Improve Search Engine Ranking with Correct Keyword Density

by Herman Drost ©Copyright 2003

If you are serious about improving search engine rankings, you need to check the keyword density of your web site. In order to do this you must integrate proper keyword phrases within your meta tags and web copy.

What is Keyword Density?

This is the ratio of a keyword or key phrase to the total words (depth) on a page. It is one of the most critical aspects of search engine optimization. To improve search engine ranking, your keyword density must not be too high or too low.

Try to aim for a keyword density of 1% to 7%. To achieve 1% you would need to insert your keyword or keyword phrase once for every hundred words. If you only used your keyword once in one thousand words, this would result in diluting your keyword density.

Don't try to stuff all your keywords together, separated by commas. Search engines may see this as spam, penalizing your rankings.

How To Improve Your Search Engine Ranking

The best way to achieve good rankings, is to research the appropriate keywords or keyword phrases related to your web copy before you even begin building your site.

If your site is already built and on the Internet, you may want to consider reviewing the keywords and making the necessary changes to your meta tags and web copy. Don't expect a high search engine ranking if your site is not targeted to the right audience.

If your site has a lot of graphics or flash and is short on content, you should consider redesigning it. Search engines love content rich pages so use images and flash sparingly.

1. Use Wordtracker (http://www.wordtracker.com) or the Overture suggestion tool (http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion) to research your keywords. These tools will show you how many times a particular keyword was searched for each month. Using keywords in your web pages that nobody searches is pointless.
   

2. The best keywords to insert into your web pages are those that are very popular (high number of searches when using the tools above) but that are used by a low number of competing websites.
   

3. Select two or three of your most important keywords related to your business and try to use them 3-7 times for every 100 words in your web copy.  
   

4. Incorporate these keywords or keyword phrases in your title, description meta tag, keyword meta tag, alt tags (words that describe your images) comment tags, heading tags and the main text of your web copy.
   
   Search engines will spider the heading tags in your web copy first (H1, H2, H3) because these stand out from your main text.
   

5. Write your web copy so that it not only satisfies the search engines but also is compelling enough for your web site visitors to read (don't make it sound weird to read or obvious you are just writing for the search engines). Repeat your keyword phrase or combinations of them every few sentences.
   

6. Write at least 250 words (or longer) for each of your web pages. Search engines will spider the text near the top of the page, rather than at the bottom. Therefore, include your keywords in the first 250 words on your page.
   

7. To avoid making your text hard to read, split your paragraphs into 2 or 3 sentences or make use of bullets.
   

8. Avoid using words that may be popular but that are not related to your site (i.e. sex). This will not improve your search engine ranking and will only frustrate your visitors who are searching for relevant content.
   

9. Keyword density analysis - use a keyword density analyzer to check the keyword density of your web pages. This will tell you if you have used too many or too few words in your web copy.
   
   http://www.keyworddensity.com
   

10. Realize that not all search engines treat keyword density the same. Some will only place significance on keywords in your title, meta tags and web copy. Google (the most important search engine) places the most significance on keywords in your web page text.

Conclusion:
Achieving optimal keyword density throughout your web pages will dramatically improve search engine rankings and consequently boost your web site traffic. Try it...you will be pleasantly surprised!

Herman Drost is the author of the NEW ebook "101 Highly Effective Strategies to Promote Your Web Site" a powerful guide for attracting 1000s of visitors to your web site.

Subscribe to his "Marketing Tips" newsletter for more original articles. You can read more of his in-depth articles at: http://www.isitebuild.com/articles