• Campaign vs. Ad Groups Usage

Google Adwords categorizes keywords differently based on whether they used as a “campaign” or “ad groups” keyword. These two levels have different levels of exposure and relevance. A keyword negative added to the campaign will affect all ads in all ad-groups; a keyword negative added to the ad-group will only affect the ads in that particular group. It’s very important that those who have Google Adwords accounts decide what level of exposure each keyword should have, and how it relates to the overall branding of the site. Campaign level negative keywords are generally riskier, but will lead to a much better quality of traffic if they are effectively deployed.

• The Meaning of Broad, Phrase, or Exact

In addition to the campaign and ad groups levels, Adwords allows users to choose how search engines should interpret the negative keyword. In other words, if the negative keyword is “red sauce pasta,” if a user enters “red sauce,” will that search term also be flagged? Broad matches mean that any variation on the term will be considered negative. Phrase means that the words must be in the basic order, although a word or two can be substituted in between the principal negative keywords. An exact means that only the exact term should be considered negative. Each type of restriction can be useful, depending on the specific business; there is no “one category fits all” approach for effective marketing.

• How to Choose the Appropriate Keyword Negatives

Users can create their negative keywords by using some of the tools that Google Adwords provides to them. Adwords has a feature where users can plug in terms and then receive a list of similar searches that are performed in conjunction with those keywords. As an example, an antiques lamp dealer may discover that “halogen,” “pull-chain,” and “old-fashioned bulb” are usually paired with “antique lamp.” Based on this information, this antiques lamp dealer may then create campaign level negative keywords such as “broken,” “dusty” or “cheap.” These negative keywords will prevent people who are seeking damaged or discounted goods from visiting his antique lamp website, while those people who are genuinely seeking a high quality article will click on the site.

However, the antiques lamp dealer should be careful about his choice of negative keywords. “Dusty” seems to have a negative connotation, but in some instances, it might be a descriptor for a particular kind of shade color or texture. If he places “dusty” into his broad-based campaign level negative keywords, he may lose a great deal of potentially profitable traffic. Of course, this problem can be solved by research. If the dealer determines that “dusty shade” is a desirable keyword, but “dusty lamp” is not, he can modify his negative keyword so that it is an exact match only to “dusty,” or “dusty lamp,” instead of a broad or phrase match.

The best way for users to create effective negative keywords is to do some low-level experimentation with ad group level keywords. Because these keywords will only affect individual ads and click through rates, users can more precisely pinpoint what kind of users they are attracting. Thanks to the power of Google Analytics, they will be able to track the effectiveness of individual ads. By deploying the correct negatives, they will begin to see a dramatic increase in overall website performance in terms of visitor conversion.

• The Benefit of Higher Rankings on Quality Score and Decreased CPC Cost

By experimenting with negative keywords, those who run Adwords campaigns will immediately notice a decrease in their “cost per click” or CPC cost. Essentially, any time a visitor clicks on an ad, the runner of that ad is charged a flat fee per click. Understandably, limiting the number of clicks only to parties who will potentially buy the service or product instead of those who stumble across it mistakenly provides an extreme financial benefit.

As the number of appropriately channeled visitors to the site increases, the site’s ranking will correspondingly rise in the search engines. This is also quite financially lucrative in the long term due to what is known as “organic” search results. Of the two primary search result methods, paid and organic, organic search results are preferred by 75% of web searchers. In other words, once the site has built up a reputation as a trustworthy and authentic vendor, it will begin to “organically” appear in search listings. This will attract a higher amount of traffic without costing the webmaster any additional funds. Ultimately, negative keywords keep site traffic relevant.

When you run all three keyword match types, you will gain valuable data and knowledge to help you optimize your ad campaign. You can track and compare the percentages of searches for each type of keyword match. For the best possible ad campaign results, these comparisons should show a larger percentage on exact and phrase keyword matches.

There are actually some very definite dangers and disadvantages to running broad keywords for campaigns. With Google Adwords accounts, the program is set to run your ads on related variations of keywords. In addition, these key terms may or may not be in your keyword listings. Variations of given keywords can be singular/plural forms, synonyms, appropriate variants of your keywords, and various phrases which contain your keywords. For instance, if you run an ad campaign on a broad-matched keyword such as “window treatments,” you may get ad showings for search queries like “bay window treatments” or “window treatment design textbooks.” The variations on your key terms which will trigger your ads will be different over a length of time when using Adwords. Its tools and features constantly monitor key term strength, quality, and overall performance. This close tracking will ensure that your ads will appear only when triggered by the most closely related keyword variations returning the best results.

