We know as well as the next guy that to say there is a lot on the web on maximizing keywords within web pages is an understatement.  We do a lot of reading and a lot of testing and have sorted the rubbish from the useful tips for our own resources.  And we’re going to share the secrets with you.  Here is our keywords list that we use for our own company, along with free tools, so you can check and perfect your work.

How to use Keywords in text

Follow this list but don’t overdo it!  The sophistication in google’s crawlers mark a fine line between good content and spam.  Overusing keywords will put you into the latter category.

1. Primary keywords should be in text 3-6 times (depending on page length)
2. Keywords should be in bold or italics where possible – (be sensitive to this one)
3. Keywords should be reiterated in SEO tags
4. Keywords should be used in the headline (find a balance between a snappy journalistic headline and something utterly searchable)
5. Keywords should be used in page title
6. Keywords should be used as sub headings in H2 format where possible

The key is in readability, you need to make sure that your page reads as a printed page would, meaning don’t get too carried away with any of the above steps when it comes to page content.  There needs to be an effortless flow between page content and keywords, and using bold/italics/H2 should be thought of as journalistic punctuation for key points over keyword highlighting.

Tools

SEO book has fantastic free tools for checking and perfecting your keyword work.  Visit the site and download the SEO toolbar.  They walk you through how to use it with a short video tutorial. We’ve found the X-ray function to be exceptionally useful- you can visit any web page and get a list of keywords that google is picking up.  From there you can alter your page text or SEO tags to pick up the correct keywords.  Just change the keywords in your page and keep clicking the X-ray feature until you find the correct combination.  Simple as that.

 

Related posts:

1. Five Tips on how to “amplify” your work online
2. 7 highly effective keyword research tactics – Step 6: Clean up your Research with negative Keyword Discovery
3. Top Tips for biz dev in a Recession Part 3 – Making your offer compelling
4. Tips for starting conversations
5. Top tips for biz dev in a recession Part 2. Focus on your Targets