Use of Keywords and Increased rankings.

Editor's notes: thought I would pass this along to my fellow bloggers. After reading this, I realize some weaknesses on my part. I.e., if I use a word once but think it important, I key that word. Apparently that is wrong - it does not represent 3% of my particular post in most instances. And that last sentence in point #5 - it is a killer for me. I do not do this. Good advise should be advice effectively received . . . . . I believe !!!!!

Keyword density refers to the number of times you weave your main keyword into the body copy. If done correctly, it will help the search engines figure out what your page is about and improve your rankings.

How long should any particular content page be? As long as needed to get your main point across to your visitors. Each one of your pages should have at least 200 words or the search engines may not even pick it up. Extremely long pieces of content are best broken up into several smaller content pages, with each page focusing on a unique primary keyword.

Here are five rules to help ensure you have the proper keyword density on your page.

Rule #1: Include the main keyword for the page in the opening sentence of the body copy, preferably within the first few words of the sentence.

Rule #2: The search engines will look for excessive use of a particular keyword so be careful about using it too often in your page. Target a keyword density of 3-5% for the body copy. You want your keyword to be mentioned a bit more than what is considered “normal English” but not so many times that it sounds strange when read back. Keyword density isn’t as important as it used to be with the search engines, so don’t worry about getting exactly 3% or 5% keyword density.

Rule #3: Try and find ways to weave in synonyms for your keyword as well. Most likely, you will find that this happens naturally as you write your page.

Rule #4: Some search engines place more weight on the opening and closing paragraphs to be sure you weave your keyword into these areas.

Rule #5: The entire topic of your body copy should focus on the main keyword (and its variants) for that page. Do NOT go off topic from your main keyword.

Source: SmallBiz Marketing Blog.

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We include this second article, as well:

Many people do not properly understand how to use keywords and it reflects not only in the lack of any real quality regarding their sites, it also reflects poorly in the lack of return traffic it will be able to generate and ultimately in the rankings on the SERP or Search Engine Results Page. Learning how to properly use keywords in web content is imperative for anyone who wishes to even have a chance at success.

One of the most common misunderstandings is that the Search Engine Algorithms only look for one particular keyword or phrase. This is not even close to being true. The major search engines actually look for relevant keywords which are listed in the relevant section of the Meta Tags and make a comparison of those keywords to the actual text of the web page itself. While it may have been true in the past that the only part of the text the Search Engines reviewed was the first and last forty words, this is no longer the case in the world today.

It is still very important to have primary keywords and keyword phrases on the web page but they do not have to be as limited as they once were. In fact, industry standards are between one and a half to two and a half percent for the actual keyword density. Anything over four percent will raise flags with the search engines and anything over five percent will certainly drag your web page in for a review that you will not want if you are using this technique of keyword spam or spamming. Many websites have found this out the hard way once they were blacklisted by the major search engines.

Rather than concentrating on a limited number of keywords, utilize the primary keywords and phrases mainly in the beginning and the end of the content on the web page. Throughout the article, it is much better to use the primary keywords and phrases sparingly and to fill the content with alternate phrases related to the keywords which are also searched regularly on the search engines. There are many available tools for discovering what has been searched by the people using your keywords. Use these tools to select viable secondary and even tertiary alternatives so that you can still have quality content that is not redundant or difficult for the visitor to read.

Once you can establish a writing method like this for the content of your page, you will most likely be very pleasantly surprised by the results. Not only will your actual ranking on the SERP increase for your selected keywords but you will actually see an increase in the rankings for the secondary and alternate keywords and phrases which you have selected. The entire concept of SEO or Search Engine Optimization is to increase your rankings on the SERP and drive more traffic to your site. Everything after that is simply an added bonus.

Even then however, if all of the material on your web pages is specifically targeted for keywords, it can and frequently does make the actual content very difficult for most people to read. Using the alternatives throughout the page as well allows you to write in a freer form without being redundant or making the content overly choppy or broken up in order to contain a higher concentration of keywords. Remember that while proper Search Engine Optimization will drive more traffic to a web site, only quality content will keep people coming back for more.

Content should be written freely and naturally without appearing forced or strained. Try writing your materials first. After the information is down on paper so to speak, then re-read it and see where extra keywords or phrases can be inserted without breaking up the original context or intent of the written materials. That should allow you the opportunity to maximize your writing’s effectiveness, the utilization of keywords and phrases and to do all of that without creating any problems but only better results on the SERP

Source: Web Content King

keyword, primary keywords, quality content,