Google and Keywords - Is less more?

[dcaul]

Hi Members.

I've heard conflicting information regarding the correct number of keywords (from a variety of sources and forums). Some say to place up to 50 words and phrases in your metatags, while others are saying that each page should focus on two or three words/phrases, and that these w/p should be well-used in your text (i.e. producing a high "keyword density").

Originally, I had placed 50 words and phrases on each page. Then, I changed this to three or four per page, which are words that have sufficient keyword density throughout the respective page on which they are listed (eg, see www.e-ca.ca). Consequently, I still have the 50 or so original keywords, but now they are spread out over 30 different pages. Am I doing something wrong???

Please keep in mind that I am (almost exclusively) focused upon Google, as this search engine is the one most often used by my target market. So, while other engines may place greater weight on keyword metatags than Google does, I am willing to lose positioning with them as long as I score well with Google.

Your thoughts and feedback on this is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Dennis Caul
e-canada
dcaul@e-ca.ca

[janeth]

I would focus on two or at the most three per page. Trying to use 50 different key words on one page would be very hard to do.

[jvanv8]

I thought that Google ignored Keywords completely. I could be wrong though.

[janeth]

Hi jvanv8,
When I was saying key words I was not talking about the meta tag but rather the words that you would target for that page.

You would use it in the meta tags <h> tags, text and any where else it would make since to put it.

It is what you would use for the links coming to that page also.

[rlrouse]

Try to concentrate a couple of keywords/phrases near the top of the page in the content. The trick is working them in so that there is a natural flow where the text makes sense.

I have discovered over time that keyword density for the page as a whole isn't as important as getting your keywords into the first couple of paragraphs a few times.

You can hit a home run if:

1 - You can get a few good quality links to the page with a couple of keywords in the link anchor text.

2 - You use the same keywords in the page title and URL.

Follow those up with a couple of keyword rich paragraphs near the top of the page and the page will rank very well.

[achronister]

From the variety of sources, I've come to the conclusion that for meta keyword tag, anywhere from 7-48 words is a good estimate. Not an exact figure mind you, but a good starting point.

Keep in mind that the keywords you put in there MUST be in the body text, otherwise you may get hammered for spamming.

Aaron

[ppeter]

I am currently making up a ton (about 71) pages each one geared towards a particular keyword phrase.
I used WordTracker (www.wordtracker.com) to find out the most popular keyword phrases related to my area of business and then created a page for each phrase.
The title of the page is the keyword phrase, the <H1> tag contains the keyword phrase and the url contains the keyword phrase, seperated using hyphens ("-").
The phrase is then used in the SHORT copy of the page, which acts as a gateway to more information / products.
They are intended for submission to SEs to target individual searches. Then, they contain quality content that gives the searcher what they wanted, based on their search term whilst also being highly optimised for SEs.
Although they are not implemented yet, I am confident that they will succeed.