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KeyWords and KeyWord Phrases are words that people will type into a search engine that YOU or YOUR PRODUCT is the answer to. When people type “Body Language”, Kevin Hogan wants to be the answer, but his site only appears at the bottom of a 100 entry list. There are over 2.1 million entries for “Body Language” (and 1.5 billion for ‘internet’). When someone enters SEO Copywriting, there are hundreds of people that want to be in the top 10, but there are only 10 sites listed.

In the beginning, keywords were not visible to the reader; they were only in the HTML script. Then people realized that in the algorithm the quantity of keywords counted. Because of this you would have pages with white text on a white background, the same word added as a comment in the HTML text (so only the spider could see it) or the same word written 300 times at the bottom of the page. These words were for the search engine spiders.

Today the tricks listed above not only don’t work; in fact the opposite - they would get your site banned from the search engines because the algorithm has changed. Today the search engines want your keywords to be used logically and where they fit. Each page should have a title (you would be surprised how many sites have all of their pages untitled). Since you are able to use a title, and each page has a KeyWord, use that KeyWord as the page title.

The “Body Language” page from Kevin Hogans’s site has this title string - . Not only does he use “Body Language” twice, he uses other words people may use to search for this topic; “Reading Body Language”, “Decoding Body Language” and “Body Language Analysis”.

After a user searches on a set of keywords on her search engine of choice, she is presented with a page called the Search Engine Result Page (SERP) which has sponsored links (at the top of the page and to the right) and a main section of the page with the listing that are found based on the algorithm used. This set of listing is called the organic or natural listings. Organic search engine optimization (this training) is about increasing the number of times the search engines spider your site, moving your site higher on the SERP, both of which should help increase the amount of visitors that your site gets.

This is achieved by getting more documents indexed on the search engine and by attaining a higher position in the organic results. The problem for many marketers and traditional advertising agencies lies in the technical nature of search engines and the difficulty in understanding the underlying algorithms that produce the rankings for particular keyword searches.

The most popular search engine is Google which accounts for the greatest number of search requests. This is not to say that other search engines are not important nor anything about the different algorithm’s being used. Google’s success has ensured that many search engines are moving in the same direction and since Google has filed their search patent we do not have to rely on as much guesswork.

Importantly, Google ensures that there is a level of feedback from users through the Google toolbar that enables Google to refine their search results over time. Also, a significant part of Google’s algorithm is to protect its search engine against search SPAM which is the use of techniques to improve a site’s rankings normally through the artificial creation of links, so we have outlined the main areas to watch out for. Since keywords are so important in SEO it is heavily recommended you get a keyword tool such as Keyword Expert or SEO Elite. This will save time and guess work, and will increase your SEO results.

Here are some things to consider if you are serious about having a higher page rank. Take the time to create or acquire original content for your site. Search engines are putting a greater lever of importance on the community aspect of the internet, so make sure you take advantage of blogs and forums. Take the time to make sure the information you post is true and not plagiarized. Not a legal obligation, but it is a moral obligation.

Page Titles

Use an original page title for each page. If you can, use your most important key word phrase as the page title.

Outgoing Links

Do not exceed 100 outgoing links, always link to good quality sites and never link to farm links. Extra tip: you must check your outgoing links on a regular basis to make sure they are still working and the quality of the sites you are linking to is still good.

Keyword Density

Keep your keyword density under 5% or it is keyword spamming. Keyword spamming can increase your listing as long as you play it carefully and pull the keywords off after you are spidered once.

Flash, Images and really cool new stuff

Skip them. If not, to be used in moderation, the make your site load slowly and there are still people out there with slow connections and no one likes watching the “loading” window. People also don’t like complicated menu setups, keep it simple.

Alt Text

If you use pictures and put your keyword in the alt thext, your alt text must describe the picture. You could write something like: “keyword header”, “keyword image” or “keyword logo”. Stuffing lots of keywords in your alt texts can work like the keyword density I mention above.

Think of your audience

Avoid slang or rude words in your copy unless that is what your audience uses. Consider that is will also get you banned, but it may get you incoming traffic.

Finally, remember that search engine algorithms change frequently. So keep up to date by browsing the SEO sites and forums.