The survival of your online business depends largely on being visible on the web. Your successes may be mostly determined by how easily your website can be found by potential online consumers.

The solution to getting your website highly ranked by search engines is to optimize key words in your web pages. Although search engine optimization (SEO) isn’t an exact science, Keyword Optimization improves search engine positioning of your site. Gone are the days of littering your website with key words to rank highly in search engine results. While keyword optimization is vital to SEO, simple accessibility and usability of your content is just as crucial. To make your website visible it needs to be friendly to search engines as well as your online audience.
Defining your key words

• Start selecting keywords by deciding precisely what your website offers. Think of what key words your potential online audience may use to find your webpages. Enter your keywords into search engines and check the results. Are your key words too broad and common? Could they be more specific to your website? Use keywords that reflect your website and individualise it from other similar sites.

• Once you’ve got a selection of defining keywords, place them in the appropriate web pages. You should have a pool of about four to five key words. More than this can make your content less user friendly and less appealing to search engines.

• Lightly ‘scatter’ your pool of four to five keywords within your content. Be very cautious not to overload the text with too many repeated key words.

• Target your keywords in the introduction areas of your webpages. Try to include them in headings and first paragraphs of each web page.

Understand the search experience

Once you’ve defined your pool of keywords, try to emphasise the user’s search process.

Most people enter several keywords when looking for products or information. A single keyword can bring far too many results, making the search process virtually impossible – not to mention frustrating. For example, if you type the word ‘carpenter’ into a search engine field, you’ll receive results from the music group ‘The Carpenters’, jobs for carpenters, and even names that include ‘carpenter’. But if you’re looking for a carpenter by trade who specialises in solid wood furniture, you’re likely to type in the following keywords: ‘carpenter bespoke solid wood furniture’. The results are likely to be more specific to the search criteria.

Filter your keywords

Is there a phrase you can use for keyword optimization that’s specific to your website?

Try to vary key words on each of your pages, and drill down to the essence of what each page offers. The more specific your key words are, the easier it will be for the online user to find you.

Regularly check your key words and update them to reflect your products or information. Refreshing your content plays an important role in maintaining Search Engine Optimisation.

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