Although a broad keyword match will attract Web users with an interest in your site’s products or services, it is not employing search terms that trigger your ads, it is still simply an algorithm. It may also begin showing your ad to high volumes of searchers not interested in what your business or personal website has to offer. Not only will this decrease the amount and effectiveness of your campaign budget—it can cause a pronounced fall in your CTR (click through rates) and your overall Quality Score.

Instead of a broad match, some experts in keyword usage recommend expanding your key terms to every sensible combination so you can run them for a phrase match. By this method, you will be able to prevent unfavorable broad match results. In addition, you may discover tail terms that bring a remarkable increase in returns at a much lower cost.
For example, for the broad key term match: Greek CD recordings, you can create an expanded phrase match to include:

Greek CD recordings

CD Greek recordings

recordings Greek CD

CD recordings Greek

Greek recordings CD

Such use of an expanded phrase match can literally eliminate half of your ad costs.

Most people want to have as much control over their ad campaigns as possible. For instance, while your campaign is in progress, you will want to regulate when your ads are shown and which key term most frequently triggers them. There is no guarantee that a broad match will determine this data, and many times it will not. The advice most often given is to change to phrase and exact match to lower your cost per click and per sale.

In direct contrast, with use of Google Adwords’ expanded broad match, CTR plummeted, much fewer clicks were productive conversions, and cost per click greatly increased. In order to gain profits and success for your online business products/services or your personal website endeavors, choose Adwords’ exact or phrase match. You can easily create a valid phrase match simply by placing quotation marks around a phrase, e.g., “Greek CD recordings.” If you want to run an exact match, just place your phrase within square brackets: [CD recordings Greek].

Including negative keywords in your ad campaign can be a definite advantage. These negative keywords are any terms relevant to your advertising text, but not actually related to your website’s subject and content. By using these key terms, you can be sure that your ads will not be shown on Web search results listings not directly related to your site and business. As an example, a website selling theater costumes and props might have ads showing for the key term, “theater tickets.” Since the site does not sell tickets, the owner may designate “tickets” as a negative keyword, so no further ads for tickets will be displayed.

You must use negative keywords to keep your ads from appearing when triggered by certain key term variations. Remember, whenever you make use of broad matched keywords, pausing or even eliminating a term will not prevent one of the active broad matched keywords from expanding to include that key term. For instance, if your keyword group included the terms “fruit” and “oranges” (broad matched), and you paused the term “oranges,” your ad might still be triggered on the search term “oranges” because of its connection to the broad matched key term “fruit.” The solution, then, is to designate “oranges” as a negative keyword.

When using AdWords’ broad match modifier, a specialized targeting feature, you can extend the influence of your keywords more than with phrase match. You will also gain more lasting control than you could ever have with broad match. You will be delighted to discover that when modified broad match keywords are used in an ad campaign, you will be assured of a greater number of clicks and conversions, with an impressive ROI. You will notice these areas of improvement even more if other key terms included are exact and phrase match. This outstanding Adwords feature permits the addition of other words before, between or after a key term with a plus sign (+) directly before it. If you place a plus sign before one or more terms in a broad match keyword or phrase, each word following a + symbol must be included in a search, either exactly or as a very close variant. Acceptable variants are singular/plural forms, slight misspellings, abbreviations, acronyms, and stem forms (e.g., light and lighting).

There are definitely serious dangers and problems associated with running broad keywords in your ad campaigns. It is true that a broad match may seem attractive for enhancing site traffic volumes, especially to beginning online advertisers and marketers. However, you will soon see your CTR and conversion rates plunge downward, while your campaign costs quickly escalate to new highs. Fortunately, with Google Adwords features, you can also utilize exact and phrase key term matches, as well as expanded phrase matches. In addition, negative keywords usage and the broad match modifier feature will greatly increase your business or personal website’s appropriate visibility, traffic, CTR and conversions for heightened levels of profitability and success.

Depending upon the connotation of terms, the user’s intent will establish the focus of a search. Consumers may use terms that denote a general product or a specific brand. Companies will market their brand-name products to dominate the usage of a term so it becomes associated as the main definition. For example, if a person searches for Apple, most consumers will associate this term with the computer company. In the same manner, using apple in a search bar will produce results that pertain to products and services from that brand rather than the fruit. Understanding the key phrase relevance will prevent webmasters from optimizing words that are no longer associated with original terminology.

