Understanding Keywords

Connectica • November 13, 2015 • SEO

search optimization company

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Why Keywords Are Important for Search Optimization

Efficient keyword research and selection is one of most valuable and effective marketing activities performed by a search optimization company. Many online businesses and websites aren’t aware that paying close attention to popular language usage and interests can help to attract more visitors: choosing the right keyword involves ongoing observation and analysis of web users who fall within the potential demographic of a website’s client base. A website’s admin may not necessarily have the time or know-how to expertly monitor trending words and topics within their field, and this is where the expertise of a search optimization company comes in!

The first step towards standing out, or coming first, in a search engine’s results is to figure out how the people who are potentially interested in your business or field speak about it. Essentially, this involves becoming familiar with the ‘lingo’, and then selecting frequently used but not vague or general keywords. It’s important not to simply select the word which is used the most: a keyword which comes up in searches, for example, 1000 times a day will not easily redirect traffic to a new or small website, as there is too much competition. Selected keywords then need to be incorporated into highly visible places, such as the title and the meta description, of a website or page.

What is a valuable keyword?
Selecting the right keyword can not only attract more visitors to your website, but will also make it easier for people who are interested in your business to find you. The first thing to consider when choosing a keyword, then, is how relevant it is to your website’s content. For example, a website which sells scented candles will not attract the right visitors if they use keywords such as “chocolate” or “candle”, but should instead find out how people who buy scented candles search for a new purchase; maybe they use words like “relaxation” or “aromatherapy”.

The right keyword is also an ethical decision, and using popular words of no relevance to the content is considered spam. Valuable keywords will usually take a bit of trial and error to locate, but a successfully optimized website should experiment with keywords regularly until they find a selection which consistently attracts the right kind of visitors. Locating the ‘right’ kind of visitors can increase a website’s profits from those earned by page impressions, to the higher numbers earned by sales.

How to use keywords
Once a search optimization company has chosen potentially valuable keywords the next step is to organize and use them in the most visible way possible. Keywords are most commonly included in the title of the page, the meta tag (which is located in the html code), and within the text itself. A search engine gives preference to the first 200 words or so of an article, and thus ‘keyword stuffing’, as it has been pejoratively labeled, will not always work to optimize a web page.

Effective optimization should include a form of keyword organization; this means that the content of a website should in some way be grouped on one level by broader keywords – like “dogs” or “cats” – and then segmented into subgroups – like “dog play toys” or “cat health tips”. Effective organization of keywords can ensure that a website is more visible in the search engine’s results across a wider range of search topics.

For more information about SEO and keywords, contact Connectica today.

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