Search Engine Optimization Programs | SEO Tutorial Program

Location of Keywords on a Page

In search engine optimization, also as important as the keyword phrase or keyword density is the location of keywords – as it appears to a net surfer – in the webpage. But before seeing more about the location of keywords on a page, here is a brief description of what search engine optimization is all about.

Search engine optimization or SEO is the way of designing or tailor making a website to suit the search algorithm used by the popular search engines. It includes a variety of factors, of which just one is the location of keywords on a page.

For better search results, ideally, the keywords must come to the top of the webpage, at the starting of the document. The closer the keyword to the top of the webpage, more are the chances of it catching the eye of the search engine spider. Also, the occurrence of keywords or keyword phrases in the headings is appreciated, for search engines give due weight-age to such a page design. Ideally, the headings must be in highlighted fonts such as <h1> or <h2> to maximize the results. Further, keywords, highlighted using <strong> font, must be littered two to three times in the body of the text, both of enhanced readability and search engine optimization.

Another crucial location where one must consider using keywords while designing a webpage is inside the <TITLE> tag. This is so because search engines generally take the keywords or sentences given inside the title tag to display alongside the URL in the search results. In other words, it is these lines and keyword phrases that a user sees in the search results. That way, the title tag text also serves the purpose of a business card. Regarding the size of the <title> content, as a rule of thumb, one can safely assume that 50-80 characters will be used by the search engines in normal case to formulate the search result display.

Using keywords in <ALT> tag is also advisable, especially if the image acts as a link to another webpage. For those who are new to the use of <ALT> tag, this tag is a special optional attribute of the page images in a webpage, whose contents will be displayed by the browser if it fails to download the image or if the image display settings of the browser are disabled. Remember, if the image does not carry a link, the text included in the <ALT> is unlikely to be considered by search engines.

Links to other web pages is another tactical location where one could use keywords to pep up the page rankings. Yes, it cannot bring about significant improvements in the rankings if used solitarily, but when used alongside other prominent SEO techniques, it could enhance the ranking and hence search results.

Finally, there are the Description Meta Tags and Keyword Meta Tags, both of which are not direct SEO enhancers, but can be useful in certain situations. For example, Google takes information from the contents of the description Meta tags to display as a snippet in the search results if the info inside the tag matches the search keyword and page text. Keyword Meta Tags, on the other hand, were once used by search engines, but no more relied upon for determining page rankings. But, in case if there is a revival, keywords inside it will turn out to be useful. Hence, on a safer side, give keywords in that as well.  

Tail Piece: One more piece of advice – don’t use keywords extensively without reason in a webpage for it could be counterproductive. Irrespective of its location, an excessive number of keywords, and an illogical arrangement that spoils the readability of the article, will be penalized by Google, usually with a demotion in the page rankings. For a website’s sake, it is better not to be at the receiving end!