With certain terms, users will purposefully input additional words to specify their desired subject. Combining complimentary keywords increases the relevance of a search that uses common terms with multiple meanings. Generally, the word nail is associated with either cuticles or construction materials. Since a person will not want to find both terms in a search, he or she will use a complimentary term to focus the results on either fingernails or the metallic fastener. Optimizing commonly used phrases instead of a general term achieves the necessary relevance of a website without accidentally competing with unrelated industries.

Some situations may require the use of a keyword that is already dominated by another industry. When an informational website wishes to detail the biological facts of wild mustangs, it must compete with the car of the same name. Complementing the word mustang with horse may further complicate the term because users may receive results pertaining to Mustang horsepower rather than the animal. Using the plural of horse to focus the key phrase relevance prevents the results from associating horses with horsepower. Optimizing the phrase, mustang horses, will help searchers gain information about the animal instead of the horsepower of the vehicle. It is better to use focused terms that do not compete with a brand name when no other synonyms exist.

Hyper specificity can yield few improvements in web traffic even if the website appears at the top of organic search results. Employee names and the titles of businesses are among the most common terms that will lead to hyper specific keywords. A website owner will seek terms and phrases that are not utilized by other webmasters to achieve top rankings on organic search results. Since it is unlikely that a casual searcher will ever use these highly specific terms, the boosts in relevance will not lead to improvements in web traffic or subsequent revenue. The only time consumers will use these terms is when they already know about the business or website and are searching specifically for that company. Celebrity names are the rare exception to this rule, and news or fan sites will typically dominate the relevance of their names.

A trend in SEO is to combine terms into a single keyword for search results. While this method can allow websites to appear on lists that relate to the root of the keyword, it does not improve web traffic and will result in flawed relevancy. Webmasters will combine popular terms without spaces to form the names of businesses or related websites. With the word computers, search engines will typically direct a user to information regarding the technical specification and industries that provide this product. Campaigns that tack on words to utilize this initial search term to create unintelligible phrases, like computerscheap, seek to use the common root to boost the amount of web traffic. This limits the results for a user to only computers. If someone wanted to find cheap computers, that particular website will not appear relevant since it is only pertaining to a lengthy word that begins with computers. It is better to separate computers from cheap to gain higher relevance and increase web traffic.

Websites that cater to a particular market will have to decide between competing on a general level and specifying their keywords to the targeted audience. Service industries usually seek clients in a given area and are unable to serve consumers outside of this location. Healthcare practices are common industries that should not compete on a global level. Specifying the type of practice with the location reduces the competition with national firms that offer the same care. In most cases, users will have location cookies with search engines that can detect this relevance and allow local businesses to receive higher results than firms in non-relevant districts.

The goal of search engine optimization is to utilize key phrase relevance that targeted consumers will input. Words that are too general or specific will prevent users from finding a website due to high competition or ignorance of the term. By considering the multiple meanings of words, a person can decide which phrases are best for the intended relevance. Using specific terms that targeted demographics use will result in better campaigns. Websites that achieve increased levels of traffic through organic search results do so by choosing keywords that are relevant to the usage of the terms.

Traditional marketing requires a business to focus on defining one product line as a brand and attaching any subsequent products to the original brand name. This technique limited the demographics that a business could reach since the original branding would be specific to include only a certain amount of products and people. For instance, if a clothing line was developed, the brand name would only be relevant to the original demographic and only apply to complementary goods in the fashion industry. If a new product line falls outside the foregoing, it would risk overextending the brand name and losing the appeal to its consumer groups. Multiple brand names allow a company to encompass the various products and services that are offered in different industries. These product lines can specialize in demographics, which would cause problems with the company expanding its domain.

Companies like Proctor & Gamble are parent companies that produce multiple products ranging over various industries. In traditional methods, a single product will have extensive marketing to promote its function in a singular way. Pringles is a product line that is under Proctor & Gamble covering an assortment of different potato chip flavors and packaging sizes. The main website for Pringles is oriented to consumers who enjoy this product and want to learn more information relevant to this brand. Since this site will link to Proctor & Gamble’s main website, the relevance for both the parent company and the brand line will increase on organic search results. This structure improves the conversion rates for multiple products since each brand offered will have a focus on the products that consumers want.

