Kessler Associates blog: Keywords for your website

Correctly choosing the keywords for your website is the single most important aspect of any search engine optimisation work. We at Kessler Associates know that proper keyword selection can provide your business with an extremely solid foundation upon which to build.

However, the opposite can be said for websites which make mistakes at this point. If your website dives straight into competitive keyword selection there is a good chance that it will drown in the oblivion of search engine results. Choosing keywords for your website requires a fine balance of research and modesty.

Be Specific
If there is a particular item or product range which your company sells then make sure your keyword selection reflects this. Being vague results in higher levels of competition. If your website sells golf clubs then optimise your pages to match what kind of golf clubs you are offering. Do they have graphite shafts? Do you sell a left-handed selection? What kind of brand are they?

Regionalise your selection if appropriate
Focusing on a regionalised market will result in a much more targeted market and the competition will also lower significantly. If you only sell your products and services within Ireland make sure you contain specific phrases (eg. Ireland, Irish, Dublin, etc) within your title, body and anchor text.

Domain Name Selection
For many new (and existing companies) the ideal website name may already be taken. Or, for branding purposes, the choice of a keyword-rich domain name may not be applicable. This shouldn't be a major concern to companies as the weight search engines give to the URL of a website is of limited importance when it comes to ranking well within the results pages. However, if your website contains keywords on which your company wishes to compete then you should exploit this when choosing your inbound linking text (aka anchor text).

Anchor Text
Inbound links from websites can provide your site with a twofold benefit. The first (and obvious) is that these links can help your company by sending potential customers to your website. The second benefit is that Google and the other major search engines will see these links as votes of confidence, therefore giving your website a boost in its rankings. When developing inbound links it is important to take advantage of keywords which your site may be targeting.

For example, a website such as www.betterwebsitez.com may contain a number of articles which can help webmasters and companies promote their websites. With this in mind, a link which contains the anchor text 'Website Promotion Articles' will help both visitors and search engines to understand what this website is all about. By developing links with keyword-rich anchor text, your website can rank higher in the search engine results for the terms on which you are competing.

Landing Pages
When choosing keywords which you feel are suitable to target your desired market you may end up with a list the length of your arm. If you create a website with a logical structure containing a number of pages which deal with the range or products your company offers, you will be able to professionally and effectively optimise your entire site for all of your selected keywords.

For example, if your company sells office supplies and office stationary (both extremely competitive keyword phrases) you could still drive a large amount of traffic to landing pages which sell 'Executive Leather Chairs' and 'Printer Ribbons'. This is only an example, but creating and optimising landing pages is a technique which all websites could and should do regardless of what they are offering.

Remember, your optimisation efforts should never stop after your site's frontpage is completed. Your entire site should be professionally optimised for maximum results.

This is what Kessler Associates will help you with. Remember that optimising your website is an ongoing process which never ends, so it pays to do it properly from the start.

Whatever you need, we have the solution.

Reproduced from Entireweb Newsletter. About the Author: Barry Fenning is the owner of Irish Website Promotion, a website which is aimed at people who are new to the area of search engine optimisation and online marketing. The articles available on the website are suitable for people who want to learn how to conduct effective and professional SEO campaigns without having to outsource. There are also a number of more 'advanced' articles which are suitable for experienced webmasters.

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