Summary: This article explains how to integrate keywords into a website in ways that will increase the sites chances of being listed higher by search engines. The article compares two sites about Chevrolet Corvettes, one that was listed on page one of a Google search and another that was listed on page 75 of a search, and compares what each site did and did not do correctly. It gives specific examples on how to write titles, use Meta tags, and more.

Selecting the right keywords is as important as using them correctly on the webpage so that it has the proper keyword density. Keyword density is the percentage of words on the web page that match a specified set of keywords. Search engines uses keyword density as an indication of how relevant your page is to a specific search term.

A webpage should have a keyword density of about three to seven percent and not exceed ten percent. Pages that have a high density of keywords are in danger of being considered “spam” by search engines and not indexed. Repeating words or phrases are also indications of keyword spamming and should not be done.

There are several areas that you want to integrate your keywords in order to help search engines recognize your page as being highly relevant to your specific terms. These areas include the visible text, title, Meta description tag, Meta keywords tag, alt tags, comment tags, domain name, image tags, linked text, option tags, and reference tags.

Throughout this article I will be comparing two actual websites found through Google on Chevrolet Corvettes, one that was listed on the first page (Site 1) and another that was found on page 75 (Site 75), as a means of comparing how they integrated keywords into their sites.

Visible Text
The number of times a keyword is used in the visible text is called term frequency. The term frequency should not be confused with keyword density, which looks at the number of times a keyword is used in both the visible and hidden text.

As stated earlier, you are aiming for a keyword density between two to seven percent. That means you should try to use your keywords about two to five times per one hundred words. Keep in mind that you are not simply writing text for search engines, it must be readable by human eyes as well. Do not overload your text with keywords and make it hard to read. Instead, look for natural ways to integrate the keywords into the text. For example, instead of saying “choosing and using keywords are equally important,” write it as “choosing keywords is as important as using keywords.” What is the difference? Well, before I had really only used the term “using keywords,” but when I revised, I was able to use both that term and the term “choosing keywords.” Now I have naturally integrated two keywords instead of just one.

It is important that you do not try to overload your pages with too much text. You need to include at least 250 words and not exceed more than 1000 words per page. You should also consider when you use the phrase. When spiders visit your site, they read through it top to bottom, left to right following the rows and columns. Therefore, it is important that you try to use your keywords as soon as possible.

Taking my two Chevrolet Corvette examples, Site 1 had only 204 words or visible text, but they used the term “Chevrolet Corvette” eleven times. Site 75 had 4,258 words of visible text but only used the term “Chevrolet Corvette” one time, although they use the term “Corvette” 87 times in the text. They made two critical errors: they included too much text and used the term Corvette in areas they could have said “Chevrolet Corvette.”

Using the term “Chevrolet Corvette” instead of “Corvette” will open your site up to more potential searchers. A search engine is going to include all the pages about Chevrolet Corvettes in searches for Corvettes. However, pages that include only the term Corvette will be included much lower if a person searches for the term “Chevrolet Corvette.”

When constructing your page, make sure that you use headers (<h1>, <h2>, etc.) and that place your keywords inside. Search engines weigh text inside heading tags heavier because they stand out from your main text. Site 1 included the keyword twice in their headings while Site 75 did not use any headings at all.

Title
The title is not only considered by search engines, it is what they list first. Not only does it need to attract search engines, in needs to attract visitors. Make sure that you carefully construct each title of your website and have a unique title for each of your web pages.

The title tag is placed in the header section inside <title></title>. Most people simply place the name of their site in the title tag, which is not good SEO. You need to try to include your most important keywords phrases inside the title tag without listing them.

Length is also important. Google displays 66 characters of a title tag, cropping between words. Yahoo! allows much longer titles, up to 120 characters. Therefore, you are best to include a title that is at least 66 characters long and subtitle that is an additional 54 characters long. You also want to consider what will be displayed by web browsers, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, and what would be displayed if a visitor bookmarked your site or on browser indexes. Explorer displays the first 95 characters at the top of the page, the first 48 characters on its tabs, and the first 60 characters in its bookmarks. Mozilla Firefox displays at least 130 characters at the top of its pages, 55 characters on its tabs, and 43 characters on its bookmarks.

Going back to the two example sites, they both used the term “Chevrolet Corvette” in their title and placed it first. Site 75 then listed other terms that they felt were keywords without really indicating what could be found on the page, such as “video,” “pictures,” and “information.” This makes a very boring title and will not spark the interest of any potential visitors. In comparison, Site 1 gives a description of exactly what can be found on the page “pricing guides and research information at company name” (specific information is left out to protect the site’s privacy). Not only is that more attractive that a listing of words, it also includes the company’s name--something that Site 75 neglected.

