If you have been on the internet for any length of time you have probably discovered 'keywords', certain words that can, when properly used, help to generate traffic to your website. This term actually has two meanings on the Internet.

Meta Tags

The first kind of keyword is a "Meta tag" - non displaying text within your source code that search engines use when crawling your website to determine its content. There was a time when these tags could be manipulated in such a way as to give an edge in the ranking of a website/webpage. But, these days "Meta Tags" are rarely considered in the organic search positioning of a webpage. Most search engines today value the content of a webpage more than they do "Meta Tags".

There are only two "Meta Tags" that you need to consider when developing a webpage. They appear in your source code as;

<meta name="description"> - This should be a short description of the content of the webpage. Be sure to use your primary keywords when composing your description but don't over do it. One or two sentences that are written clearly and to the point will do.
<meta name="keywords"> - Your input here is exactly what the name implies. A list of keywords that provide an outline of your webpage content, used by search engines, to rank your position in search results.

Don't think that stuffing a lot of keywords into this tag will help position you better in the search engine rankings. Multiple occurrences of words will look like spam to the search engine spiders and may actually hurt your chances for a top spot in the search results.

An effective use of the "keyword meta tag" is to list the most important keywords on the webpage from top to bottom. Keep them simple and exactly as they appear in your content.

Keywords and Phrases in your Content

This second type of keyword/phrase represents the exact words that people are typing in to search engines during a search on a specific topic. Using web savy words and phrases in your content will enhance your chances of being found on the Web. These keywords are the most important of the two keyword types.

Keyword Phrases and Internet Searches

When people do a search on the Internet they usually type in more than just one word. They will more than likely enter a phrase, composed of two or three words or sometimes more, in order to narrow down the search results. Keep this in mind when composing your content. Don't limit yourself to single words as keywords. Think in terms of the phrases that a visitor might use to find your website and include them in your content.

Keywords and Webpage Content

When a search engine spiders your webpages it is looking at the body or content text more than anything. Even though you have included your keywords in your "Meta Tags" it is the bulk of the text that the spider encounters on the document that will actually determine how the page is ranked in the organic search results. "Meta Tags" play a secondary role in how your webpage is indexed.

Keyword Placement

Page Title - When naming your webpage include your keywords for that page in the title. Express the essence of your webpage with a brief phrase (e.g. usually five to seven words) containing your keyword or keywords as they appear on the page. This is the first thing that a search engine will see.

Links - You have probably heard of something called "anchor text". It means that any hyperlinks that you have on your webpage should be worded the same as the link to which you are jumping. For example; if you link to a page on your website titled "sitemap" be sure to type the link from your page exactly as it is in the title of the page you are linking to (i.e. sitemap). Search engines give this type of link a high priority when crawling your site so use your keywords in your anchor text as much as possible.

Headings - The proper use of headings (i.e. H1, H2, H3> can be a spotlight for your keywords. As you move through the content of your page be sure to provide an outline of the text by using headings to break down the main points of your copy. When doing this be sure to include your keywords.

Keyword Density

Search engines retrieve keywords from your page contents and rank your web page based on its keyword density. Keyword density is the number of times a word or phrase appears on a web page. But, if you try to repeat them too often it will be considered spamming by the search engines and will penalize your positioning in the search results. The best rule of thumb that I know of is to have your keywords appear at the top of the page content, somewhere in the middle of the page and in the last paragraph.

- Keyword Density Analyzer

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