Search engine optimization (SEO) is a challenging and time consuming task, and there is much more to search engine optimization then link building and optimizing page elements. To better understand the existing approach to search engine optimization, it is important to understand the role of content in SEO. Google was the first search engine to implement a technology called LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) to generate search results. LSI requires a Googlebot to take note of the keyword density of specific words on a webpage in addition to caching a page. For example, a webpage with 500 words and the keyword ‘Lenovo laptops’ appearing 50 times will have a keyword density of 10% for the keyword ‘Lenovo laptops’.
Once the Googlebot has indexed the page and noted the keyword density of various phrases on the webpage, it should then bring up the webpage for search phrases like ‘Lenovo laptops’. Although Google takes various factors into account while generating search results, there is no denying that content plays a pivotal role in generating ‘organic’ search results. Apart from the content on a webpage, a Googlebot also indexes the textual content like page headers, page titles and links. In essence, Google stores a detailed account of each website and the keywords associated with the website.
An important step in any successful search engine optimization exercise is creating content that is targeted at specific keywords. A search engine optimizer carries out detailed analysis of popular searches phrases and isolates keywords that need to be targeted. Once the keywords are cleared by the client, the next step is optimizing the website for the keywords. Contrary to popular belief, the domain name plays a vital role in search engine optimization and a domain name like lenovolaptops.com will rank well for the search query ‘Lenovo laptops’. What is also true is that the domain name alone does not decide the search ranking of a website; for example, a Google search for ‘Lenovo laptops’ will reveal that lenovolaptops.com is not the top ranking website for the search.
After the domain name, the name of each individual web page also plays a vital role in LSI based search engine optimization. For example, a webpage named lenovolaptops.html will stand a better chance of rating well for a Google search for ‘Lenovo laptops’. In fact, not all websites have the luxury of choosing a domain name before starting search engine optimization and the next best option is naming all pages for target keywords.
Apart from the name of a webpage, page titles and headers also play an important role in search engine optimization. Google lays great emphasis on the keyword density of a webpage and placing headings with target keywords alone is no longer sufficient for carrying out search engine optimization. What is equally true is that Meta tags have also lost their importance and have been reduced to providing basic information to a WebCrawler (if a page should be indexed or not etc).
Understanding keyword density
Contrary to popular belief, it is not advisable to stack a webpage with target keywords to increase the keyword density. In fact, Google has been penalizing webmasters and websites for spamming web pages with keywords. It is important to remember that a keyword density of close to 5% is acceptable by Google (if the content is well written and meaningful). Although different search engine optimizers have different opinions when it comes to the exact keyword density, most agree that a keyword density close to 5% is ideal. What is equally important is that all web content should be well written and free from any grammatical errors. Today, all ‘successful’ websites have content that is meaningful and free from spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.
Andy Burrows specializes in organic search engine optimization and website SEO
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