Improve Search Engine Ranking with
Correct Keyword Density
Copyright 2003 Herman Drost
If you are serious about improving search engine rankings, you
need to check the keyword density of your web site. In order to
do this you must integrate proper keyword phrases within your
meta tags and web copy.
What is keyword density?
This is the ratio of a keyword or keyphrase to the total words
(depth) on a page. It is one of the most critical aspects of search
engine optimization. To improve search engine ranking, your
keyword density must not be too high or too low.
Try to aim for a keyword density of 1% to 7%. To achieve 1% you
would need to insert your keyword or keyword phrase once for
every hundred words. If you only used your keyword once in one
thousand words, this would result in diluting your keyword
density.
Don't try to stuff all your keywords together, separated by
commas. Search engines may see this as spam, penalizing your
rankings.
How to improve search engine ranking
The best way to achieve good rankings, is to research the
appropriate keywords or keyword phrases related to your web copy
before you even begin building your site.
If your site is already built and it's on the Internet, you may
want to consider reviewing the keywords and make the necessary
changes to your meta tags and web copy. It makes no sense to
have a site that is not targeted to the right audience and
expect high search engine rankings.
If your site has a lot of graphics or flash and is short on
content, you should consider redesigning it. Search engines love
content rich pages, so use images and flash sparingly.
1. Use the Wordtracker or the overture suggestion tool to research
your keywords. These tools will show you how many times
a particular keyword was searched for each month. It's no point
including keywords in your web pages that nobody searches on.
2. The best keywords you SHOULD include on your site, are those
that are very popular (high number of searches when using the
tools above), but have a low number of competing web sites.
3. Select two or three of your most important keywords related
to your business and try to use them 3-7 times for every 100
words in your web copy.
4. Incorporate these keywords or keyword phrases in your title,
description meta tag, keyword meta tag, alt tags (words that
describe your images) comment tags, heading tags and main text
of your web copy.
Search engines will spider the heading tags in your web copy
first (H1, H2, H3) because these stand out from your main text.
5. Write your web copy so that it not only satisfies the search
engines but also is compelling enough for your web site visitors
to read (don't make it sound weird to read or obvious you are
just writing for the search engines). Repeat your keyword phrase
or combinations of them every few sentences.
6. Write at least 250 words (or longer) for each of your web
pages. Search engines will spider the text near the top of the
page, rather than at the bottom. Therefore include your keywords
in the first 250 words on your page.
7. To avoid making your text hard to read, split your paragraphs
into 2 or 3 sentences or make use of bullets.
8. Avoid using words that may be popular, but are not related to
your site (i.e. sex). This will not improve your search engine
ranking and will only frustrate your visitors who are searching
for relevant content.
9. Keyword density analysis - use a keyword density analyzer to
check the keyword density of your web pages. This will tell you
if you have used too many or too few words in your web copy.
http://www.keyworddensity.com
10. Realize that not all search engines treat keyword density
the same. Some will only place significance on keywords in your
title, meta tags and web copy. Google (the most important search
engine), places the most significance on keywords in your web
page text.
Conclusion:
Achieving optimal keyword density throughout your
web pages, will dramatically improve search engine rankings,
therefore boosting your web site traffic. Try it..you will be
pleasantly surprised!
