How To Integrate Keywords Into Your Web Site Copy
By Kalena Jordan of Web Rank Ltd
If you're reading this and your web site doesn't contain
any body text on the home page, give yourself a good
smack and go to your room without supper. When
you're ready to behave and design your site with the
search engines in mind, come back out and read this
article.
The simple truth is this: search engines read text and
not much else. You absolutely, positively need to use
text on the pages of your site that you want indexed
and ranked highly. Not graphical text that you created
in your fancy design software, but actual, visible body
text. Not sure if your site uses graphical or body text?
A good rule of thumb that I learnt from search engine
guru Danny Sullivan is to try and highlight the text with
your mouse. If you can drag your mouse over the text
when viewing it in a browser, chances are this is body
text and the search engines can read it.
Ok, so you've created your body copy and your site
pages are loaded with good old-fashioned text. But
your job's not over! Now you need to get targeted.
Search engines aren't going to rank your web site
about socks highly if your body copy talks about foot
sizes. You need to get specific. If you sell socks, then
for heaven's sake, make sure your site copy has plenty
of references to the word socks!
At the risk of sounding like Dr Seuss, if you want to be
found for big socks, small socks, cotton socks and
wool socks, then mention them all. Better still, sort
your copy into categories based on your products and
services. If you sell blue socks AND red socks, then
have a page dedicated to each kind. This allows you to
target niche keywords within your copy and meet the
relevancy guidelines for logical search queries.
It sounds so obvious, but I'm constantly amused by the
number of web sites I see selling particular items
without once making reference to those items in their
body copy. For example, there are thousands of sites
on the Internet promoting web site design services
right? Next time you see one, take a look at their body
copy. You'll be surprised how often you'll see flashy
looking sites without a single mention of the
phrase "web site design" in their page copy. Instead
they'll use fancy all graphic pages or Flash movies. Or if
they do use body text, it might include cryptic
jargonised language like "Internet Solutions" or "online
brand building".
What the heck does this tell a search engine about
their business? Absolutely nothing. Are these sites
going to be considered a relevant match for search
queries about "web site design"? No way! The creators
of these sites might think they're being clever, but they
are really missing the boat entirely. What's the point of
having a web site if you are going to sabotage its
ability to be found?
Anyway, back to you and your web site. So now you've
added plenty of text to your pages and the copy flows
well for the reader. You've researched your keywords
and phrases using
WordTracker or something similar and now
you're faced with the dilemma of integrating the
keywords into your carefully written copy.
So how do you satisfy the search engine's craving for
keywords without interrupting the copy flow for the
reader? The answer is: very carefully. Let's take a look
at a practical example. We have a client that
specializes in luxury adventure travel. Before I
optimized their site, part of the home page copy read
like this...
Continued...
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Dear Reader,
Well it had to happen eventually. Seems there is a
growing backlash against Google. Some people believe
everybody's favourite engine has worn the "Miss
Congeniality" crown long enough and are trying to
wrestle it away. Others believe Google is developing a
dangerous monopoly in the industry and have started
to compare Google with Microsoft.
But the news that takes the cake this issue, is the guy
who has decided to sue Google, allegedly because
Google lowered his PageRank score. Can you say "case
dismissed"?
Make sure you read our feature article too. I was
prompted to write it after constantly receiving emails
from readers asking me how to integrate keywords
into their site copy. Hopefully this tutorial article
(which includes a practical example) will give you the
answers you need on that score.
Enjoy this issue and remember to
visit our daily
Search Engine News Blog for the latest
industry news and gossip.
Till next time - wishing you high
rankings...
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- Changes to Yahoo Express Submit
| | |  Yahoo has changed
their Express Submit service. Express Submit is now
called Yahoo Directory Listings and there is a new
Online Account Management Center where you can
view all your listings, upgrade listings or submit new
sites, update your billing information, view previous
invoices, monitor when annual fees are due and submit
a change request.Full Story... | | |
| Search King Sues Google
| | |  Bob Massa, president of SearchKing Inc. and PR Ad
Network, has
filed a lawsuit against Google
on the grounds "the organization arbitrarily and
purposefully devalued his companies' and his customers'
web sites, causing his business to suffer financially".Full Story... | | |
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| Ask Jeeves Heads Towards Profitability
| | |  Search firm Ask Jeeves Inc. has
reported
a lower loss and higher revenues in this year's 3rd
Quarter results, pushing the company closer towards
profitability than ever before.Full Story... | | |
| Freeserve Does Deal With FAST
| | |  Freeserve, the
U.K.'s most popular ISP and portal site,
has done a
deal with Norwegian search
firm FAST for the
provision of search services to their users. The new
service, (which replaces Inktomi), includes advanced
linguistics support, classification and categorization
ability and provides many more times the content and a
freshness rate four times better than the prior service.Full Story... | | |
| Google Exceeds Three Billion Pages
| | |  Effortlessly and without fanfare, Google has passed
the 3 billion page mark of sites indexed as a result of
their last database update (affectionately called "the
dance" by us industry watchers). Their closest rival in
terms of pages indexed is still FAST, at just
over 2.1 billion pages.More search engine news... | | |
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