Identify Search Terms

As you create content for your page, you want to identify the search terms or phrases that people might use to find your site. You should create a list of possible search terms and, as you create pages, add those terms to the content. Make the search terms specific to your subject; if your terms are too general, your site will blend in with all the other sites using the same general terms. For example:

Finding Search Terms

To come up with more search terms, ask family and friends or the person on the other side of the cube wall what terms they might use to find your site. You also can use the following keyword suggestion tools:

• Overture's Keyword Selector Tool lists alternative keywords.
• Google's AdWords Keyword Tool lists alternative keywords.
• Ask search engine lists alternative search strings to the right of the search results.

If you want to learn more about how people search and what they search for, the Google Zeitgeist tracks "search patterns, trends, and surpises according to Google."

Adding Search Terms to Content

After you come up with your list of search terms, you need to make sure they are in your content. And not just in the main text. You want to put search terms in the TITLE tag, headings, and other emphasized text. When you add search terms to text, however, always make sure the content remains logical and readable.

Precautions

Some things to think about in terms of adding keywords:

• Don't try to trick the search engines. If your site has nothing to do with Britney Spears but you put her name all through your content, the search engine will catch it and ban your site from its index.
• Search terms are similar but not the same as keywords in the META tag. You do not want to load up your META keywords tag with search terms and here's why.