Possible Places to Put Keywords

To break this concept down just a bit further, let's look at what a search engine can measure on your Web site. Below is a list of places where you can include keywords to affect your rank in search engines.

The point here is for you to consider the many places that a keyword can be included to affect your site's score in a search engine's ranking algorithm. Later in this report, we will explain in detail the effect that placement has on the different search engines.

Consider the following list of possibilities. The point of this exercise is for you to understand the scope of variables that you have at your disposal to influence the different search engines - or more importantly, what a site listed ahead of yours in a particular search engine might have done to outrank you. Consider the following options:

1· Keywords in the <TITLE> tag( s) (And, believe it or not, sometimes you gain an advantage by including more than one <TITLE> tag on a single page!)
2· Keywords in the <META NAME=" DESCRIPTION"> tag
3· Keywords in the <META NAME=" KEYWORD"> tag
4· Keywords in <H1> or other headline tags
5· Keywords in the <A HREF=" http:// yourcompany. com/ otherpage. htm"></ A> link tags
6· Keywords in the body copy
7· Keywords in ALT tags - Web designers use this tag to describe the contents of a picture that hasn't finished loading or to describe a picture that you would be looking at if you had not opted to turn the graphics off on your Web browser. A recent study showed that a surprising number of people, perhaps as high as 25%, still browse the Web with the graphics off because of slow connections or slow computers!
8· Keywords in <!--> comment tags
9· Keywords contained in <INPUT TYPE=" HIDDEN" NAME=" HIDDEN" VALUE=" include list of keywords here"> hidden type tag.

10· Keywords contained in the URL or site address, e. g., http:// www. keyword. com/ keywordkeyword. htm 26

Factors That Do NOT Affect Your Rank in Search Engines

1· The size or content of your graphics.
2· Your choice of colors (however, some engines will penalize you for hiding words on a page by using the same color of text as the background).
3· Your Web site's overall layout or design. This will only matter insofar as keyword prominence may be affected if a graphic appears before the body copy on your site. Most Web site marketers espouse the use of text before graphics as some search engines assign weight to the first 25 words on a page.

4· Words that are graphics, e. g., a gif or jpeg file that spells out a word or words. Search engines only see the file name of the graphic. It can't hurt to use a file name that is also a keyword you want to emphasize.

The macro point is that there are only so many places where keywords can be included within a Web site. Where, how often and how early these keywords are placed will determine your ranking.

Remember these variables when you are analyzing other Web sites that have ranked higher than yours. If you look at it like a puzzle, each player has a number of pieces and the order and distribution of them determines the winner - not some magic bullet or immeasurable force.