~~~Successful Online Writing~~~
From: Gord Collins
Hi Jill and Heather,
I have a tough question for you. I have a site with a limited number
of pages, and it is traditionally thought that a page should be
focused on one keyword or keyphrase. Is it possible to write a page
so that it can rank highly for 3 or 4 keyword phrases, without
damaging the ranking of each one individually? If you can, how would
you go about organizing that kind of page?
Thanks for the help,
Gord Collins
~~~Heather's Response~~~
Hi, Gord!
Don't worry about finding the perfect home page keyphrase and
optimizing for only one phrase. In fact, you have much more leeway
than that! Normally, we optimize for two or three keyphrases, and
they all pull well. But just recently, I finished writing the copy
for an Atlanta portal site, based on four keyphrases. To make it
work, I wrote a compelling and keyphrase-rich introductory paragraph.
Then, I wrote short (but very keyphrase-rich) text blurbs around each
phrase and linked to inner pages. This format worked really well, and
I was still able to keep the site owner's desired tone and feel.
However, this was a best-case Web page. Most of the time, I can
successfully write for three keyphrases and still keep a marketing
flow - but four gets tricky. Unless the fourth keyphrase is very
related to the other three (like "dog book" and "dog books"), OR you
can write a stand-alone keyphrase-rich text blurb (like my previous
example), going for four keyphrases can be challenging. When it
works, it's great. When it doesn't, you're making your copy choppy
and the text hard to read. When in doubt, stick to two or three
keyphrases and optimize another page around your fourth keyphrase.
Please note that I'm talking about *writing* for keyphrases - not
developing the tags. When you're creating your tags, you only have a
certain amount of room to work with. Unless your main keyphrases are
closely related, it may be extremely difficult to optimize for all
four phrases without diluting some results. (See Jill's two cents,
below.)
Thanks for your question! Keep those online writing questions coming!
Heather
~~~Jill's unsolicited 2 cents~~~
As Heather touched upon, sure, you can write the page around 4
keyphrases if you feel the need. However, it's extremely difficult to
actually optimize the titles and Meta tags (and other code) around 4
phrases. Two phrases are easy. Three are doable in most cases. Four
are pretty darn tricky. If you're fairly new to search engine
optimization, I wouldn't suggest trying it. Keep in mind, however,
even if you can't optimize your tags for all four phrases, you may
still be able to pull in some rankings for all four phrases, just by
the fact that they're all in the visible text a number of times. The
text on the page really does count for a lot in some engines. The
bottom line is that if the copy flows with four phrases, then go for
it. Just be careful not to water down the tags too much in the
process.
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