Keyword Research and Key Word optimization

Keyword optimization, the art of choosing the correct keywords, is one of the most important things related to search engine optimization. Sadly, it's also one of the things people tend to spend too little time on. They think up a few keywords quickly, optimize their pages a bit and then submit them to the engines. This usually results in not-so-good rankings under keywords that are poorly related to the site in question.

Before you start optimizing your site for the search engines, you should spend some time in figuring out exactly what keywords, or what key phrases, you are going to target. Search engines are an excellent source of traffic, but in order to utilize them to their full potential, some effort is required.

How Search Engines Rank Sites	Keyword Optimization Guidelines
Prominence Frequency Weight or Density Proximity Placement Off-the-Page Criteria	Determine your keyword phrases Sort by popularity Refine and combine keyword phrases Sorty by popularity again (repeat steps 2 and 3 as needed) Write a title using your top two to three phrases Write a description meta tag Write a keywords meta tag Add keywords into key tags and attributes, and mix well Submit to search engines Watch the hits roll in

Your list should end up having about 50 or more keywords and phrases. You must write down every word that a person might use to look for your site PLUS words they might use to look for other related information or products. This is no easy task. It involves some research and a fair bit of thought. Remember, thousands of people out there looking for wedding gowns might not all think alike, look for wedding gowns directly, or even realize at the time that they can get wedding gowns on the Internet! To get a good list, here are the steps that you should go through. Keep your pen and paper handy so that you keep writing as you go along each step.

1. Think! Brainstorm! Sit and write down whatever keywords or phrases come to mind. Then look at your list and see what other word combinations you can create from the keywords you've written down.

2. Look at your products and services and see what words relating to them will pop up in your mind. Write the names of each product or service that you deal in. These product names will also be part of your keyword list.

3. Ask your family, associates, clients and friends what words and phrases they would most likely use to search for products or services like yours.

4. See what keywords your competitors use. See what keywords are featured on their pages and in their meta tags.

5. Be specific AND general in scope. Think of words that also describe things related to what your site is about. For example, if you sell wedding gowns, also think about other things and words related to weddings, such as honeymoon, bridal registry, wedding rings, engagements, other wedding accessories and services. The idea here is to capture people who may be looking for other things related to weddings, whether they're looking for wedding gowns or not at the time. Chances are that someone looking for any wedding related information will also be interested in knowing about wedding gowns. Get the idea? This is a powerful way of getting more targeted traffic to your site.

6. Don't forget about misspelled words. People often misspell words when they enter their search terms. Include commonly misspelled words or phrases as part of your list.

7. If your site deals with a particular region, remember to include that in your keyword list. e.g. 'Los Angeles wedding gowns' if you deal in wedding gowns within Los Angeles. A lot of people will search for wedding gowns, get a big list of returned search results, and decide to add the words "Los Angeles" (or whatever else they may be interested in) to get more specific search results.

8. Use the long and short form of words, e.g. consult, consulting and consultants.

9. DO NOT SPAM! Don't use keywords that have nothing to do with your Web site. Don't list the keyword "sex" or "free pics" just because they're frequently searched for if they don't have anything to do with your Web site. You'll only get traffic that is of no use to you anyway because surfers will come to your site and leave angrily when they realize you just cheated them. Also, search engines are on the lookout for such deceitful practices and can sometimes ban your pages for spamming. As long as you stick with keywords related to your core business, you will be fine, but don't go out of line.

10. Now it's time for some research. You need to look at what people are actually searching for on the various engines and get more phrases for your list. When doing your research, remember steps number 5, 6, and 8 above - people often misspell words, they use different word forms, and they may be looking for a lot of different stuff all related to your products.

When I do keyword optimization, I usually select one or two medium-popular keywords or phrases per page. These are my main targets, and I optimize heavily for them. Then I squeeze a few less common phrases and words into the body text, hoping that they will help the page to come up on some obscure multi-word searches.

Repeat this process for every page on your site. You should be able to create an individual, distinct list of keywords for each page. The different lists should not "compete" with each other, instead each should cover different areas. This does not however mean that there shouldn't be any similarities between your lists - it's perfectly OK to have some, but the lists shouldn't be 100% identical. It is better to have 20 good listings on different search terms than 20 good listings on the same one.