Last week, we wrote about on-page optimization and where to add your keywords on a given webpage. This week, we are taking on-page optimization to the next level, theming your content.
In the good old days, search engines looked at simple signals to rank web pages for a particular keyword phrase. Stuffing the meta keyword tag and creating a web page with an exaggerated keyword density were a couple of seo company tactics that worked for a period of time.
However, search engine algorithms are getting more and more sophisticated. This past year alone, Google’s Panda update crushed numerous websites, de-indexing enormous amounts of content due to the poor quality of the writing.
Today, it’s not enough to write 450-500 words and then add your keyword terms in the right places; you need to make sure that your keyword phrase is contextually supported with related keywords.
In general, if a writer is familiar with your industry or researches a keyword phrase in depth, the content will include words and phrases that are relevant to your specific industry.
If you are outsourcing your content or writing it on your own, here are some tips that can help you “Theme” a webpage by building a list of supporting words or phrases:
Check out Google’s Results – Searh Google for your keyword phrase. Look at both the organic and paid results. Start making a list of words and phrases that your competitors use in their titles and descriptions.
Use related Searches –After you search Google for your keyword phrase, scroll down to the bottom of the page to. You will notice, “Searches related to (your keyword phrase). Pick out the phrases they make sense for your webpage and add them to the content.
Synonyms – Check out Thesauras.com for synonyms to the keywords or phrases that
you are optimizing for.
Use the tilde (~) – You can ask Google which words are related to your keyword phrase. Google bolds words that it considers to be related to the keyword/s you type in. Try typing “~replacement” (without the quotes) into the Google search box and you will notice the words “parts” and “repair” are bolded.
Search Amazon – Just like Google, Amazon will provide you with “related searches” that you can add to your list of supporting words or phrases.
Once you have written your content based on your keyword phrase and added your keywords in the right places, include a few phrases or words from your new list without overdoing it. The content has to read fluently so don’t jam in words from your list if they don’t make sense.
Please feel free to comment with additional strategies you may have for theming a page.