Keyword selection is one of the first steps in implementing a search engine optimization strategy. It goes without saying that if you select and optimize for the wrong keywords, your overall optimization campaign is worthless. In this article we will cover the keyword selection process and how best to place keywords throughout your site.

Keyword Selection Process

Keyword selection can vary greatly based on the type of Web site the client requires. Static sites (sites that are simple HTML pages and are not database driven) by definition are limited to a defined number of keywords, whereas, dynamic sites (sites that are database driven) can be optimized for an unlimited number of keywords. If your static site is predetermined to contain 5 pages, then the number of keywords is limited to those five pages. I do not recommend optimizing a single page for more than five or six keywords, unless necessary. With dynamic sites it is easier to optimize for single or two word keyword phrases as well as plural and singular terms.

If you are creating a new site from ground up, it is wise to select the number of possible keywords you want up front. Then you can plan the architecture of the site based on your keyword selection criteria. If your client sells 10 different products, create a 10-page site, plus pages for contact information and other boilerplate content.

Based on the type of site you decide you want or currently have, you must sit down and write down keywords. The first step in developing your keyword list is to have a brainstorming session. Anything that comes to mind should be written down. Keep building this list until you have enough to work with.

After you have built up your keyword list, you will want to prune the list down. There are certain factors one should keep in mind when pruning the list.

• Many search engines to not do "word stemming" (word stemming is adding on to the end of the word, for example the word "keyword" and "keywords"),
• most people type keywords into a search engine all in lower case, and
• it is generally easier to rank well for longer keyword phrases.

Keyword Placement Strategy

You should now have a list of keywords that you want to rank well for in search engines. The next step is to place these keywords in the various locations throughout your page's code. Below is a listing in order of importance of the places to put your keywords.

• Title Meta Tags (not more than 60 characters)
• Anchor Text (incoming and internal)
• Header Tag Content (i..e H1, H2, H3, H4, H5)
• Title Tag in Anchor Tags
• Bold/Italic Tag Content
• Body Text on top, middle and bottom of page
• Alt Tags in Pictures that are Links
• URL/Filenames
• Meta Keyword Description
• Alt Tags in Pictures that are not Links

There are experts that might argue with the order of this list, and the order might change in the future. There are some items missing from this list. I will try to update the list regularly. The concept is to place keywords in these areas and in order to optimize your site for your keyword list.

Keyword development is a time consuming process. It is a critical component to any SEOs job and has the potential to make or break a site's revenue. Keyword selection is thus an extremely important part of the overall SEO process. It is important to select the right keywords and use the right tools in your keyword development stage. It is then important to place these keywords throughout your site for the search engines to properly rank you based on their constantly changing algorithms.