| Article by Cliff Motes : TIPS AND TRICKS - The misunderstood "keywords" and search engine rankings. "Build it and they will come." If you own a web site, you already know better! We all know that in order to maximize our traffic, we need to have good search engine rankings. We work hard at developing our list of keywords, placing them strategically on our sites, and then we hope that the search engines will index them and give us a high ranking. We subscribe to newsletters, buy books, and do everything we can to learn about improving our positions. After doing all of this, and even after getting some good rankings, our traffic may not increase at all. What's wrong? After years of doing this for clients, I've learned that many people don't ever get close to understanding the true nature of keywords. Let me give you an example. Suppose you had a site (we do!) with classified ads for cars. When someone searches the Internet for classified ads, many search engines will give the highest rankings to the sites the have the exact string of keywords that the surfer used to search. This "string" is what we call "key phrases." Did the surfer search for "classified car ads," "classified ads," "classified auto ads," or was it an entirely different string? How would you ever figure that out? Even if you have log file software that tells you what string someone used to find your site, it doesn't tell you about all of the searches people made who did NOT find your site. And that's what you really need to know! You may already know that very few people search the web by using just one word. They soon learn that the results they get are too broad. If they search for "classifieds" when they are looking for a car, they will get many returns that have nothing to do with cars. With this in mind, it's very possible that the key phrases that you are using on your site are hardly used by searchers! What good would it do for you to rank very high in "classified auto ads" if no one ever searches for that? What if most people search for "classified car ads" or "car classifieds?" So many web site owners do their brainstorming, come up with keywords or key phrases, and submit them to search engines. They get a high ranking, and they congratulate themselves. Of course they got a high ranking! They are using words and phrases that nobody uses and nobody wants! Another mistake they make is that they rely only on a key phrase that is so popular that they are competing with tens of thousands of other sites. They are lost in the crowd. What you really would like to do is to find key phrases that are highly used in searches, but are not used by your competitors! Put those on your site, get them indexed, and you have a chance of really increasing your traffic! A free utility that is available at www.winfiles.com is called "analogueX Keyword Live." You might try this link, http://www.analogx.com/files/keywordi.exe, or go to www.winfiles.com and do a search. This little utility lets you watch actual keyword searches in real time, as people actually search the web. Try it. You'll be surprised at the most common keywords that people are actually using right now! I repeat, it's free. Do you know that some of the most used keywords are "search," "find," "free," "where," "do," "I," etc? Many people actually type "search for..." or "find..." or "where do I..." or "free". A quality, professional web site promoter should have a proprietary utility that allows them to enter your keywords. They can then tell you the actual phrases that include your keywords, and are most used by actual web surfers. They may find keywords that you missed. What a jump-start that would give you! If you can, get a comprehensive list of key phrases to use on your site. A professional service will give you a report sorted by the actual number of times each phrase was used in a large sample. Then you will know what to really target! If your budget doesn't include professional search engine promotion, you can at least do these things: 1. Visit your major competitors' sites, view their source code, and see what key phrases and words they are using. Most browsers will view the source code of a web page by right clicking your mouse, and choosing something similar to "view source" from the menu. You will get some good ideas here. 2. Include the "most used" words that are mentioned above somehow on your site, but only use "free" if it applies. 3. Don't "spam" the search engines. Don't use words that don't apply to your site. "MP3" and "sex" are two of the most actively searched words. Please don't use such words just to generate traffic. You want targeted traffic - the other visitors will just be upset with you and leave. Several of the search engines and directories will catch you at this, and delete your site from their databases. 4. Don't over-use a keyword or phrase on a page. Look at the source code of some pages that are ranking high in a search. Try to match their keyword "density" and placement. 5. Put your keywords at or near the top of the body section of your page. Some search engines don't read the whole page. 6. Keep trying! After your pages have been submitted and indexed, do searches and see how you rank. View the source of the pages that rank higher than your page, and try to copy their keyword placement style. Then re-submit. Wit persistence, you can win! About the author: Cliff Motes is the owner of a web site promotion company that specializes in search engine rankings. Visit http://www.internet-winner.com now for more ideas about how to promote your site. One of his personal web sites is www.traderplace.com, a very busy, well-designed site where you can place free classified ads. | 
