Keyword Selection And Search Engine Optimization

by Owen Jones
http://the-real-way.com

Keyword selection and search engine optimization are important tools in producing and running a successful web site. Before we continue talking about keyword selection and search engine optimization, I want to be sure that we all understand what the terminology means.

Keywords are the words chosen by you to define your site. They are the words that you hope to rank well for in Google. So, for example, if you want to have a web site selling 'fashion' - 'fashion, fashionable, high fashion, haute couture' might be your keywords (more on this later).

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is concerned with presenting your work - the website and any text associated with it - in such a manner that search engines find it easy to crawl and index, which enables surfers to find you on the Internet.

Let's use Google as an instance of a search engine - after all, it is the largest, most used and so most crucial. Google wants to supply its users with the best results - that is, most relevant results - that it can for every keyword entered, in order to increase customer satisfaction.

Therefore it has built up an enormous database of which keywords are on which sites. Then 'all' has to do is rank the sites by popularity and, in theory, the most relevant websites should pop up for each keyword typed in.

Now there is you, or me, with our dreams of a web site on fashion. If you make 'fashion' your keyword, you will be taking on the huge fashion houses and colossal department stores with their colossal budgets and gigantic websites head to head. Who do you think is going to win?

It is a no-brainer. You will never even get to page 20 in Google search results. In short, you will have no business. But what if you used a long-tail keyword (LTKW) and targeted your website? Say, use the LTKW 'fashionable plus size black dresses' and build a web site on that. It may be a keyword that no one else has considered.

This is why keyword selection is important and there are numerous books and articles written on it. It is a precise task, a bit of a slog, but some people, like me, really enjoy it. Or you could automate the job.

So, that is the first stage: finding relevant keywords to your business so that you have a opportunity of being listed on the first page of Google for that keyword. The second stage is making your web site search engine friendly so that Google can crawl it and index it for your keywords.

If you do not do this properly, Google's spiders will crawl off onto another web site and it may be a while before they come back, which leaves your web site in still water.

This piece is too short to go into this huge issue in any worthwhile way, but I will attempt to give you the most relevant pointers.

Keep your web site focused on a small range of products and define and use keywords for every item, but do not over use them. Do not repeat a keyword phrase only for the sake of it.

Make your internal links easy to find by using nav bars, menus and sitemaps.

Do not have loads of external links for your visitors to go off to, keep your site interesting enough for surfers and spiders to want to remain there.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on several topics, but is now involved with the SEO Content. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at PLR Articles

Article submitted Saturday, January 08, 2011 & read 18 times.

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