Re: keywords, tags, and engines

From: Barbara E. Warne <bewarne_at_misinc.net>
Date: Wed 15 Dec 1999 08:11:02 -0700

JOHN SEQUINO WROTE:
> I had read that you can repeat keywords up to 4 times.
> What is the best way to list keywords, just the ones
> that are important (once) or repeat them to the limit?

The purpose of repeating a keyword is to use it in
different phrases where you want the search engine to
pick it up as a phrase.

If a searcher has requested a certain phrase your site
will come up higher in the results if you have it as a
phrase. And if the searcher has asked for it in
quotation marks, your site will ONLY come up if the
phrase is there together as the searcher requested it:
i.e, if someone wants "piano music" and your page does
not list those two words together somewhere (title,
meta tage or words on the page), your site will not be
listed even if the two words are listed separated by
only one other word or if the second word comes just
before the first, etc. So you should have that phrase
on your page or in your keywords if you think people
are going to ask for that. But if you think this
phrase is going to be what MOST people who are looking
for what you offer are going to ask the search engine
for, it should be in your title, your description meta
tag and on your page (leave your keyword meta tag for
other secondary phrases that you couldn't fit into
these three places)

> I have also read that the number of times the keyword
> is repeated in the body of the page gives it more
> relevancy and thus places it higher in the engine, is
> this true?

Not exactly the number of times, but the number of
times divided by the total number of words on the page.

> Is it smart to use separate keywords and titles for
> each page that has different products. As an example
> I sell dog supplements and dog harnesses, should the 2
> pages be completely different in title, description
> and keywords or is this spam?

Absolutely each page should have its own separate title
and meta tags just as it has its own separate content.

Some search engines are going to a new way to display
pages in a site: they now only display one page for a
site. But that one page isn't the home page,
necessarily. It is the page that would come up first
in the search the person is doing. So suppose I search
for "dog harnesses." On your home page that keyword
phrase might have less relevance since that page has to
talk not only about dog harnesses but also dog
supplements and who you are, etc. But the page on dog
harnesses can use that phrase in it's title,
description meta tag and in the headline of the page as
well as in the general content. That secondary page of
your site might come up first or second or third for
this person's search. Your home page, though, could
come up 20th. So the search engine would give the
searcher the dog harnesses page in the order that page
would come up and skip the home page. So that secondary
page title and meta tag needs to tell the searcher who
you are as well as the fact that you have these great
dog harnesses. And don't forget that the dog harnesses
page needs to also allow people who come to it to get
to all your other pages in case they also need dog
supplements or want to know who you are and what
guarantees you have, etc.

--
Barbara E. Warne (MIS, Inc. - Websites)
bewarne_at_misinc.net or barbara_at_misinc.net
http://www.misinc.net
505-341-3060, Fax: 505-341-3063
6616 Gulton Court, Suite 70
Albuquerque, NM 87109




Received on Wed Dec 15 1999 - 09:11:02 CST