Repeating keywords

[drifter69]

Hi All,

I am just about to add metatag keywords to my site, but I wasen't sure about repeating the keywords. A lot of the web pages will naturally share the same keywords and I was wondering if I should take steps to limit repeating them. Could it have an adverse affect with search engins. Any ideas?

[ron sheldrick]

You really need to be careful about use of meta keywords and keyword usage in main body text. The spiders are getting more and more picky about what they consider Spam (i.e cheating). If they qualify you site as spamming, then you may disappear from their search engine indices and it takes a long time to get re-indexed( i.e. resubmit and wait+wait + wait).
This doesn't mean you can't use keywords more than once but it must be in context.

[ron sheldrick]

In terms of Search engine ranking there are a lot of metrics that need to be satisfied to gain high ranking.( tuning and maintaining sensible/acceptable prose onscreen is an artform) One simple test is the balance of meta keywords that appear in your overall body text. Balancing for high ranking is complex because there are variations between different spiders/portals and the Algorithms
do change as do the relevance of links etc.
Putting every concievable meta keyword you can think of is not advised.
Hope that helps

[hawkwind dave]

the thing that worries me about repetition of keywords is this, I want to sell dog products, ie;
dog leads, dog dishes, dog bowls, dog toys, and so on. However, it is often advised to not repeat the word DOG too much, so I end up with;
dog products, leads, dishes, bowls, toys, etc.
Does this mean that the search engines will only pick up the words leads, dishes, bowls,and toys? which on their own, do not necessarily relate to dogs, but maybe audio leads, sattelite dishes, crown green bowls, or kids toys? or do the engines tack the word dog onto the front of the more general keywords ?(leads etc.)as the site is primarilly aim at dog products. I'm not sure if I've worded this query too well, I'm quite new to seo. so if you understand the question, I hope i can understand the reply!

[minstrel]

the thing that worries me about repetition of keywords is this, I want to sell dog products, i.e., dog leads, dog dishes, dog bowls, dog toys, and so on. However, it is often advised to not repeat the word DOG too much, so I end up with: dog products, leads, dishes, bowls, toys, etc. Does this mean that the search engines will only pick up the words leads, dishes, bowls,and toys? which on their own, do not necessarily relate to dogs, but maybe audio leads, sattelite dishes, crown green bowls, or kids toys? or do the engines tack the word dog onto the front of the more general keywords ?(leads etc.)as the site is primarilly aim at dog products.

In the example you cite, you are using key-phrases in which there is repetition of a word - however, the word "dog" is not there as an individual keyword. I would think that your original (dog leads, dog dishes...) is what you should go with because it more accurately reflects the content of your site. Bear in mind that it's unclear how many of the major search engines currently pay attention to the keywords meta tag but I still include it on my pages. I would go with your first choice.

[OneMoreBite]

Hawkwind, that is exactly why, IMO, this whole issue of the engines determining relevancy by clever algorithms is flawed. Your question poses the issue quite well because without the keyword "dog" the other words (dish, bowls, etc.) become too common to be of use.

Right now people would pay just about anything for the definitive answer, as even Google can't decide what they want - and they keep changing their minds.

For now, I'd suggest we all create sites to be as informative as possible, such as the type of site you wish you'd find if you were looking for the products and information your site presents, and keep watching the threads here for more information as to how to tweak your pages.

Kathryn

[minstrel]

Acknowledging that only Google fully knows what Google pays attention to, the best indications are that Google ignores the keywords metatag - if you try to use the actual content in your site to simply and mechanically repeat keywords, you will be banned for that, but hawkwind dave is talking about keyphrases and he is NOT repeating the phrases, even though they do contain a common word.

It's been too long a week to think of abstract or hypothetical examples this late on a Friday so pardon me for using one from my own site:

I have a number of pages on various types of psychological or psychiatric disorders. To select the one on Anxiety Disorders as an example, here is my keywords meta tag:

<META NAME="keywords"
CONTENT="anxiety, anxiety disorder, panic attack, panic disorder, phobia, agorophobia, social phobia, social anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, ptsd, stress">

The word "anxiety" is repeated three times, the word "panic" twice, the word "disorder" three times, the wqord "social" twice, etc., but in each case the phrases are unique. This has not, to my knowledge, resulted in any penalties to that page or to my site.

[hawkwind dave]

thankyou Minstrel and One More Bite, why do answers create more questions? Looking at Minstrel's example for "meta keyphrases" raises another query, is it advisable, or not, to use commas in the "meta keyphrases"? Logically, I feel the comma is needed, to show 'phrases' rather than single words, however, I've noticed in the forums some advice against the use of commas. what do you think?

[minstrel]

In one of those "commas and spaces" threads, someone quoted a W3C example using commas. Plus, as you note, how else can you identify phrases versus words?