The conversion rate for a company with multiple product lines on a single website is lower than that of a company with separate websites for each brand. In most cases, the search functions available on a convoluted website will lead to shorter product descriptions in an attempt to show as many relevant results as possible. Organic search results will only display a few products from a particular producer since the relevance will be lower due to the various items throughout the site. For instance, if a website carries multiple items throughout healthcare industries, a specific search for a single product in dentistry will yield a low relevance and will likely have a lower significance than websites focusing on that specific item.

Glaxo, Smith & Kline, or GSK, produces healthcare-related products and pharmaceuticals that create difficult site mapping for the main website. To combat this problem, GSK created hundreds of individually designed websites for each of their products to allow consumers to get as much information as required on each product line. This improved the consumer’s ability to find these products in organic searches without overloading the main website server. Each site is filled with only relevant information that users can easily navigate to gain knowledge of the most common uses for the product and important facts to encourage use. Since each site is considered legitimate by search engines, the relevance for the site can boost its parent company and any closely related products without extensive SEO campaigns to artificially improve the relevance.

Organic searches are determined by the algorithms used by search engine providers to verify the legitimacy of a site and establish the amount of deep content present. Since a website devoted to a particular product will not have any unrelated advertisements or banner ads, the relevance of the site is improved by having a rich amount of content that is oriented to informing the user. Search engines will also attribute any links throughout the Internet that refer users to the product’s website, which improves the rankings of organic searches for the product’s website and the parent company’s website.

Companies with multiple brands can improve their relevance and have higher conversion rates than those of a single address website. Since consumers can receive highly focused information from the website of a particular brand, they are more likely to link to the website to notify others of the product in question than the parent company’s website. This allows companies to use focused conversion methods since each product will appeal to targeted demographics. Rankings through organic searches are improved with multiple websites that link to a parent website because each product line can display information relevant to users.

A good site map will let your visitors see your entire layout at a single glance. While most people will find their way around with normal navigation methods, for the few who need access to site maps, they will be crucial. When complex menu systems prevent your users from easily finding what they need, their frustration may cause them to leave your site and go somewhere else. A sitemap may be your only opportunity to keep them from moving on to your competitor.

As an index, the site map’s role in visitor navigation is urgent at the time, but the more mundane day to day purpose is to aid the robots. Your site maps are a key search engine optimization (SEO) tool. If a large percentage of your site is given over to flash elements, graphics and data base driven content, the site map may be the only way for the search engines to navigate at all. Even sites with more spider friendly designs can benefit from providing a direct path to the most important spots. Giving the search engines a specific list of places to go may give you a significant advantage, especially if you have thousands of pages or multiple sub domains.

Asking SEO professionals how to create site maps will get you a myriad of answers. That is partly because structure can vary so much. Smaller sites may need only a simple list of URLs. More complex operations could have a whole directory of indexes serving multiple purposes. Google advises having a separate map for each type of data on your site. They also look for Meta information on the frequency of changes, the last updates, and a description of the subject matter.

There are many index building sources available. You can do it yourself with tools furnished by the major search engines or by using software from third party vendors. You can also hire SEO companies to do it for you. The best method for you depends on the size and complexity of your website and your own technical expertise.

In the beginning, a site index was a simple text file with a list of URLs or links. Currently, site maps intended for visitors may be as simple as an alphabetical list or as complex as an interactive graphic. Whatever the style, a user map can simply be a page added to your root directory.

The more common method of preparing an index for SEO purposes is an XML file. Sitemaps.org provides detailed information and examples of how to set up a site index this way. The search engine data can be placed in the root directory, or a robot.txt file at that location can direct the crawlers to a sub directory. Complex operations may even use a specialized site map domain.

With this method, there is no real need to build a site map through each search engine’s webmaster tools interface. However, if you do not have access to the root directory or don’t feel capable of handling the XML, you can still do it that way. Once the site map is complete, you can submit it to the search engines through their Control Panels or by simply providing a robot.txt file.

Site maps have evolved greatly from their original design and purpose. While they are not a required element of good web design, they are necessary for good SEO. When planning a new website, creating a site map first can help to assure a more logical and accessible navigation system on completion. On older sites that may have grown convoluted or contain outdated pages no longer in use, it is an invaluable tool.

