of SEO is not a necessity, but should be considered a bonus.
Knowing about the proper keyword optimization is just part of any web marketing strategy. Do you want expert advice on online promotion? Click here.