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What is Keyword Optimization?
Mary Elizabeth
Mary Elizabeth
Keyword is a term used in reference to several different types of online content. First, it is a short word or phrase that people search to find content. Second, it is a short word or phrase that is repeated in content — either naturally as one writes, or deliberately with intent to salt the content with the keyword — which is taken as an indication of the focus of the content. Keyword optimization is the aspect of search engine optimization that aims to make a match between material on websites and material that people are searching for by including content with appropriate keywords, and spreading keywords through the content in an appropriate way.
The reason that keyword optimization is important is that it is one of the elements that search engines use in ranking sites and presenting them to users in search results. The better the search engine rankings, the higher the traffic to the site is likely to be. But in order to perform keyword optimization, it is necessary to know what keywords people are searching for.
A keyword database helps site owners and webmasters get information about each keyword’s popularity and value. Some keyword databases are free and some must be purchased or subscribed to. Based on the information in the keyword database and the focus of the website they are working on, the site owners or webmasters may decide to include content using particular keywords. In this case, they may write or spec an article that by its nature would incorporate the keyword in a prominent way. They may also follow or promulgate writing guidelines that aim to ensure sufficient use of the keyword.
To make sure that the number of times a keyword appears is sufficient, it is possible to apply a measure called keyword density. Some experts think that keyword density is a crucial element in search engine optimization. Keyword density is determined by dividing the number of keywords in the content by the total number of words in the content. Other measures that may be used in keyword optimization are keyword prominence, meaning how obvious they are, and keyword proximity, meaning how close together the keywords are.
Keyword optimization is made more complicated, however, because different search engines define keywords in different ways. The way Google™ defines a keyword is different than the way Yahoo!® does, making optimizing for both search engines a bit more difficult. Google™ considers the word or phrase itself and nothing else as the keyword. Yahoo!® counts both inflected forms of the word or phrase, such as plurals, as well as synonyms.
Mary Elizabeth
Mary Elizabeth is passionate about reading, writing, and research, and has a penchant for correcting misinformation on the Internet. In addition to contributing articles to WiseGEEK about art, literature, and music, Mary Elizabeth is a teacher, composer, and author. She has a B.A. from the University of Chicago’s writing program and an M.A. from the University of Vermont, and she has written books, study guides, and teacher materials on language and literature, as well as music composition content for Sibelius Software.
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Mary Elizabeth
Mary Elizabeth is passionate about reading, writing, and research, and has a penchant for correcting misinformation on the Internet. In addition to contributing articles to WiseGEEK about art, literature, and music, Mary Elizabeth is a teacher, composer, and author. She has a B.A. from the University of Chicago’s writing program and an M.A. from the University of Vermont, and she has written books, study guides, and teacher materials on language and literature, as well as music composition content for Sibelius Software.
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![A keyword can be a word or phrase that people use to find content online.]()
By: wckiwA keyword can be a word or phrase that people use to find content online. -
![A keyword can be a repeated word or phrase that is the focus of an article or other online content.]()
By: Frank BostonA keyword can be a repeated word or phrase that is the focus of an article or other online content. -
![Keyword optimization is an aspect of search engine optimization that aims to make a match between material that people are searching for and material on a specific website through the use certain popular keywords.]()
By: Adam RadosavljevicKeyword optimization is an aspect of search engine optimization that aims to make a match between material that people are searching for and material on a specific website through the use certain popular keywords.
Discussion Comments
As someone who has a blog and has only dabbled around with sites like Google Analytics, I’m curious about companies that do keyword optimization and how they even go about creating a basic keyword structure. Do these companies create their own keyword database or do they all take the same basic structure from one large source? And on a more random note, do popular culture topics play into keyword optimization at all? For example, would a client of one of these companies want anything to do with a keyword like Kim Kardashian, which I’m sure is searched many times on a daily basis? How would they sell a term like this? In other words, what kinds of clients would find it lucrative to use a company to generate the most searched pop culture keywords for them, especially when the terms could be popular one moment and then not be in a few months or even a year from now?
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