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/sitemaps.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitemaps

• Long Term Impact on Organic Rankings

The dethroning of such sites such as ezine from their prominent position atop the search rankings had an immediate impact on how those sites, and article distribution sites in general, solicited content. Although many of the article distribution sites allowed contributors to add content at will, some sites paid their contributors. eHow is part of a larger entity known as DemandMedia, for example, which pays contributors to write articles for them. After Google’s Farmer Update went into effect, DemandMedia revised its editorial guidelines, specifying a more in-depth level of research and stricter guidelines for article formats. DemandMedia also launched several different sites with specific focuses, such as a business-oriented site, a food oriented site, and paired with pre-existing original content providers like Salon.com in order to maintain its page ranking. While eHow’s content was deemed to be largely original, DemandMedia decided to take no chances.

Commercial sites that had lifted verbatim the description of a particular product or service from a manufacturer, for example, also had to start hiring professional writers to create unique content. “Scraper” sites, which are accumulations of previously written content, were abruptly removed from the top search results.

The long term impact of these changes on organic rankings appears to be a shift toward sites that engage people and generate certain user behavior statistics. Although the content must display a basic knowledge of the topic, the quality of the writing itself has become increasingly important. Average visitors to websites have a higher standard for website copy. Copy that is poorly constructed, dull, or simply not engaging repels visitors and encourages them to seek out other websites. Because Google s Farmer Update pairs the relevance of the content with user behavior, the mood and tone of the copy and the presentation of websites will increasingly impact the success or failure of organic rankings. Those sites that combine witty copy and excellent design will thrive. Those sites that are “sales-y,” and clearly motivated to garner page views without providing anything of substance will experience eroding organic rankings.

Being able to truly evaluate the relevance or authority of a particular site takes time and knowledge, especially on topics that are either obscure or complex. While it’s impossible to design an algorithm that can verify with 100% certainty that the information contained on a particular page is accurate, the algorithm can make fairly accurate decisions based on user behavior and links to other authoritative sites.

• Quality Sites Not Impacted by Google s Farmer Update

Many large sites, including eBay, Facebook, and YouTube were not impacted by the change. These sites display “quality” content, or at least quality as defined by the new Google algorithm. The content is original, is viewed by numerous people for long periods of time, and is relevant to a particular sub-section or market. In other words, “quality” itself has acquired a slightly different definition than it may have had a century ago. While craftsmanship and attention to detail still are important, much of the content on YouTube is arguably quite “amateur.” However, it is not recycled or plagiarized, and this distinguishes it from other content on the web.

• Future Farmer Updates & The Push to Avoid “Gaming”

While Google’s decision to issue the new ranking algorithm completely changed how many sites conceptualized of content and quality, the search engine has not stopped refining how it categorizes pages. Google appears to be pursuing a policy that actively resists “gaming” by sites and content developers.

The early days of the Internet offered entrepreneurs and other clever content aggregators a relatively easy pathway to recognition and high rankings. Google s Farmer Update signals that search engines are increasingly concentrating on rewarding quality over quantity. Any “gaming” efforts on the part of developers will undoubtedly backfire, even if they result in a temporary increase in overall page rankings. Low quality, shallow content is out; high quality, in-depth content is here to stay.

• Examples of Excellent Bread Crumb Use

A gardening company may carry several different types of plants, such as orchids and Christmas trees. The company may also market different types of accessories, like plant pots and gardening hoes. Each of these items are subsets of the primary business, which is gardening. Without breadcrumbs, the name of the gardening website and brief description of its products will appear in the search rankings. However, with breadcrumbs each of the sub-pages can be listed under the main website along with a brief description. Someone who is looking specifically for information on orchids can skip directly to that page. If they used a keyword like “gardening orchids” this will help reinforce the validity of that keyword within the organic rankings, and lead even more people who are seeking orchids directly to that particular page.

• Different Types of Anchor Texts

However, breadcrumbs are only as good as their anchor text. Without integrating a small descriptive blurb into the hyperlink, breadcrumbs must rely entirely on the domain name to describe their relevance. While this can sometimes work, it’s much better to have a short, punchy description right next to the domain name that encourages the visitor to click directly on that link instead of navigating to the home page first. This descriptive text can be separated by a “|” symbol, or linked with an em dash.

