All Entries Tagged With: "keywords"
Why You Want Your Categories To Be Keyword Driven
You know you should have categories in your blog’s sidebar. But did you know those categories should be a list of your important keywords? There are multiple reasons why, but the long and the short of it is that they help you optimize your blog. Every instance of keyword usage on your blog is one step closer to high rankings. Plus, those category names are not just keywords, they are also links, which makes them even more valuable.
Here’s a case study of how a category name can assist you with search engine benefits. Type “blog content ghostwriting” into Google’s search box (without the quotation marks). Now click on the link at the top of the page, just above the search results, that says “Show options”. Select Recent Results and sort by date. Now scroll down to position No. 8 in the results. Here’s what you should see.
At the time of my writing this blog post, this post on quality content was in the position No. 8 position 58 minutes after posting.
Examining the contents of that blog post, there is nothing in that post that discusses blogging or ghostwriting. Those words are not even mentioned in the post anywhere. So how did the post rank on Page 1 of the SERPs for the parameters we gave it? By the blog’s categories.
Take a look at those categories and you’ll see that there is one called “Blog Marketing”, another one called “Content/Website Development” and one titled “Copywriting & Ghostwriting”. All three of the search phrases used are category names on this blog, giving the latest blog post – serendepitously all about content – an added boost.
This is just one example out of millions. Keyword-focused categories are an optimization essential and can often help individual blog posts rank for key terms they might not otherwise rank for.
What Of The Domain Name, Anyway?
Should you get a domain name with your keyword in it for your new blog? Search Marketing Standard’s Rebecca Appleton gives some good, and bad, advice about this issue. First, let’s dispel a rumor: All the good domain names aren’t taken.
There I said it. But is it true?
Ms. Appleton says that most of the good domain names with keywords are gone. It depends on what you mean by good domain names.
About once a year Google changes its ranking algorithm to put more weight on keyword-rich domain names. Later in the year the search giant reverses it. So keywords in the domain names do, at least for part of the time, affect your rankings. Even beyond anchor text. But, as she so aptly points out, anchor text can be a bigger benefit to you if you have that keyword in the domain name.
A part of the perception regarding domain names centers around people coveting shorter domain names. Yes, if you’re looking for a one-word domain name with your keyword in it then you’ll likely never see it. If you do, you’ll pay thousands of dollars for it. Likely, hundreds of thousands.
Nevertheless, you can still get a domain name with your keyword in it. You just might have to get creative. There is nothing wrong with coming up with creative variations of keywords that can also be branded. Not every domain name has to be Keyword_______.com where the blank you fill in is a related, but different, word that describes the same thing. Instead, why not fill in the blank with an unrelated keyword that you can use as a branding element. All kinds of examples abound:
- AutomotiveChickenHawks.com
- MattressPerv.com
- FlowerChild.com
- GreaseMonkey.com
- TheClockStruck1.com
- RealEstateHatTricks.com
OK, some of these may be far out, but think branding and marketing. You’ve got your keyword. You know what you want to target. Now come up with your version of the Marlboro Man. If I were Philip Morris, I’d secure TheMarlboroManSmokes.com and I’d brand it to the hilt.
What Is Keyword Stuffing?
Management of keywords is one of the most important tasks you have to accomplish as a blogger. How do you do it? Should you stuff your content with keywords in the hopes that more is better?
The search engines – and Google in particular – have tried to discourage keyword stuffing for several years. Keyword stuffing is the act of tossing keywords into your content in hopes that it will improve your rankings. But that’s not a good habit to get into.
First, keyword stuffing doesn’t work. Putting a couple of extra keywords into your content just to be sure isn’t going to help you rank better. In fact, it could work against you if you have too many keywords. What is more important than keyword density, as some people call it, is keyword placement.
Keyword placement involves discovering where in your content it is more effective to place your keywords. I’d rather have one well placed keyword than a half a dozen keywords stuffed in just for the sake of it. The search engines use a weighted approach to valuing content based on your usage of important keywords. Unlock the key to that weighted approach and you’ll unlock the key to good company blogging. Trust me, it’s all in the keywords.
Why Keywords Still Matter
Google has been using semantic language indexing for some time now. What that means is the search engine can distinguish between concepts on a single web page based solely on the context. For instance, if you are writing about Jaguars, Google can tell whether you are referring to the automobile or the animal just by what else appears on the page – other text, photos, graphics, etc. That’s semantic language indexing.
So then you might be wondering why we use keywords at all in our blog posts if Google knows what you are talking about anyway. The reason keywords are still important is because Google isn’t God. Yes, the search robots are impressively intelligent, but they aren’t all-knowing. Keywords are still the anchor for on-page content and if you are writing blog posts in the 300-500 word range and not using photos or other elements then you aren’t providing as much information for Google to figure out the semantic part. In other words, the more that appears on your web page the more easily the search robots can determine what your page is about using semantic cues. Keywords still matter the rest of the time.
I suspect keywords will always be important. Keywords help the search engine categorize your content better. Anything you can do to make that happen quicker and more effectively is a good thing.
