- Never Abuse Keywords. Keywords are how you tell the search engines what your page is about. ...
- Don't Compete for Crowded Keywords. ...
- Create Unique Content. ...
- Don't Use Low-Quality Links. ...
- Update Your Site on a Regular Basis. ...
- Follow Google's On-Site Optimization Guidelines. ...
- Keep an Eye on Your Site Speed.
Keywords are how you tell the search engines what your page is about. Years ago, marketers would use the same keyword over and over in an attempt to signal to Google that they were relevant to that term. The thought was, if Google ranked you #4 for a keyword you use 10 times, then it would rank you #1 if you used it 20 times. I know math is hard, but that makes sense right? Well, that only lasted a short time. Those who used keyword stuffing as a way to manipulate search results found themselves without any traffic. Keyword stuffing not only makes your content read like crap, it dilutes ranking signals. Here is what I mean. Google uses time on site as a ranking signal. The longer someone is on your website, the more Google feels it is relevant. If someone cannot read your content because it is so full of keywords it reads like a foreign language, they will click off your site quickly. When Google sees people leaving quickly, it knows your quality is only just above the sewer line and not worth ranking. My recommendation is to use LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords in your content. Simply create content with a few keywords you want to rank for, but use them sparingly (2 to 3 times for a 500-800 word article). Then use LSI keywords through the article to supplement the main ones.
