Thanks
for your mails and encouragement. Many of you
have asked why your web-sites do not figure among
the top in search results when searching major
search engines for your product ? And, this is
despite using perfectly valid meta tags !!
Though there may be many reasons,
but the most probable reason is keywords, or lack
of it.
Keywords in meta tags as well as
in the text of a web-page play a very significant
part in deciding rank of web-pages in search results.
Let's look at it from the point of view of a web
surfer. A searcher visits one of the major search
engines looking for your goods or services. He
types in what he considers to be the most important
topic, or keyword, or phrase for his search. Up
come the results, ten per page.
If the keywords and phrases you have
chosen for your web-page and those of the searcher's
match - your website should be at the top of search
result - Right ?
Wrong ! There may be thousands of
web-pages, besides yours, that match the searcher's
keywords/phrases, forcing the search engine to
list the web-pages in some order of decreasing
importance/weightage.
Question - how do search engines
decide relative importance/weightage ?
Enter algorithm. Every search engine
has its unique way or algorithm (a set of rules
or instructions) for ranking a web-page. The algorithm
is based not just on keywords, but also their
arrangement or order, number of occurrences, average
distance between two, nature of pairing (key phrases)
and many other factors.
It is quite a challenge to understand
search engine algorithms and more important, use
that knowledge to ensure high ranking of a web-page.
Web experts have written hundreds of articles,
books, magazines on this subject. There are dedicated
websites on the topic, notable among them being
www.searchenginewatch.com
The
main difficulties are:
1. Search engines don't publish their
algorithms
2. No two search engines use the same algorithm
3. Engines change these algorithms all the time
In this article, we discuss some
generally accepted best practices related to keyword
selection.
1. Relevance
The first principle is that selected
keywords must be relevant. Do not use popular
keywords (known to be used by searchers often)
for attracting large number of visitors - it may
add your hit counter but not necessarily sales.
2. Specificity
Generally, the more specific you
can be, the better. On the other hand, you don't
want to use keywords that are too unique, because
no one will ever think to look for them. Use keywords
that searchers are likely to use for locating
your product.
Research has shown that when a searcher
wants to purchase something, he conducts extremely
fine-tuned searches to find it. In other words,
if he's searching for a CD title by a particular
actor, he'll search for the exact title or under
the name of the actor, rather than simply "CD."
So, while having a web page that ranks extremely
well for a very general keyword seems like the
ideal situation, keep in mind that you may get
more traffic, but you won't necessarily get more
sales.
3. Combine General with Specific
If you can only think of very general
keywords, start with a list of those keywords,
and then add specific words to each one. For example,
while 'Handicraft' or 'Religion' may be considered
too general - 'Indian Handicraft' or 'Hindu Religion'
may be specific enough.
4. Use Plurals
If you pluralize your words, those
who search for the singular and plural will both
find your site.
5. Diversify
One word alone will get a few people,
but not everyone thinks like you do. Once you
select a keyword, try to find as many words with
same meaning (synonyms) or related meaning as
possible. Use thesaurus, if necessary.
6. Do not repeat excessively
Some search engines are beginning
to filter out sites that repeat words too much
(though a few repetitions of vital keywords may
be necessary) Check submission policy of Search
engine
7. Varying Forms
A keyword may be used in multiple
forms depending upon individual choice, whims
or fancy. It may seem silly to you, but makes
perfect sense to someone else. For Example, IQ
Test, I. Q. Test or IQ-Test - all convey same
meaning but are written in different forms. It
will be wise to use all forms of the keyword.
8. Key Phrases
In a recent study conducted by one
of the major search engines, it was revealed that
over 65% of all searches made use phrases rather
than single words. So, by using key phrases like
'Indian Handicraft' or 'Basmati Rice' - you may
score over those who use only keywords.
9. Optimize each page separately
Consider the focus of each page separately,
because the search engines do exactly the same.
So, if you want top ranked pages, create content-rich
information pages that center on one or two topics
only, and use those fine-tuned topics as your
keywords for that page. If you try to target more,
your page will lose relevancy for all words concerned.
10. What keywords are your
competitors using?
Search for your competitors' sites
and see what keywords they're using. Do NOT copy
their tags or anything else. Simply review their
pages to see if they might be using a keyword
phrase that could be helpful to you.
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