The importance of Keywords in your Website

When writing for your website the use of keywords in both your content and Meta Information is very important. Choosing the correct keywords for both your Search Engine Rankings and so that your customers can find you is essential.

Use your customers’ search terms. You may sell ”vegetable soup,” “sunflower seeds,” or ”one-of-a-kind extra-special pet portraits”, but what if your customers are searching for organic tomato soup, organic sunflower seeds, and cat portraits? Until you’ve built up brand recognition, you may need to change the way you talk about your products or services.

Speak the same language as your customer’s, think how your customers think. Search engines don’t think the way people do. A search in Google for “house” brings up different results than a search for “home.” If you only mention “homes” on your site, you aren’t reaching everyone you should. Users query Google for “cat portraits” approximately 3,600 times per month. There are zero searches each month for “one-of-a-kind extra-special pet portraits.” More searchers will find you if you speak their language.

Analyze your site. How do you find out what words people are using to find you? Web site analytics. There are free and fee-based analytics tools that can tell you how many visitors came to your site on each keyword, which can help you decide which words to use to describe your product. At Hampshire Web Design we provide extensive analytic tools on all hosting accounts.

In addition to keyword analysis, Google Analytics, a free tool, will give you a wealth of information on your site visitors. This information can help you measure the effect of your SEO efforts, evaluate A/B testing data, monitor which pages receive the most visits, and assess which pages lose the most visitors. An analytics expert can help you interpret your reports and plan your course of action.

Once you know which words searchers use, use the same keywords. Add in the words that set your business apart from the others, but speak the same language as your customers to get the best results.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 18th, 2009 at 9:14 am and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.