by Effie Moore Salem

Created on: August 05, 2008   Last Updated: December 01, 2009

Keywords are the most important in the descriptive short explanation of an article and are to be scattered throughout. These are snags for search engines to place offer to prospective searchers. Keywords are important, but they can be overdone. When writing for the Internet we are to be aware that search engines will have their robots on the prowl looking for certain words - keywords - to rush on to someone requesting whatever you are passing out. Thus, if our article is on saving gasoline, we would use the word gasoline, or even the phrase saving on gasoline in the first line. And about halfway down the middle of the article we would again mention the word, and possibly again near the end of the article.

We do not want to get greedy with the keywords and clutter our article needlessly with the overuse of the word and forfeit our chance of being taken seriously. That however will depend on our article and the demands of the market to which we are writing. As with everything (SEO) Search Engine Optimism can be overused, a condition that happens often when dealing with the internet. Most writers write their article and in doing so naturally use the words as they appear to be used. They do not unnecessarily put them in redundantly.

When the search engines were first on the scene back in the nineties there were not as much competition relating to keywords as there is now. I am not saying there were no mention of keywords but keywords were part and parcel of the writing. It was understood that the topic would be the words the robots were out to fetch. Yet, in searching, robots were not with the internet from the beginning; first there were directories that had to be searched by special technological means and those were presented by the older search engines.

Then word gobbling crawlers and robots made an entrance and have been getting hungrier ever since. Now web site owners with wares to sell no longer have the patience to wait their turn. They want the robot to be enticed to their advertisements so they spice up their cheese snares with extra words; just to be sure they are not overlooked.

But robots or some of their programmers are also in the know. Many of them insist their robots ignore those pushy peddlers and instead, choose those that seem to be wholesome and worthy. The best bet is to reach a middle ground and mention keywords our article at least twice, or enough to get your point across.

Unless, of course we are writing specifically for a site that asks for these specifics. In which case we are, like them, out to get money for our effort. What cause is it to us if we get our money for having the right amount of keywords and they get overlooked for having too many? Well, none really, except we like to pass proper usage tips to others.

In articles where multiple words are sought, it makes sense for an editor to ask for keywords of several different words that might otherwise get unnoticed. So there's a good reason to be aware of keywords; and there's an equally good reason to be aware their use can be overdone.

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