Do SEO keywords distract from the main site content

[newwavecreativemedia]

Hi All

I wondered what peoples opinions are on keywords on websites for SEO - do they encourage blocks of text, purely for SEO purposes, that serve no purpose to the user, and distract away from the main content?

Thanks

 

[Experienced IT guy]

Like all things, it depends. Given any range of search terms there will be a (probably) gausian distibution of appropriate terms. In other words between 1 and 4 terms which would cover 90% of searches. By picking the best couple and optimising copy for that, there should not be a real problem. The longer tail terms can be allocated their own pages contributing to the richness of the site. Keep in mind that although some terms may be synonimous, there are often significant differences in exact meaning.
Expect this to be come more and more important as google gets to work on devalueing content farms. The recent changes are probably only the first round. Consider there were two changes in as many weeks.

 

[I, Brian]

Hi All

I wondered what peoples opinions are on keywords on websites for SEO - do they encourage blocks of text, purely for SEO purposes, that serve no purpose to the user, and distract away from the main content?

Thanks

No - it shouldn't be the case at all.

Unfortunately, some idiot SEO companies think to rank for a keyword you need to reprint the keyword 500 times on the page.

That's not likely to work at all.

What you'll actually find these days (and been the case for some time) is that semantic relationships between keywords are of the highest importance.

This applies not simply to the on-page copy-writing, but also to the offpage link building IMO.

 

[SavvySolutions]

Content is so important today, you should make sure it is not ignored when trying to rank for keywords, don't duplicate and always make sure they are in perfect context and of use to the reader. A good copier should be able to produce both good content, and a good keyword density.

 

[Paul Dean]

Savvy is right - a good copywriter should be able to integrate the keywords without you noticing. I must admit to seeing a large number of websites where this hasn't been the case though, and they often end up being professionally rewritten.

 

[canigroup]

you should try articlez.com for copywriting. Very cheap at $10 per article and very well written. You just have to correct the US spelling mistakes if your in the UK like me. A quick blast over Word fixes that.

 

[writecombination]

I focus on naturally embedding keywords into the website copy that I write for customers. The text should read well to both humans and computers.

This is a principle that's becoming more popular. While some aspects of SEO remain quite technical, good quality copy is gaining recognition by Google and other search engines.

Andrew

 

[Paul Dean]

you should try articlez.com for copywriting. Very cheap at $10 per article and very well written. You just have to correct the US spelling mistakes if your in the UK like me. A quick blast over Word fixes that.

Not quite the same thing though is it? Writing web copy is a discipline in itself, and the question was about keyword stuffing. It's "you're" by the way...

 

[canigroup]

The writers there will do anything you ask, website copy, articles, etc. You just request what you want in the notes. You also include they keyword you would like to target etc.

There great and very reasonably priced.

and you can see I'm no writer

 

[Paul Dean]

The writers there will do anything you ask, website copy, articles, etc. You just request what you want in the notes. You also include they keyword you would like to target etc.

There great and very reasonably priced.

and you can see I'm no writer

One of the problems with American writers is they produce stuff like this, taken from their website:

"If you wish, of course, you can go out and try to hire a private writer -- just to write for you. Even if you can spend the time searching and searching to find a qualified writer, you will find that the very best people DON'T WORK CHEAP -- and there is no guarantee that they will be available to work on your projects in the future. And when they are available, you may have to wait until they service their other clients projects."

The word they have wrong is "cheap", which should of course be "cheaply". And a spell checker won't pick it up. The second mistake is "clients" which should be "clients'" with a final apostrophe. Plus of course they've used far too many commas.

So they're right - good writers don't work for peanuts - but what do you get when you pay peanuts..?

 

[maxh]

People tend to get the wrong end of the stick here.

Keyword stuffing (copy for SEO's sake) is not as effective as it used to be.

However, getting your keyword in the page title tag, h1 tag, URL, headline, alt tags (on images) and at least once in the body is what you should aim for.

Then the rest should be aimed at answering whatever question that keyword asks.

i.e. your keyword is "Buy sausages" then what you write should be *the* most helpful advise on how to buy sausages, where from, why to buy sausages, who buys sausages? etc...etc..

Content is still King, it just demands a lot more than it used to.

 

[MASSEY]

Content is still King, it just demands a lot more than it used to.

I dont think content is king. What you suggest is exactly what you do with your desired keywords, you get the text so it is semantic as possible. But in nearly all cases you will require backlinks to kick it to the top. Unless you have some major authority site.

 

[terryuk]

I dont think content is king. What you suggest is exactly what you do with your desired keywords, you get the text so it is semantic as possible. But in nearly all cases you will require backlinks to kick it to the top. Unless you have some major authority site.

Yeah but ranking for your index phrases is good, then you have the long tails in form of an article/forum post whatever it may be.

Without X targeted articles some of these authority sites wouldn't be what they are anyway.

 

[WebDesignHW]

Content should definitely be written with the visitor/potential customer in mind - not written just for the search engines!

Overly keyword stuffed copy really puts me off when I'm viewing a website.

 

[canigroup]

I've found more often then not its about getting your keyword into a page in all the 'legal spots' once or twice, page title, Body of text, comments etc its all been said before.

But what's even more important is the keyword research. People using broad match searches for keywords instead of exact matches. Picking a keywords where the top 10 of the competition has 14 year old aged domains with page rank 8 and thousands of backlinks is going to be very competitive.

And no I don't think mentioning your keyword a couple of times per section will distract from site content.

You have 3 seconds to grab the attention of your visitor, in those 3 seconds the visitor is only going to be reading your first bit of content. Grab them with something meaningful then direct them to your product/service etc.

Your landing page can be full of your keywords and link juice with your sub pages being more meaningful. Not that you should be plastering keywords on your landing page, like I mentioned a couple of times per area is fine. You can also add no follow links so all the link juice stays on the landing page.

Works well unless your selling multiple services/products. If you can get away with it sites dedicated to your keyword/niche and far easier to rank.