Coordinating Keywords in Tags and Content Pages

There has been a trend among website designers, business owners and individuals to use PPC advertising rather than organic SEO methods. PPC advertising allows businesses to target specific keywords for banner ads on search engines like Alta Vista and Yahoo. This trend shows that many designers are unfamiliar with the effective use of natural SEO tools that are relatively inexpensive. The simple use of appropriate keywords in meta tags, main pages and interior pages can grow traffic naturally for well-designed web sites.

The keyword research process for most designers ends when the bidding process is complete for PPC keywords. Every designer should generate a list of 20 to 30 ideal keywords for certain industries and conduct searches using these keywords. The search results will demonstrate the effective connection between description tags, photo tags, content pages and other elements in high-ranking web sites. The tie that binds all of these virtual elements together is the effectively used keyword.

A designer that wants to use keywords effectively needs to write web content that flows well and fits into the bite-sized world of the online search. Each content page needs to be spell-checked, researched and formatted effectively to ensure that viewers will dig further into the website. Keywords should be placed in a secondary position to sales pitches, information and data that is useful to target demographics. The goal of organic SEO processes is the accumulation of traffic because a website’s information is compelling enough to create virtual word of mouth. The clever use of several keywords instead of stuffing content pages with dozens of keywords creates an underlying current for online traffic.

The next step toward organic SEO is inserting frequently used keywords into meta description tags and keyword tags. A designer that simply plugs in a bunch of popular keywords without using these words in content pages won’t find his website rising the search engine charts. The meta description tag should contain one use of two or three important keywords that are critical to understanding the website’s content. This tag is more likely to be used by search engine crawlers if it is relevant to the website’s main page. The keyword tag is used by some search engines as an extension of the description tag for more extensive listings in online search results. This tag should contain one or two keywords that aren’t merely repeating the keywords used in the description tag.

There are additional tools for newcomers to organic SEO that help complete the connection between keywords and content. Photographers, retailers and other website owners that use photographs should incorporate photo tagging to reach people searching for online images. SEO novices should find tools to track backlinks and other traffic to determine periods of increased and decreased visitation. A backlink tracking tool allows the average website owner to track trends over time and determine if organic SEO processes are working. Every website owner should know that there are plenty of web sites designed years ago that remain popular in online searches. These web sites focused more on providing products, information and services to customers rather than engaging in keyword stuffing and other “black hat” SEO methods.