Keywords And Metatags For Your Website

To make it easier for search engines to find and index your site (thus giving you a better chance of getting more referrals from Google, MSN, and Yahoo), employ some or all of the following tips:

 

Choose keywords for your website

For potential visitors, keywords are the terms they type into search engines to find what they need. For search engines, keywords are the clues they use to determine what’s on a website. Choosing appropriate and desirable keywords for your website and interspersing them throughout your content is imperative.

 

Stay consistent with your keywords

As you write copy for your website, stay consistent with your language. Search engines look for consistent repetition, not variety. They can’t make the leaps in connections that humans do. For example, if one of your keywords is auto, use that every time, not car, vehicle, wheels, or automobile.

 

Repeat your keywords or phrases

In the copy for your website, particularly on your home page, (which search engines view as the most important page) repeat yourself. Choose your most important keywords or phrases, and repeat them at least five times on your home page.

 

Insert keywords into your headings and subheadings

Search engines pay special attention to headings and subheadings on webpages, which makes this a clever place to insert keywords. Don’t have any headings? Take the time to go back and edit them into your website content.

 

Incorporate keywords into your links

With ease, you can slip keywords into the links on your website, which also helps catch the attention of search engines. For example, if you’re an accountant who offers a free “Budgeting Check-Up,” instead of using the customary “Click Here For More Information,” you could have the link read “Click Here For A Free Budgeting Check-Up.”

 

Write separate metatag titles for each page of your website

Metatags are coding tags on your webpages that tell search engines about the content of your page and how to index the page. Your metatag titles appear in a bar at the top of the browser window, at the top of the printed page, and in behind-the-scenes coding on your site. To conform to search engine guidelines, your metatag titles should be 65-82 characters (including spaces).

 

Write separate metatag descriptions for each page of your website

Your metatag descriptions show up as the description a search engine uses when it displays your page as one of its listings, as well as in behind-the-scenes coding on your site. Your metatag descriptions should be 160-200 characters (including spaces).

 

Write separate metatag keywords for each page of your website

Your metatag keywords can be any length, but aim for 300-500 characters, (including spaces). Highlight your products and services, or your features and benefits in your metatag keywords. Most search engine experts agree that keywords in the keywords section of your metatags currently have little impact on search engine optimization. Yet, the experts advise that you include them anyway.

 

Follow these simple keyword and metatag tips, and you’ll be well on your way to optimizing your site for search engines.

 

Copyright 2009, Jennifer Croft