There are three main types of anchor text: location based, keyword based, and categorized. Categorized anchor text tends to be the most popular. It will contain the focus of the root website, along with a listing of the subcategory. To reference the example above, the gardening hoe categorized anchor text would likely read: “Green Thumb Gardeners | Gardening Hoes.” Keyword based anchor text would alter this slightly, depending on the keyword usage. If “metal gardening hoes” are a particularly popular keyword, the anchor text might read: “Metal Gardening Hoes At Incredible Prices” and completely neglect the mention the parent company. Location based anchor texts focus their attention on the region in which the company is based. The anchor text for this example might read, “Chicago Gardening Hoes.” As with all text and content, the more clever and descriptive, the better.

Each of these anchor texts will produce different rankings. The location based anchor text will draw in people who want to shop locally or at least in a particular locale. The keyword-based text will help direct new visitors to a specific page, while the category will help broad-based visitors refine their search. (For further information on this topic, read the article “How to Determine Categories.”)

• How Bread Crumbs Improve User Experience

Webmasters and users alike value breadcrumbs because it makes navigation so much more efficient. Motivated consumers rarely want to spend any extra time clicking their way through a poorly designed site. If they know what they want already, simply clicking on the bread crumb brings them to their destination.

Also, frequent visitors to a website appreciate being able to jump into different pages from the search engine. A literary magazine, for example, may have several different topic-specific pages, such as “essays” or “fiction.” A reader of the site may want to read the latest essays one day, and the latest fiction on another. By having the bread crumbs prominently displayed, the reader can quickly jump from one page to another without having to scroll through the main navigation page.

• Creating Different Page Ranks

Webmasters should note that breadcrumbs can significantly alter page ranks within a given site. In particular, bread crumbs can help the archival section of a website gain prominence, especially because archives, by their very nature, are rarely updated. If they are frequently referenced, however, their rankings will dramatically increase.

Having a website with highly ranked pages across the board is beneficial to the performance of the entire website. Generally, a search engine will rank web pages in tiers: the home page receives a higher page rank than the first tier, while the first tier receives higher rankings than the second tier, for example. By creating highly trafficked pages within a website, more pages will be bumped up to the first tier classification, resulting in higher overall organic rankings and conversion rates for the site as a whole.

Breadcrumbs also help index otherwise little noticed inner web pages, and increase their relevance. The more precise the indexing, the more likely a page will be displayed as a worthwhile link. The more worthwhile and actively used links a site possesses, the higher it will be rise in the rankings.

Webmasters should also make sure that their site is thoroughly interlinked. This will allow relatively low ranked pages to share in the higher rankings of more popular pages by virtue of their well-structured links, which benefits the website as a whole.

What is a Meta Description?

The meta description tag is a tag that is located in the header portion of a website’s HTML code. It is sandwiched between the HEAD and /HEAD tags. Some people downplay the importance of the meta description tag, but there is no question that it comes into play more often than not. It is designed to contain a short, concise summary of the purpose of any given page or website. It is often displayed alongside other information in the search engine results pages or SERPs, so it must be accurate and informative.

What is a Title Description?

A title description tag tells search engines what the title of any given page is. It is also located in the header portion of a site’s HTML code. By necessity, is has to be a lot shorter than the meta description tag. Search engine bots pull this information and use it to assign titles to pages that appear in the SERPs. By including a title description tag, you can influence how the title of your site appears in the rankings. Keep in mind that this tag also determines the default title for your page whenever someone bookmarks it.

Keywords and Key Phrases

In order to develop a robust and effective SEO strategy, you need to incorporate your keywords and key phrases wherever and whenever you can. The title description and meta description tags present great opportunities for doing so. When you choose the key phrases and keywords that make up the backbone of your campaign, you have to ensure that they are relevant to the overall theme of your site. Therefore, making them work within the title or the description of the site should be simple.

One mistake that you should never make is to simply write lists of your keywords and key phrases within your title and meta descriptions. That is not what those tags are designed for, and it can even get you into trouble with the search engines. The search engines are very diligent about keyword stuffing. If they crawl your site and see tags that are filled with key phrases and keywords, a red flag will be raised. The only exception is the meta keywords tag. That particular tag is specifically designed to list your site’s most relevant and important keywords and key phrases.

Calls to Action

You probably already know all about the importance of including calls to action within the content on your site. You should also include a call to action within the meta description of each page on your website. That way your call to action will appear in the SERPs, where it will increase the odds that a person will actually click through to your site. When you write the call to action for your meta description tag, make sure that it makes sense from an SERP standpoint. In other words, it should be short, to the point and easy to follow.

