shooter
Test Page
The above link is to a test page I published using Yougler to see which instance of my test keyword Google chooses to list in the search results. This test ties back to a previous post where I discussed the importance of knowing which keyword instance Google chooses for its search result blurbs so you can then carefully phrase the contextually included words around it.
Some definitions may be in order. If you build a web page around a keyword it is necessary to use the keyword several times to indicate its importance to the search engines. I am using Google as the test search engine since it is by far the largest search engine. If you know a thing or two about employing keywords properly, you will also place the keyword in links, meta-tags, headings, and other places on your web page. Since Google will have all those keywords to choose from when it lists a “blurb” about your site in its search results, it would be really nice to know which instance of your keyword Google chooses. Why? Because you want the “blurb” that Google chooses with your keyword embedded in it to accurately describe your page and get you a click through.
As you know searching for things with keywords can be frustrating for Internet users. Figuring out what keywords to type in may take many attempts. To save time many users only glance through the search results, what I call Google’s “blurbs”, without clicking through UNLESS the blurb makes sense to them. How does it make sense? All the search results will have the keyword in it, that’s a given. What makes them different is the other contextual words around the keyword. So as a web designer you should want to optimize these contextual words that surround the keyword. The hard part is keeping your content readable which means you can’t keep repeating the same sentences around your keyword each time you use them. It might be easier if you knew which keyword instance Google is more likely to choose from your web page, then you can concentrate on that instance to create a blurb that gets you a click through.
So the test is on. I picked a made-up word, gorbunke, that has 86 entries in Google. The keyword is probably a name. I included the keyword in the title, meta-keywords, meta-description, and four times in the body text. In the body text, one of those times is in header tags and another one is a link to this post using the keyword as the link text. So I will wait and see what happens.
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We are more than just alive, we are the Universe aware of itself… so PAY ATTENTION! –note to myself
Author’s Yougler Profile is at shooter.
June 30th, 2008
Posted by
shooter |
keyword instance, keywords |
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shooter
We just launched the SEO-Atlanta home page. The purpose of SEO-Atlanta is the blog but we felt we needed to have some stuff on the home page too. If you will notice our blog url is seo-atlanta.com/internet-marketing. It includes all of our keywords. This is important to the search engines. We included Atlanta in the keywords too because we wanted to keep our target market small so that it will be easier to dominate in the search results.
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We are more than just alive, we are the Universe aware of itself… so PAY ATTENTION! –note to myself
Author’s Yougler Profile is at shooter.
June 24th, 2008
Posted by
shooter |
keywords |
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shooter
Though keywords are very important when it comes to getting your web site found there is something related to keywords that is just as important yet hardly ever mentioned. That is context. In what context are your keywords placed on your site?
AH! You say that is automatic. When you use a sentence that has your keyword in it it is already in context. That may be, but also it may not be.
Internet readers don’t really read. That is a fact. If they can’t gleam something from a brief glance or figure it out intuitively they go on. There is simply too much information out there and Internet readers don’t want to waste time reading irrelevant stuff.
So how do they know what is relevant, at least relevant enough to slow down and read a few sentences? You can probably answer that yourself. What do you do when you are searching something on Google. You type in the keywords and get a list of page after page of results. Then what do you do? What I do is check to see if the results match what I am looking for. I do that by reading the little blurbs that Google throws up with the keywords embedded in them. If the few words before keyword or after it don’t make sense in terms of what I want, I don’t bother to go to the page at all.
That is what I call “short context”, the few words before and after your keyword.
Optimize the keyword’s short context in a thoughtful way, because that is what will get you to second base by getting them to click on your link. Once they do that you have already won a small but important battle. Google (meaning search engines in general) will note that for a given keyword your page link was clicked. This is a vote of sorts. Google will remember that. By the same token, if people don’t click your link Google will remember that as a no vote too.
Example. You make waxed flower arrangements and would like to sell them on the Internet, so obviously “waxed flowers” would be a good keyword. How you embed waxed flowers in your web site’s short context will more or less affect how many clicks you may get. If you are selling them you should say so near the keyword. If it is a local business you should also include that near the keywords so that people wanting to buy waxed flowers near you will click on your link when they see the short blurb in the search results. Your search result my look like:
“…shop in Clifton, GA sells waxed flowers. We also teach classes on…“
That will get you a click because it says what you do with waxed flowers and where you are. If you say something like
“I recently opened a shop in Clifton GA to start selling them even though I have been making waxed flowers for many years. My mother taught me as a little girl.
May result in a blurb like
“...have been making waxed flowers for many years. My mother taught me..“
and that may not get you the click even though your web page actually contained the relevant information.
Another example. Since I am providing Internet Marketing Services in the Atlanta Georgia area I would need to use the location and what I do with my keyword “Internet Marketing” as close together as possible, which I just did. The blurb would look something like
“..provide Internet Marketing Services in the Atlanta Georgia area I would need to use….”
which gives important context to the search term and may just get that all-elusive mouse click.
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We are more than just alive, we are the Universe aware of itself… so PAY ATTENTION! –note to myself
Author’s Yougler Profile is at shooter.
June 20th, 2008
Posted by
shooter |
keywords |
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