Is Keyword Density Important for an SEO Content Writer?

Keyword density is a term that gets bandied about a lot in SEO circles. Some say it's the key, others that it's bunk. So, what's the truth? Is it important for an SEO content writer?

Wait... what's keyword density, and why should an SEO content writer care?

First, let's be clear about what it means. Keyword density refers to the ratio of a given keyword to the total amount of text in its article. For example, if the keyword phrase "Victorian architecture" appeared four times in a one-hundred word article, the ratio would be 4:100, or 4%. That's its density.

There was a time when putting the same keyword a zillion times on a page would send the page straight to the top of the search engines. But that hasn't been the case since the dinosaur days. Search engines have gotten smart, and nowadays they are sure to penalize you for doing that. It's called "keyword stuffing", and you should absolutely avoid it.

Those who say keyword density is important generally recommend a density of around 4-8%. Some say as much as 20%. You can find tools online that will analyze your density for you and make recommendations.

However...

Many veteran SEO professionals ignore keyword density completely.

Why do they disavow density? Well, they either believe it's not a very important metric used by search engines anymore, or that it was a myth from the start. The only thing it has going for it is that it's a pretty straightforward concept, which means your non-expert clients can easily wrap their heads around it.

So if keyword density isn't important, than what is?

In place of density, think in terms of the following three concepts: keyword presence, keyword placement, and term weight.

Keyword presence

First, does the keyword actually appear somewhere in the article? That's all keyword presence means. It may seem like a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised how easily you can write your masterpiece and completely miss your keyword. It does have to be in there somewhere.

Keyword placement

Second, where does the keyword show up? Keyword placement refers to the locations of the keyword. Search engines scan your article starting at the top of its structure: the title. It also looks at section headers, and body text starting from the beginning. The earlier the keyword appears in that process, the better. So definitely, definitely, definitely put the keyword in the title. Put it in your section headers too, and put it in your body text - the earlier the better.

Term weight

Finally, is the keyword common or uncommon? Term weight indicates how common the term is. The less common it is, the heavier the weight, and the easier your article will rise to the top of the search engine results. Why? Because there's less competition for an uncommon term.

As an SEO content writer, you probably won't be choosing your keywords; rather, your client will give them to you. So there's not much you can do in your article to affect term weight. However, it will dictate how strategic you'll have to be in order to get the same results. The lower the term weight, the more clever you'll have to be.

So... important or not?

So, is keyword density important? Maybe. Maybe not. You'd do best to concentrate instead on keyword presence, keyword placement, and term weight. With these three, your writing will get the upper hand.

B. T. Newberg is an author, editor, and freelance SEO content writer. Learn more SEO secrets at BTNewberg.com.

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Why Search Engine Optimization Is So Important For A Website

So what are the most common mistakes web designers make when they design a website for a client? Most web designers are brilliant at making a website look flashy to the visitors eye. They will use software like Flash to create animations and create flashy logos and images to navigate from page to page on a website. This is great if you own a website like Facebook or Twitter that are self populating and doesn't really need search engine optimization to bring in traffic form search engines.

So how do you create a website that brings in traffic?

1. Search engines love text links to connect pages to one another. They don't only use text links as a scoring system in websites themselves but also when you link from one website to another. This is called anchor text link building but I'll explain more about that later in the article. If you do decide to place some pictures or logos in your website make sure you use the alt tag to name each image. This will help Google to identify what the image is about and even use it in Google images to help bring in extra traffic to your website.

2. Make sure you have a lot of content about your topic. If your website has the most information about your niche Google will make your website an authority website and reward your handsomely. Big websites like Wikipedia rank not only on the 1st page of Google for millions of keywords but no.1. When you read their articles you will see that they are the most informative articles about that certain topic and the articles are very very long. They don't stuff the article full of keywords they just write it naturally and because of the amount of sentences each article has it spreads the keyword density evenly throughout the article. Wikipedia also doesn't write nonsense. People know they can read up or do research on a certain topic and Wikipedia won't give them bogus information only facts.

3. Make sure you build your website on a domain name that has your main keyword you want to rank for in it. If you do that you will only do a 4th of the work to get to the first page of Google. I see so many small business websites that don't do that. They don't have bug budgets to do marketing in anyway but still don't take advantage of this secret weapon. If you own a kitchen company and your company is called Howdens call your domain name howdenskitchens.com not just howdens.com. If you have a huge budget to spend on search engine optimization then it's fine but small companies don't and if you're a small company this is the best way to get to the first page and receive traffic.

4. The single most important way to get to the top of search engines is link building. 70% of my search engine optimization services consists of link building. Effective ways to build links that work would be writing articles and submitting them to article directories like EzineArticles.com. You receive two anchor text links back to your website that help your rank better in Google. Other ways would be blogging, Directory links, and partner website with related content.

So remember if you want to have a website that ranks well in Google and you follow these search engine optimization tips you'll be on the 1st page of Google in no time.

Hi my name in Julian Venter. I am a internet marketing expert. If you would like to find out more about SEO or search engine optimization please visit these links.

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Why SEO Is Important for Small Businesses' Survival

This is where the SEO or search Engine Optimization companies come into play. In order for small businesses to have an effective website they need to hire the right SEO company. This company will look at factors such as the website structure, page content, links, relevant keywords and meta tags among many other factors.

Without the above mentioned analysis, your company will be lost in cyber space! This is why there's a big rush for many SMBs to acquire a good SEO and marketing campaign. A well trained SEO expert will be able to quickly identify the keywords that best describe the company and its products then work hard to get it listed within the major search engines. When searching in the web, people usually use keywords or phrases to find what they need or want. Therefore these keywords are very important especially to small business in order to stay competitive. For example, a small company selling jute bags should rank high in the search engine results, preferably in the top ten, whenever someone types in jute bags in the search query. A well established SEO company can get this done within a very reasonable time frame.

Lately, Google changed it's algorithm which can adversely affect small businesses SEO. One activity that came under scrutiny is the link building techniques from questionable sites. However, if a popular online newspaper publishes an article about your jute bag company, this can lead to a higher ranking.

Another good SEO technique is to create personal blogs or comment in other people's blogs leaving behind a link that can direct traffic towards the company's own website. The owner of the small jute bag company can leave in comments in a bag related blog, providing useful comments and people will definitely notice the writer and be interested in the links provided.

In the coming years, small businesses will need to be very aggressive in order to remain in business. Among many other factors, having a budget set aside for SEO is going to be the highest of priorities. Most small businesses simply do not have the financial backing as larger companies, but if the techniques are set in place for implementing a well planned SEO campaign, these are going to be the survivors. On the internet, there's a level playing field for the large and small-to-medium-size companies to compete on a fair playing field. The only plausible solution to compete at this level is to get found.

Take a few days to research a good small business SEO company then commit to get your company up in the search engine rankings. You'll be glad you invested a little to gain a lot.

SEO Specialist with extensive expertise as a knowledgeable and experienced Search Engine Optimization (http://www.intelliplans.com/seo-services/seo/seo-top-ten-services.html) strategist, consultant and in-house SEO with over a decade of experience and over 8000 websites (http://www.intelliplans.com/website-templates/) designed and developed utilizing the best SEO techniques for high ranking websites.

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