by Tammy Frost

Created on: August 07, 2010   Last Updated: November 29, 2011

There are many factors to consider when selecting keywords for your web sites or web pages. Website developers usually make the mistakes of not paying attention to keyword selection, keyword placement, and keyword research. If you want to get good rankings in the search engines, you need to apply good Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques. Selecting, researching and placing keywords on your website is one main SEO technique you need to consider.

Keyword Selection-

One factor to consider when selecting keywords is the type of keywords you should choose to get your website found in search results. Ask yourself, "Will people search for this certain keyword?" Another factor to consider is how many key words to use for your website. Many years ago, Webmasters selected as many keywords as possible to get traffic to their websites. This lead to bad SEO techniques which forced the search engines to change their ranking formulas. It is now recommended that you select only two or three keywords or keyword phrases per web page. This is so that your website doesn’t get penalized for keyword stuffing, or overusing keywords to trick the search engines into ranking your website higher.

Selecting Broad or Specific keywords-

When choosing words or phrases for your website, you may need to determine if you will use broad keywords or specific keywords. Broad key words are short words that many people search for. They tend to be small words that are not specific. Such as: "Website" instead of "Business Website". Specific keywords tend to get better results from the search engines because there is way less competition. Search Engines will most likely rank a branded website higher in the search results for broader keywords. This is because search engines respect authority and aged websites. Therefore, you should pick specific keywords or phrases for your website that may have a better chance getting listed and ranked well.

Selecting unique or branded key words-

Another factor you should consider is to use unique or branded keywords in your keyword selection. Many website owners make up their own unique keywords to use, therefore their site rankings are high in the search engine results. Make sure to use your own branded words instead of trying to get ranked for words such as "Google" or "Nike." Their websites will be too much of a competition for you.

Keyword Research-

Another factor to consider when selecting keywords is to research your keywords before choosing which

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