keywords are extremely important

Most techniques to improve your search engine rankings have one thing in common keywords. Choosing appropriate keywords is extremely important. Think about it: Keywords are what lead search engine users to your site.

How to choose your keywords
Choosing the right keywords is the first step to better search engine positioning. Analyze your business carefully and think of all the words that relate to your company or product.

Let's say you sell puppy food. What words would you search for when looking for the same product? Ask your colleagues and friends to think about the same question. This is perhaps the most important stage in your war for a spot in search engines' top 20.

As you think about keywords, consider the following:

1. Who needs your service?
Think about who will use your services, then target them with keywords. For example, people whose dogs are about to have puppies will need puppy food, so you can add phrases like "dog pregnancy" and "puppy health" to your list.

2. Include variations of your keywords
People will search for your site using all sorts of keywords. Making your site easy to find means including misspelled, capitalized and plural keywords. Always include the longer forms of keywords too. For example, use "domestication" as well as "domestic."

3. Avoid wrong keywords
Do not use "stop words" -- particles like "and" and "the" and common words like "Internet." Remember, the more specific your keywords are, the better the chance that people who find your site through search engines will actually benefit from its content.

What are the best places for keywords?
Click on any of the links below to read more about effective keyword placement in:

HTML Title
Text of the page
Meta description
Meta keywords
ALT tags
Comment tags
URL name

Alphabetical priority and its influence
Whether a file name starts with A or Z can have a surprising effect on a site's search engine rankings. Some small search engines still use alphabetical priority as a ranking factor. Directories such as Yahoo! and Open Directory Project list sites in alphabetical order. It's important to consider the effect of the alphabetical hierarchy as you choose keywords. To learn how alphabetical priority is assessed, click here.

Avoid spam
Be careful choosing keywords. If all your keywords don't relate to your site's content you risk being penalized for spam. Don't include "MP3" and "Pokemon" in your keyword list if you sell puppy food. Sure, it will drive up traffic temporarily, but it can also get your site rejected from important search engines.

An Overview

Keywords

* Choose appropriate keywords -- it's critical
* Include variations of keywords, such as misspelled versions
* Avoid stop words
* Place keywords throughout your site

You know that keywords should go be in your HTML title and meta tags, but did you know that you also need to place them in heading tags?


better search engine positioning > The Primary Starting Point
The vast majority of Internet users find new web sites by using a search engine.

A position within the top 20 listings of a major search engine tremendously increases traffic to a web site.

Portal Power
In recent years many search sites have capitalized on the portal trend, positioning themselves as starting points for all of a user's online explorations. The main page at Netscape.com, for example, features customizable options such as stock quotes, horoscopes, news, shopping and more. This trend has leveled off a bit with the emergence of vortals and specific destination sites. However, major portals will remain a popular gateway for many web surfers.

Because the top 8 most-visited search sites combine portal features with a search engine or directory, a good listing on one of these sites provides terrific exposure.

It's low-cost!
Online advertising, such as banner campaigns, can be quite expensive. Search engine placement, on the other hand, can be a low-cost process. Although some search engines have "pay-per-click" programs, paid submissions and many companies optimize sites for paying clients, there's no reason why you can't significantly increase your site's traffic by simply understanding and applying optimization strategy. Any webmaster can learn more about search engine optimization tips and submission procedures.

High search engine rankings can be more effective publicity tools than paid ads. A top position on a major search engine such as AltaVista can increase traffic far more than an expensive banner ad. Plus, the traffic you get will be more targeted -- it will consist of people who set out to find exactly what your site has to offer.

SearchEngines.com can help
SearchEngines.com is your complete search engine resource center. Here you can learn how to better position your site and search the web more effectively. Our content includes a complete guide to search engine optimization, web site submission and web site promotion.

Different engines, different rankings

Every search engine uses its own unique formula, called an algorithm, to index and score web sites. Search engines' algorithms weigh various factors, such as a page's design and links, to rank pages in their search results. By constantly refining and improving their algorithms, search engines hope to give their visitors the most relevant results.

Many search engines form partnerships and buy technologies to improve their algorithms. They combine many factors and place different weight on each one.

Webmasters who want their sites to achieve a Top 20 position spend a lot of time studying different algorithms. Even when several search engines rely on similar factors in composing their rankings, they may still rank the same site differently. For example, imagine two search engines both use meta tags and keyword frequency as their only ranking factors. If the first one weights meta tags as 70% of a site's value and keyword frequency as 30%, and the second one does the opposite, their results will be completely different.

Understanding ranking factors
Before you can understand how each search engine scores web sites, you need to understand the various factors they consider. These factors can be divided into two categories: page-related and outside.

Page-related factors are concerned with keywords and their placement in the HTML. These factors include:

* Format, placement and content of the title tag
* Keyword frequency, weight, prominence and proximity
* Use of the meta description tag
* Use of ALT tags
* Use of comment tags
* Use of keywords in URL names
* Alphabetical placement

Outside factors are not related to the content of your HTML. They include:

* Link popularity
* Click popularity
* Themes
* Overall site design

Achieve results
You can improve most of the above factors to achieve higher rankings. Pay attention to what your competition is doing. Analyze their high-scoring pages and use their techniques.