Twice the Keyword Density = 2 Times The Search Rankings
Day 23 of The 100 Days To Building A Great Website Guide
What keywords you target should be an important decision you make as a webmaster, but after you decide which keywords to target, how often should you use them? What is the optimum keyword density?
Once you decide on your keywords, there are two things you need to do
Google uses to main criteria to determine where to rank pages, and for what terms. They use the keywords that people use to link to you, and the keywords that you use on your page. Although you have only a little control over how people link to you, you have absolute control over what keywords are used on your page.
If you want to rank for a keyword, you have to use it
Using keywords is one of the most important things you can do when writing your posts. You should keep it in mind during every part of post writing. If I wanted to rank for “Blue Aardvark” I might create a title like “10 Reasons To Love Blue Aardvarks” and try to use the specific phrase “Blue Aardvark” at least 5 times in the post. (As an experiment, Can you link to this post with the anchor text “Blue Aardvark”? I would like to dominate that Google search)
A good rule of thumb is that you should be able to read a post, and your target phrase is what sticks in your mind. To get that phrase to stick in people’s minds, aim for using it every couple of paragraphs. Put it in plural, singular, and reverse just to hit the various combinations.
Be careful about overusing your keywords however
If you use the same keywords too much the search engine will tend to think your site is spammy. Google sets that criteria around 2% MSN and Yahoo are more lenient and go for around 5%. So try not to use a specific phrase more than one time in 20. But a couple of paragraphs between each keyword attack. When you notice that you haven’t used your keyword for a while, like the 2 paragraphs since “Blue Aardvark”, go ahead and use it again.
Even though some sites tell you to focus on your keywords like a laser, If you find yourself overusing the same keywords again and again and think that it might annoy both Google and your readers, it is ok to branch out. Variations on the keyword will help your long tail, especially for less competitive words
It may seem simple, but you’ll be surprised at how your search engine rankings will improve simply by using the keywords
on June 10th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Lets dominate it!
on June 12th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Sounds like a good plan, how’s it working for you?