Content is King

Posted on: June 3rd, 2009 by EJ

Good SEO relies on content. Fresh, accessible, natural, content. Without it no matter how much time or money you spend on SEO, your rankings will not improve. Good content is what drives users to your site, and gets people to link to you. It’s that simple.

Here are 5 tips for keyword integration in your copy:

1. Titles

The most important place your keywords should appear is in the title meta tag of your page. If you are a PRPL client with an SEO retainer, chances are we did this research for you. If you are using blogging software like wordpress your post or page title will be automatically transformed into both title tags and either an H1 or H2 heading tag as well. Remember, your headline should wrap your keywords.

2. Opening

I have always found it useful to repeat the targeted keywords in the opening sentence, as long as it can be done in a way that is appealing to a reader and reinforces relevancy. Since many search engines use this initial copy as the description of the content, you may want to make sure you are accurately selling the searcher on clicking through as well. If you are using a meta description this is what the search engine will display in lieu of that copy.

3. Subheadings

Another important place that keywords can appear is in subheading that aid the reader in navigating down the page. A subheading that matches up with the targeted keyword phrase should work as an introduction to the next topical section of the page. Subheading are typically created using the H3 tag. The term ‘subheadings’ in this subheading, for example, is in an H3 tag.

4. Related Words and Synonyms

Good copy should naturally result in words that are related to, as well as synonyms for, the keyword phrases you are optimizng for. Rather than mindlessly repeating the same words ad nauseam, also known as keyword stuffing, assume that search algorithms are advanced enough to look for proper contextually-related words that support your targeted keywords.

5. Specificity

One of the hallmarks of great copy is specific, descriptive words in lieu of bland general terminology. Specificity aids the reader by clearly demonstrating relevancy, allows for more dynamic copy, and provides opportunities to increase the general on-page keyword frequency. Make sure to employ your specific keywords when feasible within the context of the copy, rather than relying on generic wording.