SEO Top Places to use Keywords : Titles and Description Metatag are #1

SEO is all about keywords, links and obtaining higher rankings in search engines for the keywords that actually matter. This means targeting specific keywords that can generate traffic to your website. There is a saying that a “search term is not really a search term unless someone searches for it”. That being said I will concentrate here on top places to use keywords in your page and also I’ll try to offer additional explanations so that the process of targeting keywords to become more intuitive. I really don’t know why many people stop thinking when publishing on the Internet. If I would tell them that the article they’re writing is going in a printed magazine they immediate would think about how to create a better title or a better first paragraph – basically they would concentrate on how to develop the best copy they could. Why is this not happening on the Internet ?

Why we use keywords and Why is important to know how to use them

As I said in the first paragraph, a keyword can be named in that way only if someone searches for it. Otherwise is just a word. So it’s important to know what words to target : and that is words that people are searching on the Internet. We all have a similar way to define a certain thing and that is why some words are searched more often on the Internet : because we all think those words describe what we are looking for.

Another important thing is knowing how to use the list of keywords we receive from the SEO specialist. Where to use them and how often has the same importance as what keywords to target. This is what I would like to show you in the text that follows.

Why titles are so important

Titles are everything. The most important place to use your keywords is the title of your page. There are some rules that you need to know about titles :

• each page should have unique title
• titles should not exceed 64 characters (that is the maximum number of chars displayed by Google – you can use longer titles for the keywords that don’t have high competition but my advice is to stay under the 64 chars barrier)

So, titles should contain the main keywords you wish to target on that page.

Also, titles should be your main way to attract clicks. You can achieve a good ranking on search engines but if your title is not an interesting one then the chances to have readers clicking on your article decreases. Here is an article I wrote on how to create interesting titles and it’s called 7 Tips of How to Write Good Titles and What the Benefits Are.

Use keywords in the appropriate metatag

Metatags are so abused on so many websites. The only metatag that matters for Google in terms of SEO is the description metatag. This information also has to be unique for each page and should be under 255 characters. The description metatag is displayed by Google right under the title of the page. If you have the searched keywords in your description then those words will be showed in bold and will attract the eyes.

Just like in the case of titles this description should also be created to make readers click your link. Offer some interesting information that will make the reader want some more. Ranking is nothing without a good clicking rate – and that is achieved by creating an interesting title and a good description metatag.

Attention to the URLs

Having keywords in your URLs is not an uncommon thing to see. In fact it’s a good thing. Not that important to SEO but everything counts and when you add up all the pieces, in the end you’ll get the big benefit. You should know that Google knows how to read the “-” sign as a space between words. So use this sign to separate any URL that is created from multiple words.

5 Other top places to use your keywords

Those are the main places you should use your keywords, mainly because those three elements are showed in the search results. Besides that here are another top 5 places where using your keywords can only get you great benefits :

1. first(in the first 20 words) and last paragraph; also try and use the main keywords in different forms in a natural way in the middle of the sentences. Don’t try to achieve a certain keyword density : concentrate on the quality of the content and on the natural use of keywords
2. subheadings : here I’m talking about the headings marked with h1, h2, … and h6 style. This is like saying to Google that the following paragraphs are about something related to the main keywords on the page; the message is that you created an article about your main keywords and you brake your content into sections that talk about different aspects of your main keywords.
3. static text of links : this is a way to create value for your pages; linking between pages on your website or outside your website can only offer you benefits. Why ? Because Google tries to evolve to something more like a humanoid thing. If you have an article on taxes and you have few links on your article created in a natural way to some other websites that present related information. In this case not only those sites will benefit but your page as well because it’s perceived as a information provider.
4. name of the files : this is something that involves any type of file on a certain page; it doesn’t matter if it’s an image or a pdf file. You should use your main keywords in the name of those files
5. html tags that allow descriptions : here I’m referring to ALT property on images or description of <a> tags or in tables or in any other html tag that allows any kind of description; this is not something that could have a great influence on your rankings but it’s a good practice;

This is the basics

All that is presented here is just the beginning and should be compensated by marketing your content on social networks and your efforts to obtain quality incoming links.

In the end I would like you to share your ideas and opinions on what I’ve said here. Maybe you can suggest some more places in a page that can target keywords or maybe you don’t agree with me. Anyway I would like to hear what you think.