How these Descriptions Appear in the SERPs

The basic design of SERPs is easy enough to understand. Each site is typically listed with a hyperlinked title. A brief description typically follows the title; in some cases, an excerpt from the content of the site appears instead. As you write the content for your meta description and title description, keep in mind how they will appear when they are listed in the SERPs. Will they flow together naturally? Will they complement one another? You need to avoid awkward, clunky phrasing. The end result should be smooth, readable and compelling.

Leave Title Descriptions and Meta Descriptions Blank at Your Own Risk

Some people dismiss the importance of meta descriptions and title descriptions. If you think they just aren’t worth your time, you need to understand that you are leaving a lot to chance. When those tags are left blank, the search engines have nothing specific to go on. In turn, it is all too likely for them to generate awkward or irrelevant titles and descriptions for your site’s pages. Many times, excerpts from a webpage are chosen at random. All too often, they make absolutely no sense. Omitting the meta and title descriptions is a good way to alienate and confuse Internet users.

The bottom line here is that it doesn’t require a whole lot of work to create unique, relevant and keyword-rich title and meta descriptions for your site. The small amount of work that is involved is sure to pay off in spades down the road. Including this information gives you a lot more control over how your site’s pages appear in the SERPs. They also serve to bolster the overall effectiveness of your existing SEO campaign. In short, there are many great reasons to use them and no reason not to.

• The Google Perspective

As Google Software Engineer Matt Cutts explains, Google doesn’t use the keyword meta tag in their web searches to rank websites. Google will occasionally use the description tag to help rank a website, but they have absolutely no interest in using the meta keyword tag because it has frequently been misused in the past by spammers, making the tag all but worthless in terms of establishing rankings. While Google does still retain a specific search function that allows users to request a search of meta keywords only, the keywords themselves do not tabulate into the site’s ranking.

• Why Use Meta Keywords?

Although a site’s ranking in the search engines is an incredibly important part of its overall performance, meta keywords are best used for indirect promotion and link-building. As an example, RSS feeds often find appropriate websites via their meta tags, especially if the keyword is appropriately targeted. The more people subscribe to a particular website via RSS, the website will likely experience a boost in its overall organic rankings.

Increasingly, meta tags serve as in-house tools to help organize ad campaigns and create meaningful and relevant content for a particular website or organization. Much as an in-house slogan may be inappropriate for wider consumption, a meta tag should be regarded as a kind of coaching mechanism to be circulated among staff and other personnel only.

As an example, a site that sells particularly luxurious umbrellas may choose “luxurious umbrellas” as its meta keyword. This keyword may seem obvious. However, it also describes not only the product, but the particular market and buyers to which the umbrella appeals. When the webmasters solicit content or attempt to start creating an advertising campaign, they can refer to this meta keyword as a guiding principle. Content that concentrates too heavily on unrelated topics such as throwaway umbrellas or torn material will not be suitable. Content that emphasizes a beautifully handcrafted and durable umbrella will better fit the overall focus.

Likewise, ads that are placed on travel sites should target those sites that promise travelers a scenic, if adventuresome, vacation in rainy parts of the world. The sites that are targeted should also appeal to relatively affluent travelers, as opposed to sites that emphasize exceptionally cheap travel. The ads should be crafted to support the underlying keyword concept. This will create a stronger image for the site and help guide more relevant traffic to it. The more relevant traffic, the better visitor stats and higher conversion rates will be, leading to better overall rankings.

Again, the keyword in of itself has no direct impact on the ranking of the site. It is how this keyword is used to guide other campaigns and promotional efforts that ultimately raises the ranking of the site in the search engines. It is a starting point that helps shape vital promotional choices.

• How To Edit the Tags and Insert RSS Feed Code
For those webmasters who are unfamiliar with the location of the tags, they should open their internet browser and select “View Page Source.” The meta tags will appear underneath the tag in the HTML document. Because meta tags were widely discredited by Google, some websites have very few of the keyword tags remaining. However, this is the place where the tags will be found, and where they can be inserted.

In order to edit the file to insert a keyword tag, the webmaster should open the code for the home page on a text editor program. She can then manually type in a new meta keyword. Whenever any new content is added to an HTML file, it is advisable to always double-check that the tag has both an opening and a closing bracket, as well as appropriate use of quote marks and backslashes. Incorrect coding grammar can cause websites to behave in bizarre and unprofessional ways.

