How Many Times Should The Keyword Phrase Be Used In Your Content?

• Is There A Proven Formula To Achieve Top Rankings? •
• Will Bolding Or Italicizing Keywords Help Me Rank Higher? •

I am working with a new client who has been selling a great product for years via her website, and finally realized that she needed to do something to improve the level of sales generated by her site. One of the main problems is that she has very poor to basically non-existent SEO implemented. Unless you type in a very very specific query into the search engines, you’ll not find her website appearing in even the 30th ranking position for her product.

Anyway … yesterday we were discussing how she is to utilize the optimization reports and implementation strategy that I researched and provided her with. One of the optimization tasks she has to do is rewrite much of her content using the targeted keyword phrases I found via my research.

In thinking about our conversation, I thought it would make a good post for today. How to best utilize the targeted keyword phrase in each page of content is always a question I get from my clients.

SEO Is More Like An Art, Than A Rigid Scientific Formulation

I explained to my client yesterday that there are no hard and fast SEO rules that one must adhere to. However since she is starting out as an “SEO beginner” I’d give her some pointers that wouldn’t hurt her, and have proven to be good advice to help steer newbies in the right direction.

I have utilized these methods myself in my early years of writing online copy, and was able to achieve very nice rankings in due time. So, I can personally say “I’ve done this, and it worked more often than not.”

The ethical methods and techniques I teach to my clients, and here on my blog, have always been proven (or disproved) on my very own sites. I use my own sites as guinea pigs at times, to test out various strategies. Clients then benefit via my own true experience.

As time has progressed, I have learned the “art” aspect of SEO. And with many more years experience, I am more well versed with other SEO strategies and such to help improve rankings. But for a person new to writing well SEO’d copy, I see no reason to not encourage them to keep the following things in mind as they are writing each page of content.

A Few Keyword Optimization Tips To Help You

Please note I’ve not just said “guaranteed”, nor “proven beyond a doubt”! Since my client is a beginner to SEO techniques, and probably so are you, let me provide you with a few good tips that will help, and certainly cannot hurt, your rankings.

Keep the following in mind for each page of content you write:

• It is a very good idea to use your keyword phrase in the file name (such as: “keyword-basics.html”; or “bass-fishing-lures.html”).
• Insert your main keyword phrase into the headline (or call it a title, if you wish). Normally this is an H1 or H2 tag.
• Sprinkle the keyword phrase, and modifiers of it, throughout the copy. Use the keyword phrase just a tiny bit more than you would if you were having a conversation with another person. But, don’t use it so much that it is jumping off the page! You will NOT be ranked higher the more you stick the phrase into the copy. Just use it a little bit more, period.
• If you are inserting an image or photograph into the copy, insert the keyword phrase in the alt attribute, if it makes sense to do so. (Some nice traffic can be generated via image searches.)

“Wow, Claudia, is that it?? Ummm … aren’t you kind of missing a whole lot of other important must-dos for keyword usage??”  Nope.

You see, there isn’t a formula as to how to properly SEO each page. If there was, then we’d all be in the #1 ranking positions!

I must mention (in case you re brand new to SEO) that yes … there are other factors involved in order to achieve great rankings. Though keyword usage is important, it is not the only thing the search engines take into consideration.

I recently received a private email from someone who had downloaded my free SEO guide The SEO Edge, trying to correct me that you MUST insert your keyword phrase a specific number of times; you MUST bold it a certain number of times, etc. etc. etc. … and then you’d be assured to get much better rankings. That this was a proven fact.

Ok then, I guess I need to rewrite all the top ranked pages I have on my websites, since I’ve not followed this individual’s “expert” strategies? NOT!

In closing, I can finish by saying this: if it makes sense to BOLD the keyword phrase in a sentence in the copy, then do so; if it makes sense to ITALICIZE the keyword phrase in a sentence in the copy, then do so; if it makes sense to use the keyword phrase in a hyperlink, or sub-heading, then do so!

But remember! Write for your human visitor first and foremost. Make sure you have properly optimized the Title tag, and Description and Keyword meta tags. Make sure you have written quality information.

By keeping this in mind, you are well on your way to building out what will hopefully be a very well ranked site in the long run. And that is what we want … good solid, long term top rankings.