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Choosing the right keywords is one of the most important things that you can do to make your web site easier to find on the internet. While you should definitely include the keywords that are relevant to the content of your web pages, it is also important to note that more is not always better in this scenario. Too many keywords may lead search engines to believe you are spamming and disregard your site altogether. It is much more important to focus on quality rather than quantity.

First Focus

There are many things to consider when selecting which keywords and key phrases you want to use for your web site. First of all, you want to use those that you think people will enter into a search box when looking for information that is contained on your web pages. In many cases, it is better to use key phrases made up of two or three words rather than a string of single keywords. For instance, if your site is about boat racing, use the phrase “boat racing” rather than the two individual words “boat” and “racing”. Not only does this make your choice more relevant to your content, but it can help you out later if you decide you want to consider purchasing paid advertising from a source such as Google AdWords. There is much less competition for multiple-word phrases than individual words so this could save you a lot of money in your advertising budget. I’ll come back to this last point later in the article.

Beware of Spamming

Be careful that search engines do not view you as a spammer. You want to make sure that you choose enough keywords and key phrases to get a good placement in search engine results but not so many that your site is banned from the index or its ranking is reduced. Try to stick to under 200 characters total and avoid repeating words. To put this concept into perspective, imagine if you saw a billboard on the side of the road that said, “Boat racing, boat racing, racing, boat, racing boat, boat racing”. While this is certain to make the term “boat racing” stick in your head, it doesn’t give you any more information than a sign that simply reads “boat racing”. Search engines are smart and realize this, and they have started “punishing” web pages that employ this type of tactic.

More Options

If you are still having trouble deciding what keywords and key phrases are best for your web site, try using a free keyword generation tool. The Google and Yahoo! tools for this are at the following links.

• Google
• Yahoo

I prefer the Google tool since you can direct it to an existing web page or manually enter text for it to analyze. The Yahoo! tool is really for finding information about a keyword you are already considering while the Google tool gives recommendations for new ones.
Keyword Advertising with AdWords
Another nice piece of information that you can obtain from the Google Keyword Tool is the estimated average cost-per-click (CPC) of the word or phrase, or the average amount that you pay each time someone clicks on your advertisement. As mentioned earlier in the article, should you decide to use keyword advertising, this can have a huge impact on your budget. These amounts will vary depending on the current market, but I found the following figures at the time I entered the information.
Keyword Estimated Average Cost-per-Click

Boat $1.24
Racing $0.82
Boat racing $0.53

If you multiply these figures by thousands of clicks, you can easily see how much money can be saved in advertising by choosing the phrase “boat racing” rather than the two individual words “boat” and “racing”.

Summary

I would like to close this article by saying that while the task of choosing the right keywords and key phrases may seem daunting, the best way is really the old-fashioned way. Develop web pages on your site with good content and then select simple and straightforward words and phrases that describe that content. The web sites in this article can help with this, but your best tool is going to be common sense. Slick gimmicks might get you a quick rush of hits over a short period, but they may also hurt you in the long run if the ever-evolving search engines find a way to counter them. Your best bet is to stick with the honest, clear-cut method and watch your traffic grow steadily over time.