The Importance of Keywords

Just how important are keywords in getting people to find your website? Very.

Keywords are the actual words and phrases people put into the search engine to find what they're looking for. When you are optimizing a page you will use keywords in the title tags, as well as meta tags. Keywords will be in the copy you write for the page as well as in "alt" tags on photos (which are hidden). And those keywords will depict the very essence of your page. It is what people are looking for and it's how you will get noticed.

You need to be as specific as possible. If you just use the most popular keywords related to your page you will be one among millions of results, and the chances of getting a high ranking are slim to none. Of course there are many things that go into a page's ranking, including links to your website, social media (Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In) and continually adding new copy to your site that people will find helpful such as in blogs. But keywords play a very important part.

Analytics also plays a big part in finding out who is seeking your site and what keywords they use to find it. Sign up with Google and insert their analytics code into your site so you will be able to keep track of your visitors. The more information you know, the better equipped you'll be in optimizing your site.

Check out Google's free Keyword Tool to help you find the best words that suit your site. And remember that each page should be optimized as a separate unit with it's own specific keywords relevant to the copy on that page. The goal is to use keywords that are the most relevant and specific to what your web page is about and have the least competition. You do not just want to have people look at your site, you want people that will convert to clients or sales.