1. Using the
same keywords throughout the site – on every page
This
is the most common mistake. Virtually everyone does it and it
delivers little to no direct value. Most people look at a web site
as a single entity. It is not – it a collection of web pages where
each should have it’s own objective, its own meaning and it’s own
character. If you wrote a book – you would not have each chapter
with the same heading would you? Each page of a web site
should be treated as a single web site with different keywords for
each page.
By
using the same keywords on each page you are missing a huge
opportunity to address different market needs, you are drastically
reducing your capability to be found on the internet because you
limiting yourself to one set of keywords
2. Using
Keywords that you think are right rather than using what people
actually search for
It’s
your business and you know your product and service best, therefore
you are in the prime position to know what your keywords are –
right? WRONG. It is the words that the people who are searching for
goods and services use that are your keywords.
Sometimes you can be
so close to your business that you do not know all the terms people
use. I often see it where people use technical terms or acronyms as
their keywords but the majority of potential customers do not know
what these terms are or what they mean.
How
many keywords do you have – 5? 10? 20? 50? Most keyword research
provides in excess of 250 keywords. Large organisations in the
travel industry will have thousands of keywords.
3. Use the
keywords with the largest monthly searches
Quantity. People are
always dazzled by big numbers – it is the moth syndrome – lets go
for the brightest light – it must provide the biggest return. From
an SEO viewpoint this is only true for those 10 companies
that attain the first page placing.
What
would you rather have – a large portion of a little or nothing from
a lot? I know which I would prefer. Choosing the right words to
optimise for depends on three key factors: the number of daily /
monthly searches for a keyword or phrase, the amount of competing
web pages there are for that term and finally what the competition
is doing on those key terms.
4. Only use
keywords in the keyword meta tag
Those
web designers that ask for your keywords will then put them in the
Keyword Meta Tag. (Meta Tags are the part of the HTML code that
provides information to search engines.)
This
meta tag has lost it’s importance today as it is open to misuse and
so now most search engines (especially Google) do not pay any
attention to this meta tag. The title tag is by far and away the
most important meta tag for keywords and your keywords should
appear here with the most important first.
Keywords must be used
in other areas to achieve a high search engine ranking, they must
be included in the web page copy – and in the right density and
prominence and they must be used in image ‘alt tags’.
The
secret of search engine optimisation is using the keywords in the
correct places to be able to score highly on the search engine
algorithms.
5. Do not review
keywords on a regular basis
Keywords change –
peoples habits change, the terms people use change. As more and
more people use the internet the more search engines refine
themselves. So what could have been a key term that people searched
on yesterday may not be as good (and deliver the same level of
traffic) as it did previously. New search terms can appear and
develop over time which if you are not constantly reviewing you
keywords then you may be missing an opportunity.
Regularly does not
mean weekly or monthly – quarterly reviews should highlight
significant changes.
6. Do not use
keywords for inbound links
An
effective link strategy can make the difference between a second or
third page position and a top 3 position. By including your
keywords in a link from another site and matches the keywords on
the page that it links to can
By
matching the keywords in an external link to the keywords on the
page enhances the importance of that keyword. Search engines like
this as it makes that link more relevant; and relevancy is
everything.
7. Do not
measure keyword effectiveness
Measurement is the
name of the game. Analysing which keywords are working for you and
more importantly which keywords are not working for you is
vital.
You
can measure which keywords are delivering the most traffic, but
more valuable is which visitors using which keywords deliver the
desired result – i.e. a conversion to sale. So people who find your
site using a certain keyword are more likely to order than those
using a different keyword.
8. General
keywords rather than niche key phrases - Use one word keyword –
rather than phrases
You
want to drive qualified traffic to your site not people who will be
disappointed that are not receiving what they want. You can pre
qualify people by having a higher ranking on more descriptive key
phrases.
If you
are a photographer who specialises in commercial photography then
use the key phrase ‘commercial photography’ not simply
‘photography’.
Key
phrases should be made up of three or four words.
9. Do not
optimise copy for keywords
To
receive a high ranking it is imperative that your chosen keywords
are reflected in your web site copy. When you say to a search
engine ‘this is my keyword’ then you must back this up with
evidence and the primary way to do this is to include the keywords
in your content on the specific page. Achieving the optimum keyword
density and prominence is a skill in copywriting that you should
invest in.
Over
use of keywords and you will penalised because the search engine
thinks that you are spamming. So there is a fine line between
getting the density right and overuse of keywords.
This
has arisen from a tactic called word stuffing where keywords where
hidden by using white text on a white background – the visitor can
not see the words but the search engines can. This outmoded
technique has led to search engines changing their algorithms
accordingly.
10. Use the same
keywords for site optimisation as they do for PPC
advertising
Organic or natural
search (SEO) is a very different strategy than online advertising
or Pay Per Click (PPC). By using different keywords for PPC
advertising allows you drive additional traffic to your site using
key words that your site is optimised for. It also allows you to
test keywords before you invest in optimising your site or a page
for that keyword.
However there is a
place for using the same keywords for organic search and PPC.
Firstly, to assist in raising your site ranking in the early days
or weeks. A constituent of the ranking process is the amount of
traffic generated to your site – using PPC to generate traffic on
the same keywords is a method to help achieve this. Secondly, there
is an argument that says if you appear in natural search and PPC
then one reinforces the other and the user then has the choice to
click on the natural or paid links.
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