Meta Description Tag
The Meta description tag is placed inside your header and should give an accurate description of your website while utilizing your keywords. Like the title, Meta description tags are listed by search engines and should be attractive to potential visitors. The description should be about 170 characters long and never exceed 200 characters--including spaces and include all the major keywords for the webpage.

Take our two sites as prime examples of what to do versus what not to do:
• Site 1: See reviews, specs, and pictures of different Chevrolet Corvette models and trims at [company name] and get our low price guarantee on the new Chevrolet Corvette you want.
• Site 75: The Chevrolet Corvette auto has been going strong since 1953. See the pics, the vids and loads of info on this high performance car here.

Notice that Site 1 includes our keyword twice along with the company name. Site 75 only uses the word one time, does not include the company name, and includes a variety of irrelevant information that does not describe the page at all. Also, while it used the terms “pictures” and “videos” in its title, it changed it to “pics” and “vids” in the description. First, it should be pointed out that there were no videos on that page. Secondly, it is much wiser to pick a term and stay with it. If you are unsure of which term to use, use a tool such as Overture [http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/] to find which term is searched more frequently (pictures is twice as more likely to be searched than pics). Otherwise, you are splitting your density for a keyword in half--which should only be done if the density is too high.

Site 75 would have been better off with a description such as “A history of the Chevrolet Corvette, provided by Company Name, with pictures and details about Chevrolet Corvette models C2, C3, C4, C5-R, C5 Z06, Blue Devil, C6-R, Z06, ZR-1, Grand Sport, and Z06-R.” This not only includes the keywords, but also indicates more specific model information that a searcher might be looking for.

Meta Keywords Tag
The Meta keywords tag should never be longer than 1024 characters or repeat any word more than seven times. Try to avoid using single keywords. Instead, look for more descriptive phrases to use on your page. Remember, these should be words that you include in the visible text of the page.

Take our two Corvette sites as an example:
• Site 1: Chevrolet Corvette, 2007 Chevrolet Corvette, new Chevrolet Corvette, used Chevrolet Corvette, Chevrolet Corvette research, car research, new cars, used cars, Company name
• Site 75: Chevy, Chevrolet, Corvette, Stingray, Classic Car, Muscle Car, Auto, Automobile, Vehicle, Car, Sports Car, USA

Site 75 makes the mistake of including generic words into this tag. Generic words should only be used with modifiers. Notice how Site 1 uses keywords of “new cars” and “used cars” while Site 75 includes the keyword of “car.” Sure, Site 75 includes better keywords such as “muscle car” and “classic car” but it fails to use them anywhere in the 4,258 words of text except as a caption for the picture. The rest of the page goes on to talk about other models of Corvettes--ones that are never mentioned in the description. It also fails to use the terms USA, Chevy, or car, and only used the terms Chevrolet and auto one time.

In other words, Site 75 is not likely to attract many visitors. The few visitors that it does attract will probably not be interested in the information that the site contains and quickly leave.

Alt Tags
Whenever you place an image in your page, you should be able to give that image an "alt image" tag. This is what that looks like:

<img src="URL" alt="Insert your key phrase here">

Site 1 includes keywords twice in the alt tags. Site 75 does not include any alt tags on the dozen pictures included on the page. Alt tags will not move your site to the top, but it will give it a little boost.

Domain Name
Your domain name should include your most important keywords. This includes individual page names as well as the domain itself. Having an html address such as “www.yourcompanyname.com/keyword.html” is much better than something like “www.yourcompanyname.com/1234.html” is. Although Site 75 did have the word “corvette” in the title, it also included several words that had nothing to do with either the name of the company or the topic of the site. In comparison, Site1 had both the company name and the word “corvette” in its title.

Linked Text and Internal Structure
Try to include your keywords into any anchor text for your links. The anchor text is the visible part of the link. This is especially important for links to pages within your website. While you are at it, make sure that all of your web pages within the site are connected, and place a site map on your homepage. This will help web spiders and visitors find their way around your site. Site 1 understood this fact and used it on its page; Site 75 did not.

The more places that you can place your keywords, the more relevant your site will appear to search engines and the higher your ranking will become. It is important not to overload your pages and cram them (also known as stuffing) around the page. Moderation is the key to good keyword integration. While this might not be enough to guarantee your spot on the first page of a Google search, it will at least keep you from being on page seventy-five.