Adding a meta tag for an RSS feed requires a bit of coding, but in general takes the following form:

< link rel=”alternate” type=”application/rss+xml” href=http://www.examplewebsite.com/rss.xml title=”RSS Feed.” >

As a final note, some other search engines have said in the past that they have used meta tags to tabulate a site’s ranking. However, the trend seems to be definitely towards not using tags for this purpose. Much like a species that is going slowly extinct, webmasters should respect the inevitable decline of the direct promotional value of the meta tag while understanding how its symbolic power can best be applied.

Stacking is not purely an accident. The savvy use and integration of keywords plays a major role in elevating a particular site’s organic rankings. However, stacking must also play a role in choosing categories for bread crumbs.

• Reflecting Stacking in the Bread Crumb
When a person searches for a website such as Automotive.com, that website appears in the search rankings with a series of specific “bread crumbs” listed underneath the main URL. These bread crumbs are links to different pages of the website that are usually categorized by a particular interest or topic. Automotive.com has bread crumbs for the “Latest News,” “New Cars,” “Cars for Sale” and other topics. Each of these links has been carefully categorized by the webmaster in order to attract and direct website traffic. What is the best way for a webmaster to determine categories for his website? How should these links be stacked, and how should this affect the site’s article content?

In terms of bread crumbs, it’s vital for a webmaster to choose those pages that he feels will generate a substantial number of visits and visitor interaction, or conversion. Although the URL Automotive.com technically only shows up in the first search position, the six stacked bread crumbs help it claim more virtual real estate. The order in which the bread crumbs appear also will help or hurt Automotive.com’s future success with conversion rates and organic rankings. In this case, the website has chosen “Used Cars” and “Latest News” as its primary bread crumbs, followed by “Check Gas Prices” and “Explore Forums.” The webmaster has clearly attempted to determine categories for his bread crumbs based on the most popular sections of his website.

The popularity of any given page or section is often related to the article content on that page. The “Latest News” bread crumb is a link to continually refreshed content that covers the spectrum of automotive related news. In each case, the content on this page features brand names of desirable vehicles along with updates on the progress of various brands and manufacturers. It is an accurate reflection of both the overall purpose of the website and the specific bread crumb category. The webmaster has noted that a large number of people are searching for both news and deals on used cars. He therefore stacks his bread crumbs in an attempt to serve the interests of those who are searching for those topics.

However, the category name for each bread crumb is remarkably abbreviated. How does a webmaster choose the right wording for the anchor text in order to attract the most visitors?

• How to Stack Keyword Rankings
The wording of each bread crumb should be based on the popularity and ranking of keywords. Google Webmaster Tools allows a webmaster to view the popularity of each keyword he uses on his website. To return to an earlier example, imagine that a webmaster must choose between the keywords “cheap furniture,” “leather furniture,” and “cheap leather furniture.” He first consults the keyword rankings that the Webmaster Tools provide. He discovers that “cheap furniture” is a more popular search term than “leather furniture” but that “cheap leather furniture” has a higher overall conversion rate.

Every webmaster wants to increase his conversion rate. If a keyword generates 3,000 page views that results in a 5 percent conversion rate, this is not worth as much as a keyword that generates 300 page views with a 90 percent conversion rate. The webmaster should weigh his options and choose the keyword with the highest conversion rate.

However, he should not entirely abandon the other keywords, especially if they are used in combination with higher conversion keywords. The webmaster may choose to label one of his bread crumbs as “Cheap Leather Furniture.” He may then choose to incorporate “cheap furniture” and “leather furniture” into the article content on that particular page in order to amplify the effect of the highest conversion rate keyword.

• Quality Not Quantity
It’s important to stress that no matter what the ranking of any individual keyword, content creators should always focus on quality, not quantity. While fresh content initially helps a site bolster its organic rankings, poorly written material will eventually cause the site to lose its relevance. “Keyword stuffing” should be avoided at all costs.

Crafting original material that is both accurate and interesting will help the site gain prestige and respect. In some cases, a single well-written article on a specific topic will earn an almost permanent place among the top search results for that topic. This can help the website increase its stacking, especially if that article is linked to from a variety of other websites or sources. By creating content that is authoritative and thoroughly researched, a site can count on receiving a steady stream of relevant visitors.