Getting More Value From Your Keyword Phrases

Once you have determined your niche and create a list of the highest performing keyword phrases you must use them throughout your business. This includes:

Domain Names – this not only has SEO benefits, but also so it is included in the 4th line of your search engine listing. This supports your brand, having a psychological impact on web surfers. In addition, if your niche has geographic variation, using sub domains with the region as the first part of the sub-domain name helps to pull more visits.

Web Page URL – always include your main keyword phrase in the URL. Often using the keyword for the folder name is a good tactic. The two main benefits of this are - It is included in fourth line in your search engine listing as part of your URL – giving more niche search pull to visitors by adding more relevance to the search result, plus it adds more weight to links used to that page in articles you submit to directories. This is particularly so of those directories who do not allow anchor text in a hyperlink back to your site. They will only let you use the URL. Use a hyphen between multi-work keyword phrases.

Web Page Title Tags - this is one of the most important places on your web page to place your keyword phrases – it is the top line of your search engine listing and is a core indicator to the search engines that you are optimizing this specific web page for the keywords in the title tag. Avoid trying to stuff keywords into the title tag – keep it natural, and ensure your title tags are unique for each page. You can test different version of the title, but you will mostly find that the ones that work best have the keywords towards the front of the title.

Meta Keyword Tag – although a lot of SEO experts claim that meta keyword tags are no longer used – I think it pays to include them on your pages. As you know, search engines are notorious for changing the rules, so you may as well have all your bets covered. Also, the smaller search engines still use meta tags in their algorithms, and every link helps.

Meta Description Tag – The meta description tag on each of web page shows up as the 2nd and 3rd lines of your search engine listing. In the absence of a meta description, the first sentence is extracted from the web page. In addition, when a visitor enters a keyword into a search engine, the results have the keywords highlighted. Get creative and treat this description as an advertisement to entice viewers, including the keyword phrases.

Site Navigation – every navigation link on your website is ‘anchor text’. Make it count. Especially links back to the home page – use a more appropriate term. Avoiding using images as navigation buttons, in most instances you can get the same effect using CSS.

Web Page First / Last Sentence – these are the highest ranking part of your body copy, so use it well. It also helps with adsense if you have ad units at the top and bottom of the page

Web Page Copy Heading and Subheadings - these all add weight to the keyword. Only use one H1 tag on a page. Try to use one primary and at least two secondary keyword phrases as H2 tags.

Web Page Body Copy – focus on the first paragraph and the last, then sprinkle are few more phrases, keeping the keyword density less than 3%. Make sure you use the phrase appropriately – it is more important your content has integrity.

Internal Site Links in Body Copy - emember, anchor text carries a lot of weight, so use as many internal links as you can with your keyword phrases between pages. Ensure every page is linked to at least 2 other pages in the site, using a keyword for the destination page.

Article Links – avoid using your home page as the sole link from articles. Deep linking adds a lot of weight to your site and provides the opportunity to use more keywords to your site. When submitting to multiple article directories, use a range of reference boxes to different pages or using different keywords. It also helps prevent your articles from getting caught up in duplication, especially when you have articles in directories that allow you to embed links in the article copy. Check on the rules of each individual article directory.

Press Release Links – some PR sites such as PR Web Direct allows you to use 1 keyword rich hyperlink for every 100 words in your press release. With a 600 word release, you can have 6 different links to 6 different pages, using 6 different keyword phrases. This is great for page rank link through as well as traffic.

Blog Comments - commenting on blogs that do not use "no follow" tags. Even on blogs with "no follow" tags you can still receive indirect website traffic from the blog itself. A quick trick I pick up somewhere is to use a keyword as the second part of a hyphenated first name, when filling out the comment form. The name is used as the anchor text to the URL, giving you an instant keyword rich hyperlink. Before considering using a hyperlink in the body of the comment, check the etiquette of the blog. Many blogs are moderated, and those comments that are obvious spam or sales links are trashed.

Forum Signature File – give help on forums [including Yahoo Answers] keyword rich hyperlinks pointing to your sites from your signature. Again, check the site etiquette – most allow a sales tag signature line, which usually support search engine following.
Note – avoid using a tracking URL that redirects visitors to the target web page – you will not get credit for a backlink from the search engines. Instead track clicks from forums using Traffic stats on Google Analytics.

Pay-Per-Click Ads – ALWAYS use keywords in your PPC URL – it is a key part of "phrase matching."

Video Submission Titles and Tags - the of your video will become the first line of your search engine listing so include both a primary keyword phrase and a secondary keyword phrase if possible. Also include your keyword phrase in the tags.

Social bookmarked URLs – if you are using social bookmarking [as you should] include a keyword phrase when bookmarking your own URLs. In spite of Google downgrading social book mark site links – they still show up in search results on both the bookmark site and search engine. And that means more chances of traffic.
Many social book mark sites use "no follow" tags but there is evidence that search engines do follow the links and this helps for fast indexing of web sites. Write some sticky content and you can expect to get bookmarked a lot, helping you climb in the rankings of the actual site's internal search.

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